The return to a frank and fearless public service is a monumental task

Glyn Davis has a huge task ahead of him as head of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) and leader of the Australian Public Service (APS). Not merely are there myriad policy challenges domestically and internationally, but he inherits a public service in the worst state of disrepair in its history.

The Abbott and Morrison governments were disasters for the APS, punctuated only by Malcolm Turnbull, who was genuinely interested in public sector reform and established the comprehensive review, chaired by David Thodey, early in 2018 — on which Davis served. But by the time Thodey and co reported, a right-wing putsch had replaced Turnbull with Morrison, and the latter binned the review, telling the APS that it would simply do what he told it to.

Meanwhile, continuing apace were the politicisation of the public service, the relentless expansion of consulting firms in the APS, and the stripping of experience, talent and corporate memory. The appointment of Liberal Party staffer Phil Gaetjens as head of PM&C was the last straw — the once august position of leadership of the Australian public sector reduced to a Mister Fixit for Morrison’s myriad political problems.

Davis carries no baggage within the APS of the past nine years, having been vice-chancellor at the University of Melbourne and then head of the Paul Ramsay Foundation. However, he has deep public sector roots in the Queensland public service in the 1990s.

Routinely described as a “change agent” for his stints leading the Queensland public sector and higher education institutions, Davis faces the challenge now of restoration and repair, so that the APS can once again start playing an effective role in advising on public policy, not just implementing the political whims of the Coalition.

The Thodey review recommended greater investment in public sector skills and improved leadership, with a much greater emphasis on merit-based appointments at the senior level, and tighter regulation of ministerial staffers. Morrison went the other way, sacking the best secretaries, installing Coalition favourites and excluding the APS from policy roles in favour of ministerial staff driven purely by partisan interests.

It is likely not all of the damage can be reversed. The investment required to restore to the APS the talent and experience lost over years of outsourcing would be prohibitive. And the APS will know that, in the event the Coalition returns to power, it is likely to simply pick up where Morrison left off. But without effective leadership, no recovery will be possible. Davis’ appointment is thus the first step toward recovery.

The fact that there was no obvious replacement for Gaetjens within the APS — Mike Mrdak, the brilliant Transport and Communications secretary sacked by Morrison, was the other name touted for PM&C — speaks volumes about the comprehensive failure of Morrison and his handyman to nurture a new generation of APS leadership talent. They preferred yes-men and women who could be relied upon to stolidly defend the government when inevitable scandals and disasters were uncovered, but who were incapable of preventing them in the first place — let alone contributing effectively to public policy in Australia.

Absent a comprehensive overhaul of the current batch of departmental secretaries (though surely Kathryn “Robodebt” Campbell has to be removed from DFAT), it is that generation of thin talent and pliable executives that Davis will have to work with to start lifting the game of the APS. In that task he will thus need the help of every minister and their staff, who will need to manage their relationships with the APS very differently from the Coalition approach.

Whether they can do that while combatting the political challenges of what will be a difficult three years, however, remains to be seen. Never bet the house — or a bureaucracy — on a politician doing the right thing unprompted.