Article: Retreats taking the myki

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Retreats taking the myki

Retreats taking the myki

    * Matt Johnston
    * From: Herald Sun
    * January 21, 2010 12:00AM

VICTORIANS face more delays on trains this week, but they can be assured that transport department chiefs will be ready with slick excuses.

Documents seen by the Herald Sun show more than $12,000 was spent on media training for executives in the past financial year.

More than $70,000 was spent on conferences and retreats to allow them to bone up on leadership skills.

One summit cost $17,200, at the swanky Glen Erin retreat in the Macedon Ranges.

The Opposition has called the spending a waste and said it would be better spent on upgrading rail lines and making sure Victorians could get to work and family on time.

The spending has been revealed after Metro hauled nine trains off the tracks because of braking issues in slippery conditions.

Some trains have been cancelled across the system as a result.

Opposition scrutiny of government spokesman David Davis said the big spending on retreats rubbed salt into commuters' wounds.

"The Transport Department's implementation of myki has been a fiasco," he said.

"Have these senior executives been taught spin and crisis management ahead of the introduction of the flawed myki ticketing system?

"Despite John Brumby hiring crisis managers to spin his way out of his transport blunders, Victorians, particularly commuters, will not be hoodwinked or misled."

Government spokesman Chris Owner said the Department of Transport had $6 billion of projects under way, compared to the $83,000 cost of retreats.

"This expenditure represents a very small amount of the investment made by the Victorian Government on public transport," he said.