NSW art gallery boss spent thousands of taxpayer dollars on ritsy nights out

Receipts detailing fancy dinners out at Sydney’s finest restaurants show how Australia’s public servants are enjoying the finer things in life at the expense of the taxpayer.

The Australian Taxpayers’ Alliance spoke to the Daily Telegraph about NSW Art Gallery director Michael Brand’s spending, transactions in the thousands charged back to hardworking Australians.

The art gallery boss’ credit card statement revealed he spent $1043 at Italian restaurant Lucio’s in Paddington; $708 at Raku Dining in Canberra; $532 at Surry Hills Indian restaurant Foreign Return; $1180 at Otto in Woolloomooloo; $1033 at Firedoor in Surry Hills; $779 at Franca Brasserie in Potts Point, and he also spent up big across numerous sales at various bottle shops and on various taxi rides.

ATA communications director Ebony Graveur said it was disappointing to see where are how much of other people’s money had been spent.

“While plenty of people are aware that taxpayer money is whittled away to iconic bureaucratic inefficiency and poor allocation of funding, few taxpayers seem to realise just how much is wasted by public servants living high on the hog,” she said.

“Of the 26 million people in Australia, I personally would be willing to bet that not a single one would consider Mr Brand’s bourgeois dinners to be an effective use of taxpayer money.”

Head to The Daily Telegraph for the full story.