Canberra Daily
Georgia Curry, October 28, 2025
Public servants as you’ve never seen them
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There’s more to this public service town than grey suits and lanyard accessories, so after knock-off, office-workers are casting off their suit-jackets and ties to let loose at Dept of Rock.
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You can’t get much more Canberran than a democratically-voted, public sector battle of the bands comp – no red tape, just red-hot rock.
Mild-mannered IT workers are plugging in their electric guitars, not modems, and pen-pushers are writing prose, not policies.
The best part is, there’s no panel interview, no-one cares what APS level you are, and no previous rock experience is required.
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Such is the demand by punters to witness the wild alter-egos of sedate public servants, this annual public sector bash has sold out all three heats at Smith’s Alternative in Civic. Heat four is shaping up to be the same.
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As a former public servant, I fondly remember the marathon meetings, cryptic acronyms and waist-deep bureaucracy, but also the burning desire to, well, cut loose from the strict Federal Government Style Manual. Dept of Rock offers a real-life look at the human (and humorous) side of the APS, behind the official-looking facade of the ACT and Federal Governments.
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Probably nowhere else in Australia – nay the world – do you get a Federal Minister plugging in an amp with the hoi polloi, just like Arts Minister Tony Burke did last year. His band “Left Right Out” whipped the crowd into a frenzy with their cover of AC/DC’s Long Way to the Top – complete with bagpipes. Who knows, maybe DJ Albo (aka Prime Minister Anthony Albanese) will ditch question time and turn up to vote at next month’s semi-finals. His shout.
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Self-appointed Madam Secretary of Department of Rock, Leanne Thompson, said that this was the comp’s third year and amateur bands were vying for a gold record trophy and Dept of Rock glory (no EL1 promotion sorry). “I do have ACT Minister for the Arts, Michael Pettersson locked in as a judge for this year’s grand final – so there will be some ministerial vibes in the room,” Leanne said. “I have two other departmental secretaries on board to judge in the semis and ACT Greens MLA Jo Clay. “It’s great to have high profile supporters like (actual) secretaries and pollies but I always come back to the main thing which is the musicians … No doubt some of these bands will weave hilarious public service satire into their sets.”
The only selection criteria: you must be a public servant (or a recently retired one). Job description: flex-time your inner rock god.
Who said Canberra was dull?
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Up to 20 public service bands have entered this year to shed ergonomic keyboards and shred guitar.
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“One my favourite things about Dept of Rock is seeing people on stage for the first time having an absolute blast,” Leanne said.
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Heat four is 7pm Tuesday 28 October, followed by semi-finals in November and the grand final in December at Smith’s Alternative in Civic. Dept of Rock is on Facebook with links to tickets.
Canberra Daily
Georgia Curry, December 4, 2024
Canberra is a public service town with attitude – even our PM and Federal Arts Minister rock out – and this Sunday, public servants are swapping lanyards for leathers at the Department of Rock grand final at Smith’s Alternative. We are well-known for our bureaucracy, red tape and a good acronym but when you set it to music and turn the amp up, it’s depart-mental as anything.
Federal Arts Minister Tony Burke (who plays rhythm guitar in his own band “Left Right Out”) attended Department of Rock last year and he’s invited again, along with his good mate “DJ Albo”. In keeping with the public service theme, one of the judges is departmental secretary (the acronym is too long to publish) Jim Betts, who’s well-known for his rock & roll lifestyle around the water cooler. According to Department of Rock’s madam secretary (not her real title), Leanne Thompson, Jim is “a little bit famous because we wears rock shirts in the office”. “He encourages his staff to dress down a bit more and get a bit more funky,” Leanne said. “He got a bit of heat in Senate Estimates for wearing a Taylor Swift shirt at a conference.” (A stark contrast to yesterday when ACT Legislative Assembly speaker, Mark Parton, was “disappointed” when a new MLA didn’t wear a tie.)
