A third of Aussie Governor General's staff quit

A third of Australian Governor General Quentin Bryce have quit in the past year. Photo / Getty Images

SYDNEY - Quentin Bryce was welcomed as a breath of fresh air when she was appointed Governor-General last year.

She was female (a first for Australia), liberal-minded, and she promised to be an advocate for Aborigines and other disadvantaged groups.

But while few can fault her energy and commitment, it seems all is not well within the walls of Government House, Bryce's official Canberra residence. Thirty staff - one-third of the total - have left their jobs since she arrived in September last year.

Bryce's official secretary, Stephen Brady, defended his boss when asked about the exodus by a parliamentary budget committee this week.

But one former employee told the Australian: "She is just a very difficult person to work for. She plays favourites, and if she doesn't like you, you are history. She freezes you out."

Another former staffer described her as a control freak.

That reputation preceded her to Canberra from Brisbane, where dozens of staff - including secretaries, chauffeurs, chefs and gardeners - left during Bryce's five years as Queensland Governor, upset by her allegedly high-handed manner.

Bryce also clashed with aides about the propriety of her family hosting private functions, including barbecues, pool parties and a wedding, at Government House in Brisbane.

According to the Courier-Mail, she ordered flowers to be torn out of their beds because they were the wrong colour, allowed her children the run of the residence, and complained that her ironed clothes got crushed because of a shortage of wardrobe space.

Even before she arrived in Canberra, Bryce ruffled feathers by sacking the official secretary, Malcolm Hazell, who had served her two predecessors. Brady, who replaced him, is a long-standing friend of the Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd.

Brady told the committee: "Working in an office such as ours is challenging, it's demanding, it requires a constant ability to deal with change. Some staff respond well to that, and occasionally there might be someone who doesn't."

He described Bryce as "an amiable, very highly regarded person".

A spokeswoman for Bryce said that nine of the employees who had departed had been on short-term contracts, while 13 had moved to other government agencies, four had moved interstate and one had resigned for personal reasons.

Brady declined to answer questions by the Opposition spokesman on affairs of state, Michael Ronaldson, on the nature and extent of complaints by staff.

Rudd himself has a reputation for being demanding and grumpy, with a short fuse. In his two years there has been, reportedly, a 66 per cent turnover in his office.