Message from Andrew Metcalfe AO

The Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Andrew Metcalfe AO, has announced his intention to retire from the Australian Public Service on 4 August 2023. Below is his message to his department, distributed on 13 June 2023.

Colleagues

It is with mixed emotions that I am writing to let you know that I have decided to retire from my role as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), as Australia’s Director of Biosecurity, and from the Australian Public Service, on Friday 4 August 2023. I’m announcing this now so that steps can commence to allow my successor to be chosen in a timely way.

I’ve thought long and hard about when I should retire from full-time work, and, quite simply, now is the right time.

It is 18 years since then Prime Minister John Howard appointed me as a Secretary, and I have now been the Secretary of three departments for a total of 12 years.

This is an extraordinary job, but it is relentless, particularly so in recent years as we’ve collectively worked to support our industries through COVID, and in progressing so many issues. The ever-present weight of protecting our borders from threats of biosecurity incursions, and of ensuring the well-being and safety of all of our staff, has been with me every day and every night over the last 3 and a half years.

There is much more to do – in implementing the outcomes of the APSC Capability Review for the department, in advancing the Governments’ many policy initiatives – and it’s the right time for a new Secretary with new energy to take on that duty.

Colleagues, I’m really proud of the work we have done together in the last few years on so many things – from responding to the impacts of the Black Summer bushfires; to so effectively ensuring the strength of our biosecurity and in responding to the Foot and Mouth Disease and Lumpy Skin Disease outbreaks in Indonesia; in helping grow and advance our agriculture productivity,  trade and market access; in establishing our platform for Indigenous engagement for Australian agriculture; in working with so many organisations and stakeholders on a very wide range of initiatives.

As Australia’s Director of Biosecurity, I’m also very proud of how effectively we worked with state and territory colleagues, and with many other organisations, to allow ministers to agree on Australia’s first ever National Biosecurity Strategy last year. I’m also very pleased with the decision in the recent Commonwealth Budget providing, for the first time, long term predictable and sustainable funding for biosecurity.

I’d thus like to express my deepest appreciation to all of you. Your dedication, expertise and commitment are truly remarkable. I have had the privilege of witnessing first hand your tireless efforts to support Australia’s biosecurity and advance the sustainable future of our agricultural, forestry and fishing industries – which in turn ensure our food security and the success of vital parts of our economy, particularly in regional and rural Australia. I’d like to particularly thank my senior leadership team, who have provided unwavering support to me and the department through some very, very, busy times.

Looking back over my career, can I say that it has been an enormous privilege to spend almost all my working career since 1980 as a Commonwealth Public Servant. I started as an Administrative Trainee working in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C). In the 43 years since then I worked for 25 years in the Department of Immigration; 2 years as (former) Minister Philip Ruddock’s Chief of Staff; 4 years in PM&C (including 3 years as Deputy Secretary) and 4 and a half years for DAFF/Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment (DAWE).

Having been appointed as Secretary of Immigration and Multicultural Affairs in 2005 to reform its culture and service delivery in the wake of the Cornelia Rau and Vivian Solon scandals, I was reappointed to that role by Prime Minister Kevin Rudd in 2009. I was then appointed as Secretary of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry by Prime Minister Julia Gillard in January 2013.

I left the Public Service in September 2013 following the change of government, but was reappointed to become Secretary of DAWE in early 2020. As you know, I was confirmed as Secretary of DAFF following the machinery of government changes after the change of government in May last year.

I’ve greatly enjoyed working on issues of national significance, and as part of the APS, helping people live better lives. That is the privilege of public service.

I’d also like to take the opportunity to say how much I’ve valued working with our Minister, Murray Watt, and his office. He is a very strong and capable leader and advocate for the interests of our agriculture, fishing and forestry industries, and for the public service. In the same tenor, can I note how much I have enjoyed working with all my portfolio ministers. In the 18 years that I’ve been either a Deputy Secretary or Secretary I’ve worked directly with around 15 ministers and assistant ministers (Amanda Vanstone was my first minister when I was Secretary of Immigration).

And I should say what a particular privilege it was to work for Philip Ruddock as his Chief of Staff in 1996 and 1997. That was part of the long-standing Australian tradition of senior public servants working directly for a minister, and then being able to return to the public service without being seen by either side of politics as partisan.

I have also had the opportunity to work with many inspirational and very dedicated public servants over the last four decades – from front line staff in Australia and overseas, to technical experts, to SES officers and departmental secretaries. There are far too many for me to mention by name here but I plan to talk more about these people – about what they taught me and how they inspired me – in the weeks ahead.

Colleagues, you have my ongoing thanks and admiration for the work you do everyday, and the way you go about doing it. I look forward to having the chance to say farewell in person to as many of you as possible in the next few weeks, before I leave. And there is much to do in those few weeks, so we’ll be busy!

My family and I are then having a long-overdue holiday, and I’ll be thinking about how I can best serve, in different ways, in the future.

Best wishes,

Andrew