Public servants aren't just grey-cardigan wearers.
That's the view of the outgoing head of the Australian Communications and Media Authority, more commonly known as the broadcast watchdog.
Chris Chapman, who has been at the helm for a decade, strongly defended the public sector when he appeared before his 28th and final Senate estimates hearing in Canberra on Tuesday.
He exhorted anyone who had not been on the inside of the public service to find an opportunity to do so.
"Public servants are wonderful, caring, intelligent and committed Australians," Mr Chapman said.
"Occasionally, so sadly, so pathetically stigmatised as grey-cardigan wearers."
Citing Theodore Roosevelt's 'Citizen in a Republic' speech, Mr Chapman said public servants "actually strive to do the deeds. Who know great enthusiasm, the great devotions. Who spend themselves in a worthy cause".
He recounted his first estimates hearing when later-to-become communications minister Stephen Conroy sought an "all encompassing, yet succinct definition of the internet".
"The senator's media release followed shortly thereafter and as a consequence my naivety has been replaced in the main by a more cautious `I'll take that on notice' response," he said jokingly, noting a colleague at the time remains in "therapy".
Mr Chapman has served under six prime ministers, five communications ministers and is the longest serving head amongst the Commonwealth's 194 agencies.
He now heads to London to become president of the International Institute of Communications - the first in its 47-year history to not be drawn from North America or Europe.
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