Malcolm Turnbull's chief of staff Peter Woolcott will be the Coalition government's new public service commissioner receiving $706,000 a year after his predecessor resigns next month.
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The prime minister announced the Foreign Affairs Department deputy secretary and diplomat would begin the role on August 9, following the outgoing commissioner John Lloyd's retirement.
Mr Woolcott will take over the Australian Public Service Commission with a reputation as one of Australia's most experienced and credentialled diplomats.
Both Coalition and Labor governments have sent him to represent Australia in talks on whaling, people smuggling and nuclear non-proliferation. In 2015 under the Abbott government he was head of Australia's delegation at the Paris climate treaty talks.
Mr Turnbull said Mr Woolcott was highly regarded and had three decades in the Australian Public Service.
Mr Woolcott, Australia’s high commissioner to New Zealand between 2016 and 2017, takes control of the public service commission ahead of a new round of workplace negotiations with the federal bureaucracy's 152,000 staff.
His term as commissioner will follow years of industrial turmoil amid prolonged enterprise agreement negotiations, under the Coalition's workplace bargaining policy, that left many public servants without pay rises for several years.
The diplomat will also head the commission as it joins the Prime Minister's department and former Telstra chief executive David Thodey in a review of the public service that may lead to its biggest overhaul in more than 40 years.
He is serving as Mr Turnbull's chief of staff, replacing Greg Moriarty, who left the prime minister's office to lead the Defence department last year.
Mr Woolcott has been on leave without pay as deputy secretary for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade since he was named chief of staff in July 2017.
He was also previously ambassador for the environment, a permanent representative to the UN in Geneva and ambassador for disarmament, an ambassador for people smuggling issues, and an ambassador to Italy.
Last year he was appointed an officer in the Order of Australia for distinguished service to public administration in international relations, and as a lead negotiator in non-proliferation and arms control.
The main public sector union, which clashed with Mr Lloyd during his tenure, welcomed the appointment of a long-time federal public servant to the public service commissioner role.
Community and Public Sector Union national secretary Nadine Flood also sounded a cautious note, saying it remained to be seen if Mr Woolcott would bring a change in direction after job cuts, staffing caps, growing contractor use and declining real wages under the Coalition.
Mr Turnbull said Mr Woolcott would work closely with Mr Thodey and Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary, Martin Parkinson, on the Coalition government's review of the bureaucracy.
Mr Woolcott was high commissioner to New Zealand last year when he was called in by Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern to answer concerns around comments by Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop about NZ Labor MPs' role in the dual citizenship saga.
He is a second generation career diplomat, the son of former Foreign Affairs department secretary Richard Woolcott.
Mr Lloyd, who will resign on August 8, is under investigation over complaints alleging he committed a code of conduct breach.
He abruptly announced last month he would resign but denied the timing was influenced by a possible investigation. His agency said then he had "for some time" considered departing before his term as commissioner ended, and Mr Lloyd later told senators he had felt it was time to resign after a long career.
