Human Services fraud and compliance blitz draws fire from Audit Office

 

 

 

The Department of Human Services’ (DHS) efforts to prevent Centrelink fraud have been criticised in an Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) report, with only two out of seven fraud prevention and compliance measures judged effective and expected savings falling short of their targets in four cases.

The ANAO report deals with Human Services compliance programs announced in earlier Budgets and running between 2012 and 2016, just before the current robo-debt crisis, which automatically matched ATO and DHS data and generated thousands of debt letters to benefit recipients, some of them wrong.

During its investigations the ANAO examined the design and implementation of seven compliance measures, including Employment Income Matching – a forerunner of the data-matching system used in the robo-debt fiasco.

It looked at whether programs were monitored properly and explored whether savings’ targets had been achieved.

“Most of the compliance measures examined did not fully achieve their expected outcomes, including savings and addressing the risks to payment integrity,” said the ANAO report, which was published yesterday (Tuesday).

Shortcomings were identified in DHS monitoring and reporting for every compliance measure. The Department of Social Services also drew criticism for not keeping an eye on progress against targets.

 “The monitoring and oversight arrangements for the compliance measures, set out under the Bilateral Management Arrangement between DSS and Human Services, have not been effective as they were not followed,” said the report.

 “The Department of Social Services as the relevant policy entity did not take responsibility for monitoring outcomes, including impacts and actual savings, achieved from the measures.”

But Human Services is having none of it, instead arguing that it has exceeded its savings target across the seven compliance measures assessed by ANAO by more than $210 million or 26.7 per cent.

The Department argued the ANAO’s methodology was suspect and said it did not agree with the ANAO’s tables detailing what savings had been achieved against targets.

It hit back, saying: “The department does not accept the key conclusion in the report that most of the compliance measures examined were not effectively implemented and the expected outcomes were not fully achieved, including savings.”

The behemoth Department said it had exceeded its outcomes and implemented its compliance program effectively. It also denied that it failed to provide clear and accurate progress updates to the public or had briefed ministers ‘in an ad hoc manner’.

Human Services said it already consistently tracked and reported on key outcomes and collated information on targeted and achieved savings, making the ANAO’s third recommendation redundant.

It continued: “The Department notes that the ANAO has not made any recommendations which directly address its main conclusions and findings.”

Meanwhile politicians lined up to put the boot into DHS’ fraud recovery and compliance efforts.

Greens Senator Rachel Siewert said the report showed there was ‘a dysfunctional crackdown on the social safety net before the large scale automated debt recovery system even begun’.

 “The department haven’t been able to manage these measures, the government went full steam ahead on the automated debt recovery process regardless; causing dismay and stress to thousands of vulnerable Australians when quite obviously they couldn’t handle it,” Ms Siewert said.

 “Anyone taking a flick through the ANAO report can see that an erosion of the social safety net has been going on for some time and that the approach has long been in disarray”, Ms Siewert said.

She said it was ‘laughable’ that DHS had disputed the report’s findings.  

“Clearly this has been back of the envelope accounting from the government to undermine the findings of the audit.”

Shadow Human Services Minister Linda Burney said the ANAO report highlighted that the administration and monitoring of fraud and compliance programs was ‘deeply flawed’ and  that DHS was ‘a complete mess’.

“The Minister is desperate to cover up the mess he has created,” Ms Burney said. “These are the compliance measures which haven’t even faced the most public criticism – what will an audit of the robo-debt scheme find?”

She said that DHS and DSS were not following joint management agreements on welfare payments ‘meaning the right hand has no idea what the left is doing’.   

The Senate Community Affairs References Committee is currently carrying out an inquiry into the Centrelink robo-debt scheme with a reporting date of May 10. Submissions are due by March 22.

 

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Stop asking whether Uber is transit’s enemy

 

 

By Laura Bliss

The more important question is how ride services factor into cities’ goals for mobility. A new analysis of New York City shows why.

At 11 p.m. on a Thursday in February, two friends in Brooklyn are preparing for a trip home from Park Slope to Bed-Stuy. They’re both new in town, and they study their Google Maps options closely: Taking the subway means a 15-minute walk to a station on the F line, where their train coming in from Manhattan had been delayed 20 minutes. Then they’d have to transfer to the C, with a likely wait time of 10 or 15 minutes. To travel three miles, this could be an hour-long adventure.

