ABOUT THIS EVENT
The public sector has played a critical role in Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic. One factor in the success of the response has been a close partnership between political leaders and public sector health experts.
During a particularly challenging year, what lessons can we learn about the value of public service and the ongoing role the sector plays in supporting Australia’s citizens?
WHAT IS THE GARRAN ORATION?
The Garran Oration was established to honour the memory of the first, and one of the greatest, of the Australian Commonwealth’s public servants.
Sir Robert Garran was active in the Federation movement in the 1890s and in 1901 he became Secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department at the request of Australia’s first attorney-general, Alfred Deakin, which was a role he held continuously for three decades.
Previous Orators include Prime Ministers, Premiers and Governors. A full list of Orators is available on the national IPAA website.
PRINCIPLE SPONSOR ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
IPAA is most grateful to KPMG Australia for its generous support of the Garran Oration, having been the principle sponsor of the Oration for over a decade.
Learn about our speakers
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP
Federal Member for Flinders
Minister for Health
The Hon. Greg Hunt MP is the Member for Flinders and is the Minister for Health and the Minister Assisting the Prime Minister for the Public Service and Cabinet.
Minister Hunt graduated from Melbourne University with First Class Honours in Law and subsequently won a Fulbright Scholarship to complete a Masters of International Relations at Yale University.
After university, he worked with Mallesons Stephen Jacques, before becoming Associate to the Chief Justice of the Federal Court. Between 1994 and 1998, he worked as senior adviser to the then opposition Leader and Minister for Foreign Affairs, Alexander Downer and subsequently headed Australia’s electoral mission to Cambodia in 1998.
Elected as the Federal Member for Flinders in 2001, he became Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for the Environment and Heritage and then Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Foreign Affairs as a young MP in the Howard Government.
He subsequently served as Minister for the Environment and Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. In 2017, he was appointed Minister for Health and Sport.