The Government has sacked at least 10 senior bureaucrats in the past three years, Senate hearings have revealed.
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But it has also knocked back two requests to dismiss senior executive service officers.
Public Service Commissioner Stephen Sedgwick told Parliament's public administration committee he had authorised three dismissals between December 2009, when he began his job, and June this year.
His predecessor, Lynelle Briggs, oversaw the termination of seven executives' employment from March 2008.
Mr Sedgwick wrote in a letter to the committee that, in addition to the sackings, the Resources Department and the Commonwealth's nuclear safety agency had asked for termination certificates, but his office had refused their requests.
He gave no information during the hearing about why the executives were dismissed.
Mr Sedgwick said later that eight of the 10 job losses were invalidity retirements or caused by the executives' positions becoming unnecessary; they were not the result of poor performance.
Under the Public Service Act, government agency heads can only sack SES staff if the commissioner approves of the decision.
Reasons can include the officer failing to do their job well, breaching the code of conduct or losing an essential qualification, or their job becoming unnecessary.
One of the 10 executives whom the Government dismissed was Defence Materiel Organisation executive Jane Wolfe, who lost her job in March 2009 due to allegedly poor performance.
However, the Federal Court overturned her dismissal on the grounds it was unfair; a decision that cost the Government about $1.3 million.
Opposition defence spokesman David Johnston, who had said taxpayers were ''slaughtered'' in the case, sought access to documents about the decision to sack Ms Wolfe through Senate estimates hearings.
But Special Minister of State Gary Gray, in a recent letter to the committee, refused to table the information, which included correspondence between Ms Briggs and the Defence Materiel Organisation's then chief, Stephen Gumley.
Mr Johnston's spokeswoman confirmed yesterday the Government had briefed the shadow minister about the matter, and he was satisfied by the briefing.