It has been an interesting couple of years in Canberra. Everyone held their breath when the new Government came into office in 2007 - the traditional "hit list" of senior public servnats was expected to be dragged out and heads were expected to roll. The Government did not do it. They took a sensible road instead. "Let the public service prove itself" was the motto for the first 18 months. Some who retired were replaced with professional officials, and with long serving Canberra bureaucrats. Continuity was the watchword, and it worked.
I doubt if any of us who don't work in Canberra actually appreciate the pressures and challenges faced by the public service on a daily basis. Headcounts, budgets, policy development, regulation, planning - trying to balance on a tightrope of public scrutiny and confidential advice to government. It ain't easy. A senior bureaucrat has to be a combination of expert, advisor, confidant, analyst, manager, researcher and all-round problem solver.
This is not to say they don't love their jobs. The life of a public servant is stimulating, always changing and they are always facing new directions with each new economic and social crisis and each new shift in the political landscape. The old image of the public servant as the "rock" (Ministers come and go, but the public service remains) has been replaced with the reality of a professional manager - advising, planning and doing all at the same time. The "Yes Minister" stereotype is long gone. With more smart Ministerial advisors, and external sources of advice to Government growing, the job of the permanent public servant has become a combination of leading edge organisational and managerial experience.
The increasing complexity of policy issues in a global economy, and the present challenges of climate change, terrorism, refugees, technological changes, new media, along with the normal aspects of life in Australia have created a new kind of environment for the Canberra public servant. I believe that the best thing the rest of us can do is support them, respect them and work with them wherever possible. They are our servants in every sense of the word, and we are their clients, customers and the citizens they serve. However, the relationship should be one of mutual regard and understanding, not attacks based on cheap political motives. I know they can take it, because as a professional group they are tough; but we should not put them in this position.