September 2016
- Opinion
- Opinion
Working in the public service is about having a passion for policy
After 12 years and some 550 columns for this masthead it is time to up stumps.
- Updated
- Opinion
- Opinion
Public service unrest and bad sign for Turnbull government
Australia will soon reach a decade of largely dysfunctional federal government.
- Updated
August 2016
Second review of federal treasury department to stay secret
The federal treasury department is under review for a second time within three years, but the results will likely be kept secret.
- Updated
- Opinion
- Opinion
The once-great ABS is brought to its knees
The image of yet another once-inviolable public institution brought to its knees is shocking in Canberra.
- Updated
- Opinion
- Opinion
Auditor-General set to put agencies on notice to deliver value
Nobody can say that government departments and agencies have not been warned.
- Updated
- Opinion
- Opinion
Maclolm Turnbull's Digital Transformation office disrupts the public service
The Sydney-based Digital Transformation Office makes Canberra's mandarins very uncomfortable.
- Updated
July 2016
- Opinion
- Opinion
Election 2016: Public service well-prepared to handle uncertainty
The long delay after the 2010 election gave the public service lots of experience running things without politicians.
- Updated
June 2016
- Opinion
- Opinion
Bureaucracy will be the big winner out of Brexit
The sky may not rain bureaucrats, but think of the meetings, communiqués and memoranda of understandings to come
- Updated
Election 2016: Ziggy Switkowski and NBN show why caretaker conventions exist
There are few things public service heads dislike more than leaks from any government agency
- Updated
Yes, Maybe Minister: it's election ping-pong with public servants
Labor has released so many policies that the public service has plenty for incoming government briefs.
- Updated
WestConnex federal funding under the microscope
The Pink Batts disaster showed the blame game can seriously endanger political careers.
- Updated
Safe place for public servants to share the good, the bad and the ugly
The most trusted external forum where senior federal public servants feel safe to discuss public policy, warts and all, is perhaps the ACT division of the Institute of Public Administration Australia.
- Updated
May 2016
- Opinion
- Opinion
Public servants dish the dirt
Federal public servants have until June 10 to say what they really think about their agencies, bosses and colleagues.
- Updated
Cuts and pastes continue under the calm surface of the budget
The budget is going to be tough on the public service.
- Updated
April 2016
- Opinion
- Opinion
Government's response to ASIC review half-pregnant but better than nothing
The Chester capability review of ASIC has been conflated with the government's panicked reaction to Bill Shorten's call for a royal commission into the banks.
- Updated
- Opinion
- Opinion
Tony Ayers, frank and fearless public service doyen, takes his last bow
They came in droves to farewell former Defence secretary Tony Ayers in Canberra on Tuesday.
- Updated
- Opinion
- Opinion
Public Service enjoys temporary reprieve from big staff freeze
When it comes to staffing numbers, little has changed since the government thawed its post-election hiring freeze last July.
- Updated
- Opinion
- Opinion
Failed income-tax plan came from prime minister's department
Malcolm Turnbull's pilloried plan to share income tax with the states was proposed by the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet last year.
- Updated
- Opinion
- Opinion
Malcolm Turnbull's tax ambush on premiers papers over due process
The idea of states sharing personal income tax came straight out of last year's green paper produced by the Abbott government's task force on federation reform inside the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
- Updated
March 2016
- Opinion
- Opinion
More questions than answers about Defence Housing Authority
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann was forced to explain this week why his department had called the Australian Federal Police to investigate the Defence Housing Authority, after a fiery Senate committee hearing on March 23 flushed out the matter.
- Updated