Public Service Commissioner John Lloyd has opened fire on public sector executives.

In his first major public speech, Mr Lloyd said the work of public service middle managers is being shifted to their bosses, and they should do more to make sure cuts to not diminish services.

He said Executive Level 1 and 2 staff have created a risk-averse bureaucracy that shies away from big choices.

“We are concerned too much of the work has drifted up,” Mr Lloyd said.

“We have to make sure control and decision making doesn't constantly drift up.”

But it is not an easy time for public sector managers, with EL1s making up about half of the recent redundancies at Commonwealth offices.

An audience member for Mr Lloyd’s speech at the National Portrait Gallery suggested that the skittishness comes from the severe penalties for errors in judgment.

Mr Lloyd conceded that there is a large number of watchdogs and “very pernicious” freedom of information laws.

FOI laws sometimes allow members of the public and media to get a inside view of the decision-making processes, and can show where mistakes were made.

“[FOI laws] have gone a bit further than what they were intended to,” Lloyd said.

There was some praise mixed in with the criticism, with the Public Service Commissioner praising Centrelink staff for the response to the recent cyclone in Queensland.

He said emergency shipping and air safety were managed well, and Centrelink payments were organised quickly.