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The hilarity of public service life is manifested in the finalists’ band names – FOI Fighters, which stands for “Freedom of Information” (eat your heart out Dave Grohl) and the DUDS (Department Under Disillusioned). Also on the bill are The Shadies (aka rock stars of DCCEEW) and Capybara Spa (rock legends from DFAT, DPS and DCCEEW).
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There are many rockers disguised as grey-suited office workers around Canberra and the Department of Rock is helping them to unleash their inner rock god. Twenty-four bands entered the heats back in October and four made it through to this Sunday’s grand final. "Department of Rock] is a strangely and quietly subversive act,” said Leanne, who’s a former EL2 but now fronts feminist punk band, Matriarch. “I feel like we’re bringing rock and roll and fun and live music into the public service and getting more public servants involved in the amazing local music scene.​ Faceless suits that are walking around town are actually, who knew it, real, whole, creative, fun people. It does really uplift the spirits on that old trope of throwing the public service into a very new, different, exciting light.”
So it’s official, Canberra’s shiny bums rock. Even Mr Burke keeps an electric guitar and amp sitting in the corner of his office. Leanne hopes he’ll wander down from the hill this Sunday. “I’ve been in touch with his office, so I am expecting to see him on Sunday night,“ Leanne said. “[Anthony Albanese] hasn’t been directly invited … I think word’s kind of got out.” Departmental secretary Jim Betts has already purchased five Department of Rock t-shirts and recently handed them out at a secretary board meeting – all the while wearing his own rockin’ t-shirt and dark sunglasses.
“It’s going to be a wild show,” Leanne said. “A number of the bands bring some musical satire of what it is like to work in the public service to their shows, singing about how ChatGPT writes ministerials better than public servants, what it’s like working on the help desk, and humour about workplace culture in the public service because it’s pretty weird and wacky at times.”
Department of Rock 2024 grand final is at Smith’s Alternative on Sunday 8 December, 6pm.
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Canberra Daily
Jessica Cordwell. September 4, 2023
Leanne Thompson, founder of Dept of Rock (left), with competition entrant Kath Hagan, at Smith’s Alternative.
Photo: Kerrie Brewer.
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A brand-new competition is calling on musically inclined public servants to share their skills and battle it out for the top spot in Dept of Rock. Founded by Leanne Thompson, in collaboration with Nigel McRae, co-owner of Smith’s Alternative, the musical showcases will extend over three months and shine a light on the lesser-seen side of our government workers.
“It’s not really the first thing you think about when you think of public servants, usually there’s that ‘Oh, they’re very quiet, risk-averse bean counter people,’ not in their spare time out playing rock music, but lots of them are. Lots of them are amazing musicians and very cool and creative,” says Ms Thompson.
Coming to Smith’s Alternative in heats from early October, bands will have three songs and a maximum of 15 minutes to impress a panel of judges with their original or cover songs. Expecting a mix of established and new bands, the judging criteria will be based on originality and audience engagement more than technical skill.Aiming to show the creative side of the federal and ACT public service workforce in Canberra, the competition encourages new and established bands to sign up.
Ms Thompson says that Canberra is a unique public service town and many employees in the sector have a deep connection to their creative outlets.“I’m hoping it’s going to give some new musicians and bands the opportunity to get up on a stage maybe for the first time in front of a live audience, and just have fun playing music. It’s also an opportunity for musicians that are working in other bands to come together in a new format with their colleagues in the public sector,” she says.
With 18 heat spots available, the semi-finalists will head to competitions in November before the finals in early December. The winners will receive a trophy, the right to brag in the office, and prizes (yet to be announced), while the four finalists will all receive a live set recording from Mr McRae and the team at Smith’s. A portion of ticket sales will go back into the community through charities; Ms Thompson is working with Hands Across Canberra to determine the beneficiaries.
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Entries close 15 September. For more, find the Dept of Rock on Facebook.