The Secretary

Kathrine Morgan-Wicks, Secretary, Department of Premier and Cabinet

Head of the State Service

BA(Hons) LLB(Hons) LLM, Barrister and Solicitor (HCA, SupCt VIC), Solicitor (SupCt Qld)

Kathrine has recently been appointed as Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet as well as the Head of the State Service (April 2024). Kathrine has been a Head of Agency in the Tasmanian State Service for seven years, with both central and front-line State Sector experience. Prior to becoming Secretary of the Department of Premier and Cabinet and Head of the State Service in April 2024, Kathrine held Head of Agency roles with the Department of Health and Department of Justice, and was a Deputy Secretary (Budget and Finance) at the Department of Treasury and Finance.

Kathrine’s 35-year career has spanned the private and public sectors, including 14 years working as a corporate lawyer across Australia and overseas with Australia’s corporate regulator, the Australian Securities and Investments Commission.

A move to Tasmania brought with it the opportunity to shift from the Commonwealth to the State Service, and in February 2014 she commenced at the Department of Treasury and Finance, leading her Treasury Division through the delivery of four State Budgets in just over three years, whilst quickly coming up to speed with the Tasmanian business and community context.

In 2017, Kathrine was appointed as Acting Secretary for the Department of Justice and was confirmed in the role in early 2018. In the role, Kathrine was responsible for overseeing 1400 plus employees across 29 locations, with portfolios spanning the Courts, Corrections, Worksafe Tasmania, Consumer Protection, Planning and Building Regulation and a $340M capital programme.

In September 2019, Kathrine was appointed as Secretary for the Department of Health and became responsible for the delivery of a $3B health service including public hospitals, district health services, Tasmania Ambulance, mental health and public health, encompassing over 16,000 employees and volunteers and 300 health sites across Tasmania.

In addition to her legal qualifications, Kathrine has completed graduate courses in business and leadership with the Melbourne Business School and Harvard Leadership Program.

Corporate Governance, financial management and transforming organisations to customer and now patient-centric delivery are at the heart of Kathrine’s service-oriented career, culminating in 2020 with her role as State Health Commander for Tasmania during the COVID-19 pandemic, for which she was awarded the Public Service Medal and included in the COVID-19 National Honour Roll.

Contact

Office of the Secretary
Phone: 03 6232 7230
Email: Secretary@dpac.tas.gov.au