Public service needs greater transparency around secretary appointments

Of course, the process is not always conclusive or builds partisanship as was seen with President Trump's nomination of judge Amy Coney Barrett to the Supreme Court.

Despite these limitations it is better than what we have presently in Australia.

Indeed, there is no reason why a US Senate committee confirmation process could not be grafted onto the Australian Senate committee system.

This could also be done more efficiently than the complicated model now operating in the United Kingdom with its special commissioner of public appointments and panoply of processes that a recent review assessed as being too slow and others as too conforming about who was appointed.