The friends could probably walk in the same amount of time, or pedal home in 20 minutes using bike-share, but the weather is freezing. They check Lyft: Splitting a pooled ride with one another (and perhaps an extra stranger) means paying $7 for a roughly 25-minute trip in a sweetly overheated sedan, directly to their doors. The choice is very clear.

Do stories like these explain the declining passenger base of transit agencies across the U.S.? Amid the rise of transportation network companies (TNCs) like Uber and Lyft, this logic goes, travelers will pay extra for a lot of added convenience, leaving transit options—which leave a lot to be desired—to waste.

 

Read more here.

This story first appeared in CityLab and appears here by kind permission of the author. 

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China building 'worldwide' league

Money appears to be no object in the Chinese Super League, as some of soccer's top stars are being lured to clubs that previously flew well below the radar of most fans.

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Serena shocks players on public tennis court

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F1 team brings in female driver

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Serena Williams sneaks up on fans during match

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'No hard feelings' after losing gold

Usain Bolt may have lost one of his Olympic gold medals after compatriot Nesta Carter tested positive for a banned substance -- but the Jamaican says he has "no hard feelings" towards his sprint relay teammate.

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36 amazing sports photos

Take a look at 36 amazing sports photos from February 21 through February 27.

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Tiger Woods: Glory and pain

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Fair Work fines Melbourne restaurant $100k for underpaying Taiwanese visa holder

Kitchen Republik, Box Hill, Melbourne. Pic: Facebook. 

 

 

By Danielle Bowling

In less than nine months, a Melbourne restaurant underpaid a Taiwanese visa holder more than $30,000 in what the case’s judge referred to as “an egregious departure from the mandated minimum rates of pay.”

Food Republic Australia Pty Ltd, the operators of the Taiwanese and Malaysian hawker-style restaurant now trading as Kitchen Republik in Box Hill, have been ordered to pay $107,551 after admitting to underpaying the worker with flat hourly rates of $10 and $11.

The employee, in Australia on a 417 working holiday visa and speaking limited English, was 22 years old at the time and was underpaid $33,169 working as a kitchen hand between June and November 2014, and March and July 2015.

 

Read more here. 

This story first appeared in Hospitality Magazine. 

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Government answers #CensusFail recommendations

 

 

 
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) will be more closely involved in making the 2021 eCensus bulletproof before it is conducted, which will involve cyber security experts from the Australian Signals Directorate independently assessing ICT security and risk, the federal government has pledged. 

The Bureau will also and do a better job of talking to the public about any changes it wants to make to data collection, use and retention for future Censuses.

The government published its response to the Senate Economic References Committee’s report, 2016 Census: issues of trust, yesterday (Monday) and agreed to all but one of the Committee’s recommendations.

The Committee report, coupled with the MacGibbon Review, was triggered after the Census website was taken down on Census night (August 9) last year, following a series of Denial of Service attacks which blocked thousands of Australians from completing their Census forms online.

The shutdown proved an international embarrassment for the government, trending globally on social media as #CensusFail, as well as denting public confidence in the government’s ability to deliver digitally.

Besides the ICT meltdown on Census night, there had also been complaints from civil liberties groups and politicians ahead of the 2016 Census, concerned that the Bureau’s changes to data collection had not been properly publicised or consulted on and represented a privacy and security risk.

These changes included matching Census data with other data sets to glean richer statistical data and keeping it for up to four years.

The government has now agreed that the ABS will publish a final report on all future Privacy Impact Statements on the ABS website at least one year ahead of the Census.

But it appeared to fudge any solid dollar commitment or specify any funding level for future Censuses in its 2017-18 Budget, saying only “the Government is committed to funding the Census and its associated activities” and that any decision would be “considered as appropriate during the annual budget cycle”.

Other recommendations the government agreed to included: an open tender process for future censuses; ABS to manage ICT contractors and their work more closely and that the ABS would communicate clearly with the public on the repercussions of not completing a Census, including guidelines on fines, prosecutions and appeals.

