With Israel accused of war crimes over its war in Gaza and Russia's ongoing invasion of Ukraine, flag-protecting agency the National Capital Authority has had a string of brazen flag thefts to contend with at the international flag display along Queen Elizabeth Terrace.
New figures show nearly $21,000 has been spent on replacing several Russian and Israeli flags either damaged or snatched from the iconic waterfront site over several years.
The most recent incident, occurring just days before Israeli President Isaac Herzog's visit to Canberra in February, saw a vandal hack off Israel's dedicated flagpole with an angle grinder and cart it off the premises.
Meanwhile, the display's Russian flag has been stolen at least twice, most recently during last year's Australia Day long weekend.
The NCA said the total costs of replacing the 12-metre-tall Israeli flag included the entire construction of a new flagpole, cutting the concrete at its base, digging out the old spigot, and reinstalling it before allowing time to cure and install the new flagpole.
Documents show the flags were purchased from Carroll and Richardson, a custom flag manufacturer based in Victoria.
New security cameras were also installed nearby at a separate cost.
When they aren't being threatened out of existence by Pauline Hanson, staff at the Department of Climate Change, Energy and Water have been navigating a shared case of chronic avoidant attachment.
Or, as an independent capability review published this month put it, a "cultural reluctance to have uncomfortable conversations and provide critical feedback".
Things have gotten so bad that frustrated industry stakeholders have reported having to link up different DCCEW teams to cross-check their own talking points.
"I often have to remind them that there are other branches and divisions that they need to be talking to," one external source was quoted as saying.
This anti-group-project mindset apparently trickles straight down from the executive suite, according to several insiders.
"We have not systematically engaged with the obvious big issues between climate, energy and the environment despite sitting under the same roof," one internal source said.
"In the first term of this government, there was no willingness to engage in this among deputies, even when prompted."
Another staffer backed this up, pointing out that "tensions at deputy secretary level sometimes don't get resolved," leaving middle management with "little faith" that the top brass can handle basic policy trade-offs.
The review also found the department did not have any formal performance improvement plans in place for staff, due to an apparent widespread fear of having an awkward convo.
The department with the lengthy acronym (it's pronounced dee-kew) was slapped with the lowest rating possible for internal collaboration.
In response, department secretary Mike Kaiser declared his intention to "act on this review", admitting his agency needed to work on "strengthening our partnerships".
He's also issued a "guiding principle" commanding staff to be "risk-aware, not risk-averse".
That'll do it.
Last week, billionaire Gina Rinehart escalated her long-running feud against the knitted vest-wearers of Canberra, this time deploying a giant plastic truck.
At News Corp's bush summit last week, Mrs Rinehart summoned One Nation leader Pauline Hanson onto the stage like a game show contestant to gift her a "beautiful, big, fat" orange toy bulldozer.
In a bizarre homage to Elon Musk's chainsaw-wielding antics at a Trump rally, she commanded the crowd to become a human sound-effect machine to protest the federal bureaucracy.
"You might remember Elon Musk was given a big chainsaw to try and cut government tape and bureaucracies over in America," she bellowed to the crowd.
"We actually need a beautiful, big, fat ... We need an orange bulldozer! Let's hear the noise. Brooooaaarrr."
While the "orange" reference was ostensibly a nod to the One Nation wave currently sweeping the country (even at the Kingo), the visual of Australia's richest woman roaring like a broken engine marked a surreal new chapter in her lifelong crusade against the APS.
At a Santos event in 2024, the mining magnate rallied for an Australian version of the US Department of Government Efficiency to "make our bank accounts great again", hitting out at the use of taxpayer funds to "fly bureaucrats to luxurious gabfests around the world in aid of banning fossil fuels".
"Cut out expenditure on the Environmental Defenders Office, sell the pot plants and artifacts from all the departments and agencies' offices, these are just some of many opportunities to cut expenditure and wastage to make way for tax cuts!" she said at the time.
In 2023, she suggested the federal government consider exiling departments to the Pilbara region in WA's north-west to "learn about where Aussie's revenue is generated" in a speech to mining executives and former Liberal leader Peter Dutton.
During the 2016 federal election, she railed against the "bloated and expanding" size of the government behind what at the time were record levels of government debt in an interview with The Saturday Telegraph.
This followed a 2012 manifesto she penned for a resources trade magazine, where she first floated the idea of a mass public service relocation to the outback to cure them of their coastal bias.
"We need our government departments and government advisers exposed to more of Australia: regions outside of Canberra and the NSW coast, where they usually holiday for their annual vacations," she wrote at the time.
APS workers might want to keep one ear open for the faint, distant sound of a billionaire yelling "Brooooaaarrr" from a private jet.
On the subject of high-flying public servants, if you're wondering when the finance department's new travel policy will be released, it'll likely be within the next month or two.
Agencies were banned from buying airline lounge memberships as part of an APS-wide crackdown on "unnecessary wage spending" in last month's budget.
Restrictions came after Services Australia blew more than $200,000 on lounge memberships and renewals between 2022 and 2025, often failing to note the names and positions of staff buying them or noting when they were renewed or expired.
Public Eye sent questions to the department asking when exactly we can expect to see the new rules.
"The new Australian Government Travel Policy is due to release early in the 2026-27 financial year," a department spokesperson wrote back.
