Agencies have for years played on the margins of cloud, only to find choices and progress constrained amid concerns over security, sovereignty, governance and resilience. Microsoft Azure’s launch for government coupled with its official ASD rating as a ‘Protected’ level provider changes that -- big time. Read More
Job losses aren’t the only dark side of automation. Account takeovers powered by credential stuffing are fast becoming the new black for cyber attackers hitting government. Read More
Managing employee mental health is a particularly “complex and sensitive challenge” for emergency services, the Commonwealth auditor-general’s office has observed in an audit report. Read More
It's a scenario that nearly every public affairs officer and senior executive has faced -- probably many times over. Read More
A single Defence Department was brought together in the 1970s. Later, Foreign and Affairs and Trade were merged, never to be separated again. Now Australia needs a Department of Home Affairs to confront global forces of evil, according to its secretary-designate. Read More
It’s possible the Home Affairs superministry didn’t go far enough, with cyber still out of the main game. What’s left is a classic bureaucratic compromise that in the end will work against the primary aim of better co-ordination against threats. Read More
Hacking has always been a competition. But do today’s big sports events still have what it takes to beat the bad guys? Read More
In the wake of another ransomware attack, Malcolm Turnbull's announcement of new offensive capabilities to combat cyber criminals and fight the wars of the future may have reassured some voters. But the big challenges -- a skills shortage and international collaboration -- remain. Read More
Advances in biometric, policing and crowd management technology combined with global heightened security concerns will put the GC2018 into uncharted territory. Can future events of this scale be safe and secure as well as fair, accessible and compliant with privacy protections? Read More
It's not just flashy crims that anti-fraud investigators are watching. The risk of the trusted insider — officials rationalising bad behaviour by a self-assessment of being underpaid and undervalued, or seeking to protect others — is very real, yet the ATO has a very low rate of malfeasance. That's down to a solid corruption control plan. Read More
The discovery of an alleged tax fraud scheme may disrupt the ATO's Panama papers investigation, worries Andrew Leigh. It also reinforces calls for a federal ICAC. Read More
Andrew Colvin, Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police addressed the institute on the gender equity and culture reforms that galvanised on the back of Elizabeth Broderick's review of the organisation last year. Read More
Australian Federal Police commissioner Andrew Colvin spoke to a packed house of public sector people about his efforts to reform organisational culture, particularly around gender equity. He says it's not about fixing the AFP, because it's not broken. Read More
OPINION: The law that enables the AFP to go after whistleblowers and journalists contains no public-interest defence. That needs to be fixed, but the next government must also prioritise changing the "craven culture" of the AFP. Read More
ANALYSIS: Evaluating policy efficacy is usually trumped by the urgency of meeting border and law enforcement operational targets. The next government can help by making a clear policy statement. Read More
