It's OK to send our staff first class, the last government did it

Kevin Rudd's defence of paying $60,000 to send four treasury department staffers to London in first class by claiming the previous government did it is a complete and utter farce.

It cost the government $15,000 per person to send these staffers to London. Looking briefly at airfares, a trip in economy class would cost $5,000 each while business class would have cost around $7,500 each return. Would it have hurt them to fly in business class and save the government 50% of the fare?

Was a cost-benefit analysis done on business vs first class? Probably, only to find that "the benefits to staff travelling in first class at a cost of 200% over business class outweigh the cost".

I suppose a saving of $30,000 is nothing when the government is looking at spending up to $315 billion in borrowed money.