A departmental secretary is in theory, a non-political, non-elected public servant head (and "responsible officer") of government departments, who generally holds their position for a number of years. A departmental secretary works closely with the elected
government minister that oversees the Commonwealth
department or state government department in order to bring about policy and program initiatives that the government of day was elected to achieve. A departmental secretary works with other departments and agencies to ensure the delivery of services and programs within the nominated area of responsibility. The secretary is also known as the chief executive of the department; the position is equivalent to the
permanent secretary of a government department in the
United Kingdom and is similar to the
director general in some non-Commonwealth countries, or the
chief executive officer (CEO) in a private company. In the Australian government, secretaries are the responsible officers for departments. They are answerable to the
Australian Parliament for ensuring that the department performs all the functions assigned to it and spends money appropriately, as granted by the Parliament. Secretaries are frequently called for questioning by the
Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, the
House of Representatives committees and the
Senate committees.
Appointment and termination The
Public Service Act 1999 requires the
secretary of the
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to provide a report to the
prime minister of the day about the suitability of potential candidates as departmental secretary. The report is prepared in conjunction with the
public service commissioner. Appointments and terminations as departmental secretary are made by the
governor-general on the advice of the prime minister under Sections 58 and 59 respectively of the
Act. Since removal of
tenure under Prime Minister
Paul Keating, departmental secretaries are generally aware that while dismissals are not common, following a change of government, failure to re-appoint a secretary is certainly a frequent occurrence. In the
first Rudd government, secretaries were appointed for a five-year term; prior to this a term of three years was common. In 1999, the
Howard government sought to remove
Paul Barratt as the secretary of the Department of Defence after Barratt fell out of favour with his
minister. Despite being offered a
diplomatic post, Barratt refused to vacate the role and commenced legal action, claiming
unfair dismissal and that the government had failed to follow
due process. Barratt had a temporary
stay, but was dismissed within 14 days, and subsequently lost, on appeal in the
Federal Court. The most senior Commonwealth public servant is the secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, currently
Steven Kennedy. == Current Australian Government secretaries ==