Ministerial influence over who gets high-ranking public service jobs does not interfere with frank and fearless advice, the Public Service Commissioner says.
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Gordon de Brouwer defended ministers' roles in selecting agency heads, when asked whether this was "conducive to frank and fearless advice and sound, evidence-based policy", at an event on Tuesday.
The prime minister makes the final call on department bosses, directing the governor-general to appoint them on fixed terms.
But they must also speak with relevant ministers, and consult a report from their department head.
Dr de Brouwer said he did not think integrity issues in the senior ranks could be linked back to the appointment process.
"It's really, I think, fundamentally around culture and behaviour, and personal attributes of leaders - that's actually more important," he said.
"I've always had the view that I will provide my best advice to the government, and I will do that the way is best for me.
"But I will do that because that's my job, and that's my values, and that matters to me.
"So I really don't think people fabricate their advice so that they can stay in the job, I've just never seen that, and people don't do it."
Senior leaders in the federal public service face intensifying scrutiny, including bolstered performance measures.
It follows the departures of Mike Pezzullo and Kathryn Campbell in 2023.
Mr Pezzullo, the former Home Affairs secretary, was sacked after an APSC review found he breached the APS Code of Conduct on at least 14 occasions in relation to five allegations.
Ms Campbell, who led the Human Services and Social Services departments during the robodebt scheme, was stood down without pay from her lucrative adviser role in July 2023, after she was adversely named in the royal commission report. She resigned from the role later that month.
Pay fragmentation remains an issue 'for the future'
Dr de Brouwer faced tough questions from public servants on issues of integrity, capability and accountability at the event - part of the annual State of the Service roadshow.
He appeared alongside Assistant Public Service Minister Patrick Gorman, Department of Veterans' Affairs secretary Alison Frame and executive director of the Office for Women Padma Raman.
Asked about pay fragmentation in the service, the commissioner, said the government had taken a "first step" to address the issue.
Pay outcomes across the 102 APS agencies vary, with staff at the smaller agencies often paid well below those at departments.
New minimum salaries for each APS classification were set in the course of pay talks, and will reduce average pay fragmentation down from 25 per cent to 13 per cent.
Dr de Brouwer said this had been possible because it largely affected small agencies.
"So that's easier in the sense of the budget impact," he said.
"If you want to go into no difference [at all, that's] very expensive.
"That's an issue, frankly, for the future."
The bureaucracy would have to decide what a baseline level of pay disparity should be, he said.