Solicitor general’s treatment suggests department heads will tell ministers what they want, rather than need, to hear, says Paul Barrett

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The recent treatment of public servants reflects a change in the culture whereby department heads will tell ministers what they want to hear rather than what they need to hear, according to a senior bureaucrat sacked by the Howard government.

Paul Barratt, who was a senior public servant and head of the departments of defence and primary industry, said the treatment of the solicitor general, Justin Gleeson; the former secretary of the agriculture department Paul Grimes; and the human rights commissioner, Gillian Triggs, would have a chilling effect on the public service.

“You start to get a general atmosphere of secretaries giving more cautious advice,” Barratt told Guardian Australia.

Solicitor general Justin Gleeson resigns over 'broken' relationship with George Brandis Read more

“The next evolution is that department heads tend to tell the minister what the minister wants to hear, rather than what they need to hear.

“That will have a chilling effect on the public service. If you are a senior public servant, however right you are, it’s no fun to be out there and seeing what people are saying about you every day in the newspapers.”

Barratt was sacked as the secretary of the defence department under the Howard government. He challenged the decision in the federal court.

The court found that while a secretary terminated in that way had a right to a hearing, it was sufficient for the minister to say that he or she had lost confidence in the department head.

Gleeson – a statutory officer – resigned on Monday, citing that his relationship with the attorney general, George Brandis, was irretrievably broken. The dispute arose after Brandis issued a legal directive which would force all government departments to seek approval from Brandis before receiving advice from the solicitor general.

Hansard saga broke confidence between Joyce and sacked staffer Paul Grimes Read more

Brandis told the Senate he consulted Gleeson but Gleeson disputed that. Labor has accused Brandis of misleading the parliament and is seeking to disallow the legal directive.

Last year Grimes, a longstanding and respected public servant, was sacked following a dispute with his minister, Barnaby Joyce. The dispute related to a change in the parliamentary Hansard record.

After a year of fighting a freedom-of-information request from Labor and the Herald Sun, the government released a letter from Grimes to Joyce showing the departmental head had no intention of resigning.

Just days before he was sacked, Grimes wrote to Joyce, saying “I no longer have confidence in my capacity to resolve matters relating to integrity with you”.

Grimes’s letter was released at the same time as the government released the news of Gleeson’s resignation.

John Uhr, director of the Centre for the Study of Australian Politics, said historically, clashes between ministers and senior public servants would have been dealt with by the Australian Public Service Commission or the head of the prime minister’s department, now Martin Parkinson.

Parkinson himself was sacked when Tony Abbott won office in 2013. His departure followed the sackings of three other heads of departments, including the head of industry, Don Russell, a former ambassador to Washington and adviser to former prime minister Paul Keating; the head of resources, Blair Comley, who oversaw Labor’s carbon pricing scheme; and Andrew Metcalfe, head of agriculture.

Christopher Pyne attacks Gillian Triggs' judgment, saying she has 'politicised' role Read more

Parkinson was reappointed to his current position by Turnbull, who promised to restore traditional cabinet government and respect the public service when he ousted ​Abbott.

Weeks after he took over as prime minister, Turnbull said: “What we have to do in government in my view is stop panning public servants and do more to ensure that they do their job better.”

On Tuesday, Turnbull said: “We value immensely the very frank advice we get from the Australian Public Service.”

Uhr said in the past, departmental heads would have been moved on to other departments but in more recent times, when the situation became “too hot”, the “rule of the boss means the boss wins”.

“In recent years these things have become more politically awkward,” Uhr said.

“The Senate has never adopted code of conduct for its own behaviour. In the absence of code of conduct or an integrity commissioner, who can investigate and report back, there is really no impartial parliamentary body to turn to.”

Labor’s Joel Fitzgibbon has called on Turnbull to restore Grimes, given Joyce “threw his staff under the bus” on the Hansard dispute.

“It is pretty clear these days anyone who disagrees with this government, any professional public servant who gives frank and fair advice to this government, faces termination,” Fitzgibbon said.



“Once upon a time, misleading the house was considered a serious offence. When it ceases to become a serious offence, then our democracy and our parliamentary system is undermined.”

A spokeswoman for Joyce said the Grimes matter was not a “direct insight” into his relationship between the minister and his department. She said Joyce had a “good working relationship” with the current secretary, Daryl Quinlivan.

“Since the events of early 2015, Mr Quinlivan has returned to the department, where he previously worked for 11 years, in an expanded role,” the spokeswoman said.

“This letter is not a direct insight into the working relationships of the department and the deputy prime minister, and has not been for more than 17 months.”