Senate Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade Legislation Committee, , 5:05:32 to 5:06:57
Officials explain that ADF allowances were updated to align with DFAT standards, resulting in decreases in some locations and increases in others.
Topics: ADF, DFAT, Efficiency dividend
Speakers: Justine Greig, James Paterson, Unknown Speaker, Raff Ciccone
So the meal and incidental allowances um have been updated to align with defense and foreign affairs and trade. So
>> that was loud.
>> DEFAT um do an annual review. Defense had been slightly out of step with that review arrangement.
>> These are the B.
>> So what we have done is ensure they're aligned. >> Excuse me.
>> And has the alignment increased it or
across uh posting locations. So in some cases it's decreased, some cases increased. More have decreased than increased.
>> Right. Yes, I certainly haven't received any complaints about increasing the allowance, but I have received quite a few about it being decreased. Can you give me more detail on in how many locations has it been decreased and how many locations has it been increased?
>> So we looked at this very closely. I haven't got it here, Senator, but we can absolutely provide uh what the review process was and uh the changes to those incidental and meal allowances. It's important to note that they are representative of what is required in country. So, they are reviewed against what the cost of living and so forth is within the posting location.