Finance dept not dull, it eats paleo pears

The woman heading up the federal finance department will be the first to admit her organisation can come over as dour affair for young graduates.

"I try to to wear bright colours all the time," Rosemary Huxtable told a Senate hearing in Canberra on Tuesday, wearing a stunning hot pink jacket.

Senate finance committee chairman, Liberal senator James Paterson, quizzed the department on its graduate recruitment campaign and especially its accompanying video "Game changers".

He thought a line by one graduate in the video - 'Hey guys I'm going to go get a paleo pear and banana bread if you care to joining me' - was particularly trivial for a serious agency like Finance.

It was explained it was made at the request of the graduate to change the script and the Finance officials involved thought they were not the best people to communicate to a younger generation.

It obviously went over Senator Paterson's head, who is only 29.