The man handpicked by Malcolm Turnbull to head the government's digital transformation has said the error rate in Centrelink's data-matching process is so unfathomably high that it would send a commercial enterprise out of business.
Paul Shetler, the former digital transformation office head, criticised the government's response to its latest IT crisis, telling Guardian Australia it was symptomatic of a culture of blame aversion within the bureaucracy.
"It is literally blame aversion, it is not risk aversion," Shetler said. "They're trying to avoid the blame, and they're trying to cast it wide.
"The justifications that have been given I think are just another example of the culture of 'good news', reporting only good news up through the bureaucracy.
Paul Shetler, the former digital transformation office head, criticised the government's response to its latest IT crisis, telling Guardian Australia it was symptomatic of a culture of blame aversion within the bureaucracy.
"It is literally blame aversion, it is not risk aversion," Shetler said. "They're trying to avoid the blame, and they're trying to cast it wide.
"The justifications that have been given I think are just another example of the culture of 'good news', reporting only good news up through the bureaucracy.