Public Eye | Parliament's big flag with a big pricetag, busting through red tape, Defence not interested in UFOs

In March, a storm-tattered flag fluttering above the national capital prompted an explanation that the machinery used to change the flag had experienced a mechanical fault.

The flag is usually switched out the first Wednesday of every month by three people, via a hydraulically-operated cage.

That mechanism required some repairs, and since then the Department of Parliamentary Services' maintenance bill has increased. A DPS contract with Alimak Hek Pty Ltd, a company which provides elevators, construction hoists and work platforms, spanning November 2019 to June 2024 was recently updated to a total value of $428,296.81.

The contract value has almost doubled since August 2022, when it was $228,296. A DPS spokesperson said the contract was for ongoing maintenance of the key equipment.

"The contract covers maintenance and ad-hoc repairs of the lift and associated equipment, as a result there are no costs for 'additional repairs'," they said.

The Australian Public Service Commissioner isn't fussed about politicians asking, well, political questions of public servants in Senate estimates.

It's all part of the process, Gordon de Brouwer told The Canberra Times in an interview.

"I do think Parliament can ask whatever it likes, and Parliament should be able to ask whatever it likes," Dr de Brouwer said.

"And if there are political elements, well, politics is everywhere in our life. And up there politics is everywhere. So I, personally, I don't have any discomfort with politicians asking political questions, because public servants can answer in a way that doesn't engage on the politics."

The public service is accountable to the Parliament, the commissioner said, adding: "And that's life."

The Australian Public Service is known to be a red tape-laden beast. Layers upon layers of approvals, step-filled processes and constant reviews.

Frustrating as it may be, however, much of it is there to ensure integrity is upheld and the public's confidence maintained.

So, that's why one of the latest Australian National Audit Office reports highlighted how the rules can be bent and, ultimately, broken.

It focused on the Department of Health's administration of a Coalition-era local health and hospital funding program, worth $2 billion.

In one section, in particular, senior Health officials asked the Department of Finance for feedback and advice on the grant guidelines in regards to some mental health projects.

Finance officials didn't hold back, finding it lacked in probity and transparency details and pointed out a series of ways they could be improved.

But senior Health officials were left thinking: where's the trust, my buddies?

One email exchange in the report revealed Health officials described Finance's advice as "a pretty outrageous set of accusations which points to a pretty deep-set culture of mistrust".

A Health deputy secretary also wrote "[it] would be nice if [their] concerns related to some sort of outcome measure. I can feel some congestion busting coming on".

The audit office said "congestion busting" was used to justify internal performance awards to the officials involved in the program process.

The report ultimately found Health officials had failed to follow grants funding rules and finance laws on a number of occasions, and did so deliberately at least three times.

I wonder if those officials involved have quietly removed their "congestion busting" awards from the mantelpiece yet.

Aliens and UFOs have been in the news this week but before you roll your eyes, hear us out.

It's not some basement-living conspiracy theorist making the news rounds but former US Defence intelligence official, David Grusch, who led work on unexplained anomalous phenomena within a US agency.

He was employed by the US government until April this year.

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He reckons our US friends are in possession of crafts of non-human origin.

"The material includes intact and partially intact vehicles," he told defence and space news site, The Debrief.

Just don't think any of this will spur the Department of Defence into action.

We asked whether the department had received any briefings from the Pentagon or the US Department of Defence but it did not answer.

Many years ago, the department abandoned its UFO unit and it no longer collects reports on suspected sightings. The truth could be out there. But Defence won't be looking for it.

Last week, the Department of Finance tweeted its infamous five-storey stairwell to its presumably adoring followers.

It was strange timing, coming during a week filled with headlines about financial and fiscal restraint in these economically trying times.

But there, the picture accompanying it, showed the grandiosity of the Forrest office's centrepiece.

"At the heart of the home of Finance, lies a beautiful five-storey atrium featuring an impressive helical staircase, marble walls and limestone floors," it said on social media.

"A building that promotes connection and flexibility and represents an openness, all important to the work culture of Finance."

So why is it infamous, you wonder?

Well, if you cast your memory back to 2017, the stairwell played an important role in the department's 2017 graduate recruitment video.

This was the awkward attempt at promoting the department as a fun and hip place to work, where one public servant commented they were going to buy a "paleo pear and banana bread" on those very stairs.

We'll always have the memories.

A few months ago, Public Eye reported on the Department of Health and Aged Care's "New Ways of Working Program" as part of our investigation into hot-desking in the APS. The NWOW program facilitates "flexible, activity-based workspaces, technologies and work practices" (ahem, hot-desking).

The department has now approached the market for a contractor to arrange fit-outs across three levels at its Woden office.

The new fit-outs should optimise productivity, improve collaboration and leverage existing investment in property and technology for staff. While also achieving the government's goal of 14 square metres per work point.

Staff won't be moving offices during works, though, so the selected contractor will have to quietly construct the infrastructure for the department's new way of working.