News & Insights

Government contracts represent significant investments of public funds, designed to deliver essential services and infrastructure. Ideally, contractual agreements should serve as catalysts for streamlined work practices and substantial savings. However, the reality often diverges sharply from this ideal. Too frequently, contracts are signed with enthusiasm and then relegated to dusty filing cabinets, only to be unearthed when a crisis erupts throughout the contract period or after the project’s completion.

In today's ever-evolving digital world, the importance of cybersecurity cannot be overstated. While Cyber Awareness Month has been a key focus in educating individuals and organisations about best practices in cybersecurity, it is time to take a more ambitious step. It does not make sense to restrict this crucial awareness to just one month. While some organisations carry out awareness activities throughout the year, all organisations should extend Cyber Awareness Month to encompass the entire year through a planned approach.

Records management is constantly evolving, and as of February 2025, significant changes that will impact public sector agencies have come into effect. These updates, along with common challenges we observe in our audits, highlight the importance of robust and adaptable records management strategies. This blog post will guide you through the key changes and highlight crucial areas of focus.

Cyber security attacks pose a significant threat to local councils, compromising data integrity and citizen trust. The Australian Cyber Security Centre estimates the cost of an attack at $60,000 for medium-sized businesses, with larger attacks costing much more.

In September 2021 the NSW Office of Local Government published guidelines for Integrated Planning and Reporting (IP&R), which included a new requirement to publish a program of Service Reviews. The guidelines also specified an associated new reporting requirement:

With Brisbane confirmed as the host city for the 2032 Olympic and Paralympic Games, the Queensland Government and South-East Queensland Councils are at the forefront of delivering the infrastructure and community projects that will define the state for decades.

We are proud to share that Centium has been once again assessed as having a "Low" modern slavery risk rating by Local Government Procurement (LGP). This positive outcome demonstrates our proactive approach to identifying and mitigating modern slavery risks. We will continue to strengthen our efforts to ensure ethical and sustainable practices throughout our best practices.

The year 2024 saw two significant procurement scandals that exposed critical failures in probity and governance within Australian government agencies: Tourism Australia and the Australian Passport Office. Both incidents revealed troubling lapses in transparency, ethical conduct, and adherence to the Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs), raising serious concerns about how public funds are managed and the adequacy of current oversight frameworks.

Converting Dreams into Reality In our current crisis of housing affordability and availability, development approvals are under significant pressure. Rules are changing, technology and systems can be both frustrating and demanding, planners are in demand between Councils and across different sectors, and developers and citizens are often chasing multiple and sometimes conflicting outcomes. State government […]