REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL

This Determination sets out the provisions that apply when an office holder is required to travel for official business away from their office locality, or home base in respect of a

part-time office holder[a].   It comprises:

Contents

PART 1 – GENERAL

PART 2 – TRAVEL ON OFFICIAL BUSINESS

PART 3 – TRAVEL EXPENSES

PART 4 – OFFICIAL TRAVEL BY MOTOR VEHICLE

SCHEDULE A - REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL TRAVELLING ALLOWANCE RATES

PART 1 – GENERAL

1.1             Authority:  The Remuneration Tribunal has made this Determination in accordance with sub-sections 5(2A), 7(3) and 7(4), of the Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973.

1.2             Effective Date:  This Determination commences on 27 August 2017.

1.3             Effect on Earlier Determinations:  This Determination supersedes and revokes in full Determination 2016/07 – Official Travel by Office Holders.

1.4            Relationship with other Determinations:  The travel tier relevant to individual office holders is determined in the Determinations that set out remuneration for those office holders.  Those Determinations may contain exclusions or limitations in the application of this Determination to an office or offices, which override, to the extent of any inconsistency, the provisions of this Determination.

1.5            Coverage:  This Determination applies to the following offices in the Tribunal’s jurisdiction:

• Judicial and Related Offices;
• Holders of Full-time Public Office;
• Holders of Part-time Public Office;
• Secretaries;
• Specified Statutory Offices (SSOs); and
• Principal Executive Offices (PEOs).

Definitions:  The following definitions apply in this Determination:

1.5.1          ‘agency’ means the agency to which the office holder is appointed, or the agency that administers the entitlements of the office holder if the office is not part of an agency;

1.5.2          ‘commercial accommodation’ means accommodation in a commercial establishment such as a hotel, motel or serviced apartment;

1.5.3          ‘employer’ means the Commonwealth and includes any person authorised to exercise powers, perform acts, grant approvals or give directions for, or on behalf of, the Commonwealth; in respect of Principal Executive Offices it means the employing body;

1.5.4          ‘home base’ means the town or city in which the office holder’s principal place of residence is located;

1.5.5          ‘office holder’ means a holder of a public office covered by a Tribunal Determination or a holder of a Principal Executive Office;

1.5.6          ‘office locality’ means the geographic location of the office holders usual place of work on official business;

1.5.7          ‘official business’ means business pertaining to or required by the duties of the office holder’s office;

1.5.8          ‘partner’ means the de facto partner of an office holder as defined in the Acts Interpretation Act 1901.

1.5.9          ‘spouse’ means husband or wife.

1.6            General Principles:  Office holders are not expected to gain or lose financially as a result of travelling on official business.  Office holders must only incur or commit the Commonwealth to meet expenses where funds are lawfully available to do so.  Travel may only be undertaken where its purpose is consistent with the duties of the office holder.  In addition, when making travel arrangements, office holders are to consider:

• the necessity of travel and potential alternatives to travel, such as teleconferencing or videoconferencing;
• the total cost of travel, including value for money (the ‘best deal’ for the taxpayer);
• any travel related administrative guidelines put in place by their agency; and
• the flexibility to maintain an appropriate balance between work and home responsibilities, as well as safety and security.

PART 2 – TRAVEL ON OFFICIAL BUSINESS

2.1              Class of Travel:  Where an office holder travels on official business he or she is entitled to travel at the class of travel set out in Table 2A that is consistent with his or her travel Tier.  The office holder can choose to undertake travel at a lower class if that would be more convenient or appropriate.

TABLE 2A – STANDARD OF TRAVEL

2.2              Upgrade – Accompanying travel:  An office holder may upgrade his or her class of travel in order to accompany a person travelling at a higher class of travel where it is demonstrably in the interest of the Commonwealth to do so.

2.3              Upgrade – lengthy flight:  An office holder who is entitled to travel Economy Class may upgrade to Business Class (for domestic and international travel) where the duration of the flight exceeds five hours.

2.4              Accompanied Travel:  An office holder may be entitled to be accompanied by his/her spouse or partner for purposes relating to official business at Commonwealth expense when travelling within Australia or overseas in accordance with this Determination.

2.4.1       Accompanied travel may only occur when the office holder’s employer certifies in writing that it is demonstrably in the interest of the Commonwealth, given the purpose of the travel, for the office holder to be accompanied by his/her spouse or partner.

2.4.2       Where the office holder’s spouse or partner accompanies him/her, the spouse or partner may travel at the same class of travel as the office holder.

2.5              Agency travel providers: Office holders are encouraged to use their agency’s travel-related preferred provider arrangements where these exist.

2.6              Frequent flyer points:  Frequent flyer points accrued at the Commonwealth’s expense should not be used for private purposes.

PART 3 – TRAVEL EXPENSES

3.1              Payment of travel expenses:  Where an office holder travels on official business which requires an overnight absence, travelling expenses will be met in accordance with the provisions in this Part.

3.2              Day travel:  Where travel on official business does not require an overnight absence, no travelling allowance is payable.

