Geoff Gallop outlines what he sees as some of the important issues at stake in the contemporary debate about accountability and how to properly guarantee it in our national politics and government. Read More
Alison Larkins has returned to the job of deputy secretary social policy at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. Read More
Centrelink has agreed to keep working on the robodebt system to make it fairer and more transparent in line with new recommendations from the Commonwealth… Read More
Commonwealth Ombudsman Michael Manthorpe has told his former Immigration colleagues to have yet another go at fixing detention review processes after an administrative error led to a man being detained for almost four years while holding a valid visa. Read More
It's taken several years into PGPA implementation for a departmental head to push back at prescriptive interpretations. To win this battle, the Treasury boss will need to convince the two independent reviewers set to re-write PGPA rules for agencies. Read More
The Senate inquiry into digital service delivery could well devolve into a political bunfight, but ministers and senior public servants might gain some useful insights anyway, by listening to what voices from outside government are saying. Read More
Even the Commonwealth's watchdog is struggling to meet service standards as the volume of complaints from people in wretched situations continues to climb. Where is the succour, asks Verona Burgess. Read More
Centrelink's 'robodebt' system should be suspended until all procedural fairness flaws are addressed, argues a Senate inquiry report. Human checks should be reinstated. Read More
In a break with convention, the federal government has appointed a career public servant directly from the senior ranks of the immigration and border protection portfolio as the next Commonwealth Ombudsman. Read More
The Commonwealth Ombudsman reports Centrelink's automated debt recovery drive is an example of digital transformation that failed to maintain good public administration, procedural fairness under administrative law, and risk management. Read More
OPINION: Federal government corporations need an independent regulator, argues Neil Westbury, a former top bureaucrat who sat on the Indigenous Land Corporation board. Read More
OPINION: Support for an anti-corruption body examining Commonwealth institutions won't go away as cross-bench senators revive the public debate. But what would such a body look like? Here are some options ... Read More
A world-leading collaborative research project is back, bigger than ever, to shed light on how to manage whistleblowers so everyone wins. The call has gone out to all Australian agencies to take part. Read More
Too many small, interpersonal matters are being dressed up as whistleblowing, says the nation's former integrity commissioner who will soon complete a statutory two-year review of the Commonwealth's disclosure law. Read More
Policy should dictate automated processes and not the other way around, the Commonwealth Ombudsman has warned Canberra, following a review of Centrelink's income management measure. Read More
