Public sector leaders have been warned that things will never return to the pre-COVID-19 normal and they should start thinking about how to reinvent Government for a permanently-changed world.
Chief Executive of the Ramsay Foundation and former Vice-Chancellor of Griffith University and the University of Melbourne, Glyn Davis (pictured) made this prediction in the lead-up to the Australia and New Zealand School of Government’s (ANZSOG’s) Future Public Sector Leaders series next month.
“We’re used to crises. We’ve had floods, bushfires, earthquakes in the past — but this is different. This is like fighting a war,” Professor Davis said.
“There is no longer-term endpoint or outcome in sight, and Governments can’t just drop everything else.”
He said for Public Servants this meant the requirement that everything once thought had to be rethought.
“The society coming out will not be the same as the society going in” Professor Davis said.
“So many things have changed we can never snap back.”
He is to lead the first keynote session of F uture Public Sector Leaders, a series of online master-classes that bring together leading academics and practitioners to discuss key issues and help strengthen the capacity of public sector leaders to tackle problems in the current complex and ambiguous environment.
The session, Governing in a COVID-19 world, will feature Australian Public Service Commissioner, Peter Woolcott and NSW Public Service Commissioner, Kathrina Lo in conversation with Professor Davis.
“This keynote session will let people hear from Public Service Commissioners about what’s happening. Hopefully, participants will get a sense of the trends — where we are going, the shifts happening in this profession and the skills to make a contribution,” Professor Davis said.