3.3              Accompanied accommodation costs:  Where the Commonwealth meets the travel costs of the office holder’s spouse or partner accompanying him/her in accordance with clause 2.4 (Accompanied Travel), if evidence is provided that there is a difference in cost between a single and double room in the commercial accommodation used, the amount of the difference shall be added to the amount of travelling allowance that would otherwise be paid.

3.4              No double payment:  Where the office holder claims or receives travelling allowance or reimbursement of travelling expenses under any other source or entitlement for the same travel, no payment of travelling allowance or expenses will be made under this Determination.

Travel within Australia – Allowance

3.5              Travelling Allowance:  For each overnight absence on business travel within Australia, the office holder, where he or she stays in commercial accommodation, will be paid travelling allowance at the relevant rate in Table A1.A of Schedule A, unless the provisions in clauses 3.6 or 3.7 apply.  Subject to those provisions, the full amount will be paid to the office holder for each overnight absence regardless of the time of departure from, or arrival at, his or her office locality or home base.

3.6              Part Payment of Travelling Allowance:  The full amount of travelling allowance in Table A1.A of Schedule A will not be paid in the following circumstances:

3.6.1            Accommodation paid for:  Where the cost of accommodation is met by an entity other than the office holder, travelling allowance payable is the relevant ‘Total’ amount shown in Table A2.A of Schedule A for the travel Tier applying to the office.

3.6.2            Meals paid for:  Where the cost of a meal or meals is met by an entity other than the office holder, the amount of travelling allowance should be reduced by the relevant meal amount(s) referred to in Table A2.A of Schedule A.

3.7              Non-commercial accommodation:  Where an office holder does not stay in commercial accommodation, but stays in accommodation such as the home of a family member or friend, a rate of one third of the specified travelling allowance is payable (rounded upwards to the nearest dollar).

3.8              Unavoidable higher accommodation cost:  Where an employer certifies that an office holder is required to obtain high cost accommodation, an additional payment may be made to the office holder in accordance with the following:

(a) the requirement must be due to the unavailability of accommodation of a reasonable standard at a locality, which would have avoided this additional payment.

(b)    the additional payment will be based on the excess cost of accommodation over the travel allowance rate, after deducting the relevant ‘Total’ amount shown in Table A2.A of Schedule A (meals and incidentals).

(c) the additional payment will be calculated on accommodation expenses and travel allowance for the entire trip.

3.9              Additional meals:  Where an office holder is absent for a greater number of meal periods than that covered by the travelling allowance payment (the rate nominally covers 3 meals per day) and provides evidence that actual meal costs exceeded the meal component for the absence, payment at the rates set out in Table A2.A of Schedule A may be made for the additional meal(s).  Subject to employer certification, this may include meal periods on the day of return to an office holder’s home base or office locality where, ordinarily, no travelling allowance would be payable.

Travel Overseas

3.10         Accommodation:  When travelling overseas on official business, an office holder is entitled to accommodation at Commonwealth expense.  Accommodation should be at a standard reasonably equivalent to that provided for the office holder in Australia.

3.11         Meals and Incidentals:  Office holders travelling overseas on official business are to be paid, for meals and incidentals, an amount equivalent to the total meals and incidentals figures for the relevant destinations published in Table 9 of Taxation Determination TD 2017/19 (or its successor).

3.11.1       For the purposes of clause 3.11, Tier 1 office holders receive the amounts specified in the Taxation Determination for the highest salary group, Tier 2 office holders the amounts specified for the middle salary group, and Tier 3 office holders the amounts for the lowest salary group.

PART 4 – OFFICIAL TRAVEL BY MOTOR VEHICLE 

4.1              Vehicle travel:  The following arrangements apply to the use of vehicles where the office holder is not supplied with a vehicle by the agency that can be used for the purposes of travel on official business.

4.2              Use of vehicle:  An office holder may choose to hire a vehicle or use his or her own vehicle to travel on official business where it is demonstrably in the interest of the Commonwealth to do so.  In such circumstances the Commonwealth will:

(a) meet the cost of a rental vehicle; or

(b) pay a motor vehicle allowance at the rate of 66 cents per kilometre where a private vehicle is used for the journey. Any private vehicle used for this purpose must be comprehensively insured.

4.3              Agency vehicle:  These provisions do not apply to any journey commenced from the home base of an office holder where he or she is provided with an agency vehicle at that home base.

SCHEDULE A - REMUNERATION TRIBUNAL TRAVELLING ALLOWANCE RATES

A1.  Travelling Allowance Rates:  The Travelling Allowance rates set out in Table A1.A will apply on and from 27 August 2017.

Table A1.A – Rates of Travelling Allowance (accommodation, meals and incidentals) per overnight absence.

A2.  Meal and Incidental Components:  The rates set out in Table A2.A provide the relevant meal and incidental components of the Travelling Allowance rates set out in Table A1.A.  These rates are specified for the purposes of clauses 3.6, 3.8 and 3.9 of this Determination.

Table A2.A – Meals and Incidentals Components

Table A2.B – Group 2 Country Centres

Signed on this 11th day of August 2017

[a] In this context, part-time office holder does not include a person paid in accordance with the Part Time Work clause of the Holders of Full-Time Public Office Determination.