But the government did not accept the Committee’s recommendation that it intervene in filling vacant senior roles at the ABS, saying it was outside its remit, except when appointing the Australian Statistician.

It also refused to take on board recommendations from the Nick Xenophon and Stirling Griff (also NXT), who wanted to make it optional for people to provide their names.

Some Greens and independent politicians refused to write their names on last year’s Census forms.

The government knocked back the request: “Mandatory provision of a person’s name in the Census is necessary for a high quality Census and consistent with international practice,” adding that it would hamper accurate population estimates and dilute information quality and range.

The government also rebuffed the two senators’ request for making parliamentary approval necessary for any future plans to link Census data with other data sets, saying there were already strong protections around the use of Census data.

Greens Leader Senator Richard Di Natale had also pushed for a new independent Privacy Impact Assessment for the next Census to be carried out within the next six months. This would include assessing the acceptability of data collection and retention changes made for the 2016 Census.

The government denied his request and said “the ABS has already been subject to considerable external scrutiny about the management of personal information from the 2016 Census”.

It said that the Bureau had already responded to community concerns by altering its policies and procedures.

The MacGibbon Review, led by Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull’s ICT supremo Alastair MacGibbon, stressed the importance of renewing public confidence in the government’s digital transformation mission and highlighted why the 2016 Census failed.

Criticisms included: inadequate preparation against predictable cyber security breaches; poor crisis planning; poor communication, particularly around security and privacy concerns; procurement bungles and an insular ABS culture with an overreliance on past strategies.

The Review concluded: “The public’s confidence in the ability of government to deliver took a serious blow, more so than any previous IT failure.”

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Industry groups oppose SA cop’s push for random drugs and alcohol tests on staff

 

 

By Andy Young

Hospitality industry groups have joined together in South Australia to call for a “draconian” proposal to drug and alcohol test staff in bars, hotels and restaurants to be withdrawn.

The Australian Hotels Association SA, Clubs SA, SA Wine Industry Association, Clubs SA and Restaurant and Catering SA wrote a joint letter to MPs calling on the proposal, which was put forward by SA Police (SAPOL) to be withdrawn from the state’s review of its Liquor Licensing Act.

In its submission to the Liquor Licensing Act review SAPOL called for random drug and alcohol testing of hospitality and wine workers to be introduced, with a zero-tolerance policy on staff test results. In addition it called for police to have the power to require bar staff to carry out a test and that it become an offence to resist testing, the industry groups have criticised the proposals as unjustified.

In the letter, a copy of which has been obtained by TheShout, the industry groups said: “The State’s five Industry Associations representing Hotels, Hospitality, Independent Bottle shops, Bars, Late Night Entertainment Venues, Restaurants, Cafes, Caterers, Licensed Community Clubs, sporting facilities and the Wine Industry including cellar doors are unified in their opposition to the SAPOL ambition to have the legal capacity to randomly alcohol and drug test workers involved with the sale and supply of alcoholic beverages. 

 

Read more here.

This story first appeared in The Shout. 

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The postman never rings once: Australia Post parcel complaints keep coming

 

Australia Post’s parcel business raked in $189 million profit last year, driven by online shopping and offsetting losses from the continuing decline in letters, but customers claim the service is failing them and that it desperately needs a shake-up.

Australia Post’s Facebook page is a near constant storm of customers complaining about missed or lost parcel deliveries, aggravated by the recent uproar over departing CEO Ahmed Fahour’s $5.6 million pay packet and the company’s parcel profits, which are up by 16 per cent.

Last week, Australia Post posted a profit before tax of $197 million for the six months up to December 31, 2016.

“Today over 70 per cent of our revenue and 100 per cent of our profit is derived from commercial activities in parcels and ecommerce,” Mr Fahour said, when the result was announced.

“We are delivering more parcels than ever before, with domestic parcel volumes up 5 per cent in the first half, market share increasing and at the same time we’re trialling new delivery innovations like evening and weekend deliveries to give our customers an even better experience.”

However, some commentators, such as Adam Schwab at Crikey, have pointed out that the company has an obvious advantage over competitors like DHL and Toll because it has the distribution network. AusPost also bought StarTrack (with help from the Australian taxpayer) for about $800 million in 2012. StarTrack makes up a major part of its parcel business.

