Last week offered up the bizarre case of a government department trying to improve the way it managed a lease in a public building – and being attacked, on multiple fronts, for daring to do so.

We're talking about Aussie's cafe in Parliament House versus the Department of Parliamentary Services, a stoush that played out through the media and Senate estimates. In response to criticisms from the Auditor-General, the department had been trying to earn more revenue from its leases; that is to say, it was trying to protect taxpayers by increasing their return on the immensely expensive public asset that is Parliament House. Yet a Financial Review columnist, Small Business Ombudsman Kate Carnell and a couple of senators appeared to want none of it.

The owner of Aussie's cafe, Dom Calabria. Credit:Andrew Meares

The cafe's owner, Dom Calabria, seems a decent chap based on our encounters with him. But Senate evidence suggests he's gone about his latest licence negotiations in an obtuse way. First, when department officials suggested they meet Calabria to discuss a new licence (his deal expired two years ago), Calabria cancelled the meeting and asked instead to see a draft agreement. The department's secretary, Rob Stefanic, says Calabria's only other contact was "to send an offensive email to one of my staff".