What is the point of a public service?

Signature Dinner with Professor Glyn Davis AC

Hosted by Professor Vin Massaro

We are excited to announce our first Signature Dinner of 2026 with Professor Glyn Davis AC.

Some see the sole purpose of the public service as implementing choices made by ministers. Others worry that public servants are too powerful, a deep state pursing its own interests in defiance of democratic principles. Both claims are unrealistic, but how should we think about the role of the public service?

We are delighted to host Melbourne Forum member, Professor Glyn Davis AC, for this Signature Dinner, which will provide a chance to reflect on how decisions are made in government, the interactions between ministers, their advisers and officials, and our expectations of effective government.

Professor Glyn Davis AC is Interim Vice-Chancellor and Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Melbourne, and Visiting Professor at the Blavatnik School of Government, Oxford. He was previously the Secretary of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and, in academic life, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne from 2005 to 2018.

Book early to secure your place at this Melbourne Forum signature event.