Public Eye: Dob in a colleague to National Anti-Corruption Commission, ATO says

The Australian Taxation Office represents one of the biggest agencies in the public service and with the access to sensitive information many staff have, it's keen to uphold a high level of integrity.

That's the message commissioner Chris Jordan made sure to implore in his newsletter to the agency last Monday.

Mr Jordan said he was ready to welcome the "powerful, transparent and independent" watchdog and to serve up anyone in his agency who doesn't comply with the rules.

But it was his particular focus on struggling staff that raised Public Eye's eyebrows.

"We know instances of corruption often involve an employee who is in a desperate situation - facing a gambling addiction, family breakdown, or drug and alcohol problems," Mr Jordan told staff.

"For this reason, the best guard against corruption is you.

"If you notice a colleague is going through a rough time, check in on them. And if you're concerned, report it."

Mr Jordan directed reports to its internal dob-in service, SpeakUp, or to the NACC itself.

No links or numbers to support services appeared after the klaxon call.

The issue has been raised by the tax office's main union, the Australian Services Union, which called the agency's zero-tolerance approach to drug and alcohol use "hard-line".

The man behind the controversial $18 million Australian Future Leaders Program told then-public service commissioner Peter Woolcott it would be a "nation-building program".

Erm, it didn't really turn out that way. The program, which Governor-General David Hurley personally lobbied former prime minister Scott Morrison for, was scrapped last year when Treasurer Jim Chalmers found it "didn't pass muster".

The program's founder Chris Hartley was introduced to the then-public service commissioner by a contact at management consulting company McKinsey, on March 19, 2021, documents released under freedom of information show.

Mr Woolcott wrote back the same day to say he would "love to help out on the Governor-General's Australian Future Leaders Program", which was intended to provide leadership development for future leaders, including public servants.

He also referred to the APS Commission's efforts to attract, retain and develop future leaders, noting: "We released yesterday our first APS Workforce Strategy (a long time coming) - which if you can't sleep you can find on the APSC website."

(Fair, that document is 47 pages.)

A spokesperson for the Australian Public Service Commission later responded to questions from the ABC about his involvement to say he did meet with Mr Hartley about the proposed program, and was informed of progress on the initiative by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

They said he did not play any role in recommending the approval of grant funding, nor did he provide any written recommendations to the government on the program.

Here's to nation-building!

Labor MP Jerome Laxale is keen to ramp up the war on waste, urging Parliament House to ban single-use coffee cups.

According to figures obtained by Mr Laxale, Department of Parliamentary Services-run coffee venues have gone through some 252,000 single-use coffee cups over the past financial year, up to June. That's not counting privately-run Aussies.

Mr Laxale suggested Parliament House could adopt a closed-loop system to cut down on the waste.

"The coffee cart will just give you a cup, you ... take it to your office and then you place them in stations ... stationed around the building," he said.

"They go through dishwashers at night and then back up to the coffee carts in the morning. So that's probably the easiest solution to implement."

Maternity leave for public servants should be overhauled, the Australian Public Service Commission said this week, suggesting it be called paid parental leave instead and extended further.

The recommendations came from a review into the Maternity Leave (Commonwealth Employees) Act, which did need some sprucing up, considering it was created in 1973.

The Albanese government will now consider next steps, though a new baseline on paid parental leave could be a bit awkward for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade.

Its review submission, released under a freedom of information request last year, welcomed some of the proposed changes, such as leave entitlements for parents other than birth parents, but was worried about others.

"The global footprint of DFAT means that we have employees working in small posts consisting of 2-3 employees," the submission letter from February 2022, submitted by then-chief people officer Jo Talbot said.

"Any expansion of eligibility for paid leave under the ML Act would place greater stress on these smaller posts, as it is often not logistically possible to back-fill these roles."

It's tough getting noticed on social media. People have spent weeks, months and years racking their brains in an effort to go viral and make it big on the internet.

But it's not a phenomenon isolated to individuals. Government agencies want to get noticed, too, which brings us to the eSafety Commission's latest efforts.

Apparently, only 23 per cent of those sampled in research actually knew the internet safety body existed.

That's a challenge no amount of hashtags can fix. Rough.

eSafety, on a $66,000 budget, is therefore on the hunt for a company to help it get more visibility in Australia through what it calls a "community service announcement".

"Get: Australians. Who: Don't know who eSafety is. To: visit esafety.gov.au, By: making them think online safety is important and relevant," its brief to the market said.

It's targeting adults aged 18 to 45 and wants to reach people with disability, First Nations people, the LGBTIQ+ community and culturally and linguistically diverse people.

When you find the magic formula, will you let us know too?