This Month
Public servant wages outpace private for the first time since 2020
Annual wage growth fell to 3.5 per cent in September from 4.1 per cent in June, as pay growth slowed on the back of a cooling economy.
- Updated
- Michael Read
- Exclusive
- Government debt
Victoria’s debt levies haul in far more than expected
The latest budget update reveals the state Labor government has raised more taxes than forecast but made fewer cuts than promised.
- Patrick Durkin and Gus McCubbing
$500m in Canberra consulting to be slashed
Consulting firms working for Defence, the NDIS and the Tax Office will be hardest hit by a new plan to strip more than $500 million in work from the embattled advisory sector this financial year.
- Edmund Tadros
October
Corruption chief ‘engaged in misconduct’ on stopping robo-debt probe
Anti-corruption chief Paul Brereton should have excused himself completely from decisions involving a former military colleague and robo-debt chief Kathryn Campbell.
- Tom Burton
- Analysis
- Government Observed
Victoria’s $8b black box, stamped confidential
In 2022, pandemic-indebted Victoria sold its motor registry to a consortium led by Macquarie Bank. Two years later there is not much to show for it, and the secretive registry is free from scrutiny.
- Tom Burton
‘Nothing is stopping it’: spring fears for avian flu on the move
Authorities are on red alert for any springtime outbreak of the deadly H5N1 bird flu, as an army of citizen scientists look for early signs of the virus.
- Tom Burton
Office distractions hinder workplace productivity: study
Fewer distractions and better supervision have emerged as critical ingredients to driving better productivity returns from hybrid working.
- Tom Burton and Euan Black
- Analysis
- Government Observed
Why measuring public sector productivity is so slippery
When Productivity Commission researchers examined past assessments of the health system’s productivity earlier this year, they were pleasantly surprised.
- Tom Burton
September
True blue dilemma: what makes a business Australian?
As the Albanese government prepares to throw billions of dollars at its signature Made in Australia scheme, there is no agreed definition on what makes an Australian business.
- Tom Burton
Top bureaucrat breached code of conduct 12 times during robo-debt
A review has found 12 public servants, including department secretary Kathryn Campbell, breached the public service code of conduct 97 times during the notorious debt recovery scheme.
- Tom Burton
Anti-corruption commission clears former ASIC deputy Karen Chester
The National Anti-Corruption Commission has sought to protect against unfair reputation damage, clearing former ASIC deputy chairman Karen Chester of corrupt behaviour
- Tom Burton
Why ‘body-shopping’ for consultants is dead in Canberra
The firms hardest hit by sharply lower government spending on consulting are those contracting out short- or medium-term advisers to agencies and departments.
- Edmund Tadros
Urgent laws needed to ban AI election fakes
AI-generated fake videos showing political leaders banning gambling advertising have prompted the government to seek the advice of the Electoral Commission.
- Tom Burton
- Analysis
- Government Observed
How to unlock the productivity power of a forgotten sector
There is a renewed push to get better value from the vast array of government services that make up around 20 per cent of the economy.
- Tom Burton
August
Albanese backflips on sexuality census question
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has agreed to reinstate a census question on sexual orientation, but remains under pressure to survey all gender identities.
- Tom Burton and Phillip Coorey
- Opinion
- Government Observed
A culture war is the least of the census’ problems. Let’s get rid of it
A ditched plan to include questions about the LGBTQ community in the census has raised questions about the future of the $600 million big five-yearly national survey.
- Tom Burton
- Exclusive
- Office
Remote working drives down federal office costs
More workers are sharing desks and work stations as part of flexible work, pushing average staff costs down by $850 per worker.
- Tom Burton
- Analysis
- Government Observed
The $340m government IT disaster no one cared about
The idea was simple enough: one back-office system to better co-ordinate all government departments. A decade later, the plan has been abandoned at big public expense.
- Tom Burton
Clean and green but are the new climate tsars conflict free?
Matt Kean’s dual gigs show how limited expertise has brought investors and policymakers uncomfortably close.
- John Kehoe and Hannah Wootton
The hidden jobs revealed by the new skills atlas
A new digital jobs and skills atlas shows where the hidden jobs are and reveals surprising new trends, especially in regional Australia.
- Tom Burton