Australia Post offering evening and weekend deliveries might help address one of the most common gripes from irritated customers: that the postie often fails to ring or knock, opting instead to automatically leave an ‘attempt to deliver’ card.

One customer said: “Maybe your delivery drivers could actually knock on my door to see if I am home instead of just leaving the card so I have to go and collect it myself the next day.

“So, even though I’ve paid for delivery I had to go to the post office the next day to get it. I don’t mind when I’m not home but when I know for a fact I was: that pisses me off.”

Another disappointed customer said: “I had a delivery driver slip the card under my door, open, with me clearly in view.”

One lady got her delivery but was not happy with the result: “They never ring the bell just throw (one broken china delivery) or dump the box on the porch in full view of the street. Takes too much time to ring/knock and get a signature.”

 

Australia Post contractor apparently not checking the customer was home. Pic: YouTube. 

 

Failed deliveries are especially galling if the recipient has taken time off work to wait for a parcel delivery and the postie does not bothering knocking or ringing.

One frustrated customer said: “I’ll get off work and sit home all day waiting for my parcel, and they never bother to knock or ring or call in any way. And I won’t get the card until three days later.” 

A businessman was ticked off after Australia Post failed to deliver a product a client had ordered then bungled the investigation into what happened.

“I sent something nine months ago and it still hasn’t arrived at its destination. You started an investigation and last month you asked me if the organic olives and baby oil had arrived with the recipient. I actually sent a pair of pliers!”

Another customer said she though posties were paid to take parcels back to the post office as well as being paid for the initial delivery, which she said gave them an incentive not to ring the doorbell.

“If they paid their delivery workers a decent wage or even a decent commission, less parcels would be lost, thrown or otherwise undelivered because the driver can’t see the point in spending the time to check if somebody is actually home for 85c,” said one customer.

But an Australia Post spokesperson said that posties were paid only once for a delivery, although the amount was confidential. He said that drivers were regularly reminded of the rules and the system usually worked well.

“The national “knock and call out” process was implemented in 2014 and requires drivers to knock at the door three times and call out before leaving a card. We have received very positive customer feedback on this process since it was launched,” the spokesperson said.

“We welcome feedback from our customers and encourage them to contact us and let us know if our delivery drivers are not attempting delivery to the door. That way we can follow up with our drivers in that area to ensure they do follow our national policy of ‘knocking and calling out to the door’ before leaving a card behind.”

Lazy or careless posties have been the subject of some of the most common complaints received by the Commonwealth Ombudsman, which has also been the Postal Industry Ombudsman since 2006.

The Ombudsman’s 2015-16 annual report says that the most common complaints include: Delivery issues (mainly about the failure to attempt delivery of parcels); incorrect safe drop procedures and not getting a signature on delivery when required.

Delivery issues accounted for almost 30 per cent of all the complaints received by the PIO.

Australia Post has been in the limelight of late after Mr Fahour’s shock resignation on Wednesday last week, following heat over his bulging pay packet. Mr Fahour, who insisted he was not quitting because of the furore surrounding his pay, will be out the door in July leaving Post to source a new CEO with its hands tied over what pay it can offer.

The government ruled last week that the new CEO’s pay packet will in future be decided by the Renumeration Tribunal – not the Australia Post board – making it likely the next person to take the job will cop a multi-million dollar pay cut.

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Is this rugby? Controversial tactic sparks anger

Conor O'Shea's Italy side deployed a controversial tactic in the Six Nations defeat by England that has sparked heated debate in the rugby world.

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Six Nations: Call for promotion and relegation

Head coach of the Georgian national rugby team, Milton Haig, discusses the possibility of promotion and relegation in the Six Nations.

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Zlatan: 32 trophies and counting

Zlatan Ibrahimovic scored a later winner as Manchester United beat Southampton in the EFL Cup final at Wembley.

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McIlroy: Playing with Trump 'not an endorsement'

Top flight golfer Rory McIlroy has defended himself against criticism for playing a round of golf with US President Donald Trump, saying it "wasn't an endorsement nor a political statement of any kind."

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Pacquiao and Khan confirm April bout

Boxing legend and Filipino senator Manny Pacquiao has announced a date for this next fight -- April 23 -- against former British lightweight Olympic champion Amir Khan.

