The states are both the answer and the problem for the Murray-Darling's future. They shouldn't be sidelined.

We need a complete rethink of our international development efforts.

• UPDATED

If the Public Service Commissioner won't assess how contractors affect APS staffing, who will?

There is no place for multi-headed monsters in the modern world, nor in modern employment law.

The 'fragile generation' is seen as anxious, distractible and spooked by complex tasks.

Yes, many public service meetings are pointless. But curing this 'disease' has its consequences.

This parochial state needs to stretch its ambitions.

Are we using our control to cement our role, rather than being open to new ideas and partners?

Why does the government treat most of its staff so differently than its executives?

Bureaucrats are obliged to tell their manager about their sex life. Does anyone believe they do?

Governments should focus less on regulating universities and more on supporting them.

Replacing selection criteria with "the pitch" has not improved government recruitment.

Image the chaos if the Coalition had kept its promise to tie senior officials' pay to deregulation.

The coming federal election campaign will involve plenty of spruiking about defence spending.

Half an hour each night would help alleviate the President's atrocious nocturnal habits.

• ANALYSIS

If the register is worth having, it needs an independent enforcer.

Only when a workforce feels included will it feel inspired to innovate.

In most cases, public servants are well served by existing means of reporting misconduct.

Australian political style falls well short of the ideals espoused by the likes of Francis Bacon.

Overseas examples could help us to improve how we govern.