And the role the APS is playing in this fight cannot be overstated.

From the health battle to shut down the virus and treat its victims, to the immense challenge of trying to keep a nation's economy from collapse, and as many of its workers as possible from the unemployment queues, the public service is involved in this in every conceivable way.

Staff are volunteering to be retasked to areas of pressing need. Policy is being formed and implemented to meet the rapid changes this global catastrophe demands.

As our public service reporters Doug Dingwall and Adrian Rollins put it yesterday, "if the COVID-19 pandemic has shown us the influence of governments on our lives, it also shows that the federal bureaucracy is indispensable".

And so, whether the people helping shape our national response should have the same flexibility and protection as other workers has been a vexed issue this week.

While the government has told Australians to work from home, the heads of its own departments have in many cases had to be dragged to the same position most private industries have reached in sending staff out of the office. That approach, it should be remembered, was always intended to minimise the risks associated with spreading the coronavirus to workers, their families, and the broader community.

Despite APS commissioner Peter Woolcott's directive for staff to work remotely "as soon as possible", Services Australia staff were told as recently as Monday they must continue to report to the office unless they had a pre-existing work from home arrangement.

While Services Australia spokesman Hank Jongen had a point when he said staff were providing an "essential service", the same can also be said of many other government departments and agencies right now.

It's a fair bet staff are going to be mightily confused when Finance Minister Mathias Cormann and the APS commissioner are telling them one thing, while Mr Jongen is telling them another.

Looking after their staff, and doing everything possible through safe work practices to minimise the risk of virus spread, would surely have to be atop every department head's "to do" list right now.

Certainly, there are complexities with rapidly atomising any workplace, and some of these complexities may be particularly tricky in departments dealing with sensitive information.

But the fact some departments, such as the ATO, have already made excellent progress in transitioning their staff to work-from-home arrangements is proof the problems are far from insurmountable.

The Canberra Times reported on Wednesday that more than half of the tax office's staff, an estimated 9000 public servants, were working from home as of last Friday.

Of these, 500 were call centre staff who were taking calls remotely.

It also needs to be recognised that even though workloads may be down in some areas as a result of the coronavirus, other departments and agencies are facing an unprecedented demand for their services.

This demand is being met, in large part, by the willingness of individual workers to "flex" and take on new roles and duties at very short notice.

Australia has a highly professional and well-skilled public service. It will play a vital role in winning the coronavirus battle.

Its men and women should be treated with the care and the respect they deserve.