ScoMo to swing axe thru Public Service

Good...  long passed time the PS swamp was drained.

Shudders and shivers will be the order of the day throughout the formerly protected Public Service species.







Scott Morrison poised to swing axe through public service
Prime Minister Scott Morrison speaks during Question Time in the House of Representatives at Parliament House in Canberra yesterday. Picture: AAP

• EXCLUSIVE
  
  

  SIMON BENSON

  
  
  NATIONAL AFFAIRS EDITOR
  
  
  
• 14 MINUTES AGO DECEMBER 5, 2019
  
  
• 136 COMMENTS
  
  

Scott Morrison is poised to put an axe through the public service today with plans to dramatically cut the number of government departments with another round of mandarins set for the chopping block.
The Australian, which flagged the changes in July, understands that several more super-departments will be created in a move to dramatically cut bureaucratic red tape.
Senior government sources said it was expected to be the biggest realignment and reform of the public service since Bob Hawke cut the number of departments from 28 to 18 in his reforms to the machinery of government in 1987.

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The reshuffle comes after the Thodey review into the public service was handed to the government.
While having appointed new heads of departments in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Treasury, Infrastructure and energy, it is understood more heads would roll.
How Simon Benson broke the story for The Australian in July.
An early casualty is believed to be Mike Mrdak, secretary of the Department of Communications and the Arts, with the portfolio rumoured to be rolled into the Department of Infrastructure.
Mr Morrison, on becoming prime minister, appointed himself as minister for the public service in a signal that he was planning sweeping changes to the “mandarin” club in Canberra.
The move follows the recent departure of the former top public servant Martin Parkinson as the head of the department of prime minister and cabinet.
Mr Morrison told The Australian in July that he was planning 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.”
Early casualty? The secretary of the Department of Communications, Mike Mrdak. Picture: AAP
Mr Morrison said his view of the public service was straightforward. “Respect and expect — respect their capabil­ities, and expect them to get on board and implement the government’s agenda,” he said.
Mr Morrison took an unprecedented move as Prime Minister in assigning himself the role of Minister for the Public Service and has said he will move to act on the draft recommendations already before government that call for sweeping cultural and technological reforms.
He has argued that the public service needs 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.”