Verona Burgess

How tempting it must be to think the creation of a new agency will be the salve for the deep societal wound of Defence and veteran suicide.

Agency heads and SES who fail to identify and eradicate shadow values that have undoubtedly taken hold in parts of the APS should start to feel very afraid.

A paper endorsed by so many senior wise heads surely requires more than passing government attention, not to mention the secretaries’ board.

Lobbyists, known by many as log-rollers, are as much part of the business of politics as sharks are part of the business of fish.

The exposure of jaw-dropping deficiencies in the conduct of government lawyers and senior staff with legal qualifications is most jarring.

How would any, or even all of the de Brouwer recommendations combined, have prevented robodebt or the behaviour of Michael Pezzullo?

Hello, 1999 republic referendum! It’s back to the future with the same-old, same-old wedge politics, but this time over the Voice.

Royal commissions are a bit like senate estimates but without the party-political agendas and with far more skilled interrogators.

Allan Hawke was the ultimate professional public servant, as straight as a die. He was not, of course, perfect. For a start, that laugh...

You can’t expect public servants to live up to the high standards of the legislated code of ethics and values while allowing patronage to run rampant in government.

Onwards and upwards, then, to the new era of 16 portfolio departments and one extra secretary, so 17 secretaries altogether.

People have come to expect politicians to rort grants programs shamelessly. It is, however, the job of the APS to ensure the moneys are spent properly.

The clock is ticking down to Senate estimates on the Brittany Higgins matter, says Verona Burgess.

Australia is no close to deciding on let alone committing to a long-term policy for handling climate change, says Verona Burgess.

A better system is needed to acknowledge experience in a ministerial office to enable public servants to transfer back at a higher level and non-public servant staffers to have their service recognised in the APS, says Verona Burgess.

Two senior Treasury officers have tackled the hot-button $65-billion annual impost of regulation in a personal submission to the review of the Australian Public Service, saying department heads should be legally required to clean up their stocks of red tape.

Patricia Kelly turned IP Australia from a bureaucratic backwater into one of the most forward-looking agencies in the APS.

The qualities of the winners in this year’s PS Innovation Awards are not measured by success in the commercial market but more broadly about making improvements for the public good.

It came down to smoke and mirrors -- or all went up in smoke -- but there was a real issue of merit and independence behind Labor’s Lloyd attack, says VERONA BURGESS.

‘Innovation’ is back. So is ‘digital’ and ‘data’. The budget papers give us a revealing insight into how the terminology of government changes over time, says VERONA BURGESS.