Movers & Shakers: New assistant secretaries Federal New Human Rights Commissioner appointed, new DPIE Secretary, Fairfax MP is special envoy for the Brisbane 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
Committee calls for ‘substantial change’ within Environment department in scathing report August 25, 2021 By Shannon Jenkins Energy & Environment The Joint Statutory Committee on Public Accounts and Audit has released its report on its inquiry into the regulatory activities of five agencies, including DAWE.
Audit of Defence contract with IBM highlights conflict of interest issues August 17, 2021 By Shannon Jenkins Communications & Technology ANAO says Defence’s governance of a major ICT reform initiative has been undermined by the involvement of contractors in decision-making arrangements.
Premium Columnists A public service that stuffs up is not going to get off Scot free July 30, 2021 By Verona Burgess Editors' Picks While nobody votes for public servants, various vehicles for accountability can drag on excruciatingly and claim many careers.
Premium Insights and analysis Time running out for Australia to do the right thing for locally engaged in Afghanistan July 29, 2021 By Tom Ravlic Defence A UN report on Afghanistan is compelling justification for the federal government to get Afghan employees who worked for Australians away from the Taliban.
Premium Columnists Being ’embarrassing’ doesn’t seem to matter to the government July 13, 2021 By Tom Ravlic Editors' Picks Good auditors are like wombats and any documents that look like the record-keeping equivalent of Swiss cheese will prompt more digging. But to what end?, writes Tom Ravlic.
ANAO: Infrastructure department’s approach to choosing projects for $660m car park fund ‘not appropriate’ June 29, 2021 By Shannon Jenkins Federal ANAO found Infrastructure’s administration of the car park projects ‘was not designed to be open or transparent’ nor was it ‘demonstrated that projects were selected on merit’.
Audit finds government response to biosecurity rule-breakers ‘largely inappropriate’ June 8, 2021 By Shannon Jenkins Energy & Environment The ANAO finds the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment’s arrangements for dealing with rule-breakers ‘largely inappropriate’.
Health secretary says audits during COVID-19 ‘burden’ staff May 30, 2021 By Shannon Jenkins Federal Brendan Murphy defends his department after questions were raised about the effectiveness of its deployment of personal PPE during COVID-19.
AFP raid public servant’s home during Leppington Triangle investigation April 21, 2021 By Shannon Jenkins Federal Police searched a public servant’s Canberra property in February as part of that investigation, after executing three warrants.
Encrypted messages are ‘grey area’ in record-keeping requirements, David Fricker says April 15, 2021 By Shannon Jenkins Communications & Technology The National Archives of Australia has sought legal advice on the “pressing issue” of public servants using encrypted messaging platforms to conduct official business.
Defence not implementing parliamentary and ANAO recommendations on time, audit finds April 14, 2021 By Shannon Jenkins Defence Defence has fully implemented less than half of the 32 recommendations made to it by parliamentary committees and the Australian National Audit Office.
Commonwealth agencies failing to comply with cyber security requirements March 22, 2021 By Shannon Jenkins Communications & Technology PM&C and the Attorney-General’s Department are not ‘cyber resilient’ and have overstated their implementation of the federal government’s mandatory strategies to mitigate cyber security incidents
Australia’s most important government agencies refuse to secure their IT systems March 22, 2021 By Bernard Keane Editors' Picks Two key departments have refused to implement even the most basic cybersecurity requirements and wrongly claimed to have done so.
Agriculture department reviewing $13m overspend on water buyback March 17, 2021 By Shannon Jenkins Energy & Environment Grant Hehir has asked Agriculture, Water and the Environment the reason behind its $80 million purchase of a water buyback in 2017.