Public servants need to change the culture of asking permission for every little thing, says the Department of Finance executive trying to strip out internal red tape. The challenge is doing so without making more in the process. Read More
Public service strikes have "negligible impact", says APS commissioner John Lloyd. Is his nonchalance genuine, or is the union campaign having an impact? Read More
Australian Public Service commissioner John Lloyd hits back at plans for strikes to hit airports around the Easter long weekend. The timing of the strikes "appears to be designed to cause maximum disruption to the public". Read More
Being a public service manager means seeing the big picture and being prepared to call out bad behaviour, argues the Australian Public Service commissioner. The APS needs more honest feedback to improve performance. Read More
The APSC is working with agencies on making it easier to fire underperforming staff, Canberra's public sector chief has revealed. Recruitment is also on the agenda, and he wants an end to acrimony over pay. Read More
It's not true, says the public service minister, after reports of slashed domestic violence leave. As strike action ramps up, a working mother tells The Mandarin why part-time workers are squeezed out. Read More
The Public Service Minister flags an announcement "within weeks" about reforms to APS flexibility, recruitment processes, gender pay gap reporting and unconscious bias training. Read More
There's "high standards" but "enormous opportunity" for public servants in Canberra, commissioner John Lloyd has told the new graduate intake. But they'll have to think creatively and be ready for change. Read More
The public service commissioner has challenged the union over "prescriptive clauses" in enterprise agreements. He says it's "appropriate" some provisions are documented in policy instead. Read More
The anti-corruption researcher questions the growing clamour for a Commonwealth ICAC. International best practice instead points to a council model, he suggests, answering to a cross-party committee. Read More
FEATURE: Despite homogeneity, within government's human capital lie true entrepreneurs. DARPA's "special forces" model is an unconventional approach to unlocking potential, writes a veteran of wicked problems. Read More
Make risk assessments part of Cabinet proposals, put advice in writing, give businesses a direct say in how the public service is run ... Highlights from Peter Shergold's radical wish list for administrative reform. Read More
Peter Shergold was asked to find lessons for public servants from failures under the previous government. He seized the opportunity to launch a manifesto for public service transformation through "adaptive government". Read More
ESTIMATES LATEST: Ministers and top bureaucrats engaged in a few testy exchanges in their first Estimates hearings for 2016. Read More
Will public servants be denied time to express milk and feed infants while on the job, as one MP claims? "No," was the blunt answer provided to The Mandarin. Read More
