Want to vent your fury about net censorship? Bernard Keane offers some tips for making your correspondence to your local MP as painful as possible, drawn from his sordid, blood-soaked and adventure-filled time as a public servant.
Public service
leaked Crikey Says: The ATO’s business needs: lest we forget
The ATO has asked tax office managers to balance their “business needs” against a minute of silence for Remembrance Day next week.
Exeunt Grech
The curtain has finally dropped on the long and controversial public service career of Godwin Grech, according to The Oz, making a quiet exit stage left from the Treasury last week.
The culture of Public Service secrecy dies hard
Although public service agencies put on their websites details of all contracts valued at over $100,000, it’s harder than ever to see who’s receiving public money and what they’re receiving it for.
Podger’s public service: the threat to good policy
Former Health Department Secretary Andrew Podger’s new book offers an intriguing insider’s perspective of how the Australian public service has both improved and regressed in recent decades.
NT issues are pretty black and white
The political mess that is the NT continues to worsen, with a troubled public service, lack of services to indigenous communities and reliance on the federal government.
Public servants serve the public interest, period
Public servants have a direct responsibility to act in the public interest in all aspects of their work, writes former public service commissioner Andrew Podger.
Your Say: Daily Mail readers' feedback: The role of the public service: Crikey readers respond (with lots more on our website)
Following a speech from PM’s department head Terry Moran, we asked Crikey readers to muse on the role of the Australian public servant. Muse they did …
The Moran public service revolution is underway
PM&C head Terry Moran has heralded a return to more centralised Public Service as part of an effort to strengthen its capacity for high-quality advice.
Some strange conclusions drawn in the Borrowman case
What’s going on with the head of Prime Minister and Cabinet’s International Division? Bernard Keane investigates.
ABS staff removal shemozzle
The downright bizarre process adopted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics to cut 180 staff prior to the Budget has now been acknowledged as “clearly inadequate”.
ATO leakers exempt from Boucher inquiry
Senior ATO investigators who breached the secrecy provisions of the tax office will not be prosecuted, thanks to the Boucher Review’s terms of reference, writes Chris Seage.
Job losses in ACT public service?
With the ACT set to end the financial year $41.3 million in the red, it’s preparing to impose a 1% efficiency dividend, which has unions worried about jobs.
Who is Ken Henry?
Friend of wombats or duplicitous Canberra fatcat public servant?…
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Meaty snippets from the home of government plus the daily reality check and the pick of other people’s political coverage. Richard Farmer writes.
Pity the public service, struggling to serve
At a time when the Government is refusing to rule out compulsory redundancies in the Commonwealth Public Service, most public servants will tell you that the problem isn’t too many of them, but not enough, writes Bernard Keane.
Richard Farmer’s political bite-sized meaty chunks
Beating the retreat … A measure of creeping centralisation … Rod on the spot … The Daily Reality Check … The Pick of this Morning’s Political Coverage … The Pick of the Weekend’s Political Coverage …
