Natalie James isn’t impressed by public servants who toe the line.
Speaking at a Parliament House event on the eve of International Women’s Day, the Employment and Workplace Relations secretary said she isn’t impressed by public servants who just want to “play the game”.
“I am a natural disruptor. You need to do it within boundaries — we’re not talking anarchy here, we are still the public service — but we want different thinking, and governments are asking us for that,” she said.
“They’re asking us for difference in policy ideas, and different points of view.
“I think having a point of view and being able to express it thoughtfully and confidently is a baseline of what I look for in leadership.”
Smashing hierarchical thinking in the public service has been a throughline for James. In her view, the public service has been slower than the wider society to adopt social changes within the workplace that enables it to draw on the skills of the entire workforce.
As the public policy community develops a better understanding of the value of having diverse ideas, she has argued we need to be better at valuing all voices in the room — not just the loudest, or most senior.
She said outsiders have a lot to offer the public service too, because they don’t take the same structures and norms for granted.
“I did not come up through the senior Canberra-based public service hierarchy, and I still have moments where I appreciate the value of that because my perspective is different, and I tend to challenge things a little,” she said.
“I have to keep reminding my people, who assume that when you’re a secretary, you know all things that I don’t know those things, because I wasn’t a dep-sec, and I haven’t been in Canberra for the last 10 years.
“Note to everyone: your bosses don’t know all the stuff.”
James’ co-panelist at the event, ANU’s newly minted vice-chancellor and futurist Genevieve Bell, said the way disruption is often discussed in these environments is highly gendered.
Bell has been a trailblazer for most of her career and is no stranger to the way language is subtly weaponised against women in situations they might be viewed as talking above their station or expertise.
She said everyone needs to be mindful of their gendered biases in this area if we are to take full advantage of what everyone in the public service has to offer.
“Outspoken men would be seen as disruptive in good ways – hard-charging, clear-eyed, asking good questions,” she said.
“I’ve not been surprised by some of the words that have been attributed to me in the last two months, where I know had it been a man doing those behaviours, it would have been a completely different language set.
“There’s a bit of imagining that generative AI will solve systemic sexism or racism, or homophobia. Seems like asking the technology to do a bit much, because actually, it’s just maths.
“You are asking linear regression to solve patriarchy, which seems improbable.”
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