Damien Walker quitting as Premier and Cabinet Department chief to lead Queensland public service

Premier Peter Malinauskas will have to replace his department chief during the countdown to the next election.

The state’s top public servant, Damien Walker, will return to Queensland to head the department of newly installed Liberal National Party Premier David Crisafulli.

Mr Walker, a South Australian, was appointed as Department of Premier and Cabinet chief executive in April, 2022 – the month after the Malinauskas government won power.

He will take up the equivalent role in Queensland, with the title of director-general, and become that state’s top bureaucrat.

Mr Walker was considered instrumental in helping lure and implement AFL Gather Round and LIV Golf.

Outgoing Premier’s Department chief Damien Walker in 2018, when was Queensland’s director-general of the Department of Innovation, Tourism Industry Development and the Commonwealth Games, answering questions during a budget estimates committee hearing at Parliament House in Brisbane. Picture: AAP Image/Dan Peled

Premier Peter Malinauskas must now find a new department chief as the countdown begins to the next state election, in March, 2026.

An interstate appointment is likely, although Treasury and Finance Department chief executive Rick Persse would be a leading internal candidate.

Mr Walker this year became the state’s first $750,000-plus public servant, with a pay rise taking his annual salary to $760,035 – Mr Malinauskas’s is about $418,000.

A month before taking SA’s top bureaucratic job, Mr Walker was appointed to the Gold Coast Suns board, a role he has continued.

In his previous stint in Queensland of almost 12 years, Mr Walker held director-general roles of departments including state development, tourism, innovation and infrastructure.

He successfully led the Queensland Government’s delivery of the Gold Coast 2018 Commonwealth Games and also was considered critical in AFL clubs moving to Queensland during the height of the Covid-19 pandemic in 2020.

Before then, he held various senior executive SA government roles, such as infrastructure planning and delivery, and worked on projects including the construction of the new Royal Adelaide Hospital and the SAHMRI building.

Mr Malinauskas’s office declined to comment.

Originally published as Damien Walker quitting as Premier and Cabinet Department chief to lead Queensland public service