In a recent address to staff of the Queensland Department of Natural Resources, Mines and Energy, IPAA National President, Dr Gordon de Brouwer PSM, spoke about the profound impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on public services across Australia, and highlighted the importance of telling the stories of public service at the state, territory and national levels.

WE SHOULD CELEBRATE PUBLIC SERVICE

Gordon began by congratulating and thanking the public servants of Queensland and of Australia for their work during the pandemic:

‘You’ve made a profound contribution during a major health, social and economic crisis to protect and improve the lives of the Queensland and the Australian people — well done, and thank you.’

Gordon paid tribute to the speed, collaboration, and effectiveness that public services across Australia have shown in delivering their governments’ responses to COVID-19, and their capacity to ‘think creatively and to act, to change quickly and to do things differently’.

He recognised the importance of digital technology in dealing with the pandemic, both in alternatives to face-to-face engagement and in rapidly making more data available to inform government decision making. And he observed that ‘ministers and public servants have found that they could only do their job with others: be it within their own government, other governments in the federation, or with business and the community’.

Read the full article for free on the IPAA National Website.

Earlier this month Lois Boswell, Acting Chief Executive of the Department of Human Services, was IPAA South Australia’s guest for a virtual ‘on the couch’ conversation.

During the conversation Lois talked about her involvement in the state-wide response to COVID-19 and expressed her pride in the work of her staff in support of the Department of Health and the non-government sector:

‘Human Service workers are the firefighters in a pandemic in many ways. Health workers are the front-line and we’re very close behind’.

She also spoke about leadership

‘People do go into “command and control” — and there’s definitely a role for that in crisis, there’s no doubt about that —  but there’s also a role for “How do you get people to come along on it?”.

So one of the things that has been reinforced for me about leadership is something I’ve always believed which is “communicate, communicate, communicate”.  Talk about it, ask about it, share what you’re actually thinking and what the challenges are with people, because that’s what makes them prepared to participate.’

Disclaimer: This video contains an unedited transcript

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“Thank you very much, from the bottom of my heart. This has been a real test, and the South Australian public sector has proven itself to be extraordinarily capable”

disclaimer: this video contains an unedited transcript

During the Premier’s Address to the Public Sector released 7 May 2020, Premier Steven Marshall extended his sincere thanks to the exemplary efforts of all those delivering services to the community in these challenging times.

Prior to the interview Michael O’Brien gave a moving Welcome to County, highlighting the importance of opportunities such as this to share knowledge.

Premier Marshall was interviewed by Commissioner for Public Sector Employment, Erma Ranieri. Commissioner Ranieri addressed a number of questions from the audience to the Premier seeking his insight into the response to COVID-19, as described below.

• Premier, what are the exceptional behaviours that the public service has displayed during these challenging times that every member of the public service can champion to assist our State in the recovery phase?
• The healthcare system has undergone a significant makeover due to preparation for COVID, what will happen to Wakefield and Cottage Grove once COVID is past?
• To maintain work mobility, post-COVID19 will you issue an across government directive to approve workers requests to continue to work from home e.g. 1day per week?
• Will there now be a focus to manufacture our own medical supplies and medication so that we are not solely reliant on China and India?
• With so many people out of work do you think it is wise for Chief Executives to get a pay rise when their contracts are renewed?
• If SA keeps up the trend and becomes COVID free, what measures will SA take to keep the virus from coming from interstate? Do visitors obey self-isolation?
• Are the targets, Gov structures, and ambitions pre-COVID still relevant, given the world has changed? Is there an appetite for a Gov directional rethink and in particular how do we use this current situation to reform the Public Service?
• When can we actually do some travel interstate or travel that was postponed?
• What would you like to see every single public servant do to see us become stronger than we were before?

To all public sector employees and affiliates, a key takeaway of the Premier’s Address is to keep up their great work which to date has put the state in a great position to meet the evolving challenges of COVID-19. Premier Marshall also emphasised that he can see the state coming out of this pandemic ‘stronger than before’, and the efforts of people working for the public purpose will be the cornerstone in achieving this outcome.

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