The Australian Taxation Office released 100 People last week. It illustrates the taxation system at work through 100 people.

For most people how the taxation system works in practice is a it of a black box. Who pays what across the community? The strength of 100 people is that it puts the whole thing on a human scale. Most of us can easily grasp percentages. Even better if it is presented in an engaging…

Interesting piece from Marcus Mannheim, Public Service reporter for the Canberra Times. Costly veil of secrecy descends over PS

And you do have to wonder how costly this is.

The first thought that ran through my mind was that statistics should be available to the public showing the number of documents classified…

What a creative approach to public health. It has it all. Engaging, creative, edgy and powerful.

But what about the Zombie Workplace? Get your survival guide here. The idea is the same. Get a kit, Make a Plan, Be prepared. The best advice we…

I've been thinking about the comment made on my post APS Reform, Innovation and Gov 2.0 - Lighting the spark. I've lost count of the number of public servants who have told me that they are receiving contradictory messages. High level and public approval in relation to social media on one hand.…

Alec Ross drew my attention to the article Digital Diplomacy in the New York Times Magazine illustrating his work. Despite the fact the article is almost a year old It is well worth a read for the insights it provides.

Of particular interest to me is the comment,

When I…

Management in the public sector has an unhealthy managerialist bent. In a nutshell, a one size fits all approach coupled with the inherently arrogant notion that 'more management' is the solution to everything. In the main, this sad state of affairs has been peddled in the public sector by strategic human resources or organisational development areas. Call them what you will.

And you just have to adore how these 'people areas' sometimes appropriate internal communications…

Of late I have been increasingly perplexed about the so very 1.0 approach taken over the proposed carbon tax. Overwhelmingly what we have is a very more like a monologue with government largely really on traditional media approaches.

There is nigh on no use of social media to engage the community in a debate over something that impacts every person in this country. Go to the Department of Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities web site and what you see…

A key part of the amendments to Australia's Freedom of Information Act is the Information Publication Scheme. The scheme also contains categories of information under the umbrella Optional Information.

This got me thinking and so I posed the following questions to some of my colleagues:

What information do we currently not publish on the internet…

Do a search for the term "industrial relations 2.0" and you get 491 search results. Call it 490 as one of them was yours truly on Twitter.

With Australian Public Service agency agreement negotiations underway it is timely to be raising a few questions of an industrial relation nature.

One of the things I have observed on both sides of the IR equation (Unions and employers), is that the parties seem to be locked into some very traditional ways of doing things.…

In my post on The public service in a Wikileaks world I ended by suggesting that what was needed was not just the usual Australian Public Service notion of reform, but a renaissance. So what I will do over the next week is put together the building blocks of that idea. I intend doing so by adding to…

This post started life on the blog set up by the Office of the Australian Information Commissioner to seek comment on information policy. Pay the OAIC blog a visit. They are eager for people to contribute.

In terms of creating a pro-disclosure and pro-innovation culture across the public service I have expressed the view that a secure and anonymous facility for public servants to disclose information concerning the…

A great initiative from Kate Carruthers and Craig Thomler. It is fascinating how, unlike other government initiatives, Gov 2.0 has effectively become a movement. Both within and outside the public service and, indeed, among some politicians.

While this is obviously a big plus that speaks volumes of the dedication of many visionary and…

The work of Avazz.org has prompted me to ponder just how apolitical should the Australian Public Service expect its' members to be? The work of Avaaz encompasses social and political good. So just how problematic is the political aspect of the work of organisations like Avazz for public servants - especially in a democracy.

Departments often ask their employees to consider contributing to charities, but should…

As a result of putting up posts on this topic I have compiled and added to the three posts in order to provide a discussion paper for people to use as they wish. It has been a bit of a journey.

This purpose of the paper is to explore the work of Wikileaks, the ideas of Julian Assange and identify the implications for the public service.

The impact of social media technologies, the changing expectations of citizens, as well as attempts to reform the…

During 2010 a number of posts across a wide range of sites dealt with the blocking of social media services in public service departments. One thing that did strike me was the lack of consistency. Many block Face book, some Twitter and others Yammer for example. While still others are far more open - which is great.

I have been looking at this issue for some time and, like many others, have come to the conclusion that this is yet another indication of risk aversion. In…