Edward Gough Whitlam was the 21st prime minister of Australia, serving from December 1972 to November 1975. To date the longest-serving leader of the Australian Labor Party (ALP), he was notable for being the head of a reformist and socially progressive government that ended with his controversial dismissal by the then-governor-general of Australia, Sir John Kerr, at the climax of the 1975 constitutional crisis. Whitlam remains the only Australian prime minister to have been removed from office by a governor-general.
David John Mellor is a British broadcaster, barrister, and former politician. As a member of the Conservative Party, he served in the Cabinet of Prime Minister John Major as Chief Secretary to the Treasury (1990–1992) and Secretary of State for National Heritage, before resigning in 1992. He was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Putney from 1979 to 1997.
Ian Douglas Macdonald is an Australian former politician who served as a Senator for Queensland from 1990 to 2019, representing the Liberal Party. He was Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government (1998–2001) and Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation (2001–2006) in the Howard government. He was defeated at the 2019 federal election, having been the longest-serving incumbent member of parliament for the final years of his career.
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) is a department of the Australian Government with broad-ranging responsibilities; notably, intergovernmental and whole of government policy coordination and assisting the prime minister of Australia in managing the Federal Cabinet. The PM&C was established in 1971 and traces its origins back to the Prime Minister's Department established in 1911.
The machinery of government is the interconnected structures and processes of government, such as the functions and accountability of departments in the executive branch of government. The term is used particularly in the context of changes to established systems of public administration where different elements of machinery are created.
John Laurence Menadue is an Australian businessman and public commentator, and formerly a senior public servant and diplomat. He served as Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet from 1975 to 1976, working under the Whitlam and Fraser governments. He was later appointed by Malcolm Fraser as Australian Ambassador to Japan, in which position he served from 1977 to 1980, after which Menadue returned to Australia and was appointed the Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs from 1980 to 1983. Later in 1983, he became the Secretary of the Department of the Special Minister of State and the Secretary of the Department of Trade.
Brian Joseph Langton was an Australian Labor Party politician, who served both as mayor of Kogarah in the St George area of Sydney and as the member for Kogarah in the New South Wales Legislative Assembly. In 1998 Langton was found by the Independent Commission Against Corruption (ICAC) to have been involved in corruption, having deceptively lodged travel allowances.
Maxwell William Moore-Wilton is an Australian corporate executive and former public servant, colloquially known as "Max the Axe".
Michael Pezzullo, is a former Australian public servant who served as Secretary of the Department of Home Affairs, from 2017 until 2023. Previous to this role he had been the Secretary of the Department of Immigration and Border Protection and before that, the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service. His role as Secretary of Home Affairs, and employment in the Australian Public Service, was terminated following a review which found he had breached the Australian Public Service Code of Conduct at least 14 times. He was also found to have engaged in "gossip and disrespectful critique" of ministers.
Kathy Jackson was the national secretary of the Health Services Union of Australia (HSU) between January 2008 and February 2015. In August 2015, Jackson was found by the Australian federal court to have misappropriated union funds and was ordered to repay $1.4 million in compensation, with a criminal investigation pending.
The New South Wales Premier's Department, a department of the New South Wales Government, is responsible for leading the New South Wales public sector to deliver on the Government's commitments and priorities. The department provides administrative support that enables the cabinet to identify, design and implement a coordinated policy, project and reform agenda that boosts the efficiency, productivity and effectiveness across the State. The department consults and work closely with other New South Wales government departments, the Commonwealth Government, local government, business and the community to ensure responses to community needs are effective.
The Health Services Union expenses affair was an Australian political scandal that concerned criminal activities associated with the financial affairs of the Health Services Union of Australia (HSU), between 2006 and 2007; and the Health Services Union "east branch" (HSUeast) between 2006 and 2011.
Sir Peter James Lawler was an Australian senior public servant and diplomat. He served in senior roles under Prime Ministers Menzies, Holt, McEwen, Gorton, McMahon, Whitlam, Fraser and Hawke, and ended his career as Ambassador to Ireland and the Holy See.
Andrew Edgar Francis Metcalfe, is a former senior Australian public servant and policymaker who was Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry until 4 August 2023 when he retired. He is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia and Fellow of the Australian Institute of Management. He was a Partner at Ernst and Young, Canberra in its Government and Public Sector team from 2014-19. Metcalfe was appointed by Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus QC MP to the role of lead reviewer of the Family Relationships Services Program on 15 November 2023, with a 30 June 2024 deadline by which to complete the review.
Edward Alfred Evans was an Australian senior public servant and economist. From 1993 to 2001, he was Secretary of the Department of the Treasury.
Dr Donald Russell is a former senior Australian public servant and administrator. He is currently the Chairman of AustralianSuper, Australia's largest superannuation fund.
Stephen Thomas Sedgwick, is a retired senior Australian public servant. He is best known for his time as Australian Public Service Commissioner between 2009 and 2014, and for his prior appointments as secretary of various departments in the Australian Public Service.
Russell Allan Higgins is a former senior Australian public servant and policymaker.
Sir Henry Armand Bland was a senior Australian public servant. He was Secretary of the Department of Defence from 1968 to 1970.
Glenys Ann Beauchamp is a senior Australian public servant. She was a departmental secretary between 2010 and 2020, across multiple departments and portfolios.
Australian