The Mandarin

Accounting firm KPMG has told the US Public Company Accounting Oversight Board that it is under investigation by Australia’s Department of Finance for its ethical standards. The firm told the powerful US regulator that a number of Australian governments have suspended KPMG’s ability to participate in government tender processes until Finance determines whether the firm remains ethically fit to continue as a government supplier.

Sound budgeting practices, such as providing for decisions taken but not announced, can make it challenging to evaluate government expenditure, according to Parliamentary Budget Officer Sam Reinhardt. Reinhardt told the Australian Conference of Economists that prudent budget practices designed to provide for expenditure that has yet to be finalised and announced can make it difficult to track initial spending decisions through future budgets.

Michael Drane has been named director-general of the Department of Youth Justice and Victim Support. Drane has been acting in the role since January, after his two predecessors departed to serve as children’s commissioner. Minister for Youth Justice and Victim Support and Minister for Corrective Services Laura Gerber said the appointment gives the department strong and stable leadership.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi visited Australia last week for the Australia-India Annual Leaders’ Summit and to connect with the local Indian community — the country’s fastest-growing migrant group. The trip coincided with Modi and Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese signing deals covering everything from energy security and defence to closer cultural relations between the two nations.

The strength of any public service, it can be argued, lies in its ability to conduct its activities and perform its duties without undue, capricious intervention from the executive. Some common ground must invariably be reached. An incoming administration will want to pursue its agenda, and the public service will, at least in principle, be the instrument to that end. But a politicised public service is a step too far.

There’s never a particularly subtle time to launch a long-range, nuclear-capable ballistic missile from near China into the heart of the South Pacific, especially when Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is on a strategic footy-diplomacy tour and a regional charm offensive.

Thousands of Western Australian public servants discovered over the weekend that Premier Roger Cook will become their minister, after Cook assumed direct responsibility for the critical tourism and defence industries portfolios. It’s a minor cabinet reshuffle that has major implications.

Reforms to improve university governance, transparency, and how higher education providers respond to racism take effect today. The changes include a requirement for public universities to publicly release information about the outcomes of governing body meetings and decisions; consultancy spending and its purpose; external roles held by vice-chancellors and senior executives; and annual remuneration reports, including vice-chancellor remuneration.

Keir Starmer has announced the details of a sweeping review of Whitehall, as one of his last acts as UK prime minister. Originally announced in January, the review will follow similar contours to David Thodey’s independent review of the APS, focusing on “organisation, performance, and transformation”. Unlike the Thodey review, it will be run internally by Cabinet Secretary and Head of the Civil Service Antonia Romeo.

US President Donald Trump has terminated the last three members of the Election Assistance Commission, the independent ‌federal commission that assists election officials nationwide. The remaining three commissioners of the four-member bipartisan body were forced out of the commission in different ‌ways. One Republican appointee resigned, and the two Democratic appointees were fired via an email from the White House Presidential Personnel Office, according to sources.