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Stability at the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet has been questioned after it was revealed that 28 of the senior executive service were "acting" in their roles. In an estimates hearing on Monday night, Labor senator Penny Wong said the rate at which positions were being filled on an acting basis was "extraordinary". In the February version of the department's organisation chart, there is one acting deputy secretary, six acting first assistant secretaries, and 21 acting assistant secretaries. Deputy secretary for government Stephanie Foster told the committee the acting roles were "very short term", filling in for people on leave, or acting in a role after someone had been recruited to another role. Senator Wong said a high rate of people acting in their roles would affect the stability of the department, and added that there were 24 acting roles in the January organisational chart. "It goes to the stability of the central department, and it's not like this is getting any better. So the January (organisational) chart was 24 acting positions and I think I've asked questions about this before," she said. "We're just in the process of doing some advertising to fill some of those vacancies," Ms Foster said. There are currently no SES roles for Prime Minister and Cabinet advertised on the APS Jobs website. "There is some stability that comes from having people in the position as opposed to acting in the position," Senator Wong said. Officials for Prime Minister and Cabinet played down the effects of the high number of people acting in senior positions. "We also have a very strong cadre of staff in PM&C so those people who are acting are actually not representing a lesser capability," Ms Foster said. Deputy secretary for national security Allan McKinnon told the committee that the need to fill one role in an acting position can lead to a number of other "acting" roles, as other staff also move up to fill the role left vacant and so on. Some acting roles were attributed to the creation of the new Home Affairs Department, he said. "I don't recall when I was a minister that proportion of the SES being acting," Senator Wong said.

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