Commissioner's address to IPAA Secretaries Series
Commissioner of Taxation, Rob Heferen's address to the Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) Secretaries Series event.
A former PM said this public servant wouldn't be a secretary.
He says it worked out for the best
By Brittney Levinson October 2 2025
A former prime minister once said Rob Heferen would not be considered for a secretary role, for reasons he still doesn't know today.
Now leading a 20,000-person agency as the Australian Taxation Office boss, Mr Heferen said while his ambitions of one day leading a department were quashed, he believed things turned out for the better.
Commissioner of Taxation Rob Heferen. Picture supplied
Speaking at an event hosted by the Institute of Public Administration Australia, the Commissioner of Taxation said he had believed he could make a positive difference as a secretary.
"I was told by the former head of Prime Minister and Cabinet that a former prime minister decided that I wasn't going to be eligible for any secretary role," he said.
"It was one of those things where I've always thought of myself as a career public servant. It's what I love, what I really enjoy doing."
Coming to terms with it, Mr Heferen said he got back to work and took advantage of other opportunities that were available to him.
In early 2024, Mr Heferen was appointed to lead the Tax Office for a seven-year term.
Prior to that, he had led the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare and served as a deputy secretary in the Treasury.
"In fact, looking back, it's probably one of the luckiest things I've had [happen] because ... I look at some of my colleagues around the place and think about the job I have and the job that others have to go through ... I might have ended up on the right side of that one," Mr Heferen said.
During his earlier speech on the importance of leadership in the public service, Mr Heferen issued a challenge to those in the audience to "lead where you are".
"Whether you manage a team, run a project, or support a colleague - lead with intention," he said.
"Lead with heart. And lead with the knowledge that what you do matters."
Working from home a 'fascinating challenge'
Among the challenges Mr Heferen said he faced leading the Tax Office was the rapid rise in remote working across the public service.
In the 2024 census, 81 per cent of Tax Office staff said they worked away from the office some or all of the time.
"The remote working, I think, is a fascinating challenge for us," Mr Heferen said.
The commissioner said prior to the COVID lockdowns, he'd kept his work and home separate for more than 30 years.
"When I had to be at home, I felt work was intruding my home and I thought I wasn't doing my work well, because home was intruding on that," he said.
Admitting he was an outlier in preferring to work from the office five days a week, Mr Heferen said workplaces had to find new ways to ensure the "information transfer" that often happened by chance in an office could be replicated.
"That, I think, is going to be the big challenge," he said.
Not believing your own hype as a leader
Asked how he sought genuine feedback in the Tax Office's top job, Mr Heferen said he relied on those around him to be honest.
Mr Heferen said the more senior a leader became, the easier it was to "sometimes start to believe your own hype".
Australian Taxation Office chief operating officer Jacqui Curtis and Commissioner of Taxation Rob Heferen. Picture supplied
"Then you can get in a situation where people won't be willing to be honest," he said.
"Luckily, I do have some direct reports who certainly aren't backwards in coming forward, so that's very valuable."
The annual APS staff census, due to be released publicly later this year, would also "give clues" as to how staff perceived their leaders, Mr Heferen said.
The Tax Office received some feedback of its own earlier this year when the APS Commission released its capability review of the agency.
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It found the Tax Office was a high-performing organisation, but suggested some areas for improvement, including streamlining internal governance and a need for more risk-taking in the interests of innovation.
The Tax Office's performance evolution plan would address these areas, Mr Heferen said.
"More broadly, the plan sets out what we need to do at both the organisational and individual level," he said.
"It's ambitious and will take commitment and collaboration to think bigger, act bolder and deliver together."
