By Julian Bajkowski The private sector and medical providers could soon have a much bigger say in how Australia’s ailing efforts to create a national system of electronic health and medical records unfolds. The Abbott government has revealed it now wants substantial input on what non-government providers can contribute to make eHealth a reality after […]
4 November, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Commonwealth employees have been warned that one public service job an hour will be axed under the Coalition’s plans to reduce the size of the federal bureaucracy by 12,000 full time positions as unions and the Opposition tap into growing fears in agencies that forced redundancies will be needed to make up […]
22 October, 2013
By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski The NSW government has announced that it will outsource management of its office accommodation requirements after Minister for Finance and Services Andrew Constance called for expressions of interest from private sector suppliers. The move to outsourcing will send management of what the government estimates is a portfolio of 830 […]
2 October, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski The federal ministry of Local Government could be the first of many administrative casualties in Canberra after the function conspicuously failed to appear in the publication of Prime Minister elect Tony Abbott’s first Ministry list. In a document that provides a partial window into how the bureaucracy and machinery of government of […]
16 September, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Federal public servants are steeling themselves for a wide-ranging Commission of Audit by an incoming Tony Abbott Coalition government as the Prime Minister Elect prepares to come good on his election promise to cut down on wasteful and inefficient expenditure. Having received the incoming government brief from the public service known as […]
10 September, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Councils and local governments across Australia are digging in for a battle to try and keep $150 million of federal infrastructure funding promised under the Regional Development Australia Fund (RDAF) after the Coalition refused to guarantee the money if it wins government. The Australian Local Government Association (ALGA) on Friday upped the […]
6 September, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Opposition leader Tony Abbott has sought hose down rising fears that between 20,000 and 30,000 federal public service jobs will ultimately be axed in a repeat of Howard-era mass public service sackings in Canberra, taking to national radio on the ABC to pledge that only 12,000 jobs will go. Mr Abbott told […]
5 September, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski The union representing Commonwealth public servants has hit out at the release of selected costings by the Liberal Party for the election, warning that Coalition estimates of savings totalling $5.2 billion by culling 12,000 government jobs no longer add up. The Community and Public Sector Union has called on Opposition Leader Tony […]
29 August, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Despite being hit by or threatened with big number staff cuts across Australia, the nation’s public sector workforce is standing up for the value it delivers to the community by seeking frank and fearless advice from the general public on how it can do its job better. In a bold and perhaps […]
28 August, 2013
By Paul Hemsley Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has made an ambitious bid to get Labor’s trailing electoral fortunes back on track on the East Coast by pitching the big-picture infrastructure vision of High Speed Rail against Tony Abbott’s smaller target Paid Parental Leave scheme as a better use of taxpayers money. Mr Rudd yesterday committed […]
27 August, 2013
By Paul Hemsley The Local Government Association of South Australia (LGA) wants patchy mobile phone coverage to be a thing of the past after it welcomed the federal Opposition’s plan worth $100 million to improve cellular reception across regional, remote and outer metropolitan communities. The federal Coalition announced the plan as a campaign promise that […]
16 August, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski and Paul Hemsley Anger within the Commonwealth public service over fresh funding cuts by the Rudd government has boiled over after the Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) announced it had “voted to extend the suspension of all CPSU election campaigning in protest at Government plans to cut $1.8 billion from federal […]
6 August, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Councils across Australia will soon be forced to explain to ratepayers how much of their money was spent pushing the ‘Yes’ case for the proposed referendum on financial recognition for local government in the Constitution after the poll officially bit the dust on Sunday. The announcement of a 7th September election date […]
6 August, 2013
By Julian Bajkowski Opposition leader Tony Abbott very publicly told the head of the public service, Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet Secretary Dr Ian Watt AO, that he expects to have legislation to scrap the price on carbon and an emissions trading scheme pre-written and ready to table should the Coalition win government. The […]
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