Exsandgroper
10-02-10, 08:00 AM
From ABC News
Army chief hit by ADF pay bungle
By online political correspondent Emma Rodgers
Posted 5 hours 13 minutes ago
Updated 2 hours 6 minutes ago
'It's an issue of people not doing their jobs properly': Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie (AAP: Alan Porritt, file photo)
Audio: Defence pay bungle hits the top brass
The Chief of the Australian Army has told a Senate Estimates hearing that he was left owing the Australian Defence Force $20,000 because of continuing problems with the ADF pay system.
Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie told the hearing that he had been wrongly informed that he did not need to make any more superannuation payments.
By the time the mistake was uncovered he was left with a $20,000 superannuation shortfall to be repaid either in instalments or as a lump sum.
Lieutenant General Gillespie told the hearing of at least three pay bungles which have been discovered involving hundreds of Defence Force personnel, including himself.
"It [the overall pay problem] is quite sizeable, and in my humble opinion as the chief, it's not an issue of a systemic pay problem, it's an issue of people not doing their jobs properly," he said.
The hearing was told that soldiers are still receiving allowance overpayments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, while others are being paid incorrectly.
Around 56 soldiers were overpaid after they were put into the wrong category of an unpredictable explosives allowance, while 63 were overpaid a total of $340,000 in campaign allowances.
There were also several errors in the pay of almost 4,000 reservists which resulted in some having to complete more training and others receiving back pay of around $7,000.
Defence Minister Senator John Faulkner has blamed the errors on poor administration and inconsistent record keeping and says more must be done to improve the system, which has been plagued by problems for several years.
"I think it's fair and true to acknowledge that Defence does not have modern integrated human resource and pay systems for its total workforce," he said.
"What we're dealing here with in terms of over-payments in the main can be attributed back to poor administration, to poor execution of delegated authority, and at times we've had inconsistent record keeping."
The task force established at the beginning of this month to fix the system met three times last week in the wake of continuing problems with the system.
Several audits have also been conducted to establish whether there are continuing errors.
Senator Faulkner told the hearing that more work needed to be done to eradicate the problems.
Last year an auditor's report into the SAS pay bungle, which affected 102 soldiers, blamed a complex pay system, obsolete software, outdated computers and no central control or coordination of staff.
Further details on the Camo saga, the contract was for $14m and they could of saved $1.4m, samples were produced from China
The Army Chiefs were made to look stupid at the Senate Estimates for wanting to buy the material from China for a $1.4 saving -
Cheers
Army chief hit by ADF pay bungle
By online political correspondent Emma Rodgers
Posted 5 hours 13 minutes ago
Updated 2 hours 6 minutes ago
'It's an issue of people not doing their jobs properly': Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie (AAP: Alan Porritt, file photo)
Audio: Defence pay bungle hits the top brass
The Chief of the Australian Army has told a Senate Estimates hearing that he was left owing the Australian Defence Force $20,000 because of continuing problems with the ADF pay system.
Lieutenant General Ken Gillespie told the hearing that he had been wrongly informed that he did not need to make any more superannuation payments.
By the time the mistake was uncovered he was left with a $20,000 superannuation shortfall to be repaid either in instalments or as a lump sum.
Lieutenant General Gillespie told the hearing of at least three pay bungles which have been discovered involving hundreds of Defence Force personnel, including himself.
"It [the overall pay problem] is quite sizeable, and in my humble opinion as the chief, it's not an issue of a systemic pay problem, it's an issue of people not doing their jobs properly," he said.
The hearing was told that soldiers are still receiving allowance overpayments worth hundreds of thousands of dollars, while others are being paid incorrectly.
Around 56 soldiers were overpaid after they were put into the wrong category of an unpredictable explosives allowance, while 63 were overpaid a total of $340,000 in campaign allowances.
There were also several errors in the pay of almost 4,000 reservists which resulted in some having to complete more training and others receiving back pay of around $7,000.
Defence Minister Senator John Faulkner has blamed the errors on poor administration and inconsistent record keeping and says more must be done to improve the system, which has been plagued by problems for several years.
"I think it's fair and true to acknowledge that Defence does not have modern integrated human resource and pay systems for its total workforce," he said.
"What we're dealing here with in terms of over-payments in the main can be attributed back to poor administration, to poor execution of delegated authority, and at times we've had inconsistent record keeping."
The task force established at the beginning of this month to fix the system met three times last week in the wake of continuing problems with the system.
Several audits have also been conducted to establish whether there are continuing errors.
Senator Faulkner told the hearing that more work needed to be done to eradicate the problems.
Last year an auditor's report into the SAS pay bungle, which affected 102 soldiers, blamed a complex pay system, obsolete software, outdated computers and no central control or coordination of staff.
Further details on the Camo saga, the contract was for $14m and they could of saved $1.4m, samples were produced from China
The Army Chiefs were made to look stupid at the Senate Estimates for wanting to buy the material from China for a $1.4 saving -
Cheers