ANALYSIS
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Newly appointed departmental secretary Andrew Metcalfe may have delivered one of the world's longest job applications.
In his most recent role as a partner at consultancy EY, Metcalfe was the lead author of a 166-page report on agricultural innovation commissioned by then-agriculture minister David Littleproud in September last year.
Metcalfe presented the results of the project in March at one of the agricultural industry's most important annual events, the Australian Bureau and Agriculture and Resource Economics and Sciences Outlook conference, which was officially opened by the minister.
Littleproud told the conference Metcalfe's report provided an important road map for fostering agricultural research and innovation.
"This isn't the Bible," the minister said. "But it's a guide to how we can come together and ... challenge the status quo to take us to number one. We're Australians. There is no way in the world we should not be number one."
Fast forward to this week, when Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced that Metcalfe had been plucked from EY to resume his public service career as head the newly created mega-department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment.
It has been a remarkable return to the public service for Metcalfe, who was unceremoniously dumped as head of the Department of Agriculture by the triumphant Abbott government as one of its first acts in September 2013.
The speculation at the time, and since, is that the well-regarded and highly experienced public servant fell foul of key figures in the incoming Coalition government over his term as department secretary in the highly politically charged immigration portfolio, which he managed between 2005 and 2013.
Almost as meteoric has been the rise of David Fredericks, who in November was recruited from being a deputy secretary in the Finance Department to become head of the Department of Environment and Energy.
Barely a month later, his remit has been further expanded after being anointed by the Prime Minister to head the "super-department" of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources.
Fredericks' promotion comes despite his past as a senior adviser to major Labor figures, including former federal leader Kim Beazley and former Victorian premier Steve Bracks. He was also chief of staff to Penny Wong when she was Minister for Climate Change and Water.
A former colleague who worked closely with Fredericks during his time in a Labor office said his emergence was not surprising.
"He was one of those people who was first and foremost a bureaucrat, not a political warrior," the former colleague said.
The appointments have the fingerprints of public service head Philip Gaetjens on them, according to Professor John Wanna, the Sir John Bunting Chair of Public Administration at the Australian National University.
Wanna said Gaetjens, secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and someone seen as close to the Prime Minister, had appointed people "who are loyal to him".
The appointments are part of sweeping changes made by the Prime Minister, including a reduction of the number of departments from 18 to 14 and the axing of five departmental secretaries.
Among those departing are Employment Department secretary Kerri Hartland, Human Services head Renee Leon, Agriculture Department secretary Daryl Quinlivan, Industry, Innovation and Science head Heather Smith and Communications and the Arts secretary Mike Mrdak.
Underlining how abrupt and secretive the changes were for some, Mrdak told department staff in a memo that he was only informed of the government's decision late Wednesday afternoon.
"We were not permitted any opportunity to provide advice on the machinery of government changes, nor were our views ever sought on any proposal to abolish the department or ... changes to our structure and operations," the memo said.
But it should not have been a surprise that change was coming.
From the start, Morrison has made it clear the bureaucracy is a top priority, not least by naming himself Minister for the Public Service.
That major reforms were envisaged became clear in August when the review of the public service commissioned by his predecessor Malcolm Turnbull and led by former Telstra boss David Thodey submitted its interim report.
Morrison considered the findings and recommendations too soft, and in a speech in August warned that "disruption and cultural change are needed".
The changes unveiled this week are part of a broader reform agenda, and more will be revealed next week when Morrison releases the government's response to the Thodey Review.
But already concerns are being raised about the scale and pace of change the government expects the public service to absorb.
Morrison is not the first to take an axe to the bureaucratic tree.
In the 1980s the Hawke government slashed the number of departments from 28 to 18, in the process creating a number of amalgamated departments serving multiple ministers simultaneously.
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Under Morrison's changes, even more department secretaries will find themselves answering to several masters.
In the most extreme case, Fredericks and his department will have to juggle the demands of four ministers at once.
Wanna said a system of senior and junior ministers was key to the success of the Hawke government's changes, because it helped clarify lines of responsibility and accountability.
"Most secretaries like to have a one-on-one meeting with the minister every week," he said. "Imagine trying to co-ordinate that with four ministers".
The public administration expert added there would be a logistical challenge in co-ordinating and consolidating the operations of the new mega-departments across multiple work sites.
Morrison has said the changes will be in place by February next year, but Wanna said experience suggested it would be many months, if not years, before the new entities fully absorbed the changes and were working close to peak effectiveness.
The Prime Minister has said ensuring services are delivered "seamlessly and efficiently, when and where they are needed, is the key priority of my government".
His changes may end up making that goal much harder to achieve.