Agency spends $4 million on redundancies while increasing its spend on contractors

Services Australia nearly doubled the amount it paid out for staff exits in the past financial year as the mega-agency juggled workforce realignments and a costly overhaul of its legacy telecommunications setup.

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The agency spent $4.4 million in voluntary redundancy payouts to 28 staff, a jump from just five in 2024-25. On average, $157,000 was paid out per departing employee.

"In 2025-26 voluntary redundancies were used selectively as part of normal workforce management where workforce realignment was required and suitable redeployment was not available," a Services Australia spokesperson said.

The spokesperson said the low redundancy figures in 2024-25 were a result of heavy recruitment in frontline service delivery and the departures in 2025-26 aligned more closely to historical averages of 20 in 2022-23 and 33 in 2023-24.

Despite increasing its redundancy spend, Services Australia forked out more on external support in 2025-26 compared to the previous year. Pictures by Keegan Carroll

The agency also forked out about $302 million in communications costs, an increase of $53 million compared with 2024-25.

The spokesperson attributed the increase in spending to rising supplier costs because supply chain inflation across postage and freight in addition to a move away from its legacy telecommunications platforms to a modern digital network.

External legal and contractor spending also increased, driven by what the spokesperson said was a "higher demand for specialist legal advice and support on complex matters".

An overhaul expected of ageing legacy systems is also expected soon so lawyers and contractors can expect to be extremely busy.

DPS beefs up IT security 

In the aftermath of a scathing audit of its cyber security processes, the Department of Parliamentary Services (DPS) has opened its cheque book.

The department awarded contracts worth $5.1 million and $2.38 million to software companies A23 and Informatech for "augmentation resources" for external information technology (IT) contractors.

External specialists were brought in after the Auditor-General found DPS's networks were outdated and vulnerable to attacks, with more than half the staff in the department's cyber security branch having been in their roles for less than a year.

"DPS takes the security, stability and functionality of the Parliamentary Computing Network seriously," a spokesperson said.

"We take a robust and strategic approach to the way we deploy resources to ensure we provide an IT system that meets the needs of the Australian Parliament and the Parliamentary Departments."

On the government's push to reduce contractor reliance, DPS said the splurge was necessary as the technical expertise was "not held within the department and/or may only be required for a short period of time."

For parliamentarians, staffers and press gallery folk hoping for answers about whether the multimillion-dollar contracts would address ongoing Wi-Fi and ParlView issues, DPS did not address network performance citing security protocols.

NCA lays down the law

Parking fines in the Parliamentary Triangle hit $1.6 million last financial year, the National Capital Authority's annual report reveals.

Tickets and fines combined generated about $21 million in non-taxation revenue for the NCA, the statutory authority that collects revenue for the federal government (which theoretically gives it back to Canberrans through the Commonwealth Grants Commission).

But the NCA is still chasing a big chunk of fines owed - $782,000, to be exact.

For those drivers hoping to ignore their unpaid parking fines, the authority warned it would refer them to the ACT Magistrates Court for prosecution.

Watch out.

Acting in Defence 

Nerds in Defence have been sent to drama school in a bid to improve their presentation style, a tender notice has revealed.

The department awarded a $25,300 contract to the National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA) which, it turns out, was for 20 bureaucrats in its finance team to brush up on their public speaking.

The lucky group took part in NIDA's Presenting with Confidence course, as part of a joint pilot program with the Australian Taxation Office for developing future finance leaders.

Bean counters were sent to the course to improve their delivery of technical financial data and strategic information to senior executives.

"NIDA was selected for its specialised expertise in executive communication and leadership development," the spokesperson said, adding the course was part of a broader professional development pathway across the APS.

The cost of calendars

If you're looking forward to your annual wall planner from the Bureau of Meteorology (BOM), it's been sent to the printers.

Public Eye inquired about a $106,126 tender BOM awarded to recruitment agency Ignite Limited.

A spokesperson said the contract was for a small customer service team to handle order processing, payment management and customer inquiries for the 43rd edition of the bureau's official calendar, which will feature amateur and professional photographs selected through a competition.

About 45,000 calendars are printed for sale each year, with an extra 4500 gifted to volunteer weather observers.

Not the copycat you want

If one needed evidence that online scammers were becoming bolder, they should look no further than the website of Australia's corporate regulator.

The Australian Securities and Investments Commission's (ASIC) 2025-26 annual report shows it had to coordinate a takedown of a fake version of its own register portal, ASIC Connect.

The copycat site was part of a complex network linked to a fake trading platform called "Universal Group", which had links impersonating three overseas financial regulators to lend the air of authenticity.

It was just one instance of the exploding game of scam whack-a-mole. For the 2025-26 period, ASIC reported removing 19,400 investment scam and phishing sites, a massive 182 per cent surge from 2024-25.

Scammers were leveraging artificial intelligence and slick web designs to impersonate trusted brands. About 20 per cent of all Moneysmart investor alerts involved fake versions of ASIC-licensed businesses or registered companies.

To help consumers identify fake copycat sites, the regulator has begun publishing official website addresses directly on its Professional Registers Search.

Annual scam losses in Australia had hit $2.2 billion, the report said.

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