On 23 July 2026, we hosted our latest Secretary Series with Jenny Wilkinson PSM, Secretary of the Department of the Treasury, for a wide-ranging reflection on leadership, reform and the role of the public service when circumstances do not unfold as planned.

Drawing on almost two decades in the public service, Secretary Wilkinson traced how her understanding of good public administration had evolved. Early in her Commonwealth career, while working on climate policy, she believed good policy was primarily a matter of finding the right answer and making the argument clearly. The complexity of the issue quickly challenged that view.

Climate policy brought together contested public debate, difficult economic trade-offs, varied stakeholder interests and rapidly changing political conditions. It taught her that good ideas matter, but they are only one part of the public policy craft.

That lesson has continued to shape her leadership through periods of significant disruption, including global financial shocks, COVID-19, geopolitical crises and the emergence of generative AI. Governments arrive with priorities and commitments, but they must also respond to events that no platform or work plan could fully anticipate.

Secretary Wilkinson described these events not as interruptions to government, but as part of its work. They test whether institutions can respond quickly, coordinate across established boundaries and make decisions with incomplete information, while continuing to deliver everything else expected of them.

A central theme was institutional composure. When the stakes are high, leaders set the tone for how an organisation responds. Calm and clarity matter, but so does changing posture when the situation requires it. During COVID-19, Treasury established a coordination team and a dedicated JobKeeper Division before the need for those structures was widely accepted internally. The changes disrupted existing responsibilities, but provided the governance and accountability needed to manage the response across the department and the broader public service.

Secretary Wilkinson also reflected on the public service’s role in shaping reform. Public servants need more than a detailed understanding of existing policy, political constraints and stakeholder positions. They need a considered, evidence-based view of what better policy could look like and why.

At the same time, reform requires pragmatism. Technically elegant proposals have limited value if they cannot be adopted. The task is to distinguish between the core direction that should be protected and the details that can flex, while using evidence and analysis to give government the strongest possible foundation for its decisions.

Leadership, in this context, is an exercise in judgement. Effective leaders create clarity around the mission, trust people to exercise authority and build a culture where issues can be raised early. They also recognise the moments when greater direction and pressure are required.

Secretary Wilkinson cautioned against allowing seniority to pull leaders away from the substance of their work. Technical credibility helps leaders ask better questions, engage seriously with evidence and carry the policy argument without pretending to know everything.

Please see below for practical leadership insights from the session:

Create structure before certainty arrives: In a fast-moving situation, establish governance, accountability and decision-making arrangements early so teams can focus on the problem rather than wait for complete information.

Protect delivery beyond the crisis: Be explicit about what the urgent response is taking away from, delegate authority and have honest conversations about priorities and trade-offs.

Bring a view, not only a briefing: Develop a clear position on what better policy looks like, test it against evidence and identify which elements are essential and which can adapt.

Empower deliberately: Set the mission and expected standards, allow people to use their judgement and make it clear that thoughtful escalation and early disclosure will be supported.

Stay close to the substance: Maintain enough technical depth to challenge assumptions, recognise weak evidence and ask the questions that improve advice.

Read the full speech.

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