Mr Clarke told an all-staff Coalition meeting on Tuesday his appointment would be temporary as Mr Turnbull transitions to the prime ministership.

"There are names being thrown around. Don't put a huge amount of weight on it [Dr Parkinson] though."

The appointment of Dr Parkinson, if it went ahead, would underscore the incoming government's commitment to economic reform and its desire to recast economic debate.

It would also be a repudiation of Tony Abbott's decision to move Dr Parkinson on as the head of the Treasury department.

Dr Parkinson is a 30-year veteran of the public service who worked primarily in the Treasury but also served as the first head of the climate change department for the Rudd government and played a critical role in the design of the carbon price.

His stint as secretary of the Treasury lasted about four years from 2011 until January 2015, serving treasurers Wayne Swan, Chris Bowen and Joe Hockey, but the writing was on the wall soon after Mr Abbott came to power in September 2014, and he left the key economic post six months after the first Abbott-Hockey budget.

Last month, Dr Parkinson told the National Reform Summit in Sydney that unless Australia acted quickly, it would sacrifice over 10 years as much as 5 per cent of the economy in missed economic growth, equal to a recession.