Across Australia this week, questions of fairness and accountability surfaced in courtrooms, party rooms, and union halls alike. Public sector workers watched their wages erode in real terms while institutions reckoned with how power is chosen and how trust is broken. From a tax office union's quiet campaign for pay justice to a health insurer's day in federal court over a data breach that exposed millions, the week offered a portrait of a society negotiating the distance between what is promised and what is delivered.
Australia's tax office staff face 9.5% pay cut in real terms as union leader calls for 'pay justice'
A 23-year-old woman was allegedly restrained, choked and sexually assaulted by an unknown man in a Sydney park on 18 September.
Pay people for the value of their work, not the slot they fill
Mark
So Lapidos is saying the Tax Office is being squeezed—both in headcount and in real wages. What's the actual mechanism? Are salaries frozen, or are they rising but not keeping pace with inflation?
Mimi
The source doesn't specify whether there have been actual pay cuts or just wage growth that hasn't matched inflation. The 9.55 percent figure is the real-terms loss over thirteen years, so it's cumulative erosion.
Luke
Right—and that matters for the story. If salaries have been flat for a decade while inflation ran, that's one narrative. If they've been cut, that's another. The source gives us the outcome but not the path.
Mark
Lapidos also says the PM's office is vastly underpaid. That's an interesting claim. Is he making a broader point about public sector pay across the board?
Mimi
He seems to be. He's arguing that if you pay people according to the value they create, then everyone—including the prime minister—is getting shortchanged. It's a way of saying this isn't just a Tax Office problem; it's systemic.
Luke
But we don't have any detail on what the PM's office salary actually is, or what Lapidos thinks it should be. It's a rhetorical move, not a fact we can verify from the source.
Mark
The Greens leadership change is interesting because it's about process, not policy. Shoebridge is promising members a say, but he hasn't committed to a specific model yet.
Mimi
Exactly. He's made a pledge in principle but left the details for later. The commitment is real—he said it will happen before the next leadership decision—but the shape of it is still being worked out.
Luke
And the timing is important: the next leadership vote happens after the next federal election, which is years away. So there's runway to design this, but also time for the commitment to fade if there's no follow-through.
Mark
On Medibank, the court is deciding whether to hear two cases together or separately. What's the practical difference?
Mimi
If they're consolidated, one trial addresses both the customer class action and the privacy watchdog's civil penalties case. If they're separate, there are two trials, potentially with different findings on the same underlying facts.
Luke
The source tells us the class action lawyer argued for consolidation and Medibank's lawyer argued against it, but we don't have Beach's reasoning or any indication which way he's leaning. We know he's adjourned until October 16, but that's just a procedural date.
Mark
ANZ dropping KPMG after sixty years is a big move. Is this about the audit quality, or is it about governance fashion?
Mimi
The bank says it's because such a long tenure is no longer considered appropriate. That's a governance principle—the idea that auditors need fresh eyes and independence, which can erode over time.
Luke
But the source doesn't tell us whether there were specific failures by KPMG, or whether this is purely about the principle of rotation. The whistleblower scandal is mentioned as context, but we don't know if KPMG was involved in that or if it's just the broader climate that prompted the decision.
Le Pouls
- ATO workers have lost nearly a tenth of their real purchasing power over thirteen years, and their union leader is now naming it plainly: systematic exploitation by successive governments of both major parties.
- The Greens' new federal leader is moving to dismantle the party room's monopoly on leadership selection, promising to bring hundreds of branches and thousands of members into the process before the next vote.
- Medibank returned to federal court to contest whether the class action from affected customers and the privacy watchdog's civil penalty case should be heard together — a decision that could shape how corporate data failures are litigated for years to come.
- ANZ Bank is severing a nearly sixty-year auditing relationship with KPMG, a break driven by whistleblower fallout and a board judgment that institutional loyalty had outlasted institutional wisdom.
- A 23-year-old woman was allegedly restrained, choked, and sexually assaulted by an unknown man in a Sydney park, a reminder that behind the week's institutional dramas, individual safety remains urgently unresolved.
Across Australia this week, questions of fairness and accountability surfaced in courtrooms, party rooms, and union halls alike. Public sector workers watched their wages erode in real terms while institutions reckoned with how power is chosen and how trust is broken. From a tax office union's quiet campaign for pay justice to a health insurer's day in federal court over a data breach that exposed millions, the week offered a portrait of a society negotiating the distance between what is promised and what is delivered.
Jeff Lapidos has led the union representing Australia's Tax Office workers for more than a decade, and the numbers he carries tell a quiet story of decline. Adjusted for inflation, ATO employees have lost 9.55 percent of their purchasing power over thirteen years — a figure he attributes to both Coalition and Labor governments allowing public sector pay to drift steadily behind the cost of living. His campaign, framed around "pay justice," rejects uniform salary scales in favour of a simpler principle: people should be paid for the value they create. He extends this logic even to the prime minister's office, which he describes as vastly underpaid.
