Andrew Stuart Podger, (born 6 November 1948) is a retired Australian senior public servant. He is currently Professor of Public Policy at the

Australian National University The Australian National University (ANU) is a public university, public research university and member of the Group of Eight (Australian universities), Group of Eight, located in Canberra, the capital of Australia. Its main campus in Acton, A ...

Early life

Podger was born 6 November 1948.

Public service career

Podger began his

Commonwealth Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the Gov ...

career in 1968 as a Cadet at the

Australian Bureau of Statistics The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) is an List of Australian Government entities, Australian Government agency that collects and analyses statistics on economic, population, Natural environment, environmental, and social issues to advi ...

. After his time as a statistician he moved to the Social Welfare Commission in 1974 and then to the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet in 1975. He was promoted to the Senior Executive Service in the

Department of Social Security A ministry of social security or department of social security is a government entity responsible for social security affairs. It may be a ministry office, a department, or, as in the United States, a nominally independent agency. Notable ones ar ...

in 1978, where he stayed until 1982. In 1982 he joined the Department of Finance. In 1990 Podger went on to hold the position of Deputy Secretary in charge of Acquisition and Logistics in the Department of Defence, where he stayed until 1993. He was appointed Secretary of the

Department of the Arts and Administrative Services The Department of the Arts and Administrative Services was an Australian government department that existed between March 1993 and January 1994. Scope Information about the department's functions and government funding allocation coul ...

in 1993, shortly thereafter renamed the Department of Administrative Services He was appointed Secretary of the Department of Housing and Regional Development in April 1994. He then became Secretary of the

Department of Health and Family Services The Department of Health and Family Services was an Australian government department that existed between March 1996 and October 1998. The department was created after the 1996 federal election in which a new Government was elected, ...

in 1996 (later Health and Aged Care). He then was appointed the Public Service Commissioner in 2002, a role he continued until 2004 when he agreed to head a Task Force in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to examine how to improve the delivery of health services.

Awards

Podger was appointed an

Officer of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an Australian honours and awards system, Australian honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Monarch ...

(AO) in 2004.

Notes

References and further reading

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Podger, Andrew Stuart 1948 births Living people University of Sydney alumni Officers of the Order of Australia Secretaries of the Australian Government Health Department