Christopher Pyne

Australian defence procurement has been a honeypot of billions of dollars, a major lure for international defence contractors. But accountability and transparency are thin on the ground.

The ‘big swinging dicks’ group might not exist any more, but its mentality is alive and well in the Liberal Party. Here’s who’s got it.

Former bureaucrats, public service officials and elected representatives rarely struggle with the conflict of interest issues that arise when lobby groups recruit them.

The auditor general recommended Defence extend the strategy’s performance framework and develop an evaluation framework to measure and report on the achievement of overarching goal and objectives, to which the department has agreed.

Twenty-six out of 57 Abbott-era MPs and senators who have lost their seat, retired, or lost preselection have since taken on positions in the public sector.

A group of former ministerial advisors and ex-politicians has launched a think tank aiming to develop evidence-based pathways for reform in response to the new economic and social context of the coronavirus pandemic. The Blueprint Institute was co-founded by two of Julie Bishop’s former advisors.

The former secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has been criticised over his report into two former ministers, with a push for his successor to reopen the case. Martin Parkinson was tasked with investigating Christopher Pyne and Julie Bishop over their appointments to jobs connected with their former portfolios.

Recent jobs taken by former senior ministers Julie Bishop and Christopher Pyne have brought on ire of the Australian Senate, which is now concluding an inquiry into the matter. The testimony before the inquiry has been extraordinary: not just for what was said, but for what wasn’t — Australia’s lobbying laws are almost totally ineffective.

Dr Martin Parkinson wants to make it clear for the record that he was never formally sacked as the secretary of the Treasury in 2013, despite being told his services were no longer required shortly after Tony Abbott became prime minister.

A who’s-who of the members in contention for Coalition ministerial positions in the days after the 2019 federal election.