Virtual on the Couch with Mark Duffy

Mark Duffy is the recently appointed Chief Executive of the Performance and Reform Unit with the Department of Premier and Cabinet. Responsible for public sector performance and reform and assisting the state’s economic rebuilding and recovery work in relation to COVID-19.

In February 2017 Mark was appointed as Chief Executive of the former Department of State Development and now Department for Innovation and Skills, after joining the South Australian public service in April 2016 as the first Chief Economist in the Department of the Premier and Cabinet.

Mark worked as a solicitor in a Sydney based corporate law firm for 2 years. Over the previous 25 years Mark held various roles within the NSW Government, including Director-General in the Department of Water and Energy and Deputy Director-General in NSW Trade and Investment.

Mark has a Bachelor of Law and a Bachelor of Economics as well as Master’s Degree in Arts. Mark also completed a British Council Scholarship at the London School of Economics and has a Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice. Mark has been admitted as a lawyer in New South Wales.

Jamie Briggs is the Adelaide Managing Partner and South Australian Government leader at PwC.
He was previously a member of the Australian Parliament, serving in the capacity of Federal Minister for Cities and the Built Environment and the Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. Prior to entering Parliament he was a Senior Advisor to the then Prime Minister the Hon. John Howard from 2004-2007 advising on workplace relations reform.
He has completed his MBA at the University of Adelaide and is a graduate of the Australian Institute of Company Directors.

Relevant Experience

Throughout Jamie’s 15 year career in the Australian Government he has worked extensively on significant public policy issues, managing a range of stakeholders and delivering high performance outcomes. More specifically in his role as Federal Infrastructure Minister, Jamie worked very closely with State Governments to design and implement major infrastructure projects ranging across Australia. This included developing unique and innovative approaches to deliver projects such as the implementation of the Australian Government infrastructure asset recycling programme, the development of the Western Sydney Airport supporting and infrastructure and the first of its kind concessional loan for the 2nd stage of the WestConnex project in Sydney. In addition, Jamie was appointed as the first ever Federal Cities Minister beginning the process of establishing the city deal concept in Australia.

Since joining PwC in February 2017, Jamie has worked with a range of issues with clients to implement strategies for dealing with significant public interest issues to achieve high quality outcomes. This has included developing PwC’s approach to cities with the development of the ‘CityPulse’ and working with private sector clients to develop solutions to important problems by providing a deep understanding of government and its processes driven from extensive experience in the government sector.