Category: taxpayer money

Consultants Slugged Taxpayers $671M Over Five Years in Australian State

June 9, 2023
Australiataxpayer moneyvictorian state budgetWorld
0 Comment

The Victorian government has spent more than $670 million (US$451.7 million) on consultants over the past five years, paying a firm embroiled in a national tax scandal almost $80 million (US$54 million). The state Auditor-General’s Office released the new collated figures as a federal Senate committee investigates the integrity of major consultancy firms after the leaking…

Read More

Why Set up the PBO If the Government Won’t Use It?

March 15, 2023
Australiadan andrewsdaniel andrewsInternationalMELBOURNEOpinionParliamentary Budget Officetaxpayer moneyvictoriaViewpointsWorld
0 Comment

Commentary Victoria’s Parliamentary Budget Office’s (PBO) latest report (pdf) has revealed that the Labor government, who set it up, did not even use it to cost its 2022 election promises. The report notes that “There appears to be a disconnect between the Treasurer’s 2016 speech recommending the bill to parliament, in which he outlined his…

Read More

Orange County Fire Authority Attorney Racks Up $40,000 in Travel Fees

June 28, 2021
budgetDon WagnerlawyerLisa BartlettLocal NewsOrange CountyOrange County Fire AuthorityRegional-Local NewsSouthern Californiataxpayer moneytravel feesUS
0 Comment

The Orange County Fire Authority (OCFA) has spent more than $40,000 on a lawyer’s travel fees in the past three years, an expense that continues to draw the ire of some elected officials. An attorney representing the OCFA was compensated $40,425 for billed travel between Los Angeles and Orange County from 2017 to 2020. The rate is…

Read More