Andrew Podger’s brilliant reimagining of the Australian Public Service
Verona Burgess analyses former APS Commissioner Andrew Podger’s thought-provoking 8800-word submission to the Thodey review. Read More
Department of Finance
Flexible, affordable, practical: what cloud really offers government
The demands, expectations and security of government information and technology carry a different weighting of governance and public expectation. Microsoft Azure finally unleashes the capacity to deliver innovative and efficient solutions to radically improve government programs. Read More
Federal Budget 2018: tax cuts and slow spending growth
Tight spending controls and windfall of tax revenue has enabled the federal government to fund modest medium-term tax cuts, while continuing to invest heavily in infrastructure, health, and research. Read More
Meetings that actually get things done? It’s not a fantasy
The culture of how people in government come together is shifting fast as intelligent technology empowers productivity and interactions that produce actions and outcomes. That’s a good thing. Read More
Collaborate with GovTEAMS: Govdex 2.0 gets a new name and release date
The Australian government's cross-agency, cross-tier, cross-jurisdiction collaboration platform will be called GovTEAMS when it relaunches in August. Read More
Paying for credibility: ‘Don’t you need a logo on it?’
Why do public servants need to use consulting firms so much? And how can you be a skilled buyer of consulting? Senior officials tell their side. Read More
No evidence to support APS staff cap, no idea how many contractors fill the void
Politicians want AusTender to be more than it is. Finance officials warn expanding it into a full expenditure reporting system would be better served though annual reporting. Read More
Govdex out, Data#3 takes over Canberra’s digital collaboration
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 signed its death sentence with a blog post announcing ASX listed IT company, Data#3, will be building its replacement. Read More
How can agencies promote ‘information confidence’?
It’s widely accepted that better decisions and evaluations in government are underpinned by evidence that harnesses multiple sources of data and information. The challenge public sector leaders now face is how to share and reuse government information assets for public value, and still maintain public trust. Read More
What does it take to make an outcomes-based approach deliver the goods?
There's a big difference between measuring what’s been done and what’s been achieved. Knowing how and when to use an outcomes-based approach cuts to the chase. Read More
Labor’s plan to rethink Finance department: 5 key changes
Is there more to Finance than just spending restraint? Federal Labor's shadow finance spokesperson Dr Jim Chalmers proposed a few ideas in an address to the Crawford School of Public Policy last week, including a more sophisticated approach to co-investment as a guiding principle. Chalmers outlines Labor's plan in five parts: Read More
Finance transformation is very real. How will it hit government in Australia?
As automation gains traction in government and shared services increasingly take hold, strategic leadership and business analysis become essential to the finance role in addition to operational concerns. Read More
Public sector CIOs deliver the straight talk on digital transformation challenges
Forget buzzwords and hype around digital transformation in government. What counts is the frank, fearless and lived experiences of those now making the journey. Read More
Huxtable: shared services can work; the APS can’t afford for it to fail
Department of Finance secretary Rosemary Huxtable is confident that shared services can reduce administrative costs and support modernisation of the Australian Public Service, based on the lessons of past attempts by various governments, both successful and not-so-successful. Read More
Submarine report: department shopping list needs to be contestable
Advice from the Department of Defence must be subject to more scrutiny from other agencies, according to the review of Australia's Future Submarine Program. Part of the problem is that it enjoys a "privileged position" in the public service, according to the report. Read More