Phil Gaetjens out as PM&C head, acting secretary announced

New prime minister Anthony Albanese on Monday said Ms Foster was acting head of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet as of Sunday, following the Coalition's electoral defeat.

Mr Albanese has also vowed not to sack public servants in one of his first comments as Prime Minister after being sworn in by the Governor-General.

It is convention for a new prime minister to appoint their own secretary of PM&C, however Mr Albanese put a target on Mr Gaetjens during the election campaign, saying he would replace the long-time public servant in the role.

Asked who he would appoint as the public service's top bureaucrat at a Canberra press conference on Monday, the Prime Minister said Ms Foster was acting as PM&C secretary. Mr Gaetjens is on leave from the role.

However the new government was yet to decide on a permanent appointment.

"I will be making an announcement at an appropriate time after we go through the formal procedures which are in place for the appointment of a secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet," Mr Albanese told journalists.

Before the campaign, Mr Albanese refused to guarantee a new Labor government would not sack any department heads, in an apparent warning shot to Mr Gaetjens.

Senior public servants are waiting to learn of any moves from Labor to change the leadership of other federal departments following the change of government.

The Coalition sacked six departmental heads when John Howard led it to victory in 1996, while Tony Abbott dismissed leading public servants after taking government in 2013.

Under Kevin Rudd, Labor pointedly did not sack senior bureaucrats after its 2007 win, a decision later regarded as having disadvantaged his government.

Mr Gaetjens, head of PM&C after replacing Martin Parkinson in 2019, was chief of staff to Peter Costello and Mr Morrison when they were treasurers.

While Labor vowed to "give him a chance" after Mr Gaetjens' appointment to the public service's top role, it came to criticise him and accuse him of politicising his position.

During the election campaign, Mr Albanese said Mr Gaetjens had made his ongoing position "very difficult" by conducting an inquiry into what then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison's staff knew of the alleged rape of Brittany Higgins at Parliament House in 2019.

"It would be reasonable to assume that the head of PM&C's position has been politicised," Mr Albanese told News Corp.

"He has allowed that to happen. That he allowed himself to be appointed into a review into what the Prime Minister's office knew about alleged criminal allegations is, I think, inexplicable for a senior public servant."

Mr Gaetjens also entered an extraordinary stoush last year with Rex Patrick, after the Senate crossbencher accused PM&C officials of being politicised in rejecting FOI requests for national cabinet documents.

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Mr Albanese on Monday vowed not to sack public servants and singled out the public service for praise, after forming his interim ministry ahead of a caucus meeting and announcement of a full ministry next week.

"It was a reminder as a former deputy prime minister and minister of how valued our public servants are. We won't be sacking public servants either," he said.

"We'll be valuing public servants and respecting them. And the fact that we were able to have discussions and put measures in place to allow whatever the outcome of the result on Saturday for those arrangements to be put in place, says a lot about how professional our public service are. We should not take it for granted."

Mr Albanese also said he had directed work to begin on creating a national anti-corruption commission, one of Labor's major election promises, indicating the agency would be one of the new government's early changes to the public service.

The new government will announce a full ministry next week, and could make changes to the administrative arrangement orders that set the structure of the public service.