Services Australia sees return of former chief transformation officer Tuesday May 26, 2020 By Shannon Jenkins Communications & Technology Senior public servant John Murphy has left his role as Services Australia's chief transformation officer, prompting the return of a familiar face. Read more
Kathryn Campbell on DSS’s pandemic response and why she’s proud to be a public servant Wednesday April 29, 2020 By Shannon Jenkins Community & Social Kathryn Campbell tells how her department has worked tirelessly throughout the bushfires and the pandemic, and what public servants across the country should be considering… Read more
Premium Columnists Old fiscal ideas are back, along with whatever creative new policies the public service can devise Tuesday April 14, 2020 By Bernard Keane Economy & Industry The government's discovery that public servants aren’t good merely for implementing its diktats has got to stick in the craw of a government whose signature… Read more
Robodebt: Government expects to refund more than 400,000 welfare debts Friday March 27, 2020 By Shannon Jenkins Federal The federal government plans to refund more than 400,000 Centrelink debts as part of a looming class action against the controversial robodebt scheme. A ministerial… Read more
Services Australia puts measures in place to deal with ‘unprecedented demand’ Thursday March 26, 2020 By Shannon Jenkins Federal The government is upgrading myGov's capacity by creating more load space in the information and communications technology systems to accommodate the surge in demand. Read more
Influx of 95,000 users crashed MyGov, not cyber attack Tuesday March 24, 2020 By Shannon Jenkins Federal The government services minister has taken back his claim that a cyber attack similar to the one used to bring down the 2016 Census had… Read more
Centrelink service centres set to close in VIC and NSW Tuesday February 25, 2020 By Shannon Jenkins Federal The services centres have announced closures in various communities that include Mornington and Newport in Victoria, and Newcastle and Tweed Heads in New South Wales. Read more
Robodebt aftermath: new laws target Centrelink overpayments Tuesday January 28, 2020 By Shannon Jenkins Community & Social New laws are set to change the government’s welfare payment system in an aim to prevent overpayments . Legislation to be introduced in the first… Read more
Feds plan to join up government using computer science, on the way to service delivery ‘Nirvana’ Monday December 2, 2019 By Stephen Easton Communications & Technology The federal government wants to create whole-of-government information technology architecture to underpin its ambitious plans to improve service delivery. Read more
The big reveal: Services Australia reforms linked to data sharing and digital transformation Monday December 2, 2019 By Stephen Easton Communications & Technology The federal government's Digital Transformation Strategy and data-sharing reforms have been stitched together with the government’s ambitious plan to completely transform the Commonwealth’s troubled service… Read more
Senate: show us the robodebt legal advice Thursday November 28, 2019 By Stephen Easton Federal The Community and Public Sector Union says the government has been ignoring the concerns of Centrelink staff about the robodebt system for years, while the… Read more
Robodebt defeated: Commonwealth caves in and accepts debt and 10% penalty both invalid Wednesday November 27, 2019 By Stephen Easton Federal The Commonwealth government has conceded one Centrelink’s robodebt was invalid due to the use of income averaging in the absence of concrete evidence — the… Read more
‘No apologies’ for robodebt, no admission of ‘mistakes’ despite major retroactive change Tuesday November 19, 2019 By Stephen Easton Communications & Technology Minister for Human Services Stuart Robert says there will be “no apologies” from the federal government over how its much-maligned robodebt program has operated in… Read more
Robodebt ‘refinement’ or strategic back-down? Human Services reads the writing on the wall Tuesday November 19, 2019 By Stephen Easton Community & Social The Department of Human Services will no longer raise welfare debts based only on the unproven assumption that a person earned an income from employment… Read more
Premium Case studies Following America’s own robodebt scandal, New Mexico took a different path to tackling welfare fraud. It was just the ticket Friday October 18, 2019 By David Donaldson Case studies Robodebt was not the first welfare algorithm to falsely accuse beneficiaries of fraud. Seeking to avoid these problems, New Mexico opted for a nudge-based system… Read more
