Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (Australia)

The secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet is the public service head of Australia's Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and the most senior public servant in the administration of Government in Australia.

Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Incumbent Glyn Davis since 6 June 2022 (2022-06-06)
Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet
Appointer	Prime Minister
Inaugural holder	Malcolm Shepherd
Formation	1 January 1912 (1912-01-01)

The secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet should not be confused with the Cabinet secretary, a ministerial position within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet portfolio responsible for assisting the prime minister in the procedural and operational matters of the Cabinet of Australia.

The secretary of the DPMC is Australia’s highest-paid bureaucrat, earning more than $914,000, as of 2019.^[1]

List of secretaries

Below is the list of secretaries, since the first appointment was made on 1 January 1912.

Order	Name	Title	Date appointment commenced	Date appointment ceased	Term in office	Prime Minister(s)	Ref(s)
1	Malcolm Shepherd, CMG	Secretary to the Prime Minister's Department	1 January 1912 (1912-01-01)	27 January 1921 (1921-01-27)	9 years, 26 days	Fisher; Cook; Fisher; Hughes	[2]
2	Percy Deane, CMG		11 February 1921 (1921-02-11)	31 December 1928 (1928-12-31)	7 years, 324 days	Hughes; Bruce	[3]
3	Sir John McLaren, CMG		1 January 1929 (1929-01-01)	2 March 1933 (1933-03-02)	4 years, 60 days	Bruce; Scullin; Lyons	[4]
4	John Starling, CMG, OBE		3 March 1933 (1933-03-03)	10 November 1935 (1935-11-10)	2 years, 252 days	Lyons
5	Frank Strahan, CVO, CBE		11 November 1935 (1935-11-11)	25 August 1949 (1949-08-25)	13 years, 287 days	Lyons; Page; Menzies; Fadden; Curtin; Forde; Chifley
6	Sir Allen Brown, CBE		25 August 1949 (1949-08-25)	31 December 1958 (1958-12-31)	9 years, 128 days	Menzies
7	Sir John Bunting, CBE		1 January 1959 (1959-01-01)	10 March 1968 (1968-03-10)	9 years, 69 days	Menzies; Holt; McEwen; Gorton
8	Sir Lenox Hewitt, OBE		11 March 1968 (1968-03-11)	12 March 1971 (1971-03-12)	3 years, 1 day	Gorton; McMahon	[5]
n/a	Sir John Bunting, CBE	Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet	17 March 1971 (1971-03-17)	31 January 1975 (1975-01-31)	3 years, 320 days	McMahon; Whitlam	[6][7]
9	John Menadue		1 February 1975 (1975-02-01)	30 September 1976 (1976-09-30)	1 year, 242 days	Whitlam; Fraser	[7][8]
10	Sir Alan Carmody, CBE		1 October 1976 (1976-10-01)	12 April 1978 (1978-04-12)1	1 year, 193 days	Fraser	[8][9][10][11]
11	Sir Geoffrey Yeend, AC, CBE		18 April 1978 (1978-04-18)	10 February 1986 (1986-02-10)	7 years, 298 days	Fraser; Hawke	[12][13][14]
12	Mike Codd, AC		10 February 1986 (1986-02-10)	1 December 1991 (1991-12-01)	5 years, 294 days	Hawke	[13]
13	Dr Michael Keating, AC		1 December 1991 (1991-12-01)	13 May 1996 (1996-05-13)	4 years, 164 days	Hawke; Keating; Howard	[15]
14	Max Moore-Wilton, AC		13 May 1996 (1996-05-13)	20 December 2002 (2002-12-20)	6 years, 221 days	Howard	[15][16]
15	Dr Peter Shergold, AC		10 February 2003 (2003-02-10)	28 February 2008 (2008-02-28)	5 years, 20 days	Howard; Rudd	[17]
16	Terry Moran, AC		3 March 2008 (2008-03-03)	5 September 2011 (2011-09-05)	3 years, 186 days	Rudd; Gillard	[18]
17	Dr Ian Watt, AO		5 September 2011 (2011-09-05)	30 November 2014 (2014-11-30)	3 years, 86 days	Gillard; Rudd; Abbott	[19]
18	Michael Thawley, AO		1 December 2014 (2014-12-01)	23 January 2016 (2016-01-23)	1 year, 53 days	Abbott, Turnbull	[20]
19	Dr Martin Parkinson, AC, PSM		23 January 2016 (2016-01-23)	2 September 2019 (2019-09-02)	3 years, 222 days	Turnbull, Morrison	[21]
20	Phil Gaetjens		2 September 2019 (2019-09-02)	22 May 2022 (2022-05-22)	2 years, 262 days	Morrison	[22][23]
21	Stephanie Foster, PSM	Acting Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet	22 May 2022 (2022-05-22)	5 June 2022	14 days	Albanese
22	Prof Glyn Davis AC	Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet	6 June 2022	16 June 2025	3 years, 68 days	Albanese	[24][25]
23	Steven Kennedy, PSM		16 June 2025			Albanese	[26][27]

Notes

^1 Sir Alan Carmody CBE died suddenly of coronary vascular disease on 12 April 1978; during the term of his appointment.^[10][11]

Historical arrangements

Within days of John Gorton becoming Prime Minister, the functions of the Prime Minister's Department was split and a Department of the Cabinet Office was established.^{[28][29][30][31][32]} On taking office as Prime Minister in 1971, William McMahon reversed Gorton's changes and restored earlier changes via the creation of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. A lesser role of Secretary to the Department of the Vice-President of the Executive Council was established for a short time; abolished in the early days of the Whitlam government.^[33][34][35] Upon election to office in 1996, John Howard established a separate Cabinet Office within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. The Cabinet Office was a small unit, staffed from within and outside the public service, which provided the Prime Minister with advice on issues before Cabinet as well as strategic policy directions.^[36]

Secretary to the Department of the Cabinet Office

Order	Name	Title	Date appointment commenced	Date appointment ceased	Term in office	Ref(s)
1	Sir John Bunting CBE	Secretary to the Department of the Cabinet Office	11 March 1968 (1968-03-11)	17 March 1971 (1971-03-17)	3 years, 6 days	[28]
2	Michael L'Estrange AO	Secretary to the Cabinet and Head of the Cabinet Policy Unit	8 March 1996 (1996-03-08)	30 June 2000 (2000-06-30)	4 years, 114 days	[36][37]

Secretary to the Department of the Vice-President of the Executive Council

Order	Name	Title	Date appointment commenced	Date appointment ceased	Term in office	Ref(s)
1	Sir Lenox Hewitt	Secretary to the Department of the Vice-President of the Executive Council	17 March 1971 (1971-03-17)	20 December 1972 (1972-12-20)	1 year, 278 days	[33][38]