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Penalty rates decision: What retailers think

 

 

On Thursday last week, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) confirmed its decision to reduce Sunday penalty rates from double time (200%) to time and a half (150%). It will come as no surprise that retailers are feeling pretty positive about the move. 

Appliance Retailer spoke to a number of retailers from around the country who shared their thoughts on the outcome.

David Dorsett-Lynn from Dorsett Retail in Western Australia described the decision as a “very fair outcome” for the industry.

“We have had a penalty system designed to keep stores and cafes closed on Sunday so we could all go to church but the world changed when retail gained the flexibility to open – and customers love it. However, it is an economic disaster for retailers with most finding weekend and public holiday trade hard to make money from,” he told Appliance Retailer.

“I would love to see less casual employees working penalty hours part time to support university and more people making a career of retail. The penalty rate cut is a step in that direction as it provides a bit more flexibility for employers to reward key full-time employees and that might encourage people to make a career out of retail,” he explained.

 

Read more here.

 

This story first appeared in Appliance Retailer. 

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F1's Alonso: 'I'll be racing when I'm 80'

It's been over a decade since Fernando Alonso won a world title, but the Formula One veteran insists his passion for racing is still strong.

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Ice driving is 'such a surreal feeling'

Take a vast frozen lake, a Formula E driver, a Jaguar F-Type and what do you get?

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Would you turn down a $750K-a-week wage?

Money and success -- a potent combination which lures and seduces. No matter how much is in the bank or how many medals are in the trophy cabinet, the more you have, the more you want.

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Five things to do in Buenos Aires

The first Formula E race of 2017 recently visited the Argentine city Buenos Aires.

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Hamilton: New car 'beats the crap out of you'

Ten years competing in one of the world's most demanding sports has done nothing to dampen Lewis Hamilton's will to win.

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'Punk' antiheroes inspired a generation

The antiheroes of pioneering movie "The Blizzard of Aahhh's" inspired a generation of skiers and popularized the concept of "extreme" skiing.

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So long Claudio... sport's coldest managerial sackings

The fairytale is over.

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Leicester shocks football with Ranieri sacking

Leicester City Football Club has sacked manager Claudio Ranieri less than nine months after winning the Premier League Title.

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They came in with a wrecking ball: Council lays charges over demolition of Melbourne Irish pub

 

The Corkman Irish pub after demolition. Pic: Jenny Zhou, Melbourne Law School student. 

 

 

 

Two shonky developers and their company faced 16 charges today (Friday) and up to $2 million in fines for demolishing a landmark, heritage Irish pub in Melbourne.

Melbourne City Council and the state’s building authority Victorian Building Authority (VBA), laid 16 charges in Melbourne Magistrates Court against the pair and their company for illegally demolishing the 159-year-old Corkman Irish pub in Carlton during October last year.

The council and the VBA spent three months investigating the illegal knock down, which was in a heritage overlay area, before laying charges against cowboy developers Stefce Kutlesovski and Raman Shaqiri and their company that owned the land, 160 Leicester Pty Ltd.

The two men, who bought the pub in 2015 for $4.76 million, were charged with demolishing the Leicester Street building without a permit; refusing to obey a stop work order; not giving the council 48 hours written notice of the demolition and doing the work outside permissible hours.

Mr Kutlesovski was also charged with being an unregistered demolisher.

Meanwhile, 160 Leicester Pty Ltd, was charged with allowing the demolition without a permit; failing to observe a stop building work order, contravening planning legislation, carrying out demolition work outside permitted hours and not giving the council 48 hours’ notice of demolition.

 

The maximum penalty for each charge ranges from $3,109 to $388,650 so the two men and their company could owe up to $2 million.

Melbourne Lord Mayor Robert Doyle said he hoped the charges against the developers would lead to the pub being rebuilt.

He told a media conference this afternoon: “These are very serious charges carrying very serious fines”.

“Everything from demolishing a building, to being without a permit, to failing to observe a stop work order, and everything in between.

“It’s not that we want to go into court to punish people as a consequence of what they have done, what we’d really like to see is The Corkman reinstated and that is possible.”

