What are the most appropriate institutional arrangements for effective governance? This report examines a case for transforming the civil service, and offers some suggestions about what a new ethos could look like.

This research provides a voice to Aboriginal women in Victorian public sector workplaces. Qualitative data from Aboriginal women’s lived experiences has been combined with existing workplace gender data to give a comprehensive and rigorous account of Aboriginal women’s experiences in the Victorian public sector.

This survey asked Australians about their attitudes towards the Federal Government’s use of external consultants. Most people agreed that the public service should have the skills and capacity to do work currently outsourced to consultants and that too much money is spent on unaccountable external consultations.

Private offices provide essential assistance to ministers. But some struggle to recruit and retain experienced staff, and fail to deliver the support ministers need to achieve their aims in government. This report sets out how the civil service can improve private offices to ensure that every minister is supported capably.

This paper looks at the political donations contributed by Australia's largest four consultancy groups; KPMG, PricewaterhouseCoopers, Ernst & Young and Deloitte, and the impact their activity has had on the capability of the Australian Public Service.