Top bureaucrat grilled on departmental ‘cover up’

The AFP is investigating the $30 million purchase of land near the Western Sydney Airport site.

19 October, 2020

Trust in local government high, councils told

Australians have a strong connection to their local councils despite public confidence in institutions falling, a conference has been told.

28 February, 2019

Feds want drivers licenses for facial recognition

The Federal Government will ask the states and territories to provide photos and personal information from drivers licences to build a national facial recognition scheme.

4 October, 2017

Labor Shadow Ministry List (Federal)

Full list with sensible formatting

25 July, 2016

Finance launches investigation into ERP software costs

By Julian Bajkowski The Department of Finance has put some of the world’s biggest business software companies on notice that their lucrative contracts will soon be the subject to a sweeping review as the federal government seeks to extract better value from so-called enterprise resource management (ERP) systems. Just a week after the election of […]

17 September, 2013

CPSU suspends campaign support for Rudd

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

Rudd taps software vendor profits to extract carbon scheme savings

By Julian Bajkowski Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has thrown down the gauntlet to Commonwealth Public Service executives to start extracting much greater efficiency and productivity gains from technology and software or face the prospect of hundreds of upper-level forced redundancies. Mr Rudd and Treasurer Chris Bowen on Tuesday revealed well-anticipated expenditure reduction measures aimed at […]

16 July, 2013

Quigley calls time on NBN

By Julian Bajkowski The chief executive of the National Broadband Network Co., Mike Quigley has pulled the plug on his role at the top job of the $37.4 billion government infrastructure provider, a move that paves the way for a senior executive restructure most likely to occur following the federal election. In an announcement this […]

12 July, 2013

Holden’s subsidy demand spells more doubt for fleet buyers

By Julian Bajkowski and Paul Hemsley Australian public sector fleet buyers are facing fresh uncertainty over the future of General Motors Holden’s domestic manufacturing operations Australia after the carmaker reportedly demanded another $265 million from the federal government in addition to the $275 million that Canberra has already committed to keep the Aussie icon’s factories […]

12 July, 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

Budget 2013-14 delivers $18 billion deficit but spares big cuts

By Julian Bajkowski Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has delivered a Budget crowned by a gaping $18 billion deficit and underpinned by future “responsible, targeted” savings projections of $43 billion to be delivered by Finance Minister Penny Wong in what could become a largely decorative set of numbers following the federal election in just four-months. After […]

14 May, 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

Wong hunts for new travel savings

By Julian Bajkowski Federal finance minister Penny Wong has laid the ground for a fresh round of public service cost cutting in the May Budget as the Gillard government anxiously hunts for ways to trim federal spending without firing bureaucrats. In a statement released on a public holiday and April Fools Day, Senator Wong said […]

2 April, 2013

Paywall to surround official government Style guide

By Julian Bajkowski The federal government’s official style guide is set to become a pay-per-view exercise after the Department of Finance and Deregulation revealed that it will imminently gavel-off the public sector reference manual to private operators to cut costs. A tender notification issued by Finance reveals that the agency intends to pursue a “seeking […]

30 January, 2013