New South Australian premier Steven Marshall has swung the axe on four senior department chief executives, in a move set to shake up the public service ahead of Thursday's swearing in of his government's cabinet.
Mr Marshall used his first press conference in the role to announce the cuts, which will come at a cost of about $2 million to taxpayers, but denied the decision had been made for political reasons.
"It's a new government, it's a new direction. It's natural that an incoming government ... will want to make some changes," he told reporters in Adelaide on Wednesday.
The terminations include Department of Premier and Cabinet chief Dr Don Russell - the state's most senior public servant and a former adviser to Labor prime minister Paul Keating.
Transport Department chief Michael Deegan has also been sacked, as well as environment head Sandy Pitcher, and Ingrid Haythorpe from the attorney-general's department.
In the lead-up to the March election, the Liberal Party had campaigned on reforming the public sector.
Mr Marshall had said the previous Labor government had adopted a policy of "overt politicisation" in the appointment of public servants.
The premier has also asked the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment to look at the matter to ensure taxpayers did not incur such hefty penalties for future terminations.
The announcement came as the new cabinet prepares to be sworn in during a ceremony at Government House on Thursday.
Mr Marshall said there would be no personnel changes from the frontbench team he led into the election.
"There will be some minor portfolio changes, but I think people will understand when they see them," he said.
"We took 14 people to the election, and we are going to have those same 14 people sworn in."
Among those in Mr Marshall's line-up is Adelaide MP Rachel Sanderson, who leads Labor candidate Jo Chapley in two-party preferred votes by just two per cent with 79 per cent of the votes counted.
The count is even closer in the Adelaide Hills seat of Mawson, where former tourism minister Leon Bignell leads Liberal candidate Andy Gilfillan by less than 100 votes with 81 per cent counted.
Mr Marshall become the state's 46th premier on Monday, when he was sworn in with Deputy Premier Vickie Chapman and Treasurer Rob Lucas.
Among the key pieces of legislation Mr Marshall is likely to introduce in his first 100 days are capping council rates and cutting payroll taxes, but the make-up of the upper house will make negotiating difficult for the new government.
Though vote counting is not yet finished, the outcome looks to be four seats to Labor, four to the Liberals, two to Nick Xenophon's SA-BEST and one to the Greens.
Former upper house MPs Kelly Vincent and Robert Brokenshire have likely lost their positions.
Labor and SA-BEST have already flagged their intention to block legislation that would deregulate shopping hours in the upper house, after former treasurer Tom Koutsantonis said the Liberals' opposition to the bank tax last year had set a "dangerous precedent".
"I think when leaders of the opposition have rushes of blood to their head and make decisions overturning decades of precedent in this state, I think there will be consequences for it," he said earlier this week.
Australian Associated Press
