Public servants took drugs to complete Budget

Senior public servants were relying upon stimulants to keep them alert through 20-hour shifts in order to get the Federal Budget out on time.

Bureaucrats who were working on the financial tome were taking the drug mondafinil so they were able to stay awake and alert while authoring budget papers for their May 13 release, News.com.au reports.

It is reported that a small-but-growing number of public servants who are already being forced to work long hours have come to rely on drugs for extra pep.

In some instances, workers would be in the office for up to 20 hours at a time and then only take a four- or five-hour break before returning for another marathon stint.

"You work to 1am or 2am and you have to be back at 7am or 8am. I know people who have done 20-hour shifts," the unnamed source told News.com.au.

"There are lots of jokes about driving home while exhausted."

The extended hours became a necessity for Budget authors who would be forced into rewrites as strategic leaks gauged public opinion to certain controversial elements, such as changes to family tax benefits, the Medicare co-payment and raising the retirement age to 70.

The changes required last-minute recalculations to the Budget figures which took even more time from an already time-poor finance department, the report said.

Source: News.com.au
Author: Nicholas McCallum, Approving editor: Matthew Henry