The nation's most senior public servant has revealed there are days– not necessarily Mondays – when even he just doesn't want to go to the office.
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"I have been in the APS this time round for 28 years. In that time I have had about 10 days that I didn't want to go to work – usually because of a stuff up on the previous day," Ian Watt said on Monday.
The secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet was speaking to about 600 freshly-minted public servants in Parliament's Great Hall as part of the "Taste of Government" series.
The graduates have come from all over Australia to work in Canberra in public service agencies.
They heard the last speech by Gary Gray as Special Minister of State and Public Service Minister before he was promoted to the resources and energy portfolio a few hours later.
Mr Gray praised the professionalism and commitment of public servants across the country in dealing with a range of circumstances, from natural disasters to the concerns of individual Australian citizens.
The public service was "the golden thread" that has been essential to Australia's prosperity for more than 100 years, he said.
Dr Watt told the new recruits to be true to themselves, no matter how much conflict that might create with ministers.
"There may come a point in your career when doing the right thing will not make you popular with the Prime Minister, a minister or with a member of a minister's staff; well, we all have to wear that, including me," he said.
"You should always consider the issues and other views carefully, seek guidance perhaps, but nevertheless make your own conclusions.
"The advice may be under your name or someone else's but regardless, you are accountable for it, so do not simply give the advice that you think someone else might want.
"If I was going to be held responsible for advice, then I would always want to make sure it was my advice that I gave, not someone else's.
"I have seen occasions where poor decisions were taken by government because advice was either provided too late or was so poorly presented that ministers couldn't make sense of it. This is not much of a result for anyone."
Public Service Commissioner Stephen Sedgwick said generations of public servants understood the effectiveness of the public service was based on the maintenance of public trust.
"Ethical behaviour refers not just to compliance with the law, it refers to doing the right thing," he told the graduates.
"If you are ever in doubt about whether what you have been asked to do or are thinking of doing is 'right' in the circumstances please consult your supervisor or a mentor whom you trust."
Mr Sedgwick said public servants had the same rights to participate online as anyone else.
"However the language of the blogosphere can be brutal and it is not always respectful," he said.
"So, when you participate online or in any public forum, please remember to express yourself in ways that preserve public confidence in your ability to act apolitically in your work, to serve the government of the day irrespective of its philosophy or policy positions, and to deal with members of the public professionally and fairly under the law no matter what your view of the policies you have been asked to implement."
