Departmental Secretary

Secretary

Peter Shergold (right) in his capacity as Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet; with then Prime Minister John Howard at a 2005 meeting in the United States.
Occupation
Names	Departmental secretary
Occupation type	Public servant
Activity sectors	Australian and State government
Description
Competencies	Strategic advice; Public administration
Related jobs	Government minister; Director general; Chief Executive

In the administration of government in Australia, a departmental secretary, or more commonly a Secretary, is the most senior public servant of a Commonwealth or state government department, charged with leading the department on a day-to-day basis.

A departmental secretary is the non-political non-elected public servant heads (and "responsible officers") of government departments, who generally hold their position for a number of years. A departmental secretary works closely with the elected government minister that oversees the Commonwealth department or state government department in order to bring about policy and program initiatives that the government of day was elected to achieve. A departmental secretary works with other departments and agencies to ensure the delivery of services and programs within the nominated area of responsibility.

The secretary is also known as the chief executive of the department; the position is equivalent to the Permanent Secretary of a government department in the United Kingdom, and similar to director general in some non-Commonwealth countries, or (very roughly) chief executive officer (CEO) in a private company.

In the Australian government, Secretaries are the responsible officers for departments, meaning that they are answerable to the Australian Parliament for ensuring that the department performs the functions assigned to it and spends money appropriately, as granted by the Parliament. Secretaries are frequently called for questioning by the Joint Committee of Public Accounts and Audit, the House of Representatives committees and the Senate committees.