The 2022 Hawkes Oration brings together public servants from the Northern Territory to hear Professor Ruth Wallace, Dean of the College of Indigenous Futures, Education & the Arts and Director of the Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University, deliver on the topic of “Indigenous co-design: opportunities, challenges and risks”. Professor Wallace’s research interests relate to the links between social policy that addresses the concerns of people and systems remote from core decision making processes. This work is situated in regional and remote areas of Northern Australia and Indonesia, with a specific focus in research approaches to improve service delivery and adaptation, undertaken with Aboriginal people in remote and regional areas.

About The Hawkes Oration

In 2002, the Northern Territory Division of the Institute of Public Administration Australia inaugurated a regular series of speeches on the major issues of the day as part of its contribution to the development of public administration in the Northern Territory.

The Division decided to honour its long-serving President, David Hawkes, by naming the series after him. Not only did he make a significant contribution to the work of the Division over many years, he also played a major role in the development of public administration in the Territory. His leadership was instrumental in placing the Territory at the forefront of innovation in the public sector in the 1990s.

David Hawkes was Commissioner for Public Employment for thirteen years between 1989 and 2001 and was, at his retirement, the longest serving Commissioner in Australia. In his earlier career as a public sector union official, he played a major role in the development of redeployment and voluntary redundancy arrangements in the Australian Public Service. These arrangements were later used to good effect in the Territory over many years as a means of managing structural change.

David is a Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration and continues to contribute to the work of the Institute in his retirement.

Previous orations have been delivered by luminaries such as Natasha Stott Despoja, Peter Shergold, Fred Chaney, Annabel Crabb, Professor Simon Maddocks and the Honourable Clare Martin.

Biography of This Year’s Orator, Professor Ruth Wallace

Professor Ruth Wallace is the Dean of the College of Indigenous Futures, Education and the Arts and Director of the Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University, the Territory’s own university. The College brings together interdisciplinary knowledge and expertise in the areas of Indigenous knowledge practices, human geography, disaster preparedness and management, education, languages, educational tertiary enabling, humanities and the creative industries. The Northern Institute is a regional leader in high quality social and public policy research. The institute’s research aims to understand regional development and provide strong evidence for policy development, capacity building, and responding to the needs of governments and communities across the region.

Ruth was the first woman to be awarded the Fulbright Distinguished Chair in Agriculture and Life Sciences Scholarship. Her research interests relate to the links between identity, marginalised learners, and the development of effective learning and workforce development pathways. This work is situated in regional and remote areas of Northern Australia and Indonesia, with a specific focus in research approaches to improve service delivery and adaptation, undertaken with Aboriginal people in remote and regional areas.

Ruth’s research connects to digital systematic learning pedagogies, and approaches to workforce development through remote-based enterprises. Ruth leads the workforce development research theme of the Northern Institute at Charles Darwin University and focuses on collaborative approaches to workforce development and engagement with community, governments and industry that are sustainable and scalable. Ruth has extensive experience in educational practice development and as a teacher at all educational levels.

It is with great honour that we announce that The Hon Peter Malinauskas has accepted our invitation to fulfil the role of patron for the Institute of Public Administration Australia, South Australian Division (IPAA SA).

The South Australian Premier’s acceptance reaffirms our shared commitment to the integrity and professionalism of the State’s public servants. For 95 years, IPAA SA has helped build the capacity of the public sector, and the Premier is honoured to contribute to this rich history as our new patron.

IPAA SA President and the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment, Erma Ranieri, hosted the Premier at his first Address to the Public Sector in June 2022. At the highly attended event, the Premier extended his sincerest thanks for the incredible work of the public sector in going above and beyond to meet the challenges of recent years.

We look forward to working with The Hon Peter Malinauskas to support the priorities being delivered through our outstanding public service.

The Premier’s first address to the public sector as IPAA SA’s patron is now available to view below.

On Thursday 23 June 2022, IPAA hosted the inaugural Frances Adamson Oration, to mark United Nations Public Service Day.

Inaugurated in 2003, and held on 23 June each year, United Nations Public Service Day celebrates the value and virtue of public service to the community. It also honours contributions made to the cause of enhancing the role, prestige and visibility of public service. In recognition of the significance of this date, IPAA has established an oration, to be delivered each year by a person of great importance to progressing the value of public service.

The inaugural Oration, supported by Boston Consulting Group, was delivered by Her Excellency the Honourable Frances Adamson AC, Governor of South Australia, who reflected on and celebrated the critical role played by the public service and the institutional and individual integrity, resilience, and challenges in the service.

Her Excellency’s Oration was followed by a panel conversation facilitated by Michelle Grattan AO, Political Editor at The Conversation with panellists Dr Steven Kennedy PSM, Secretary of the Treasury, Professor Renée Leon PSM, Vice Chancellor and President of Charles Sturt University, Bathurst, and Deanne Allan, Director, Counter Fraud Policy and Evidence, Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre at the Attorney-General’s Department. Dr Gordon de Brouwer PSM, IPAA National President, hosted the event and Bailey Hand, Partner at Boston Consulting Group, delivered the Vote of Thanks.

Transcript – a copy of the transcript will be made available shortly.
Video – a video of the event is below or can be viewed on the IPAA ACT Vimeo channel.

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(previously Coaching Skills for Leaders)

Coaching is such an effective skill when working with staff. It’s more than just management; it is working to bring out the best of your key people, while working with them on improvements to their performance.

This workshop gives participants an introduction to understanding how to write public policy. This course focuses on the key elements of good policy writing, the range of policy documents that are commonly used, and how to explain complex ideas in clear terms.