A speechwriter will be paid hundreds of thousands of dollars over two years to assist government minister Bill Shorten, despite Services Australia saying it initially had the capacity to provide help.

Services Australia deputy chief executive officer Susie Smith was questioned by Liberal senator Maria Kovacic about why an additional person had to be hired.

Services Australia officials confirmed its staff had not written any speeches for Mr Shorten in the past 12 months.

Ms Stewart's LinkedIn profile paints a picture of a highly qualified speechwriter who has provided assistance to four prime ministers, including Kevin Rudd, Julia Gillard, Tony Abbott and Malcolm Turnbull.

She also assisted Alan Joyce when he was the CEO of Qantas and was the principal speechwriter to the vice-chancellor of the University of New South Wales.

Before entering the corporate world and politics, Ms Stewart wrote scripts for Australian drama shows such as Sons and Daughters and A Country Practice.

The original article contains 858 words, the summary contains 155 words. Saved 82%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!