Steven Marshall takes axe to SA public service

New South Australian premier Steven Marshall has axed four senior department chief executives as part of a major shake-up of the upper ranks of the public service.

Mr Marshall denied the decision had been made for political reasons, saying the changes were necessary to implement his government's agenda.

"It's a new government, it's a new direction. It's natural that an incoming government ... will want to make some changes," he told reporters today.

The terminations include Department of Premier and Cabinet chief Dr Don Russell - the state's most senior public servant and a former speechwriter to Prime Minister Paul Keating.

Transport Department chief Michael Deegan, environment head Sandy Pitcher, and Ingrid Haythorpe from the attorney-general's department are also on the way out.

Interim chiefs have been appointed until replacements are found.

The decision to terminate the executives will cost around $2 million to pay out their contracts.

Mr Marshall said he had asked the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment to look at the matter to ensure taxpayers did not incur such hefty penalties for future terminations.

"The reality is that was the detail that was contained within the contract the chief executives had entered into with the previous Labor government," he said.

In the lead-up to the March election, the Liberal Party campaigned on depoliticising the public sector.

Mr Marshall said the previous Labor government had adopted a policy of "overt politicisation" in the appointment of public servants.

"They basically moved away from merit-based assessments in a huge number of very senior appointments over a long period of time," he said.

"Governments, from time to time, can make direct appointments but I think that the previous Labor government had taken it to a completely new level."