Former PM’s Dept chief Martin Parkinson to head scholarship scheme

Former Treasury and PM’s Department chief Martin Parkinson will head the ANU’s scholarship scheme for public servants.

Ken Henry (left) is handing over his job as chair of the ANU’s Sir Roland Wilson Foundation to Martin Parkinson. Photo: Jamie Kidston/ANU.

Former top public servant Martin Parkinson will take charge of an Australian National University foundation which gives emerging public service leaders the chance to study for a PhD.

Dr Parkinson, a former head of both the Treasury and the Prime Minister’s Department, will chair the Sir Roland Wilson Foundation which has so far awarded 56 PhD and other scholarships to mid career public servants, helping to cover their salaries while they study.

He takes over from another former Treasury head (and former NAB chairman) Ken Henry who initiated the scholarship scheme, which began in 2012.

The intention of the program is to build the policy relevant skills of public servants, and create close and ongoing relationships between the public service and senior academics. The foundation, named for Sir Roland Wilson who led the Treasury from 1951 to 1966, aims to offer about six three-year PhD scholarships at the ANU each year to public servants at executive levels 1 and 2, (ranks just below the senior executive level) from which future leaders are drawn.

Two years ago the foundation also launched the Pat Turner scholarship, which offers support for indigenous public servants to do a postgraduate degree or diploma at either the ANU or Charles Darwin University.

Dr Parkinson, who is also chancellor of Macquarie University, said he was very pleased to be following Dr Henry in the role. “I’m very keen, along with the board and staff, to build on that,” he said.

Dr Parkinson said that governments were being asked to take on far more complex and complicated problems than previously.

“To handle them you need to have the best analytics and data you can get. You’ve got to have a research-informed public policy capacity,” he said.

Dr Parkinson said the public service needed to be equipped to deal with a range of issues including international security, inequality, pandemics, climate change, reconciliation and racism.

“The foundation’s scholarships give public servants the freedom and time to deep dive into

these ‘wicked problems’ – while also being supported by some of the world’s best researchers,” he said.

The foundation has awarded scholarships for PhD students to look into issues as wide ranging as violence at work, carbon trading, indigenous education, family services, energy exports, virus detection, Chinese state-owned enterprises, and water property rights.

The foundation was funded with an initial grant from Sir Roland Wilson’s family, topped up with a matching grant from the ANU, and additional money from the Commonwealth government.