 

 

 

Waste from the site, including dangerous asbestos, was later found dumped on a site the two man own in Cairnlea. They were understood to be planning a 12-storey apartment block on the flattened site.

 

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Experts say NSW land titles registry sell-off a disaster

The land titles registry sell-off could make it more expensive 
to put a roof over your head in future. 

 

 

The NSW government’s plans to privatise the profitable land titles registry have been condemned by lawyers, surveyors and real estate agents at a forum convened by Shadow Minister for Finance, Services and Property Clayton Barr earlier this week (Wednesday).

NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian is planning to lease the part of the Land and Property Information service (LPI) that deals with defining land boundaries and keeping property records to a private company for 35 years.

But experts say it’s a stupid move that will undermine the integrity of the system, push costs up for house buyers and sellers and decimate the LPI’s skilled workforce.

The Public Service Association website, The Secret Sell-Off, points out that the land titles registry gives people “an iron clad guarantee from the NSW government that your home belongs to you”.

In the US people take out insurance to guard against fraud and mistakes in property title.

Don Grant, who was Surveyor General of NSW from 1986 to 2000, said the LPI underpinned the NSW property system and the integrity of the state’s land titles registry, which gave the public confidence.

John Cunningham from the Real Estate Institute of NSW said the decision did not make financial sense. The land titles registry at the LPI is estimated to net the government around $70 million a year.

“You can understand it in terms of the reality of economic management and business that are not performing but the LPI is one of the best performing businesses in NSW,” Mr Cunningham said.

“It’s a very effective and safe system and has worked brilliantly for many years. It’s an innovative government department on the cusp of great things.”

He believed the public wanted to know the registry was safe in government hands, not private.

A recent survey by the Institution of Surveyors NSW found that 70 per cent of people were unaware of the proposed sell-off.

“I’m perplexed. The government talks about open and free data but they want to sell it off, which means it’s going to cost more,” he said.

President of the Institution of Surveyors NSW, Michael Green, said there was a lack of transparency from the government about the sell-off: “it’s like a veil has been drawn”.

The government appears to have gone to great lengths to downplay the sale and dismiss it as merely administrative to slide the lease through.

“They don’t want to tell the public that they’re selling what is a good public service but which will become a private monopoly,” Mr Green said.

He said similar moves in Canada, which were currently being resisted by some provinces or territories, had led to a quadrupling in fees for home buyers and sellers.

The UK recently abandoned plans to privatise its land registry, citing concerns about rising costs to consumers and allowing a private entity to run a monopoly.

Mr Green said the impact would also be huge for the 400 LPI staff. Although full-time workers’ jobs were guaranteed for four years those on contracts could be let go early. Also, full-time staff were likely to look around for other jobs.

Privatisation would mean new staff would be less likely to be trained up and the loss of corporate memory from people leaving would also be damaging.

“People will disappear slowly but surely in the next four years.”

It was also a risk that the service would be returned in worse shape once it was handed back to the NSW government after 35 years, “You’ve got a winner. What are you going to get back?”

The other four sections of the LPI are understood not to make a profit.

Former Law Society NSW President Margaret Hole said the land titles section was funding the other four-fifths of the department and selling it would harm the registry’s impartiality, whether real or perceived.

There are fears that privatising the service could lead to a dip in quality of service, especially where a private company would be more concerned with profit and shareholder dividends.

“Once it happens, a private body would have no control over the behaviour of a private company,” Ms Hole said.

President of the Law Society of NSW, Pauline Wright said the yield of $1.5 billion from offloading the land titles registry seemed large but it was a ‘negligible’ return from an asset that consistently delivered profit.

“It’s already among of the world’s best land registries and [there are] few benefits to be gained from privatising it,” Ms Wright said.

Ms Wright said the privatisation would not create the capital investment the government was forecasting because there was little incentive for a private company running a monopoly to invest.

“It’s a fundamental duty of the government to manage and protect the security of its land titles in the state,” Ms Wright said.

“You could say [it’s] the asset that underpins the whole of the NSW economy is under threat.”

Mr Barr called for an inquiry to force the NSW government to be open about the tender process and produce the documents that went with it.

You can watch the forum here on Facebook.

