Melissa Coade

1 week ago | themandarin.com.au | Melissa Coade

As the head of the reinstated NSW Cabinet Office, comprising a team of legal, policy and governance advisers, the elevation of Kate Boyd to secretary has involved more than taking on a new public service leadership role. The former Department of Premier and Cabinet (DPC) general counsel has also been tasked with resurrecting an office capable of reviewing cabinet decisions and processes.

1 week ago | themandarin.com.au | Melissa Coade

Kim Williams maintains the ABC’s hunger to hold the nation’s decision-makers to account will not be dampened by the retirement of long-standing television news show Q+A . Commenting on the decision to cancel Q+A, which will mean a staff restructure and the loss of about 40 jobs, Williams said “nothing is forever”. “The core issue with a program like Q+A is [giving] public agency to question people in power.

1 week ago | themandarin.com.au | Melissa Coade

It’s the age of cancel culture, social media saturation, fake news and information overload. How are governments and democracy coping with the shift? Public administrators have a lot to juggle in the modern world, and the pressures of knowing everything to respond appropriately and advise wisely are mounting. How mandarins work through and parse the churn of information they need to digest on any given day is also changing.

1 week ago | themandarin.com.au | Melissa Coade

Environment and Water Minister Murray Watt has spoken of the shared global leadership on international ocean policy between Australia and Pacific Island neighbours. This work was motivated by a desire to shape global responses to issues affecting the local region, Watt said, as well as to lead the transition to a sustainable global ocean economy. “We are custodians of the vast, blue Pacific continent — nearly 20% of the Earth’s surface,” Watt said.

1 week ago | themandarin.com.au | Melissa Coade

Changing public service culture is a mammoth task, but, according to the chair of the ABC, cultural transformation is a difficult mission for any large enterprise. Kim Williams has told a government audience in Sydney that the most important feature of any workplace, especially for the public broadcaster, is culture. In a wide-ranging speech for The Mandarin’s ‘Building a better public service’ conference last week, he made the case for an ABC with stronger self-confidence and ambition.