It was one of several anecdotes the retiring Finance Department secretary recalled in her valedictory speech to about 260 Canberrans at the latest in the Institute of Public Administration of Australia ACT's secretary series, on Thursday night.

In the cavernous Gandel Hall at the National Gallery of Australia, Ms Halton told the seated audience she never aimed to join the ranks of the APS.

But looking back on the kitchen discussions with her father Charles, himself a distinguished servant, she recalled getting early schooling in "the art of discretion" and "being able to hold my own" in debates.

While some observers may fast recall her role as chairwoman of the Howard-era's People Smuggling Taskforce in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Ms Halton served for 12 years as Department of Health secretary - where she earned a reputation for her objective, unwavering Senate Estimates performances.

She told The Canberra Times it was her achievements in that role of which she was most proud - from helping deliver plain packaging on tobacco products leading to ongoing falls in smoking rates to reforms to the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and hospital pricing.

Each was a reform informed by working with people on the ground, good communication and an understanding that "Canberra is insular".

"If we do our jobs only with reference to the parliamentary triangle, we will actually not do a good job," she said.

"How can you know what the issues for women living in remote indigenous communities are if you've never been and talked to them? You can't," she said.

"One of the privileges of my career has been to go and sit with the ladies and talk - to go and sit in the red dirt in Central Australia and actually talk to them about how government policy affects their lives."

She said the perennial challenge for the service was to "serve the government of the day" and that she was proud to have vigorously worked "almost 50-50" for both Labor and Liberal governments.

Resigning last month from her current role, Ms Halton said she was planning to "take some time to decompress", but would be taking on a part-time role working with the global Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness and Innovations, while considering her next adventure.

The first woman to run a federal "central agency" - Finance - Ms Halton leaves the APS as one of only three of the current 18 secretaries who have run other federal departments - the others being Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet's Martin Parkinson and Health's Martin Bowles.

In her speech, she called for new "no interruption" rules for public service meetings, to stop "manterrupting" and help address the "glass ceiling" that still exists in some areas of the APS.

Ms Halton also urged the entire service to better "school" it's middle and upper ranks in government, citing the Kennedy School of Government's leading example, as well as improve policy and communication in a faster-moving world.

"The question of how we develop policy in a much faster world where ideas are developing at a faster rate and the politicians are subject to a 24 hour media cycle in a way that previously none of us were," she said.

"I don't think we've necessarily got all of the answers to that yet."