Staff at an extra-small agency are stressed out, according to a snapshot of its 2026 APS employee census results.
Asked how often they found their work stressful, staff at the Parliamentary Budget Office (PBO) answered "sometimes" or "often" (63 per cent and 23 per cent), with a quarter saying they felt "burned out by my work" (15 per cent agreed, with a further 10 per cent saying they "strongly agreed").
Just 3 per cent never found the work stressful and a further 13 per cent answered "rarely".
Almost a third (30 per cent) said they had "unrealistic time pressures" placed on their work, while 38 per cent said that "too many competing priorities" was a barrier to them performing at their best to a great or very great extent.
And 44 per cent said they were often or always "expected to do too many different tasks in too little time".
The agency tasked with costing policy proposals and analysing the federal budget, which recently made headlines for highlighting that the May budget papers seem to assume a smaller public service would be needed to return to surplus, had some positive census results.
Its 41 respondents unanimously reported being confident that their requests for flexible work arrangements would be "given reasonable consideration".
And there was a big improvement (14 per cent) in reports that SES managers were communicating effectively (93 per cent answered in the affirmative).
Overall, respondents were slightly (2 per cent) happier with their direct supervisors than a year earlier, as well as their SES managers (3 per cent).
The agency also scored well on staff perceptions of a culture of integrity and a belief in the PBO's "power and purpose".
Just two people declined to participate.
After hours of meetings between union reps and Australian Public Service Commission chief negotiator Alison Stott, federal bureaucrats are about to hear the first of the Albanese government's proposals in the current round of APS-wide bargaining.
Ms Stott will table the Commonwealth's proposed positions at this Thursday's bargaining meeting, including on learning and development, studies assistance and professional qualifications.
Also on the agenda are leave without pay, workloads, graduate and entry level pathways, the APS code of conduct, lactation and breastfeeding support, jury duty and sabbatical leave.
"We are reaching an important stage of APS-wide bargaining, with the conversations, claims and feedback we have heard beginning to shape the proposals that will inform the next phase of negotiations for your next enterprise agreement," Ms Stott said in an update to public servants.
She acknowledged the "varied experiences across agencies" after receiving more than 1400 bargaining claims.
Proposals to be tabled on Thursday would "remain subject to bargaining" as her team continued "listening to feedback, considering different perspectives and working through the detail including any possible changes".
"We are also considering the broader context in which the APS operates, including economic conditions, affordability and the importance of achieving fair and sustainable outcomes for you, the APS and the Australian community," Ms Stott said.
A date is yet to be set for the Commonwealth to make a pay offer responding to the Community and Public Sector Union's demand for a 15 per cent increase over three years, which Finance Minister Katy Gallagher has signalled the government is unlikely to agree to.
Former federal Labor leader Bill Shorten's salary continues to capture the hearts and minds of some among the party faithful.
As University of Canberra vice-chancellor, Mr Shorten is on a package worth about $860,000 a year, a sum critics have been eager to point out is double his former cabinet minister salary - and more than Prime Minister Anthony Albanese's $607,500.
Public Eye hears that the former opposition leader's inner circle was somewhat amused by news out of the ACT Labor conference that delegates wanted to cap the pay of the University of Canberra's vice-chancellor at the same level as the Prime Minister.
Mr Albanese, of course, receives a raft of benefits that come with the nation's highest office, including free accommodation at The Lodge in Canberra and Kirribilli House in Sydney, taxpayer-funded travel and a team of staff, one Labor Right source pointed out.
"Bill would have seconded that motion because it would be a significant pay jump for him," they said.
It's difficult to compare apples with apples, but this columnist is aware of $95,000 being deducted from Mr Shorten's package because he lives at Bimbimbie House, the VC's official residence, as required by his role - a situation that triggers fringe benefits tax obligations.
Of course, any potential change to how UC's VC position is remunerated would have to apply not to Mr Shorten, whose contract is settled, but to his eventual successor.
As the Remuneration Tribunal reviews the hefty pay packets of APS secretaries, who take home as much as $1 million a year, submissions by outraged citizens seem to capture the zeitgeist.
"To whom it concerns; Start off with a 50% across the board reduction then review what level at or below that is appropriate," one such submission, published on the tribunal's website, says.
"Look at historical comparison of the multiple of Sec pay to Median wages and see how ludicrous the difference has become. Yours sincerely David."
Another, submitted by an anonymous public policy nerd from South Australia, said the United States - where senior bureaucrats are paid less - should be used as a benchmark.
"With all due respect, Australia's situation compared with that of the US can only be described as ludicrous," they wrote.
Perhaps the most relatable take was that of Donna, a senior physiotherapist working in a spinal cord injury rehabilitation unit, who used her own pay as a reference point.
"My career has been dedicated to supporting some of the most medically and socially vulnerable people in our healthcare system, in work that is highly specialised, emotionally demanding and carries significant responsibility," she wrote.
"Yet despite more than two decades in the public health sector, I take home approximately $3,000 per fortnight, while Departmental Secretaries receive between $828,550 and $1,035,690 per year."
These amounts were "excessively high, particularly when compared with the wages, responsibilities, and lived realities of frontline public health workers," Donna concluded.
"This disparity is not simply numerical, it reflects a deeper imbalance in how the public sector values different forms of responsibility, risk, and contribution."
Food for thought.
Opposition finance and public service spokesperson Claire Chandler has taken a leave of absence as she prepares to welcome her first child.
Senator Chandler, whose growing bump had been noted around Parliament House, announced she was starting her maternity leave on Friday.
Deputy Liberal leader Jane Hume, who had a tough gig spruiking the Coalition's public service policies during the 2025 election campaign, will be reprising her former role in an acting capacity while Senator Chandler is absent.
We look forward to the next APS war of words between Senator Hume and her Senate estimates opponent, Finance and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher.
