Monday, February 27, 2023

Andrew Podger: Public service must learn from robodebt fiasco

 “The trouble with most of us is that we'd rather be ruined by praise than saved by criticism.”

– Norman Vincent Peale

TurboTax parent company Intuit is pouring more money than ever into lobbying amid push for free government-run tax filing Open Secrets


A new Cold War between the US and China is spreading around the world El Pais


THE FOUR HORSEMEN OF INFLATION The Intercept. War, pestilence, climate change, and the rich.


Podger unleashed to clean out robodebt rot


The RC into Robodebt has heard Andrew Podger, the outspoken former head of the APSC, has been called in to conduct an expert forensic probe into how the administrative elements of the unlawful shakedown gained a roadworthy certificate


Public Sector Informant: It's time for a royal commission into robodebt


Robodebt: can you recall a greater failure of public administration?






If you don't like what's happening to interest rates, remember that ... Ross Gittins is the Economics Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald.


ZDNET: “Ever since ChatGPT and the other generative AI applications have exploded onto the scene, we’ve been exploring what we could do with them. I’ve even shown you how ChatGPT can write a fully functional WordPress plugin and help me find answers to tech support problems

Recently, I showed you how ChatGPT can convert writing into different styles, including that of Shakespeare, C3PO, and Harry Potter. It seems like ChatGPT can do anything. But it can’t. In this article, we’ll explore the many things ChatGPT won’t or can’t do. Stay tuned to the end, because we’ll look at some of the implications and what these limits mean for future growth in generative AI. As I’ve done in my other ChatGPT articles, my writing is in plain and bold text, while any ChatGPT answers will be displayed in italic text…”


Bipartisan Policy Institute – Top Risks in Cybersecurity 2023 – “The Bipartisan Policy Center (BPC) convened a working group of leaders to strengthen America’s cybersecurity.

 The group’s approach was to identify the nation’s top cybersecurity risks to raise awareness so policymakers and businesses can take pragmatic action and invest in countermeasures. In assembling the working group, the co-chairs sought broad inclusivity from strategically important industries, government, and civil society. Every sector with a stake in cybersecurity was included – banking, communications, digital platforms, health, energy, and more. The working group drew from a wide range of important perspectives, including stakeholders representing privacy concerns and digital identities. Identifying cybersecurity risks is the first step in managing them. 

This report – unlike other, more technical sources that identify cyber risks – frames them for the strategic audience of business and government decision-makers. We intentionally focused on identifying risks, not solutions, because various stakeholders may need to take different approaches. There are no one-size-fits-all fixes. Rather, these top risks must be considered individually by companies and collectively by the nation. Many will require a multifaceted response, across business and government, who will need to work various levers including policy, organizational culture, technology, and processes.

 Top Macro Risks – These top eight macro risks represent a consolidation of the most likely and impactful of the risks identified by the working group. Each risk’s description includes “Key Risk Factors,” which identify concrete examples or hazards that fall under the identified risk. The listed key factors are starting points – they are not exhaustive. Other Notable Risks – This section contains the extended list of macro risks and risk factors identified by the working group. These either did not fit into one of the eight top macro risk sections or did not have a specific 2023 focus…”