The erosion has not been limited to wages. Job cuts have accompanied the stagnation, leaving fewer staff to carry more work. Lapidos argues the combination is both unsustainable and unfair — a structural problem that has been allowed to compound across successive administrations.
In a separate conversation about how public institutions govern themselves, Greens leader David Shoebridge announced that ordinary party members will have a say in future leadership decisions. The Greens have historically selected their leader through the party room alone, mirroring the Liberal and Nationals model. Shoebridge committed to changing this before the next leadership vote — which under party rules follows every federal election — promising consultations across every state and territory, hundreds of branches, and thousands of members. The shift reflects internal pressure, including from Mehreen Faruqi, who lost a recent leadership bid and called for broader member input.
In the federal courts, Medibank faced a hearing over whether two legal actions against it should be consolidated. The health insurer is defending both a customer class action and civil penalties sought by the privacy watchdog following its 2022 data breach, in which personal data belonging to millions of Australians was leaked onto the dark web after Medibank refused to pay a ransom. A lawyer for the class action argued that the overlapping technical failures at the heart of both cases made a joint hearing logical. Medibank's counsel countered that the class action had grown beyond the watchdog's allegations and required more time. Justice Jonathan Beach adjourned the matter to October 16.
Meanwhile, ANZ Bank announced it is ending a nearly sixty-year relationship with auditor KPMG, which has overseen its accounts since 1969. The decision follows whistleblower fallout and a board determination that such a long tenure is no longer appropriate. KPMG, which earned over 21 million dollars for audit work in the most recent financial year, will be ineligible to participate in the competitive tender process beginning with the 2028-29 year.
Jeff Lapidos has spent more than a decade as a union leader representing Australia's Tax Office workers, watching their real wages shrink and their ranks thin. The numbers he carries are stark: after accounting for inflation, ATO employees have lost 9.55 percent of their purchasing power over the past thirteen years. That erosion, he argues, amounts to systematic exploitation by governments of both colors—Coalition and Labor alike—who have allowed public sector pay to fall further and further behind the cost of living.
Lapidos does not believe in uniform salary scales across the public service. His position is simpler and more pointed: people should be paid according to the value they create. Tax Office workers, he contends, deserve better. The Australian Services Union, which he leads, is now campaigning under the banner of "pay justice"—a phrase that extends, in his view, even to the prime minister's office, which he describes as vastly underpaid for the work it undertakes.
The timing of this push matters. Australia's public sector has been contracting for years, and the Tax Office has not been spared. Job cuts have accompanied wage stagnation, leaving remaining staff stretched thinner. Lapidos's argument is that this combination—fewer people doing more work for less money in real terms—is unsustainable and unfair.
Meanwhile, in a separate but related conversation about public sector compensation, the Greens party is attempting to democratize how it selects its leaders. David Shoebridge, the party's new federal leader, announced this week that ordinary members will have a say in future leadership decisions. Historically, the Greens' party room has chosen the leader unilaterally, much like the Liberal and Nationals do. Labor, by contrast, involves both the party room and the broader membership in the decision.
Shoebridge committed to making this change happen before the next leadership vote, which under Greens rules occurs after every federal election—meaning the new process will take shape during this parliamentary term. He did not specify the exact model but promised a "conversation" spanning every state and territory, hundreds of branches, and thousands of members. His co-deputy, Steph Hodgins-May, will help drive the change. The move reflects pressure from within the party, including from Mehreen Faruqi, who lost her own leadership bid and called for members to have input.
In the courts, Medibank faced a hearing on whether two separate legal actions against it should be consolidated or tried independently. The health insurer is defending itself against both a class action brought by affected customers and civil penalties sought by the privacy watchdog following its 2022 data breach. After Medibank refused to pay a ransom demand, personal data belonging to millions of Australians was leaked onto the dark web, labeled with crude and stigmatizing file names. A lawyer for the class action argued that hearing the cases together would serve justice, given the overlapping technical and systemic failures at the heart of both claims. Medibank's counsel countered that the class action had expanded far beyond the privacy watchdog's allegations and would require additional time to address new claims. Federal Court Justice Jonathan Beach adjourned the matter until October 16, allowing the class action party time to refine its statement of claim.
Separately, ANZ Bank announced it is ending a nearly sixty-year relationship with its auditor, KPMG, which has overseen the bank's accounts since 1969. The decision follows fallout from a whistleblower scandal and reflects a broader shift in corporate governance thinking: the bank's board determined that such a long tenure is no longer appropriate. ANZ will conduct a competitive tender process beginning with the 2028-29 financial year, with KPMG ineligible to participate. In the 2024-25 financial year alone, KPMG earned 21.4 million dollars for audit and review work, with total fees including non-audit services reaching 29.6 million dollars.
Citations marquantes
Officials should be paid for the value of their work, not according to common salary levels across the public service— Jeff Lapidos, Australian Services Union
Ordinary party members should have a say in Greens leadership decisions, with consultation across every state, territory, and branch— David Shoebridge, Greens federal leader
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