Queensland public servants ‘must be patient’ in bureaucracy shake-up

James Whittaker, in The Mandarin (27.2.15), cites Professor Roger Scott as saying:

‘The biggest change — even since Rob Borbidge and Peter Beattie — is that the career paths of senior executives is much wider and more flexible, so that public service security is less valued. On both sides of the political divide, there are opportunities either in other jurisdictions — as seen by the incoming director-general of the Premier’s Department — or in the private sector. This applies all the way down though the senior ranks but it is particularly relevant at the top.

‘Change of government does not mean the end of the world for a director-general but rather the moment of choice. In making that choice, a complex mix of considerations interact on both sides.’

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