There may be some within the ranks of the recently returned Coalition government who will now claim a mandate to take more public service jobs away from Canberra to bolster the regions. To do so would be a mistake.
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A continuation of this short-sighted and damaging policy would be to risk a backlash within the Australian Public Service and the broader community.
Few, if any, demonstrable benefits to anybody but the politicians themselves have flowed from this poorly thought through and costly policy to date.
The first effort in this direction, the misguided decision by Barnaby Joyce to relocate the headquarters of the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicine Authority to Armidale in his electorate, was an unmitigated disaster.
While the Nationals will doubtless still be celebrating the fact they did not lose a swag of seats, they do need to consider the bigger picture. They were outpolled by the Greens almost two to one nationally.
The Greens collected 10.04 per cent of the lower house vote, an estimated 1,190,776 ballots. The Nationals only collected 4.89 per cent, or 579,457.
Electoral boundaries mean conservative votes in regional areas count for more than votes cast by progressives in the cities.
Many Canberra public servants will already be wondering what the Morrison government's return will mean for them, given the announcement just two days before the poll that the so-called "efficiency dividend" would stay at 2 per cent for the two next years before reducing to 1.5 per cent in 2021 and 1 per cent the following year.
His first comments on Thursday about his expectations for the APS were reasonably respectful, if fairly predictable. But they also suggest he sees tighter targets and further efficiencies ahead.
"It is an important partnership. It is a partnership that I respect professionally and I've always had that respect returned to me with all of those I've worked," he told a meeting of department secretaries.
The total reduction in funding to the APS will total $1.5 billion over the next four years and $5 billion over the "medium term".
"Congestion busting needs to happen in the bureaucracy. I want to see some congestion busting in the bureaucracy, ensuring that we get things done."
Mr Morrison needs to remember that many of these workers he seems to be planning to ask to work harder went years without substantive wage rises thanks to the hard line taken during industrial negotiations under the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison regime. This could be considered ironic given low wages growth has been identified as an issue of concern by the Reserve Bank on numerous occasions and the incoming government has indicated it is across the problem.
For the government to achieve its aims will require winning the hearts and minds not just of the senior echelons, but the rank-and-file officers delivering services across the country.
A fairer deal, rather than further belt-tightening for the APS, could be a good place to start. This would make sense on a number of levels, with incoming ministers certain to be dependent on the highest quality advice and support from their departmental teams in the years ahead, which the Prime Minister acknowledged on Thursday.
It is generally accepted that if you treat people fairly, show them some respect and prove you can be trusted they will generally perform better for you.
A rethink on its previous hardline approach to dealing with the bureaucracy might be a good place to start.
