news, federal-politics

The federal opposition will abolish the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade's Innovation Xchange program if elected in a bid to claw back $400 million of savings. The potential cuts were announced by Opposition Leader Bill Shorten on Friday as part of plan to generate billions in savings over 10 years to fund new initiatives. The agency has been routinely criticised by Labor politicians during senate estimates for its purchase of $590 bean bags and a $6300 convertible ping-pong table for a meeting room. The small agency is also known as Foreign Minister Julie Bishop's pet project. She has even described the agency as a "gorgeous little funky, hipster, Googly, Facebooky-type place". Ms Bishop launched the $140 million agency with a brief to disrupt traditional aid processes and to identify inefficiencies and savings across the workforce. While the agency is a far cry from the regular public service office, it represents the government's public sector innovation agenda. The few staff within the hub have proposed the trial of passport-less travel and are working on a US$100 million data collection service in partnership with Bloomberg Philanthropies. Staff are also working on a $3 million project to transform the aquaculture industry and improve food security and economic growth. But Labor politicians have been more interested in the agency's office equipment and furniture during senate estimates, seeking to link it to government waste. Attacks on the agency have frustrated many public servants at the department, who have watched the foreign aid budget be routinely cut amid more than a year of pay and conditions negotiations. Earlier this year Labor Senator Anne McEwan asked public servants if they knew table tennis rules, what the table was made of, when staff could play and whether staff had to supply their own "shuttlecock and bats". Senate leader Penny Wong couldn't resist a shot late last year. "How is this ping-pong table contributing to the goals and targets of our aid program? Is this ping-pong table assisting in the expansion of our diplomatic footprint? …. How much did the ping-pong table cost? … Are there rules around its use?" she asked. Department secretary Peter Varghese, who was surprised by the attention placed on the furnishing, stoically defended the purchases and said the bean bags was cheaper than a couch.

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