About the author Editor Harley Dennett is editor at The Mandarin based in Canberra. He's held communications roles in the New South Wales public sector and Defence, and been a staff reporter for newspapers in Sydney and Washington DC. Follow Harley Dennett
Clerk's apology sets tone for mending the wounds of UK harassment Tuesday March 13, 2018 By Harley Dennett Features When a British public sector institution found itself at the centre of #MeToo claims, its head acted swiftly to apologise to his staff for leaving the… Read more
The Everests that women will still conquer Tuesday March 6, 2018 By Harley Dennett Economy & Industry As Australia prepares to host the Global Summit of Women – dubbed the “Davos for women” – what do policymakers still need to know about… Read more
Julie Bishop's days of allowing men to take credit for women's ideas are over Wednesday February 28, 2018 By Harley Dennett People & Capability Julie Bishop and Frances Adamson reveal male colleagues still steal their thunder — in cabinet and the secretaries board. They urge women to stand up… Read more
States in 'destructive' rivalry for Commonwealth contracts Tuesday February 27, 2018 By Harley Dennett Defence Australian states are engaged in a competition reminiscent of the crazed scenes in the US where cities are offering deals that would drive their budget… Read more
How Adelaide plans to reach 'zero homelessness' within two years Thursday February 22, 2018 By Harley Dennett Case studies A coalition of more than 30 organisations include three SA government departments and the City of Adelaide have agreed on an implementation plan to tackle… Read more
What Chris Moraitis learned from 5 years of constant organisation change Wednesday February 21, 2018 By Harley Dennett Features The head of the Attorney General's Department shared his secrets to leading organisational change this morning, kicking off this year’s IPAA ACT secretary series. Read more
Home Affairs-AGD shakeup authors address accountability concerns Friday February 9, 2018 By Harley Dennett Foreign Affairs & Immigration Also, Michael Pezzullo's new portfolio will not be taking counter-terrorism orders from a parliamentary secretary — even though it looks that way in the proposed… Read more
NBN defends its privileged salaries as Rem Tribunal told to rethink pecking order Tuesday February 6, 2018 By Harley Dennett News Executive salaries are a pain the government might have hoped it left behind with the departure of Australia Post's $10m CEO Ahmed Fahour, but it's… Read more
Laissez-faire cyber security: what could go wrong? Wednesday January 31, 2018 By Harley Dennett Features If you saw the news about fitness tracker Strava revealing secure government buildings, and thought ‘someone would have told me if there was a risk… Read more
Defence loses half its top executives Thursday January 25, 2018 By Harley Dennett Defence It's been a wild ride for new Defence secretary Greg Moriarty, with more than half the positions in his top leadership team vacated. Roxanne Kelly… Read more
Govdex out, Data#3 takes over Canberra's digital collaboration Monday January 22, 2018 By Harley Dennett News Govdex, the federal government's digital file-sharing and collaboration platform, has been marked for termination for more than a year now. Today Finance's John Sheridan officially… Read more
How The Mandarin readers stayed informed in 2017 Tuesday December 19, 2017 By Harley Dennett News This was almost the year of the viral recruitment video, satire, and flexible working. And it might have been, but for all the hatches, matches… Read more
Get ready for more disruption: Parkinson floats national citizen survey Tuesday December 12, 2017 By Harley Dennett Jurisdiction A case can be made for the APS to conduct a regular, non-partisan citizens’ survey, says the APS head. A risky endeavour, he acknowledges, but… Read more
New agency needed to combat slavery practices in Australia Monday December 11, 2017 By Harley Dennett Foreign Affairs & Immigration Slavery-like practices continue to be found around Australia today, a federal joint committee has found, despite a national action plan involving 11 Commonwealth agencies. But… Read more
'What marriage law change?' Same-sex couples on registries' do-later backlog Friday December 8, 2017 By Harley Dennett News NSW was alone this week in allowing same-sex couples to preemptively notify their intent to marry. The bill received royal assent this morning, after a campaign… Read more
