Steve Sedgwick (public servant)

Stephen Thomas Sedgwick, AO (born 8 February 1950) 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.

Steve Sedgwick AO
Secretary of the Department of Finance
In office 9 February 1992 – 17 January 1997
Secretary of the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs
In office 18 January 1997 – 21 October 1998
Secretary of the Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs
In office 21 October 1998 – 26 November 2001
Secretary of the Department of Education, Science and Training
In office 26 November 2001 – 18 January 2002
Australian Public Service Commissioner
In office 2009 – 13 December 2014
Personal details
Born	Stephen Thomas Sedgwick 8 February 1950
Nationality	Australian
Alma mater	University of Sydney (BEc hons) London School of Economics
Occupation	Public servant

Life and career

Steve Sedgwick was born on 8 February 1950.[1]

In 1985, Sedgwick was appointed as a senior economic advisor to Prime Minister Bob Hawke.[1] In September 1988, Sedgwick resigned from the role and took up a position as a Deputy Secretary of the Department of Finance.[1]

He was appointed as Secretary of the Department of Finance in February 1992,[2] after having acted in the role since January 1992.[3] In 1997, he moved from the finance department to the secretary heading the Department of Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs (later Department of Education, Training and Youth Affairs and then Department of Education, Science and Training).[1][4][5]

Between 2002 and 2007, Sedgwick was a Director, nominated by the Australian Government, on the Board of Directors of the Asian Development Bank based in Manila.[6]

In December 2009, on the recommendation of the Rudd Government, Sedgwick was appointed Australian Public Service Commissioner.[7] He finished his term on 13 December 2014.[8]

Sedgwick is a member of the Jawun board.[8][9]

In April 2016 Sedgwick was commissioned to conduct a review into bankers' pay and commissions;[10] and recommended the termination of bonus payments to retail bank employees that are linked to sales performance.[11][12]

Awards

In 2001, Sedgwick received a Centenary Medal for service to Australian society through public service leadership.[13] Sedgwick was made an Officer of the Order of Australia in June 2012.[14]

Notes

1. CP 510: Stephen Thomas SEDGWICK, National Archives of Australia, retrieved 28 March 2014
2. CA 2140: Department of Finance [I], Central Office, National Archives of Australia, retrieved 28 March 2014
3. Keating, Paul (19 January 1992). "Acting Secretary, Department of Finance" (Press release). Archived from the original on 27 March 2014.
4. Howard, John (18 January 2002). "Senior Appointments – Departmental Secretaries" (Press release). Archived from the original on 10 November 2013. Mr Steve Sedgwick, currently the Secretary of the Department of Education, Science and Training, will be appointed to a very senior position, details of which are being finalised and will be announced before 18 January 2002
5. Howard, John (29 December 1996). "Appointment of Departmental Secretaries" (Press release). Archived from the original on 3 February 2014.
6. Peter Costello,'Nomination of Australian Director to Asian Development Bank', (press release), January 2002.
7. Rudd, Kevin (10 December 2009). "Australian Public Service Commissioner" (Press release). Archived from the original on 27 March 2014.
8. Thomson, Phillip (21 November 2014). "Public Service Commissioner Stephen Sedgwick to stand down". The Sydney Morning Herald. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 25 January 2015.
9. Board & CEO, Jawun, archived from the original on 9 February 2011
10. Rose, Sally; Shapiro, Jonathan (12 July 2016). "Bankers' pay to be reviewed by former public service cop Stephen Sedgwick". Financial Review. Australia. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
11. Frost, James (19 April 2017). "Banks forced to scrap bonus pay schemes linked wholly to sales targets". Financial Review. Australia. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
12. Uribe, Alice (29 July 2018). "Stephen Sedgwick says bank culture can't be regulated 'from the outside'". Financial Review. Australia. Retrieved 1 March 2018.
13. Search Australian Honours: SEDGWICK, Stephen Thomas, Australian Government, archived from the original on 28 March 2014
14. Search Australian Honours: SEDGWICK, Stephen Thomas, Australian Government, archived from the original on 28 March 2014

References and further reading

• Sedgwick, Stephen (16 April 2014). "Why public servants should be impartial". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 17 April 2014.
• "Executive Appointments". The Canberra Times. 19 August 1991. p. 11.
• "New IC head". The Canberra Times. 25 July 1991. p. 12.
• "Australian Leader on Bureaucratic Reform to Visit Jakarta" (Press release). Australian Embassy, Indonesia. 7 June 2010. Archived from the original on 11 February 2014.
• Roozendaal, Eric (20 August 2009). "Stephen Sedgwick appointed NSW Government's Chair of Better Services and Value Taskforce" (PDF) (Press release). NSW Treasury. Archived from the original (PDF) on 13 March 2011.
• "Steve Sedgwick to head key University of Melbourne economic/social research think-tank" (Press release). University of Melbourne. 27 March 2007.
• Advisory Council: Stephen Sedgwick, Australian National University, archived from the original on 20 April 2013
• Towell, Noel (6 November 2013). "Public Service Commissioner Stephen Sedgwick puts lazy bureaucrats on notice". The Canberra Times. Fairfax Media. Archived from the original on 27 February 2014.
• Speakers Presentations, Institute of Public Administration Australia, archived from the original on 27 March 2014
• Mr Stephen Sedgwick AO, FIPAA, Australian Public Service Commission, archived from the original on 11 February 2014
• Advisory Council: Stephen Sedgwick, Australian National University