Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Indeed, every single one of my ministers has been down at their departments, not just to meet with the secretary, the deputy secretaries and the senior people, but to meet with the people on the front line—whether they be people in Minister Shorten's portfolio in Centrelink, whether they be the people working in Amanda Rishworth's portfolio, whether they be people in the department of the environment with the minister for the environment—to say thank you, and that we honour the work that they do.

What we are doing, very clearly, if you look at where we're at, is seeking to rebuild the Public Service exactly so we're not as dependent upon contractors, as happened over a period of time, more and more, for things that should be the automatic function of government—getting advice from public servants in an independent way, whereby no one could argue that there's any private sector connection or profit motive involved so that you get that advice to government. I believe that will lead to better government. It's something my government is committed to. It's something that we're implementing in practice, and it will make a difference and produce better government in this country.

See this speech in context