The public sector should provide public services, says UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn. “We will rewrite the rules to give the public back control of their services,” he has said, in the wake of the high-profile failure of services and construction company Carillion, which has billions of pounds in government contracts. “Theresa May has […]
18 January, 2018
Australia ranks only 14th (out of 20 countries rated) in its preparedness for autonomous vehicles, according to a new report. KPMG’s new global ‘Autonomous Vehicles Readiness Index’ report rates four factors for autonomous vehicles (AVs) readiness. Australia scores reasonably well on AV-related policy and legislation, but after the demise of local vehicle manufacturing, rates very […]
18 January, 2018
In October 2017 Townsville City Council and Rockhampton Regional Council announced that they would jointly fund a $30 million airstrip for the Adani Carmichael coal mine in Central Queensland. The announcement was made even though the construction of the mine itself remains uncertain, and despite the fact that the airstrip is hundreds of kilometres from […]
18 January, 2018
The Prime Minister’s southern tour is taking on the look of an election campaign. One morning it’s the promise of a City Deal for Hobart (noticeably devoid of any actual projects or funding), that afternoon it’s a re-announcement of Launceston’s City Deal, the next day after a hop across the Bass Strait Geelong gets a […]
17 January, 2018
New data from the Housing Industry Association (HIA) shows that the overall proportion of state government revenue coming from stamp duty on property purchases is the highest it has been for ten years. The data is contained in the HIA’s latest quarterly ‘Stamp Duty Watch’ report. Highlights: The dependence of Australia’s states on stamp duty […]
16 January, 2018
Tasmania’s capital Hobart will become the fifth Australian city to sign up to the Federal Government’s City Deal program, well after cross-island rival Launceston. Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull and Tasmanian Premier Will Hodgman have announced they will “help make a City Deal for Hobart a reality” – consistent with the Federal Government’s strategy of announcing […]
15 January, 2018
Australia’s federal system of government has its pluses and minuses. Proponents say federalism is necessary in a country as large as Australia, while others say our population is too small and that state governments are an expensive and inefficient way of ensuring we are properly governed. It is generally agreed that the biggest disadvantage of […]
15 January, 2018
New South Wales is the first Australian state to test drivers for cocaine use. All Australian states now have random driver drug testing, similar to random breath testing for alcohol. But the existing kits in all states test only THC (Cannabis), methamphetamine (speed and ice) and MDMA (ecstasy). Cocaine, a drug widely associated with more […]
15 January, 2018
Local government, and more particularly the conduct of individual councillors and council staff, has become a major issue in the South Australian election, which is now less than two months away. South Australians go to the polls on 17 March. It will be one of the more interesting elections in Australia in recent years, with […]
14 January, 2018
It has barely been reported in Australia, but it is big news in Britain. One of that country’s largest beneficiaries of government outsourcing, a company called Carillion, has gone broke. While the Government has refused to bail it out, the British taxpayer will still have to pay the pension liabilities and the continuing wages to […]
14 January, 2018
In 2017 listed Australian software supplier TechnologyOne signed 240 new deals with local government authorities across Australia, New Zealand and the UK. These included implementations of systems previously ordered, and many councils transitioning to the new OneCouncil Software-as-a-Service (SaaS) cloud-based system. But the year was clouded by the company’s legal battle with Australia’s largest LGA, […]
11 January, 2018
Record-breaking temperatures across Australia have seen no end to the continued bickering over climate and energy policy in Australia. The release of Keating-era cabinet papers from 1994 show that the Governmnet was struggling with how to address the issue even then. In 1992, Environment Minister Ros Kelly had signed Australia up to the new UN […]
11 January, 2018
The Australian Government’s move to outsource key visa functions has drawn a sharp response from the Commonwealth Public Service Union (CPSU). Although it came into existence only on 1 January, the new Department of Home Affairs has been quick to continue the outsourcing strategies of its predecessors, the Australian Border Force and the Department of […]
11 January, 2018
Two new reports have highlighted the extent of corruption in the Australian Public Service (APS). One of the says that corrupt practices may cost the economy as much as $72 billion dollars since 2012. Australia’s Public Service Commission has released a report that says that 5 percent of APS survey respondents said they had witnessed […]
11 January, 2018End of content
No more pages to load
Roger Buhlert on: Revenue NSW automated debt recovery ‘unlawful’, ombudsman finds
Ron. Ismay. on: New laws introduced to clean up local government
Helen Ciampa on: New laws introduced to clean up local government