Hunt for new ASIO chief after Lewis retirement

Scott Morrison is poised to announce further changes to the top levels of the bureaucracy, including the appointment of a new spy boss.

ASIO director-general Duncan Lewis. Picture: Kym Smith

Scott Morrison is poised to announce further changes to the top levels of the bureaucracy, including the appointment of a new spy boss, with several senior government sources confirming ASIO chief Duncan Lewis has indicated he will retire at the end of his term.

The expected departure of the decorated former army officer in September follows the appointment of a new Australian Federal Police Commissioner this week, marking a changing of the guard across the nation’s key national security agencies.

Major General Lewis has not officially announced his decision, but it is widely known within government circles he has notified the government he is not seeking to extend his five-year term.

It is believed the government has been aware of Mr Lewis’s retirement for some time and has been active in identifying a successor, who is expected to be announced soon.

It has coincided with the stepping down of the now former AFP commissioner Andrew Colvin, who also opted not to extend his term. Mr Lewis, 65, is a former Defence secretary and ambassador to NATO. Both men are widely respected within government.

An insider source said there would be “generational change” across national security.

“Duncan was a very safe pair of hands … and under his watch ASIO thwarted numerous terrorist attacks,” the source said.

“It is a good opportunity to put fresh people inside the agencies,” the insider source said.

Mr Lewis could not be contacted for comment.

The Prime Minister yesterday confirmed he would pursue reform across the public service following the retirement of the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Martin Parkinson. Mr Morrison said bureaucrats should not get bogged down in “administration” and “bureaucracy” and instead deliver the government’s agenda as he appointed his former chief of staff and current Treasury secretary Phil Gaetjens to the head of the public service.

Steven Kennedy — who is now head of the Department of Infrastructure and former economic adviser to Labor prime ministers Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard — was also named as the new Treasury secretary, making the Treasury and PM&C veteran the third head of the government’s key economic department since 2015.

A senior government source said Mr Morrison’s aim was to have a public service focused on results rather than the “Canberra public service bubble”.

The source said Mr Morrison was not “out for bloodlust” and would approach reform across the Australian Public Service “methodically and with purpose” but with “respect”.

Mr Gaetjens, as the new Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary, will be in charge of an overhaul of the public sector after a lengthy review by former Telstra boss David ­Thodey.

Mr Morrison yesterday batted away suggestions he was politicising the bureaucracy by appointing Mr Gaetjens, who was a long-time chief of staff to former treasurer Peter Costello.

He also served as chief of staff to Mr Morrison when he was Treasurer, with the Prime Minister yesterday noting that seven departmental secretaries that were doing “an outstanding job” for his government had also held political roles for Labor.

Mr Morrison also made it clear to senior mandarins — who have been lobbying for greater flexibility and autonomy through Mr Thodey’s review — that their primary job was to implement the government’s policy agenda.

“The government sets policy,” Mr Morrison said. “Once the government policy is set, it’s their job to implement it. And that is what the Australian people expect.

“I have always seen the public service at its best when it is really getting on with things.”

The promotion of Mr Gaetjens, who was appointed Treasury secretary last August, is a sharp turn of luck for the former departmental economist. He faced the prospect of being removed from his post had Labor swung into office at the May 18 election and was dogged by the accusation that his appointment had politicised the public service.

Dr Kennedy was an economic adviser to Kevin Rudd and was hand-picked by Julia Gillard just days into her prime ministership to run a “business of government” section in her Parliament House office to end bottlenecks in the working of government.

The Australian yesterday revealed that Dr Parkinson would be stepping down at the end of next month as the secretary of PM&C, giving the Prime Minister the opportunity to build a new team to re-energise the public service.

Opposition public service spokesman Katy Gallagher said it remained to be seen whether Mr Gaetjens would ensure the public service as an institution was “protected” from the influence of Mr Morrison.

Ahead of the final review into the public service, Mr Thodey released a short report recording the views of 128 senior mandarins, some of whom described the public service as “slow”, “reactive” and “siloed”.

Cabinet ministers were also described as obstructive, disengaged and uninterested in improving and making government departments and agencies more productive.

Mr Morrison said Mr Gaetjens had “been more closely involved in central agency planning and budgets than most people in this town — at all levels” and that how the federal government worked with state governments was “critical” to his agenda.

“I have worked closely with Phil in the past, and I am looking forward to working closely with him again. And I am looking forward to what he will bring to the delivery of the government’s agenda, and ensuring it is well understood across the public service, and that we are getting on with the job of delivering on that agenda,” Mr Morrison said.

Mr Gaetjens was a Treasury economist and a chief architect of the Howard government’s GST reform, but his appointment was seen as a break with convention for Treasury, which has traditionally been led by bureaucrats.

In a short statement, Mr Gaetjens said leading Treasury had been “an enormous privilege” and that he would “continue to thoroughly enjoy my current responsibilities until joining PM&C”.

“The confidence shown in me to undertake this new role is also a positive reflection on the performance of all staff in this department,” Mr Gaetjens said.