Public Eye: Home Affairs' Michael Pezzullo spotted for the first time since Australian Public Service Commission investigation

Well, now we have an answer (sort of). Our snapper papped him walking through Kingston in the rain last week, the first time this masthead has seen Mr Pezzullo in the wild since allegations were raised against him in September.

Mr Pezzullo was asked to stand aside while the Australian Public Service Commission investigates allegations he sent messages to a Liberal Party powerbroker over five years, seeking to influence political matters.

But don't worry for him - he's still on his full pay package of almost $915,000.

Associate secretary Stephanie Foster has stepped up to act as department boss for the duration of the investigation.

Mr Pezzullo's inquiry is actually one of about two dozen such probes into senior officials, which the Public Service Commission is currently undertaking.

Some of those include referrals from the robodebt royal commission report, but there are about seven others that have not been made public, Public Service Commissioner Dr Gordon de Brouwer told Senate estimates last month.

The security official was known for enforcing strict dress codes (remember when his department tried to bring in a policy determining what staff could wear while working remotely?).

That infamous "prescriptive" dress code has been relaxed significantly, according to officials at estimates, to focus on reminding staff to dress appropriately. (So go ahead and don your sleeveless tops.) They added this had happened before Mr Pezzullo agreed to stand aside.

But Mr Pezzullo looked very comfortable in his sneakers and sweatpants last week as we trudged through the rain.

His off-duty look included a purple cap with the letters "NYPD" (as in, New York Police Department?).

Could this be a hint at Mr Pezzullo's next career move? Public Eye is on the case.

Hundreds of thousands of social security and welfare claims were processed late in the last financial year, tabled documents in Senate estimates revealed last week.

Services Australia fronted the Community Affairs Committee last Tuesday, where a tabled document showed the percentage of claims that were processed outside of the agreed timeliness standard.

This included 34 per cent (105,168) of Paid Parental Leave claims, 37.3 per cent (31,714) of Carer Payment claims, 28.5 per cent (61,813) of Age Pension claims, and 42 per cent (176,165) of Family Tax Benefit claims.

Another document revealed that the average number of days taken to process a claim had increased for the majority of social security and welfare payments in 2022-23, compared to the previous financial year. This was the case for JobSeeker, Paid Parental Leave, and the Disability Support Pension, among others.

Elsewhere, a Senate inquiry into Labor's Industrial Relations Omnibus bill heard evidence of the impact staff casualisation in Services Australia was having on wait times.

One staff member named Claire, who only gave her first name, told senators that budgetary cuts saw many casual staff suddenly stop receiving shifts earlier this year.

"This has also led to a strain on workload for the rest of us working as there is a huge backload of Centrelink claims, which impacts vulnerable Australians experiencing the bushfires, floods," she said.

"Our wait times currently for Centrelink are ... up to two hours, and this has led to increased frustrations for Australians. And it's gotten to the point where there has been incidences of violence that our face-to-face staff have experienced."

We always enjoy the emphasis on detail by NSW Nationals senator Ross Cadell when he does his duty for parliamentary transparency and updates the Register of Senators' Interests with gifts received.

In previous updates, he has told us how many prawns and party pies he nervously ate from NRL hospitality, and the approximate 1:10 scale of a mini wheelie bin desktop pen cup to a "real wheelie bin".

The latest offering of what he was offered is a particular intraoral delight. The Senator has added to the register that he, and other senators, received a TelScope Telehealth System from the Australian Dental Association whilst appearing at a select committee.

Senator Cadell notes that the system, "combines a Medical Device & App to Capture Intraoral Telehealth Images and Videos, it provides intraoral illumination and retraction and depression of the tongue cheeks, it then captures medical grade quality images & videos inside the mouth for instant telehealth or teledentistry transmission using the included app to a doctor, dentist, or specialist. Cost unknown."

The Commonwealth Ombudsman has put out a handy tool for agencies seeking to understand their obligations under the Public Interest Disclosure Act.

The PID Act provides a framework for current and former public servants to blow the whistle on allegations of misconduct in the APS.

It is really quite a simple and straightforward process, like all public service matters. Just take a look at this flowchart, produced by the Commonwealth Ombudsman, depicting the stages of handling disclosures made under the Act.

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The, er, sprawling process for bureaucrats wanting to blow the whistle was updated in the middle of the year to improve whistleblower protections, expand oversight of the scheme and remove disclosures about "personal work-related conduct" (such as bullying or harassment), except in extreme cases.

LinkedIn savvy secretary Natalie James is a fan of The Canberra Times photographer Elesa Kurtz's work, it seems.

The Department of Employment and Workplace Relations annual report includes a credited photo of Ms James taken by this masthead at Senate estimates, instead of a headshot.

It's actually a snap of her wearing the infamous op-shop tie, which she wryly donned in response to criticism of her colleague Jim Betts for appearing before senators without a tie.

Must be a fond memory.

The Public Service Commissioner spent several years studying and working in Japan before he landed in the top job.

So two items on Dr de Brouwer's gifts and benefits register caught Public Eye's attention: a box of 30 "Yoku Moku" wafer biscuits from Meiji University academic (valued at $60) and four small Japanese cakes from the Bank of Japan (valued at $20).

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