Noel John Tanzer, (born 16 November 1931) is a retired senior Australian public servant and policymaker.

Life and career

Noel Tanzer was born on 16 November 1931. Tanzer began his career in the

Commonwealth Public Service The Australian Public Service (APS) is the federal civil service of the Commonwealth of Australia responsible for the public administration, public policy, and public services of the departments and executive and statutory agencies of the G ...

in 1949, serving for 17 years in Brisbane. In 1980 and 1981 he was serving as a senior assistant commissioner in the management systems and efficiency division of the Public Service Board. Tanzer was appointed

Secretary A secretary, administrative professional, administrative assistant, executive assistant, administrative officer, administrative support specialist, clerk, military assistant, management assistant, office secretary, or personal assistant is a w ...

of the

Department of Veterans' Affairs Veterans' affairs is an area of public policy concerned with relations between a government and its communities of military veterans. Some jurisdictions have a designated government agency or department, a Department of Veterans' Affairs, Minist ...

in 1986. Immediately prior to his Veterans' Affairs appointment, he had been a Deputy Secretary in the

Department of Social Security The Department of Social Security (DSS) was a governmental agency in the United Kingdom from 1988 to 2001. The old abbreviation is still often used informally. Advertisements for rented accommodation used to describe prospective tenants who wou ...

. He moved to the Department of Administrative Services in 1989. His task was to have the department operate in accordance with commercial principles. He also aimed to improve departmental services to customers. He restructured 17 separate departmental units into four programs, and offered redundancy packages to downsize the department, reducing staffing numbers by more than 1000. The new structure Tanzer established saw much of the department run on commercial lines and funded on a trust-account basis. Tanzer retired from the public service in 1993, his final appointment was as Secretary of the

Department of the Arts and Administrative Services The Department of the Arts and Administrative Services was an Australian government department that existed between March 1993 and January 1994. Scope Information about the department's functions and/or government funding allocation co ...

. As head of the Department, he was responsible for handling more than $2 billion in revenue. In 1994, Tanzer was appointed as a consultant to the law firm

Mallesons Stephen Jaques King & Wood Mallesons (KWM) is the largest global law firm in Asia. It has 30 offices and more than 3,500 legal professionals in Europe, North America, Asia and the Middle East. Its predecessor firms include ''SJ Berwin'' of the United Kingdom's ...

Awards

Tanzer was made a

Companion of the Order of Australia The Order of Australia is an honour that recognises Australian citizens and other persons for outstanding achievement and service. It was established on 14 February 1975 by Elizabeth II, Queen of Australia, on the advice of the Australian Gove ...

in 1994.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tanzer, Noel Australian public servants Living people 1931 births Companions of the Order of Australia Secretaries of the Australian Government Veterans' Affairs Department