Australia rates comparatively well on international corruption scales, but it is getting worse. The annual Corruption Perceptions Index (CPI) from Transparency International rates 180 countries and territories by their perceived levels of public sector corruption according to experts and business people. It uses a scale of 0 to 100, where 0 is highly corrupt and […]
22 February, 2018
Timothy Pilgrim, retired public servant The world is very different now, but many of us don’t know it. From 22 February 2018 Australia has a new Notifiable Data Breaches (NDB) regimen. Under the laws, passed in 2017 as the Privacy Amendment (Notifiable Data Breaches) Act, companies and government agencies have to tell people if lost […]
21 February, 2018
The Tesla battery farm in South Australia Australia’s states, and in particular South Australia, are leading a battery and energy storage boom which will transform the way energy is used and distributed in Australia. The Climate Council has released a new report on the technology: ‘Fully Charged: Renewals and Storage Powering Australia’. The report says […]
19 February, 2018
NSW will establish its own state-based Productivity Commission to “drive micro-economic reform and tackle burdensome regulation.” The plan was announced by NSW Treasurer Dominic Perrottet, who said the Commission will aim to expand the state’s economic prosperity. “We have laid the foundations for reform with our state-building infrastructure agenda, but now it’s time for a […]
19 February, 2018
GigCity Adelaide has announced a major expansion of its 1 Gigabit/sec fibre optic network. There will be 16 additional innovation precincts added to the $7.6 million network. The new precincts are located across Adelaide’s metropolitan area, including seven in the north, six in the CBD and one each in the west and south of Adelaide. […]
19 February, 2018
They’re mad as hell down Tumbarumba way. The Snowy Mountains town best known for John O’Brien’s wonderful poem ‘Up at Tumba-bloody-rumba shootin’ kanga-bloody-roos’ has become the touchstone for renewed opposition to the NSW Government’s disastrous forced council amalgamation strategy. In May 2016 the local council was merged with neighbouring Tumut Shure to form Snowy Valleys […]
18 February, 2018
The International Energy Agency (IEA) has released its first detailed analysis of Australian energy market in five years. It is not complimentary. Australia’s energy policy, it says, is uncoordinated and falling behind the rest of the world on many measures. The IEA is not given to overstatement. It is an OECD agency established in 1974 […]
15 February, 2018
The current standoff over water allocations in the Murray Darlin Basin is as good an example as you could ever find of how Australia’s federal system is broken. The Murray Darling Basin Plan was supposed to be the epitome of how Australia’s states and territories could work with each other and the Federal Government for […]
15 February, 2018
Electoral Commission of Queensland (ECQ) head Walter van der Merwe has resigned, two days after being suspended for allegations of serious misconduct. Current ECQ Assistant Electoral Commissioner Dermot Tiernan will be Acting Electoral Commissioner. In a short statement, Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath said Mr van der Merwe “has delivered his resignation to the Governor this […]
15 February, 2018
Adrian Renouf – “Australia needs the Academy model” Management consultancy PPB Advisory will next week launch the Australasian Transformation Academy (ATA), a new venture which it says will help government agencies “transform how public services are delivered.” The ATA is a joint initiative of PPB Advisory and the UK based Public Service Transformation Academy (PSTA), […]
15 February, 2018
NSW Local Government Minister Gabrielle Upton has moved to suspend Blue Mountains City Council, after doubts have being raised about the independence of its investigation into asbestos management. Ms Upton has issued a Notice of Intention to Suspend the council for three months and appoint an administrator. It has issued a previous Notice in December, […]
15 February, 2018
Australia’s states and territories are building more and more prisons, trying to outdo each other on law and order. Crime rates across Australia are falling , but incarceration rates have never been higher. So are the costs of locking up so many people. Australianj ails are becoming increasingly overcrowded, with many at breaking point. They […]
12 February, 2018
A UK computer consultant has discovered that thousands of websites around the world have been hacked by ‘miscreants unknown’ and put to work mining the Monero cryptocurrency. Those infected include many government sites in Australia. UK security researcher Scott Helme discovered the hack and went to UK computer publication The Register, which broadcast the incident […]
12 February, 2018
Australian governments at all levels are strongly pushing the digital delivery of their services. But new research shows that their efforts have yet to make a major impact on most citizens, many of whom still regard governments as digital laggards. A report from digital transaction company DocuSign has found that many Australian consumers are unaware […]
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