Advice for Abbott: choose your advice carefully

Paddy Gourley Our prime minister-in-waiting should be investing some time now in thinking about what he wants from the Australian Public Service if he takes office this year.

Few voters forgive broken promises

Richard Mulgan If it wins office, the federal Coalition won't be able to repeat its excuses of 1996, when it spoke of 'core' and 'non-core' promises and blamed budget 'black holes'.

Caretaker practice and appointments

J R Nethercote The Gillard Labor government's decision to make several important appointments without consulting the opposition is a shameless breach of electoral propriety.

Best-practice obfuscation

Public Eye The budget papers, as we will discover next week, remain riddled with junk KPIs that are rarely expressed in plain English, let alone measurable and thus meaningful.

Pay the piper, and we may end public fraud

Ben Allen American-style legislation that offers a 'spotter's fee' to whistleblowers who identify fraud against the government may save Australian taxpayers billions of dollars.

Canberra 'was virtually a fascist state'

Stephen Holt The late Canberra journalist, Warren Denning, wrote several books on the national capital that were linked, in an unusual way, to Australia's infant right-wing nationalist movement.

Can work for the dole be more than vote bait?

Andrew Hunter Job seekers need a transition-to-work program that rewards their efforts, rather than the present work-for-the-dole scheme, which is essentially punitive in nature.

Innovation: just get on with it!

Martin Stewart-Weeks The public sector has shown it can innovate effectively, though government departments could perhaps do with a few more pirates and a few less policemen.

Smartphones and even smarter government

Dean Grandy, Dan Newman The public sector is often late to adopt new technologies, as seen by the sluggish pace with which it's approaching the newest generation of mobile applications.

Super proposals to whack retired bureaucrats

Daryl Dixon Many federal public servants will lose a substantial chunk of their retirement income if the government changes the way in which it tests age-pension eligibility.

Junior tax officers stretched: union

NOEL TOWELL A cull of dozens of senior ATO officials has left junior staff to "match wits" against vastly more experienced corporate tax experts, according to a public sector union.

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Union set to take Human Services to tribunal

NOEL TOWELL Union threatening to take legal action in its dispute with the government's biggest department over the ''casualisation'' of its workforce.

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Push to provide more places to shop in parliamentary precinct

ROSS PEAKE A parliamentary committee will be given the green light to investigate the lack of shops in the parliamentary zone.

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Some humiliation by manager OK, court rules

NOEL TOWELL A Canberra public servant who claims she was bullied by one-on-one counselling sessions with her manager has lost the latest round of her legal fight for workers’ compensation.

Watchdog warns PM&C over card misuse

MARKUS MANNHEIM The public service watchdog has warned the Prime Minister's Department to keep a closer eye on how its credit cards are used.

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$30m for casuals as Department of Human Services cuts 2400 jobs

NOEL TOWELL The federal government's biggest department is spending $30 million hiring casual and short-term labour while shedding more than 2400 of its permanent staff.

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Hockey says 12,000 cull just a start

Noel Towell Opinion Shadow treasurer Joe Hockey says the loss of 12,000 public service jobs in Canberra would be just a "starting point" in the first two years of a Liberal government.

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Agencies oppose paid plan to park

MARKUS MANNHEIM Almost all government workplaces affected by the decision to charge for parking in the Parliamentary Triangle oppose it, though they're unlikely to say so.

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Gallagher backs paid parking - but wants funds to stay local

Emma Macdonald and Tom McIlroy Canberra workers and visitors to national institutions will be forced to cough up almost $74 million in new parking fees in the Parliamentary Triangle and at Acton over the next three years.

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Military the big winners, but jobs cull continues

MARKUS MANNHEIM The Gillard government has softened its squeeze on the bureaucracy, though it will continue to cull public service jobs.

Budget to lean on Canberra families

ROSS PEAKE Wayne Swan’s sixth – and possibly last – Budget will lean on Canberra families while urging them to put the national interest first.

Plans for pay parking for Parliamentary Triangle

Emma Macdonald, Tom McIlroy Canberra workers and visitors to national institutions will be forced to cough up almost $74 million in new parking fees in the Parliamentary Triangle and at Acton over the next three years.

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Budget to target senior public servants

MARKUS MANNHEIM The federal government will crack down on the rising number of middle managers in the bureaucracy. Finance Minister Penny Wong said this week's budget would strip another $580 million from the public service over the next four years.

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Decision puts the 'om' into compo

NOEL TOWELL The federal government workers' compensation fund has been ordered to pay for group meditation classes for a former Canberra public servant who has not worked in 14 years.

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Renewed hope for Tuggeranong public servants

MARKUS MANNHEIM Tuggeranong businesses have renewed hopes that the federal public servants who work in the southern town centre will be able to stay.

We'll cut public service jobs 'much better', says Abbott

STEPHANIE ANDERSON Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says a Liberal government will cut public service jobs ''more effectively'' than Labor.

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Public service numbers on slide

Noel Towell and Markus Mannheim The federal public service shed more than 2500 jobs last year, the first time in a decade the Commonwealth bureaucracy has shrunk.

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Whatever happened to Operation Sunlight?

Stephen Bartos Next week's budget papers will contain a lot of words, but rather too little meaningful information. Taxpayers deserve far better.

Call to toughen up PS insurer

NOEL TOWELL Commonwealth workplace insurer Comcare needs tougher medical supervision of the 10,000 bureaucrats now claiming workers' compensation, according to a new report on the scheme.

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Whistleblower laws facing fine-tuning

NOEL TOWELL Long-awaited federal laws to protect whistleblowers should not allow government employees to go ''forum shopping'' with their complaints, according to the Public Service Commissioner.

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Coalition doubles public service job growth

Noel Towell and Markus Mannheim The Coalition has again overstated by more than 90 per cent the growth of the federal public service in Canberra.

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Budget fears as more PS jobs to go

ROSS PEAKE More federal public servants have been told their jobs will disappear, with broadband staff next in line for cuts.

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Jobs

Budget fears as more tech jobs to go

ROSS PEAKE More federal public servants have been told their jobs will disappear, with broadband staff next in line for cuts.

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Driver 'injured' lugging MP's bags

NOEL TOWELL Politics and chivalry don't always go together, according to one Canberra government chauffeur.

Finance Department forced to shed jobs after savings shortfall

ROSS PEAKE The Finance Department is preparing to cut jobs after failing to make the savings imposed by the federal government.

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Social

Call for public service to embrace social media

ROSS PEAKE The public service must find the will to vastly extend its embrace of social media to create a "digital democracy" marked by far greater citizen participation.

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Call for ministerial advisers to be personally responsible

ROSS PEAKE One of the nation's most senior former bureaucrats calls for ministerial advisers to be made personally accountable for their actions.

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The endless struggle to avoid stagnation

Stephen Bartos The Australia Public Service's leadership faces a steep challenge: to keep pace with growing community and ministerial expectations yet with limited budgets.