Climate concerns may be behind resignation THE coalition's plan to dismantle Labor's climate change programs may be behind Martin Parkinson's decision to quit as Treasury secretary, a former Treasury economist says. Dr Parkinson's decision to step down in mid-2014 was announced shortly after Prime Minister Tony Abbott's ministry was sworn in on Wednesday. Stephen Koukoulas, a former senior Treasury economist, and economic adviser to former prime minister Julia Gillard, said Dr Parkinson may have had reservations about being associated with a government that would dismantle climate change programs. "I'd imagine that issue would be a pretty big sticking point," he said. Even though it's Treasury ... it would be very hard for someone who was so passionate about the carbon price and presumably so dismissive of the direct action plan to actually implement that policy. Dr Parkinson was secretary of the Department of Climate Change before he replaced Ken Henry as Treasury chief in March 2011. Reserve Bank of Australia board member Heather Ridout said Dr Parkinson was a true professional. "He wasn't partisan in any sense," she told AAP from New York. Mr Koukoulas, who is now managing director of economic analysis group Market Economics, said Dr Parkinson's replacement would likely come from within Treasury, or the departments of Finance and Prime Minister and Cabinet, rather than from the private sector.