While that might be the case, it was a Home Affairs Department official who missed the mark in advice to community members following the Optus data breach saga.

A staff member within its ACT community outreach team committed an egregious blunder, writing an off-limits acronym to shorten "whole-of-government" in an email to multicultural community members.

The government's style guide informs staff this bureaucratic sin should always be avoided as it can cause unintended offence to some. WofG (pronounced double-u-of-gee) is the preferred option.

A Home Affairs official did respond with a quick apology, adding the acronym wasn't meant to cause offence, but the damage was already done.

One outraged community member demanded the department issue a formal apology for using the slur and commit to placing all its outreach staff through sensitivity training.

A Home Affairs spokesperson told us the department "regrets any offence inadvertently caused by the email", adding its internal style guide is being updated to reflect the official government style manual.

Stephanie Foster has become one of the more high-profile members of the public service since joining the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as a deputy secretary in 2017.

She led the Foster review into parliamentary workplaces, and for a short while, acted as department head after Phil Gaetjens departed as secretary. In an interview last year, then-opposition leader Anthony Albanese gave her plaudits.

And don't forget the furore and headlines that followed when Ms Foster winked at someone off-screen during an estimates hearing.

After nearly five years at PM&C, Ms Foster is moving on to take a new role at the Department of Home Affairs as Associate Secretary of Immigration.

There will be no rest between gigs, though. Her last day with PM&C was Friday, and she starts with Home Affairs on Monday October 10.

A few bureaucrats would have preferred skipping the missing and murdered First Nations women and children hearing on Wednesday, reporter Lanie Tindale believes.

National Indigenous Australians Agency families and safety branch manager Ursula Carolyn and group manager Ben Burdon were left speechless after being interrogated by Greens senators David Shoebridge and Lidia Thorpe.

Senator Thorpe questioned Ms Carolyn's reference to a 2018 Deloitte report into the implementation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, calling it a "desktop review".

Senator Shoebridge asked if the bureaucrats accepted the report was "misleadingly positive".

A tense exchange ensued, with the Greens senator repeatedly asking the pair to reflect on the report's accuracy. The bureaucrats deflected, saying there was a range of views on the report.

"Your agency is part of the problem," he concluded.

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Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite raised eyebrows at Defence's LGBTI community Military Pride Ball earlier this month.

The junior minister relied on the expected talking points, including a nod to the removal of an LGBTI personnel ban under the Keating Labor government.

But he was also eager to distinguish himself from "recent occupants of the role".

Telling the crowd they all looked fabulous, the Labor MP took the opportunity to shade his predecessors, Peter Dutton and Andrew Hastie.

"They do say that beauty is in the eye of the beholder and, unfortunately, that's also true of bigotry," he said.

"So [to] a politician incapable of recognising the value of his community, I'd suggest, to borrow a line from the great RuPaul, that they sashay away."

But while there were cheers and applause from the crowd, it's understood some Defence personnel were left a little tetchy by the speech's political nature.

Gaining a new, or updated, security clearance within the public service is no fast task. For years, it's been known that climbing through the ranks in certain agencies can be hampered by how long it takes you to be vetted by the central security agency.

And now the political class is getting a taste too.

Less than a third of ministerial staff members across the Foreign Affairs and Trade portfolio have obtained their security clearances, as of mid-September.

Within Foreign Affairs Minister Penny Wong's offices, a quarter had received their vetting while 15 staffers had commenced the process.

Seven staffers within Assistant Trade Minister Tim Ayres' team had begun the process but had yet to obtain clearances.

We're sure many public servants out there will pour one out for those experiencing the logjam.

The Labor government has promised it will deliver a net zero APS by 2030 - after excluding all those pesky emissions Defence and national security agencies are responsible for.

But the hood has been lifted on the Foreign Affairs Department's vehicle fleet, and it's screaming petroleum.

The department and its portfolio agencies own 696 vehicles, domestically and overseas, but just 15, or 2 per cent, of them are deemed "low emission" vehicles.

It's working on lifting that figure though, with the number of electric and hybrid vehicles set to rise as "as existing vehicles are replaced and, supporting infrastructure globally expands".

The clock's ticking.

The Ben Elton classic Stark was put forward as an option by a reader for Michael Pezzullo's next book club choice. It tells the story of a dystopian future where the planet is collapsing and the ultra-rich secretly plot their escape to outer space.

Or perhaps, Injustice by Maria Taylor, as another reader suggested, which details the demise of the kangaroo, koala and emu under 200 years of colonisation.

What's the longest you've waited for a security clearance? What APS acronyms need to be retired?

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