June
Bill Shorten’s speechwriter earning $620,000
A former scriptwriter for soap operas Sons and Daughters and A Country Practice now earns more than a senator as “specialist speechwriter”.
- Updated
- Tom McIlroy
May
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
March
- Exclusive
- Digital transformation
Why you might be about to see a lot more of this logo
myID, which could become as prominent as Medicare and myGov, will be the online tool Australians use to prove their identity without passports and licences.
- Tom Burton
January
Australia’s best and worst government websites ranked
A push to improve access and make content easier to find has resulted in a major improvement in government website rankings, with one surprising result.
- Tom Burton
December 2023
myGov to be single entry portal after agencies told to get on board
All major federal services will be able to be accessed through a single portal after it was agreed to mandate the consolidation of services onto the myGov platform.
- Tom Burton
Next chief of welfare giant Services Australia is a digital expert
David Hazlehurst is to be announced as the next CEO of Services Australia and to lead a series of reforms for the myGov service portal.
- Tom Burton
November 2023
Face scan logons, protection from Optus-like hacks in services revamp
Passwords are on the way out for digital services from the federal governments, as the myGov portal embraces a new secure passkey technology aimed at stopping scams.
- Tom Burton
Centrelink, Medicare wait time blowout sparks 3000 new hires
Services Australia’s budget will get a $228 million boost to meet a sharp spike in welfare and health claims and delays dealing with them.
- Tom Burton
October 2023
Tony Burke’s department moves to strike
Staff at the department dealing with the government’s sweeping industrial relations bill could be walking off the job over pay within weeks.
- David Marin-Guzman
September 2023
Pay strike to hit Centrelink, child welfare agencies
The Albanese government is facing its first strike in an expected wave of industrial action by public servants protesting over its 11 per cent pay offer.
- David Marin-Guzman
August 2023
Albanese offers public servants the largest pay increase in a decade
The Albanese government has upped its pay offer to 11.2 per cent and tabled paternity and carers leave extensions in the hope it will settle the first major industrial negotiation with its 182,000 civilian workforce.
- Tom Burton
- Opinion
- Consulting
The public service still needs consultants – but far fewer of them
The use of external contractors has gone too far, but reform shouldn’t wind back the clock for answers. The challenge is to get the balance right.
- Andrew Podger
July 2023
Public servants strike against 10.5pc pay rise, four-day-week rejection
Internal work bans at Services Australia are to start on Tuesday amid further threats of rolling stoppages as public sector unions seek pay increases to match inflation.
- Tom Burton
Robo-debt ‘bullies, sycophants’ not the public service Shorten knows
A cabal of bullies and sycophants was responsible for suppressing frank and fearless advice about robo-debt, Bill Shorten says.
- Ronald Mizen
- Opinion
- Federal election
How welfare bashing exposed government at its worst
The Holmes royal commission’s recommendations are about replacing the meanness and political expediency of recent times with a spirit of serving the public.
- Updated
- Laura Tingle
June 2023
Services Australia axing of Serco contract sparks union blowback
The union has branded the federal government’s actions “unacceptable” after it gave more than 600 call centre workers two weeks’ notice of termination.
- David Marin-Guzman and Tom Burton
April 2023
Shorten flags consequences for robo-debt enablers
Senior public servants involved in overseeing the illegal robo-debt scheme could face consequences if adverse findings are made by a royal commission.
- Maeve Bannister
March 2023
- Analysis
- Government Observed
How the robo-debt catastrophe opened the door to blue-sky reforms
After the ignominy of robo-debt Services Australia is fundamentally redesigning frontline centres around the needs of customers.
- Tom Burton
February 2023
- Analysis
- Robo-debt royal commission
Bad government on display for all to see in robo-debt debacle
The robo-debt scheme continued for more than two years despite mounting advice it was both unlawful and inaccurate, and would never make its targets.
- Tom Burton
- Analysis
- Government Observed
MyGov review rethinks how the government should work
The review team heard many suggestions to unleash the full potential of the federal service portal, but there’s little point having a flash front door if the foyer is a consumer mish-mash.
- Tom Burton