This Month
Why PwC global put its own man in to run PwC Australia
PwC International parachuted in UK partner Kevin Burrowes to run the Australian firm after becoming frustrated with the local firm’s “failure to co-operate”.
- Edmund Tadros
October
Corruption chief ‘engaged in misconduct’ on stopping robo-debt probe
Anti-corruption chief Paul Brereton should have excused himself completely from decisions involving a former military colleague and robo-debt chief Kathryn Campbell.
- Tom Burton
September
Top bureaucrat breached code of conduct 12 times during robo-debt
A review has found 12 public servants, including department secretary Kathryn Campbell, breached the public service code of conduct 97 times during the notorious debt recovery scheme.
- Tom Burton
- Opinion
- Political leadership
With a half-smile, Bill Shorten bows out of politics on his terms
The former federal Labor leader has no regrets about calling it quits to become a university vice chancellor.
- Jennifer Hewett
June
‘Deeply offensive’: ATO boss slams robo-debt comparison
New Tax Commissioner Rob Heferen was forceful in his first appearance before Parliament, rejecting criticism of a Tax Office program to chase small debts.
- Tom McIlroy
Anti-corruption commission robo-debt call to be investigated
Gail Furness, SC, the independent inspector tasked with holding the NACC accountable, on Thursday said the decision came after nearly 900 individual complaints.
- Ronald Mizen
Anti-corruption commission rules out robo-debt inquiry
Former Coalition government ministers and senior public servants have avoided another investigation into the illegal welfare payment recovery scheme.
- Tom McIlroy
- Opinion
- AI
Key workers left as invisible bystanders to the AI revolution
A hype-driven, tech-led approach to AI adoption will harm workers, disappoint investors and damage the economy, we must listen and learn from workers at the coalface.
- Nicholas Davis
November 2023
Tax Office scraps robo-debt style push on repayments
Officials conceded they caused unnecessary distress in pursuing historical debts from tens of thousands of taxpayers.
- Tom McIlroy
New laws to make federal algorithms and AI explainable
New federal transparency laws to review machine decision-making and to explain how these decisions are made, will be introduced.
- Tom Burton
New rules to sack top mandarins
Departmental heads will have their performance tracked and face dismissal if not satisfactory, under a revamp following the robo-debt royal commission.
- Tom Burton
August 2023
- Opinion
- Canberra Observed
Australians are owed a royal commission into the pandemic
A proper commission of inquiry should not be conceived with payback in mind but with a view to how things could be done better the next time.
- Phillip Coorey
Robo-debt crackdown is just the start, public service chief warns
The first response to the toxic and bullying leadership behaviours exposed in the robo-debt scheme will legally require all officials to be ‘stewards’ for good government.
- Tom Burton
July 2023
Robo-debt royal commission was a ‘political lynching’: Morrison
Scott Morrison noted Labor went to two elections counting the savings from robo-debt in its own budget costings.
- Phillip Coorey
Robo-debt ‘bullies, sycophants’ not the public service Shorten knows
A cabal of bullies and sycophants was responsible for suppressing frank and fearless advice about robo-debt, Bill Shorten says.
- Ronald Mizen
Labor to scrap Coalition’s $200m ‘welfare calculator’
Stopping development of the $200 million entitlement engine project comes in the wake of the bruising robo-debt royal commission report.
- Tom McIlroy and Andrew Tillett
Robo-debt’s Kathryn Campbell quits $900k a year job
The former head of the Human Services Department resigned from her job as an adviser on AUKUS last week, the Defence Department has confirmed.
- Andrew Tillett and Tom Burton
- Opinion
- Mental health
Where has our empathy gone?
Researchers agree there’s a problem, but there is also a solution to the diminishing levels of emotional literacy.
- Peter Quarry
Robo-debt minister Michael Keenan kicks off board career
The former human services minister has been appointed to the board of $12 million Singapore-based biotech Osteopore.
- Updated
- Myriam Robin
How Sydney Uni behavioural boffins tried to improve robo-debt letters
Royal Commission exhibits reveal the planning phases of a “collaboration” with the University of Sydney, aimed at boosting compliance.
- Updated
- Myriam Robin
