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Complying with the Freedom of Information Act is a second-order priority for the Minister and the Department of Home Affairs, according to secretary Michael Pezzullo, who thinks his FOI team’s performance is “commendable” considering the limited resources it has to work with. The secretary will not allocate more resources to
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A major inquiry in Victoria has heard a former MP had delivered hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of cash to a local councillor on behalf of a property developer. The Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission has been investigating corruption allegations in Melbourne’s City of Casey council in a number of
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The decision of Northern Territory Independent Commissioner Against Corruption Ken Fleming to step aside from a review related to the alleged murder of Kumanjayi Walker by a police officer demonstrates how hard it is for such bodies to maintain an air of genuine independence. This week the commissioner stepped aside
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The Australian National University’s Asia & the Pacific Policy Society has relaunched its leadership team in celebration of its policy blog’s five-year anniversary. Professor Helen Sullivan has been appointed president of the society, replacing Professor Tom Kompas. Sullivan will be assisted by the convenor, Professor Quentin Grafton. Run by ANU’s
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The latest Protective Security Policy Framework (PSPF) compliance report confirms that the Morrison government has fallen asleep at the wheel when it comes to cybersecurity, with almost 40% of government entities still not implementing basic cybersecurity measures. The report was released last week, but the federal government is hoping you didn’t
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Is there a silver bullet to effective negotiation? Is there a way to win every time? Well, no. In many negotiations, the essence of getting what you want lies in finding out what the other party wants from the process. Indeed, we need to understand the other party’s interests to
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The first mental health commissioner for South Australia will soon step down. Former military officer Chris Burns announced his planned departure as he takes up a chief executive officer role at the Hutt St Centre early next year. The Adelaide-based organisation offers services and facilities for those experiencing homelessness. Burns
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The world is changing, fast – and it’s project managers across all industries and walks of life who are in a constant conversation to what to do to grapple with those changes. So, what are the issues project managers are facing right now, and what are their thoughts on the
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We need to revolutionise agriculture in the next 30 years. In 2050 we may have almost 10 billion people to feed. Farmland is already degraded by existing agriculture, and climate change is putting new pressure on crops and livestock. With the tools we have now we can’t create new breeds
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A major restructure of New South Wales’ transport agencies has led to a spill of at least 25 senior management roles, with decisions to be made next month. Documents seen by the Sydney Morning Herald have revealed a reshuffle of leadership roles within Transport for NSW — the state’s primary
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THE PIA REVIEW: PIA ANDREWS This is the final in the Public Sector Pia Review — a series on better public sectors. When I started working in the public sector, I found a few strange patterns of operations and behaviour that I struggled to understand. I couldn’t understand how we could
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On Nov 19, 2019, Consumer Policy Research Centre CEO Lauren Solomon delivered this speech in Melbourne. Whether we realise it or not, we are currently engaged in one of the most significant live experiments on the planet. We are adopting technologies with a lot of promise, faster than we can
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