Feds forced ‘Buy Aussie’ mandate holds despite industry collapse

The Department of Finance is still mandating the purchase of locally made cars even though Toyota, Holden and Ford have all pulled the plug on production.

13 February, 2014

NSW government sells off in-house tech provider ac3

By Julian Bajkowski The New South Wales government has liquidated its 100 per cent shareholding in corporatised IT infrastructure and cloud computing broker, the Australian Centre for Advanced Computing and Communication (ac3) in a sale that Minister for Finance and Services Andrew Constance said was above the government-owned vendor’s “retention value”. The government-owned tech services […]

19 December, 2013

Foreign brands circle Federal fleet

By Julian Bajkowski The small but highly symbolic market of prestige saloons used to ferry around ministers, mayors and senior government officials is poll position to be the first replaced by upmarket European brands like Audi, BMW, Mercedes and Volkswagen after Holden’s shuttering of its Australian factories. As the ramifications of Holden’s announcement that it […]

17 December, 2013

Abetz returns fire over 14,500 APS retrenchments

By Julian Bajkowski The war of words over the scale and pace of downsizing in the Australian Public Service has sharply intensified after Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service and Minister for Employment, Senator Eric Abetz hit out at the former Labor government over plans to axe Department of Human Services call […]

11 December, 2013

Could Abbott be issued a Camry?

Analysis: Julian Bajkowski Cost conscious Prime Minister Tony Abbott and hundreds of his fellow parliamentarians could soon have to get to work in a more humble Toyota Camry if Holden stops manufacturing operations in Australia. At least that’s the case if previous local vehicle procurement preferences for the federal sector are maintained. As prestige European […]

10 December, 2013

Feds dial into BYOD for Whole-of-Government

By Paul Hemsley and Julian Bajkowski The federal government has officially gone to the market to recast it’s whole-of-government procurement of mobile products and services after the Department of Finance issued a Request for Tender for mobile service providers to become part of a new Mobile Panel set to be launched in March 2014. The […]

29 November, 2013

Public service morale plummets as 12,000 ‘natural attrition’ target fizzles

By Julian Bajkowski The prospect of looming job cuts in the federal public service is dragging down morale and feeding into a climate of deep uncertainty over job security, unions and Canberra’s Labor politicians have warned. As the Coalition government sets about attempting to thin the ranks of the bureaucracy by 12,000 positions through ‘natural […]

8 November, 2013

National Commission of Audit to probe far and wide

By Julian Bajkowski Initial details of the highly anticipated National Commission of Audit promised by the Abbott government have been released in Canberra by Treasurer Joe Hockey and Finance Minister Senator Matthias Cormann. The sweeping review of government functions, activities and spending will be chaired by Business Council of Australia president Tony Shephard. It will, […]

22 October, 2013

Coalition promises “virtually all” government services to be online by 2017

By Julian Bajkowski The Coalition has officially launched its eGovernment  and Digital Economy policy for the election in a wide-ranging document that reaffirms a commitment centralised procurement of government computing combined with the development of a permanent and centralised digital identity credential for online transactions between the public and agencies. Released by Shadow Communications Minister […]

2 September, 2013

Prime Minister’s protectors reverse over Ford

By Julian Bajkowski Former Prime Minister Julia Gillard and her erstwhile Industry Minister Greg Combet might want local governments to buy Australian-made vehicles to support the domestic manufacturing, but it's a very different story for the cars that closely tail the PM's official marque plated C*1. Less than a fortnight after top level pressure was […]

27 June, 2013

Public service given mobile marching orders

By Julian Bajkowski Federal agencies and departments have been firmly put on notice by Communications Minister Stephen Conroy and Special Minister of State Mark Dreyfus QC that they are expected to waste no time in delivering services to the public on mobile platforms as part of a major shake-up in public service culture. The two […]

12 June, 2013

Pearce eases NSW telecommunications procurement

By Paul Hemsley New South Wales Minister for Finance and Services, Greg Pearce has simplified the means for state government agencies to procure telecommunications equipment, infrastructure and services in a new plan that reflects the O’Farrell government’s broader plan of creating a single and consistent way for agencies to operate procurement. The scheme has been […]

21 May, 2013

Verizon boosts federal data centre capacity

By Julian Bajkowski and Paul Hemsley Suppliers of data centre services to the federal government are conspicuously boosting their capacity ahead of the May Budget amid growing expectations that Canberra-based agencies will look to various models of cloud computing to slash infrastructure costs and improve performance. Verizon, an entrenched player in the secure government data […]

15 April, 2013

Feds get $1.1 million parking ticket

By Julian Bajkowski If you thought the price of parking is a rip-off, spare a thought for Senator Penny Wong, the Federal Finance Minister. New figures and analysis released today by Canberra’s top bean-counters reveal that the Commonwealth public servants spent a total $1.1 million in ‘parking fees’ over the 2011-12 financial year – a […]

11 April, 2013