With the scalp of poor Mr Mike Pezzullo dangling from his belt, The Age/Sydney Morning Herald journalist Michael Bachelard continues to take a terrier-like interest in the Department of Home Affairs.

That’s not a bad idea for the Department, constructed as it is to fail and fail continuously, deserves as much scrutiny as it can be given. Too much is barely enough, pace H G Nelson.

Thus Bachelard recently reported that a senior officer of the Department, described as its “cybersecurity guru” holds “a six figure shareholding in one of the country’s biggest tech supplier companies, CyberCX, a major contractor to government departments including his own.”

Bachelard also reports that the officer was an “executive director” for CyberCX from 2019 to 2021” having previously been “a senior adviser to former prime minister Malcolm Turnbull” where, upon other things, he advised on, wait for it, ”cybersecurity”.

While a useful reminder to Home Affairs that while it watches others, it also is being watched, Bachelard’s story lacks the vim of his reporting of the Pezzullo-Briggs correspondence with its gruesome denouement. Indeed, the CyberCX shareholder yarn looks much like a slow day in the media world.

As Bachelard notes the Public Service Act “code of conduct” contains provisions dealing with conflicts of interest. Moreover, the Department of Home Affairs has exemplary procedures for the declaration of all sorts of conflicts of interest, even including “romantic” ones. And Bachelard lets his tyres down by reporting that the CyberCX company told him that “It is our understanding that Mr Anstee fully disclosed his shareholding to the Department of Home Affairs upon commencing employment…and has not had any involvement in any tendering or........

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