Verona Burgess

The unseemly stampede of politicians fleeing Canberra rivals the annual mass migration of African animals but without the grace and beauty.

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

Are today’s secretaries paid what they are worth? Or rather, are they worth what they are paid? In some cases, certainly not.

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

The disability royal commission’s epic final report screams throughout the suffering of pain and abuse; it also shows the way forward.

If the reports are true, Mike Pezzullo has offended to the deepest level the Public Service Act and some 160,000 current public servants.

There are important consequences to expanding the scope of IGIS as proposed in the Intelligence Services Legislation Amendment Bill.

Fancy a gig on a federal government board? Good money (sometimes), excellent prestige and nice work if you can get it.

The PSA amendment bill does no harm, but it does very little to correct the fact that the APS is in deep — even existential — trouble.

The risk for the government lies in messing up the remedies and becoming too bogged down in its enemy’s transgressions to find clear air.

The government should withdraw the defective Public Service Amendment Bill 2023 from parliament and send it back to the drafting table.

A former career with a major consultancy may not have quite the cachet it gained when so-called ‘small government’ became all the rage.

Today’s boss used to be tomorrow’s feather duster. Lunch at the Commonwealth Club, anyone? How times have changed for department secretaries.

The reputational damage PwC has inflicted on itself is epic, and growing by the day. But more must be done.

There can be no meaningful APS reform without the commonwealth’s internal working’s acceptance of deep responsibility for robodebt.