Miss out on Taylor Swift tickets? This list will have you seeing Red

It turns out a few politicians were generously gifted seats to the biggest concert of the year, new documents reveal.

According to the register of members' interests, at least least four MPs snagged tickets to the sold out Eras Tour.

We'd already seen footage of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese dancing to Shake it Off at a show. His statement of interest shows the tickets were courtesy of Universal Music.

Leader of the Greens Adam Bandt scored a whopping four tickets to a Melbourne show, thanks to Frontier Touring. The concert promoter also gave two tickets to Minister for Aged Care Anika Wells.

Labor's member for Cunningham Alison Byrnes declared that her husband, NSW Minister for Planning and Public Spaces Paul Scully, received "two tickets and hospitality" for Ms Swift's concert at Accor Stadium Sydney on the February 25.

If Taylor Swift wasn't your cup of tea, that's OK. Recent updates to the register show federal politicians were gifted entry to many of the hottest events this summer, from the Australian Open to music festivals.

Cabinet is considering a report into the Agriculture Department's financial performance last year.

The review, conducted by KordaMentha, follows the department being thrown a $127 million funding lifeline in the May 2023 budget.

It ran into trouble over fees and charges failing to rise in line with the cost of service delivery, as well as strain caused by biosecurity threats and trade disruptions.

Delays in finalising the funding split caused by the department's fifth Machinery of Government change in 10 years didn't help matters either.

The Department of Finance commissioned the review, at a cost of $711,447, and was provided to Finance Minister Katy Gallagher in August 2023.

This all comes in the lead up to the May budget.

The Public Service Commissioner Gordon de Brouwer wrote to his colleagues at the end of last year, to remind them of the importance of integrity.

"The conduct of APS leaders is a matter of heightened public interest," he noted in the letter, which has been uploaded to the agency's freedom-of-information log.

In it, he reminds leaders of the need to declare conflicts of interests, including personal relationships, and to treat staff well.

"Interpersonal behaviour is a recurring focus in the Commission's work, based on the legal requirement to treat others with respect and courtesy, and without harassment," Dr de Brouwer wrote, making a point to bold the second part of that sentence.

"I ask you to reinforce these expectations with your senior staff."

Stay kind!

With all this talk about the size of the APS, we thought we'd let you know there's now a total of 177,442 employees in the service.

That's according to the latest data - from December 2023.

The workforce grew by 7110 jobs from mid-2023, according the Public Service Commission data.

Progress is being made, the data shows. A decade ago, there were just 19 women at the top band in the senior executive service, compared to 79 men.

Now there are 80 women, compared to 82 men.

Wearing another hat, Senator Gallagher will consider the APS' Culturally and Linguistically Diverse strategy, after the bosses greenlit it in mid-March.

Secretaries endorsed the strategy for consideration by the Public Service Minister at their last meeting on March 15.

According to their minutes, it "provides a platform of five Headline Actions for building cultural understanding and capability across the APS, and cultural safety for CALD employees".

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A consultation paper released last year gave grim insight into the experiences of CALD employees in the federal public service. Survey and interview feedback clearly pointed out racism in the service, and the Public Service Commission acknowledged it was failing to ensure all staff "enjoy safe, fair and inclusive workplaces".

It has a big job ahead.