 

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Councils and the digital necessity

 

 

 

Australia’s councils have no choice. They have to go digital, both in the delivery of their services and in their internal operations. They need to do this to reduce costs, improve efficiencies, increase productivity – and because citizens are demanding it.

Digital is a journey. Every council is at a different stage, but a better understanding what the end goal is will allow them to put strategy and planning in place.

To help this process, Government News has launched a new Local Government Digital Maturity Index. The Index is an assessment and benchmarking tool that will enable Australia’s councils to determine their level of digital readiness across service delivery, planning and development, and internal systems.

The Index is based on a simple self-assessment survey to help councils understand where they are and what areas need improvement. Every council that completes the survey receives a tailored benchmark report, showing where they are compared to their peers.

To participate, access the survey here.

The index is based a taxonomy that applies the five metrics of Attitude, Policy, Strategy, Technology and Metrics across each of the five key functions of local government. For each area, the level of digital maturity is determined.

Taking the average ranking across each component provides the overall index, which can also be determined separately for each component. Each technology or methodology within each component can also be compared, providing a complete picture of digital maturity, or “readiness”, by such attributes as size of LGA or which state it is in, to enable a comparison between councils.

Further analysis, of the responses to individual questions in the survey, can then identify specific policies or technologies that might be implemented to improve the organisation’s digital maturity in that area. A council can also be benchmarked against itself over time to determine its progress.

This is the first time such a methodology has been used in Australia. Government News believes it will offer a valuable insight into the level of digital maturity, and identify the gaps and opportunities.

It will also be valuable to the local government industry as whole. Government News will be collating the results in a publicly available report that will identify the overall state of digital readiness of Australia’s Local Government Authorities, and the key issues involved.

We welcome your participation. It costs nothing except 20 minutes of your time to compete the survey, and you receive your valuable benchmarking report at no cost.

The post Councils and the digital necessity appeared first on Government News.

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Fair Work Commission slashes Sunday penalty rates: Employers jubilant, workers and unions furious

 

By Ben Hagemann

After 39 days of hearing, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) yesterday (Thursday) handed down a decision that will see Sunday penalty rates cut from double-time to time-and-a-half pay.

The new move will ease overhead pressures on small business retailers who employ staff on weekends but it has enraged unions, the Greens and Labor who say it will create a ‘whole new class of the working poor’.

The full bench of the FWC has not changed Saturday penalty rates, stating it was satisfied that the existing Saturday penalty rates achieve the modern award’s objective to provide a fair and relevant minimum safety net.

The Full Bench also stated it did not reduce Sunday penalty rates to the same level as Saturday penalty rates, noting that for many people Sundays had a higher level of “disutility” than Saturday work, albeit that the extent of that disutility was significantly lower than for periods further in the past.

It was viewed as implicit in the claims advanced by most of the employer interests that “they accepted the proposition that the disutility associated with Sunday work is higher than the disutility associated with Saturday work”.

 

Read more here.

 

This story first appeared in C&I Week. 

The post Fair Work Commission slashes Sunday penalty rates: Employers jubilant, workers and unions furious appeared first on Government News.

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NFL star sorry for 'girls should be silent' comment

When Tampa Bay Buccaneers quarterback Jameis Winston spoke to elementary school students Wednesday in St. Petersburg, Florida, he tried to inspire them by preaching self-confidence.

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Tennis event brings back 'ball dogs'

A year after the Brazil Open tennis tournament used ball dogs instead of ball kids during a day of the tournament, they're back. This time they'll be around for semifinal and final day.

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Kevin De Bruyne: Manchester City 'getting better and better'

The Etihad Stadium's first truly great European night? A Champions League match for the ages?

source CNN.com - RSS Channel - Sport http://ift.tt/2lzjbRH

Augusta National's azalea angst

The azaleas at Augusta National are as much a part of the Masters as green jackets and Amen Corner. But this year its color may be absent.

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Seabelo Senatla: Sevens star chases Springbok dreams

The sevens flyer has turned his back on the series to target XVs rugby and to become a Springboks legend.

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And the most influential soccer player in China is...

He is one of the greatest players in history and now Real Madrid star Cristiano Ronaldo reigns supreme not only on the football pitch but in the digital world too.

source CNN.com - RSS Channel - Sport http://ift.tt/2lNJx4N