Labor leader Bill Shorten won't say which public service bosses will keep their jobs if he were to win government, but has said there wouldn't be mass sackings of secretaries.
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Speaking on the campaign trail in Queensland on Monday, Mr Shorten responded to a question asking if there would be a "night of the long knives ... to hack off the heads of these departmental secretaries".
"Colourful analogy, but no," he said.
He was less certain when asked about Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Martin Parkinson.
"We haven't even won the election yet so I think if I started saying X has got a job and Y hasn't, you'd accuse us of arrogance," he said.
On Treasury secretary Philip Gaetjens, Mr Shorten again wouldn't say either way.
"Again, I'm not getting into who's in and who's out. That would imply somehow I thought we had won the election," Mr Shorten told reporters.
Mr Gaetjens' future is under a cloud due to his former role as chief of staff to Peter Costello and Scott Morrison in their terms as treasurer.
Labor treasury spokesman Chris Bowen has said Mr Gaetjens is unsuitable for the role.
In previous election campaigns Labor leaders have pledged to keep secretaries to guarantee against a repeat of John Howard's "night of the long knives".
Sally Whyte
I report on a range of issues in federal politics and the public service, with a real passion for how decisions made in Canberra affect the lives of Australians.
I report on a range of issues in federal politics and the public service, with a real passion for how decisions made in Canberra affect the lives of Australians.
