Public service minister Eric Abetz said he did not know who gave the order to sack three top public servants on the Coalition's first day of government.
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Labor senators used a Senate estimates committee hearing on Monday to fire questions at the minister about the dismissal of three departmental heads, known as "night of the short knives".
The three men, Agriculture secretary Andrew Metcalf, the Industry Department's Don Russell and Blair Comley from Resources, Energy and Tourism were sacked on September 18, the day the Abbott government was sworn in.
On the same day, the head of AusAID, Peter Baxter, went on ''extended leave'' just hours before the abolition of his agency was made public and Treasury chief Martin Parkinson agreed to step down in mid-2014.
In Senate estimates on Monday, opposition senators led by Sam Dastyari from NSW went on the offensive with a series of questions to Senator Abetz and top officials from the Prime Minister and Cabinet department about the legality of the sackings.
Asked by Labor senator John Faulkner whether the "terminations" were an initiative of the Prime Minister, Senator Abetz took the question on notice. "I don't know, that's why I need to take it on notice," he said.
PM&C governance chief Elizabeth Kelly said that under section 59 of the Public Service Act, departmental secretaries were terminated by the governor-general on the recommendation of the prime minister.
