Since coming to power the federal Coalition has chipped away at the public service, increasingly outsourcing key functions of government to private companies.

In the past 18 months everything from the vaccine rollout strategy, to advice on manufacturing the vaccine has been contracted out to management consultants.

The trend has raised important questions about transparency, and the long-term sustainability of government services.

Today, senior reporter for The Saturday Paper Rick Morton on how private management consultants took over the public service.

Guest: Senior Reporter for The Saturday Paper, Rick Morton

Background reading: How private management consultants took over the public service in The Saturday Paper

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The management consultants that ate Canberra

A daily news show from the publisher of The Monthly and The Saturday Paper. Hear from the country’s best reporters, covering the news as it affects Australia. This is news with narrative, every weekday.

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A solution to the housing crisis is one of the most sought-after ideas in Australia.
Political careers, fortunes and the fate of a generation will rest on how we respond to the increasingly dire housing market, which means there are countless solutions to this crisis being debated throughout the country.
In this episode of 7am’s five-part series, we explore four of these possible solutions to the crisis. You will hear from finance expert Alan Kohler, Greens spokesperson for housing Max Chandler Mather, housing advocate Maiy Azize and former deputy lord mayor of Sydney and author, Jess Scully.

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Guest: Finance expert, Alan Kohler; Greens spokesperson for housing, Max Chandler Mather; housing advocate, Maiy Azize; former deputy lord mayor of Sydney and author of Glimpses of Utopia, Jess Scully.

The Great Housing Disaster: How to fix it

With federal, state and local governments promising to build more Australian homes, it’s fair to say that all levels of government want to fix the housing crisis.
But are they building enough? Are they listening to the people they’re building it for? And who really benefits from the way we build housing in Australia?
In this episode of 7am’s five-part special series on the housing crisis, we find out who gets a say when it comes to housing, and why that can get in the way of building the homes Australia needs.

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Guest: Public housing tenant, Carolyn Ienna; Housing expert, Nicole Gurran; Sydney Editor of The Sydney Morning Herald, Michael Koziol.

The Great Housing Disaster: Who gets a say?

With home ownership out of reach, more and more younger Australians have no choice but to rent for much longer than their parents ever did – maybe for the rest of their lives.
That puts younger Australians at the mercy of landlords, making some intensely angry and leading to what might be described as a “renters resistance”. 
In this episode of 7am’s five-part special series on the housing crisis, we meet the people who are trying to make it better: the people who are mobilising, taking matters into their own hands and fighting back.

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Guest: Tenant, Blake Hesketh; founder of shitrentals.org and social media figure, Jordan van den Berg; Senior lecturer in the School of Architecture, Design and Planning at the University of Sydney, Dr Sophia Maalsen.

The Great Housing Disaster: The renters' resistance

This is the first episode of 7am’s new five-part special series on the housing crisis.
What happened to housing in Australia over the past few decades wasn’t by chance. It’s the result of decades of deliberate decisions that have turned us into a nation of landlords and property speculators.
This episode uncovers who broke the housing market, and introduces one of the few people who saw what was coming and tried to warn us.

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Guest: Economist Saul Eslake; Television producer Julian Cress; Housing expert Professor Nicole Gurran

The Great Housing Disaster: Who’s to blame?

When Penny Wong took the lectern for the keynote speech at a conference on foreign affairs this week, she could have done what politicians usually do at these events.
She could have delivered a mundane speech about the same challenges we all know Australia faces in its region.
Instead, she decided to float the idea that Australia should recognise an independent Palestinian state.
Today, columnist for The Saturday Paper Paul Bongiorno, on what recognising a Palestinian state would mean – and why the foreign minister decided to talk about it now.

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Guest: Columnist for The Saturday Paper, Paul Bongiorno.

The management consultants that ate Canberra

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