The federal government has announced a review of select public sector appointments, to stamp out what it calls a "jobs for mates culture".
The review will investigate the role of public sector boards, how ministers are advised of board member selections and what needs to be done to make the recruitment process more transparent.
It will be led by former Australian public service commissioner Lynelle Briggs, who is also the CEO of Medicare and a commissioner on the Aged Care Royal Commission.
Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher said the review would ensure public sector board appointments were based on merit rather than politics.
"We think that board appointments should be made based on skills, so what you know and not who you know, — not your relationship to ministers or political parties," she said.
"We want skills and merit; we want diversity in our board appointments."
Senator Gallagher said improving the diversity of board memberships would also be a feature of the review.
"Quite often there's a small group of board appointees that are looked at and a number of people that are on multiple boards," she said.
"We know that there's huge talent across Australia and we need to tap into that."
Senator Gallagher said the Morrison government's approach to political appointments "made a mockery of the process", with appointments on the Productivity Commission's board and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal "having political connections to the Coalition".
"We have board appointments made where people don't have the skills set that would be useful on that board, where you've got connections with political parties or you've got friends of ministers," she said.
"We want to make sure board appointments are made with skills and standards in mind and that there's transparency around these appointments.
"Some of them are quite well-paid, some of them are for long periods of time and quite prestigious, and we want to make sure there's a rigorous process around the appointments."
The review is expected to be completed by the middle of the year.
