CANBERRA - It's said that money can't buy happiness, but that hasn't stopped the Australian Government from trying.
It spent A$1 million ($1.3 million) earlier this year attempting to increase the wellbeing and productivity of a select group of public servants and teachers.
The Opposition says the "happinessworkshops", held in January, were an extravagance that will make people cynical about the public sector.
The positive psychology seminars for Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations staff and teachers cost A$1 million, a Senate hearing has been told.
American psychologist Professor Martin Seligman, who heads the Positive Psychology Centre at the University of Pennsylvania, ran the residential workshops at Geelong Grammar School in Victoria.
The Government spent A$642,000 sending 100 DEEWR staff to a five-day course in late January. It also spent A$350,000 sending government and non-government teachers to two other five-day workshops earlier in the month.
The Senate estimates hearing was told that Seligman had up to 15 support staff at Geelong. "That's larger than the prime minister's entourage," Liberal Senator Brett Mason said.
DEEWR deputy secretary Ewen McDonald said the staff workshop was about investing in skills.
