Andrew Podger, now an ANU Professor, says the demand of ministers and their offices are a key and growing source of pressure on the Commonwealth Public Service, particularly at senior levels.

Reacting to the news on Tuesday that cuts to the service's senior ranks are now expected to reach 800, Professor Podger called on Mr Rudd's ministers to moderate the demands they made on public servants.

“If you're re-prioritising services, one of the major areas of pressure is of course providing services to minister's offices,” the former departmental head told Fairfax Media.

“I would feel a lot happier if I thought that ministers and ministers' offices were prepared to reduce the level of services they demand.

“That level of service demand has undoubtedly increased over the past decade.”

Professor Podger said ministerial demands on resources were most keenly felt in the service's upper echelons.

“Nobody is willing to admit that this costs money, but it costs money at senior levels,” he said.

“Senior people these days are on 24/7 call, they are expected to provide briefs immediately on everything and somebody needs to say that if you're going to cut senior levels of staff, you've got to accept that they can't possibly provide the same level of service they've been doing in recent years.”

The Professor of Public Policy urged a rethink of ministerial arrangements and of their required level of services.

“It would be nice if there was a reduction in the number of ministerial offices and some sort of benchmarks on what is a reasonable level of service to ministers and minister's offices,” he said.

“That might be helped if there was some rationalization of portfolios structures and cabinet process but my guess is that's too hard to expect.”