The Morrison government plans to reduce the total number of departments from 18 to 14, which means not all of the current top mandarins will still have a job once the dust has settled.
These are the current secretary-level positions as of this morning.
UPDATE: full details of today’s machinery of government changes has now been announced.
| Portfolio | Secretary-level appointment | Title | Date of first appointment |
|---|---|---|---|
| Prime Minister and Cabinet | Philip Gaetjens | Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet | 2 September 2019 |
| Agriculture | Daryl Quinlivan (to be replaced by Andrew Metcalfe) | Secretary of the Department of Agriculture | 10 June 2015 |
| Attorney-General’s | Chris Moraitis | Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department | 1 September 2008 |
| Communications (merges into Infrastructure) | Mike Mrdak | Secretary of the Department of Communications | 7 September 2017 |
| Defence | Greg Moriarty | Secretary of the Department of Defence | 28 July 2017 |
| Rebecca Skinner | Associate Secretary of the Department of Defence | September 2018 | |
| Education and Training | Michele Bruniges | Secretary of the Department of Education and Training | 4 April 2016 |
| Employment (merging into Education, Small Business functions merging into Industry) | Kerri Hartland | Secretary of the Department of Employment | 7 September 2017 |
| Environment & Energy (Environment merging into Agriculture, Energy merging into Industry) | David Fredericks | Secretary of the Department of the Environment & Energy | 11 November 2019 |
| Finance | Rosemary Huxtable | Secretary of the Department of Finance | 22 December 2016 |
| Foreign Affairs and Trade | Frances Adamson | Secretary of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade | 20 July 2016 |
| Health | Glenys Beauchamp | Secretary of the Department of Health | 7 September 2017 |
| Brendan Murphy | Chief Medical Officer for the Australian Government | 13 July 2016 | |
| Human Services (becomes an executive agency in Social Services) | Renée Leon | Secretary of the Department of Human Services | 7 September 2017 |
| Home Affairs (formerly Immigration and Border Protection) | Mike Pezzullo | Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs | 13 October 2014 |
| Infrastructure and Regional Development | Simon Atkinson | Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Cities & Regional Development | 11 November 2019 |
| Industry | Heather Smith (to be replaced by David Fredericks) | Secretary of the Department of Industry, Innovation & Science | 7 September 2017 |
| Social Services | Kathryn Campbell | Secretary of the Department of Social Services | 7 September 2017 |
| The Treasury | Steven Kennedy | Secretary to the Treasury | 2 September 2019 |
| Veterans’ Affairs | Liz Cosson | Secretary of the Department of Veterans’ Affairs | 19 May 2018 |
