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    Expert coverage of Australia’s public sector.

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    This Month

    Parliament House in Canberra. The number of people employed by government departments has risen sharply since the COVID-19 pandemic.

    Contractors in the firing line as public service headcount soars

    The number of bureaucrats has increased nearly 10 per cent in one year alone and some $1.8 billion has been allocated to overhaul staffing at Services Australia.

    • Tom Burton
    Investment banks are suffering from falling fees as markets remain subdued.

    Why headcount matters when it comes to budgets

    As any finance chief will attest, the number of bums on seats tells you most of what you need to know about an organisation’s underlying size and costs.

    • Tom Burton
    The core size of the public service is to be reduced as a share of the state economy.

    Size of Victorian government to be cut for first time in 15 years

    Tight control over salaries and operating expenses will result in reduced average expenditure of 2.2 per cent over forward estimates.

    • Tom Burton
    Protesters hold placards of women who were killed in alleged incidents of gender-based violence.

    Domestic violence rates fall over decades but one stat hasn’t changed

    The rate of women killed by their partners has fallen by two-thirds over the past 34 years, but women remain twice as likely as men to be victims of intimate partner homicide.

    • Tom Burton
    About 3000 people came to a gender violence rally in Brisbane to protest male violence against women which they say has seen 33 women murdered this year.

    Treat violent men like terrorists or gangsters, experts say

    Swift sanctions, including jail, are needed to stop domestic violence, say researchers, who argue no amount of “respectful relationships training” will stop some men.

    • Tom Burton
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    April

    Former Home Affairs secretary Mike Pezzullo says he has to own his mistakes

    Pezzullo takes first step to redemption

    The former Home Affairs secretary admitted his mistakes and accepted his disgrace, and knows he will not be working with the Commonwealth for some time.

    • Tom Burton
    BlockTexx co-found Graham Ross.

    Federal contract bidders will need to hit sustainability targets

    Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek said government departments would use their purchasing power to reduce waste and promote recycling, part of new reporting rules.

    • Tom McIlroy

    Taxpayers should be furious over public service’s ‘ghost’ offices

    On a recent Friday in Canberra, a deflated public servant friend revealed that there were only three people at work on a floor space that can seat 30 to 40.

    • Updated
    • John Kehoe

    Meet the doctors whose virtual ED is easing the load on hospitals

    In outer Melbourne, a virtual emergency department has offered 250,000 patients treatment and created a model to help keep ageing Baby Boomers out of hospital.

    • Tom Burton
    APRA threw a $70,000 Christmas bash last year.

    APRA’s lavish $70,000 Christmas Party

    Do you think all that time peering over the expenses of financial institutions has induced a spot of envy within the APRA social committee?

    • Updated
    • Myriam Robin
    Greens senator Nick McKim was looking for a scalp on Tuesday, and outgoing Woolies boss Brad Banducci was his target.

    The Senate’s mock outrage games shame all

    Threatening corporate leaders with jail time over an accounting contrivance is part of a trend where the national parliament is becoming a theatre for showboating and mock outrage.

    • Tom Burton
    The ease of use and the power of Excel spreadsheets has exposed firms and public agencies  to significant risk.

    Why government has an Excel problem

    Swaths of the public service still have to use tools and manual procedures from the early 1980s, when desktop computing first arrived in government.

    • Tom Burton

    Finance’s ‘basic’ spreadsheet error triggers reform calls

    The federal Finance department failed to remove hidden tabs in a master spreadsheet, exposing confidential pricing data, a review has found.

    • Tom Burton

    March

    Due to the increasing rates and complexity of attacks, it’s almost inevitable that Australian businesses will face a data breach or ransomware attack at some point.

    New system to track labour hire in government

    A new Department of Finance database will provide the first-ever consolidated view of the use of labour hire throughout the federal government.

    • Edmund Tadros

    ‘Legacy of fear’: government watchdog fires parting shot at Andrews

    Victoria’s outgoing ombudsman Deborah Glass has warned about the ‘dangerous impact of creeping ‘politicisation’ on the state’s public service.

    • Gus McCubbing
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    The Commonwealth COVID-19 response panel expects to complete its report by September.  L-R: Dr Angela Jackson, Chair Ms Robyn Kruk, Professor Catherine Bennett.

    COVID-19 inquiry boss vows to find ‘missing piece’

    Commonwealth review chief Robyn Kruk says the community should feel confident the nation can deal with the next pandemic.

    • Tom Burton
    Health Department secretary Blair Comley.

    Health chief invokes ‘AFR test’ in proposal writing overhaul

    Blair Comley has applied what he calls “the AFR test” as he pushes executives in his federal health department to write and think more clearly.

    • Tom Burton
    The new dean of the Australia and New Zealand School of Government, Professor Caron Beaton-Wells.

    How ‘deliberate reflection’ and being a ‘list zealot’ help this leader

    Competition expert Professor Caron Beaton-Wells runs up to eight lists on her phone and manages them ruthlessly. “That immediately makes me feel like it’s all manageable”.

    • Tom Burton
    There is no such thing as safe as houses when it comes to assessing risk for investors in property and sharemarkets.

    Could turning laws into code help fix the housing shortage?

    Allowing computers to read and interpret laws based on sophisticated rules could revolutionise regulation and the way you interact with government.

    • Tom Burton
    The Australian flag is seen at full mast after the Proclamation of King Charles III, on the forecourt of Parliament House, in Canberra, Sunday, September 11, 2022. The monarch’s representative in Australia will proclaim the ascension of King Charles III as mourning continues around the nation for Queen Elizabeth II. (AAP Image/Mick Tsikas) NO ARCHIVING . AAP POOL

    Some jobs ‘you can’t do from your lounge room’, public servants told

    Many jobs – such as those carried out by Border Force officers – would require staff to attend the workplace.

    • Tom Burton