Eight more of Western Australia’s public service directors-general were officially approved by the state governor this week, leaving only the newly formed Department of Communities without a permanent head.
All eight new appointments were named as interim leaders of their respective departments in an April memo published by the WA Public Sector Commission.
Grahame Searle (pictured) has been leading the Department of Communities, and is the only remaining acting director-general on a list of all new and continuing heads of the 25 agencies that now make up the state’s slimmed-down bureaucracy, published by Premier Mark McGowan:
| Agency | Name | Title | Current status |
| Department of Jobs, Tourism, Science and Innovation | Mr Stephen Wood | Director General | New appointment |
| Department of Mines, Industry Regulation and Safety | Mr David Smith | Director General | New appointment |
| Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development | Mr Ralph Addis | Director General | New appointment |
| Department of Communities | Mr Grahame Searle | Acting Director General | Acting appointment |
| Department of Justice | Dr Adam Tomison | Director General | New appointment |
| Department of Planning, Lands and Heritage | Ms Gail McGowan | Director General | New appointment |
| Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions | Mr Mark Webb PSM | Director General | New appointment |
| Department of Local Government, Sport and Cultural Industries | Mr Duncan Ord OAM | Director General | New appointment |
| Department of Water and Environmental Regulation | Mr Michael Rowe | Director General | New appointment |
| Department of Education | Ms Sharyn O’Neill | Director General | Continuing appointment |
| Western Australia Police | Mr Chris Dawson APM | Commissioner | New appointment outside MOG 2017 |
| Department of Finance | Ms Anne Nolan | Director General | Continuing appointment |
| Department of the Premier and Cabinet | Mr Darren Foster | Director General | New appointment outside MOG 2017 |
| Department of Treasury | Mr Michael Barnes | Under Treasurer | Continuing appointment |
| Department of Training and Workforce Development | Ms Anne Driscoll | Acting Director General | Continuing appointment |
| Department of Transport | Mr Richard Sellers | Director General | Continuing appointment |
| Department of Fire and Emergency Services | Mr Wayne Gregson APM | Commissioner | Continuing appointment |
| Department of Health | Dr David Russell-Weisz | Director General | Continuing appointment |
| Mental Health Commission | Mr Tim Marney | Commissioner | Continuing appointment |
| Office of the Auditor General | Mr Colin Murphy PSM | Acting Auditor General | Continuing appointment |
| Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions | Ms Amanda Forrester SC | Director | Continuing appointment |
| Office of the Inspector of Custodial Services | Professor Neil Morgan | Inspector | Continuing appointment |
| Public Sector Commission | Mr Malcolm Wauchope AO | Commissioner | Continuing appointment |
| Western AustralianElectoral Commission | Mr David Kerslake | Commissioner | Continuing appointment |
| Western Australian Industrial Relations Commission | Ms Sue Bastian | Registrar | Continuing appointment |
“The new directors general are a key component of our commitment to implement real change across the public sector, to make it more efficient and to deliver better services to Western Australians,” McGowan said in the statement.
“Under their leadership, we will continue to implement our machinery of government changes and Service Priority Review to deliver cost savings across government and assist with the critical task of fixing the budget.”
The interim report of the Service Priority Review panel, chaired by former New Zealand State Services Commissioner Iain Rennie, also came out this week, flagging a major administrative overhaul across every aspect of the public sector and recommending whole-of-government performance targets.
