Climbing out of the political abyss.
Australia is in a political abyss. How do we climb out of it? Do we need a ‘Courage Party’ to address major long term issues, such as refugees, climate change and taxation?
In October of 2016 we heard from Professor Barry Jones as he delivered the annual oration.
Listen to the oration here.
The Office for the Public Sector, along with IPAA, was delighted to present A Level Playing Field – Gender Equality in Leadership Summit, an inaugural event to empower public sector employees to drive inclusive leadership where men and women are equally represented, valued and rewarded.
The program featured:
Amanda Blair, Co-Chair of the Premier’s Council for Women was the MC for the day.
The new Gender Equality in Leadership Strategy was launched featuring the gender equality hat-trick: Leadership Accountability, an Empowered Workplace and Sustainable Talent Pipeline.
The Institute of Public Administration and the Equal Opportunity Commission hosted the Forum for South Australian executives, managers and supervisors on the 28th August 2015.
The way we work is changing. In recent years there has been a growing appreciation that organisations must respond to these dynamic shifts that are occurring within our society. Traditional patterns of working that involve ‘fixed pace, fixed time’ work no longer serve the current or future needs of the workplace and our society more generally. In light of this, a more flexible approach to working is required.1
The purpose of this Forum was to consider ways to create a more productive, dynamic and flexible public sector workforce that is able to adapt to the future needs of the State Government and the community.
Equal Opportunity Commissioner Anne Gale hosted the Forum and discussed the outcomes of the Flexible Workplace Futures project. Other speakers included the Department of the Premier and Cabinet’s Chief Executive Kym Winter-Dewhurst, who will shared his views on establishing a modern public sector in the context of flexible work, and Dr Eva Balan-Vnuk of Microsoft, who discussed the concept of technology as an enabler of activity-based working. You would also have heared from the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment, Erma Ranieri, who provided an industrial perspective, and Valuer-General Delfina Lanzilli, who discussed the implementation of flexible work at the State Valuation Office.
The Forum will considered strategies for increasing productivity, achieving workplace diversity and modernising the public sector.
New research shows that organisations that are more innovative, productive and perform better financially, are those that are more diverse. Around the world, organisations are applying technology and smarter ways of working to ensure that they are maximising their available resources. Smart leaders from governments in Scandinavia to internet giants like Google and well known Australian companies including Telstra, Commonwealth Bank, Aurizon, Qantas and Atlassian are tackling this for its major productivity benefits.
Guests joined international cluster expert Rodin Genoff, and Narelle Hooper, former editor of the Australian Financial Review’s BOSS magazine, as they explored the latest research on how gender and diversity drives innovation, and as they provided practical steps that individuals and agencies can take to accelerate innovation.
Guests also had the opportunity to hear the Premier and the Minister for the Public Sector explain why we need to strengthen our focus on building a more representative and diverse workforce, and why we need to reignite our efforts on achieving South Australia’s Strategic Plan Target 52, which aims for equal representation in executive positions in the public sector. Despite some progress, women still remain underrepresented in leadership roles. We know that the numbers of women in leadership need to be improved to make our State a leader in this space.
With your input, we will reshape the future of gender equity in South Australia and make our public sector fit for the 21st Century.
In the final issue of Public Administration Today ideas around ‘productivity’ were explored. This edition featured articles from notable sector thought leaders on insights across performance, innovation and the relation to productivity. Articles included:
To read the full edition see below…
IPAA SA, in conjunction with the Office for the Public Sector, presented A Modern Public Sector – The Reform Agenda. The forum was hosted by Chief Executive, Kym Winter-Dewhirst from the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.
Kym shared his vision about future transformation and reform that will help build a modern public sector. The event aimed to inform public sector employees about why public sector reform is needed, what the reform initiatives are trying to achieve, and how the Department of the Premier and Cabinet aims to reach those outcomes.
The audience also learned how Kym’s background has helped inform the reform agenda, and how they can play a part in building an even better public sector.
Erma Ranieri, Commissioner for Public Sector Employment was the MC for the forum.