Morrison’s next ‘quiet’ revolution is to reform public service

Scott Morrison has signalled sweeping reforms to the public service.

Scott Morrison in Question Time yesterday. Picture: AAP

Scott Morrison has signalled immediate and sweeping reforms to the public service to make man­darins more accountable and ensure they are serving the “quiet Australians”, confirming a changing of the guard at the top levels of the bureaucracy.

The Prime Minister has told The Australian he plans to move swiftly with a cultural shake-up across the 18 government departments and more than 100 agencies before the final recom­mendations from a 12-month review of the public service.

“We don’t expect the public service to run the government. That’s what we were elected to do,” Mr Morrison said. “In my ­experience, the public service ­always works best when it has strong guidance and leadership.

“That is what they will get from me and my ministerial team.

“My view of the public service is straightforward: respect and ­expect — respect their capabil­ities, and expect them to get on board and implement the government’s agenda.”

In an exclusive interview with The Australian, the country’s most senior public service chief, Martin Parkinson, yesterday confirmed that he was stepping down at the end of next month as the secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.

The move hands Mr Morrison the chance to build a new team that can serve a full term. A senior government source confirmed that the Prime Minister had been scouting for a potential replacement from the private sector.

The former Treasury secretary who was brought back by Malcolm Turnbull to head up PM & C said there was no bad blood and he had already planned to retire when his term expired in January 2021. “It’s quite simple, really. ­Absolutely I would not want anyone to think there was anything about my relationship with the Prime Minister that was leading me to leave,” Dr Parkinson said.

“It is up to others to judge, but I think what he would tell you is that he and I have a very good personal and professional relationship. And I’ve really enjoyed working with him since the period he became PM.

“He is at the beginning of the term. He has a full agenda. And I came to the view it was better all around that he had someone who could go the full term with him.”

Mr Morrison signalled further movements in the senior ranks, with several departmental heads expected to be replaced.

Dr Parkinson’s announcement comes as departmental secretaries prepare to meet in Sydney tonight to finalise a collective submission to the Thodey review.

Mr Morrison took an unprecedented move as Prime Minister in assigning himself the role of Minister for the Public Service and has now said he will move to act on the draft recommendations already before government that call for sweeping cultural and technological reforms.

The review has been billed as being the most significant since the Coombs royal commission into the reform of government ­administration reported in 1976.

A senior source in the bureau­cracy said there was a clear message to the “mandarins” that Mr Morrison intended to “shake up the entire show” and remove “unwieldy” bureaucracy that was seen as an impediment to regulatory reform and investment. They said they also expected “heads to roll”.

The reform package would include a “relentless focus” on implementation and delivery, greater accountability for ministers and public service chiefs with specific goals, metrics and regular reporting to the executive.

It would also involve “regu­latory congestion-busting” to ­deliver faster decision-making.

Dr Parkinson backed the Prime Minister’s claims of a need for further reform, including a need for a transformation in technology and an end to a silo mentality.

He rejected the notion that the Australian Public Service was “broken”, having himself initiated the review headed by former Telstra boss David Thodey, which will hand its final report to government in the near future.

“The mandarin culture of the public service disappeared a long time ago,” Dr Parkinson said.

“What I want is a public service that is knowledge-based, curious, looking all the time for how existing policies are working, at what future policies should be, engaged in collaborating with people inside the public service as well as outside. My concern is that a lot of public servants think disruption is something that happens to other people.

“People [the public] have become used to Amazon levels of digital service delivery, and we are lagging behind — a long way behind,” he said.

“I was keen to initiate what became the Thodey review … (but) not because I thought the public service was broken today.

“I firmly hold that view … (but) past performance is no guide to ­future performance.

“My fear was that we were not moving fast enough in the face of changing expectations and changing technologies and changed ­expectations from our political masters.”

Mr Morrison said the public service needed to be given clear ­direction from government to function properly. “For a government to be successful, it must always harness and engage the skills and capabilities of the public service to deliver the government’s agenda,” he said.

“This will enable departments to get on with the job, providing advice and services, busting ­bureaucratic bubbles where it is needed and always adopting a very outward-looking, community-facing approach.”

Mr Morrison said he thanked Dr Parkinson for his service to the country.

“I thank Martin for not only his service to me and service to my department but his work over a much longer period ... I thank him for service to our country.”

A senior government source told The Australian that the reforms could involve a scaling back in the number of departments and public service chiefs.

The most significant previous shake-up of the public service was undertaken by Bob Hawke when he took an axe to the bureaucracy by cutting 28 distinct portfolio areas into 18 departments.

On coming to power in 1996, the Howard government replaced six departmental secretaries, leading to accusations it was politicising the public service.