Callie Elward-Barrett will be the facilitator of the Neurodiversity at Work: A Practical Workshop for Leaders & Managers event from 14 July — 13 August. Photo: Supplied.
Democracy! Kids in the House
Date: 9 July
Time: 10 am — noon
Location: Parliament House, Canberra
Email: [email protected]
Celebrate 125 years of Federation at an educational event and enjoy a morning of free family fun. Step inside Australian Parliament House and walk through two of its most important spaces, which are usually reserved for parliamentarians — the Senate and the House of Representatives Chambers.
Get up close to the giant Australian national flag that normally flies above Parliament House but which is on display in the Great Hall, then join in to carefully unfurl the flag during a special live demonstration. You can see the unfurling at 10:30 am and 11:30 am. Join the Parliamentary Education Office and take part in a role play to learn how members of parliament represent Australians and make laws. Get involved in hands-on activities and take a photo holding a replica black rod or mace.
Register your attendance today! Enjoy free parking in the Parliament House public carpark for the duration of the event.
Industry Engagement and Market Research
Date: 14 July
Time: 1 pm — 4 pm
Duration: Three-hour face-to-screen session
Location: Virtual
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
Industry engagement includes gathering relevant business quantitative and qualitative intelligence to support procurement planning and decision-making. This involves market estimation, analysis, and assessment through early and ongoing engagement with potential suppliers, including requesting industry feedback before request documentation is finalised.
This course provides strategies and techniques to conduct market research and manage industry engagement while maintaining fairness and integrity. Learn to engage across all four phases of the procurement lifecycle.
This learning experience is provided by the Department of Finance. The content is suitable for all staff, including officials undertaking, or expecting to undertake, procurement activities, whether regularly or on an ad hoc basis.
GovGathers: Wollongong
Date: 14 July
Time: 10:30 am — 12:30 pm
Location: Online via Teams Meeting
Email: [email protected]
Enhance your regional career and connections. Are you building your career in the public sector while living and working in Wollongong and the Illawarra areas? Do you want to expand your network and connect with peers across the region?
Speakers include:
- Chief People Officer, NSW Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development, Julie-Anne Tooth
- Public Service Commissioner, Office of the NSW Public Service Commissioner, Kathrina Lo.
Join the host, IPAA NSW CEO Jo Rose, to explore:
- The skills and capabilities every modern public servant needs, with a regional lens.
- How networking across the public sector can accelerate your career development.
- The opportunities and challenges unique to working in regional public sector workplaces.
- This free, face-to-face event is designed for all public servants working in Wollongong and the Illawarra areas and includes time for audience Q&A and networking over lunch.
This event is part of IPAA NSW’s new regional program of activities being developed to better support NSW public servants who live and work outside Sydney.
Neurodiversity at Work: A Practical Workshop for Leaders & Managers
Date: 14 July — 13 August
Time: 9 am — 4:30 pm
Location: In-person and online
Email: [email protected]
The number of people who identify as neurodiverse or have been diagnosed as neurodivergent is rapidly increasing, and neurodivergent people are highly likely to be on your team.
Awareness of neurodiversity and the ability to lead neuroinclusive teams are important for managers and leaders. That’s how managers and people leaders can tap into individual team members’ strengths and preferences so that they feel safe and included and are able to perform at their best. When everyone can perform at their best, you have a high-performing team.
By attending this workshop, participants will build a deeper understanding of neurodiversity in workplace settings and learn practical strategies to create psychologically safe teams where people feel supported to do their best work.
Facilitator Callie Elward-Barrett actively promotes and models inclusive work practices for neurodivergent staff. She educates on the role of leaders in creating practices that enable NDers to succeed, and harnessing the incredible strengths diverse approaches bring to delivering better government policy and programs.
Callie established and chaired the Department of Health and Aged Care Neurodiversity Network, was a founding member of the APS-wide Neurodiversity of Practice, and was an SES signatory on the inclusion of a neurodiversity question in the APS Census.
Lunch and Learn: Context Engineering
Date: 15 July
Time: 12:30 pm — 1:30 pm
Duration: One one-hour face-to-screen session
Location: Virtual
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
Good prompting is only half the story. The biggest gains come from giving AI the right context: the background, documents, examples and constraints it needs to produce work that sounds like you and fits your task.
This is sometimes called context engineering, but there’s nothing technical about it. Presenter Holly Luck runs this session in GovAI Chat, which lets you see how different models respond to the same context in different ways, each with its own strengths. Everything you learn is portable, ready to use across whichever AI tools you work with.
Holly is a performer-turned-public servant who discovered that change management is mostly choreography: timing, energy and knowing when to bring the audience with you.
She leads engagement and change for GovAI and GovAI Chat at the Department of Finance, and has been part of the GovAI program from the start — building the foundations that help public servants adopt AI safely and confidently. Most recently, Holly launched the GovAI Champions Network: public servants from across the APS who experiment, share what works and help their colleagues build AI confidence.
This content is suitable for all staff.
NSW Public Sector Grades 9-10 High Performance & Leadership Workshop
Date: 15 — 16 July
Time: 9 am — 4:30 pm
Location: Cliftons Sydney
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Develop and refine core skills and key leadership capability to achieve success and excel.
- Identify and develop your capabilities as a confident and successful public sector leader.
- Build productive relationships and lead proficient, capable teams.
- Drive strategic change to improve procedures and meet agency goals.
- Learn about career planning and pathways in NSW Public Service roles.
Trainer Dr Karen Whittingham is one of Australia’s leading executive management development specialists, having worked with thousands of executives to transition them into senior leadership roles quickly and effectively.
She teaches organisational psychology at UNSW and works with ASX-listed companies and large public sector organisations to drive engagement, inclusion and performance.
Advanced Writing Skills for Government
Date: 16 July
Time: 9 am — 4:30 pm
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Master professional writing to influence stakeholders and deliver results.
- Write with Impact: Communicate with clarity and authority to shape thinking and decisions.
- Engage your Audience: Strategically tailor your writing to connect with and influence stakeholders.
- Produce Authoritative Documents: Strengthen credibility through expert editing, proofreading and fact-checking.
- Think and Write Strategically: Analyse, organise and present information for maximum effect.
Trainer Adrian Cropley is a certified strategic communication management professional and past global chair of the International Association of Business Communicators (IABC).
Widely recognised, Adrian is one of the world’s foremost experts in strategic communication. He is the founder of the Centre for Strategic Communication Excellence and CEO at Cropley Communication.
With a career spanning more than 30 years, Adrian has worked with clients all over the world on major change communication initiatives, internal communication reviews and strategies, professional development programs, and executive leadership and coaching.
Data Literacy & Visualisation Workshop
Date: 21 — 22 July
Time: 9 am — 4:30 pm
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Cut through complexity and turn data into clear, actionable insights that support better decisions and stronger business outcomes.
- Identify and assess raw data sources and structures.
- Detect and interpret outliers and anomalies in datasets.
- Build and navigate Power BI data models from structured inputs.
- Apply data visualisation best practices to communicate insights effectively.
- Translate data into clear narratives for decision-making in a public sector context.
Make better decisions with data you actually understand. Struggling to make sense of spreadsheets, dashboards, or reports? Not confident presenting data-driven insights to stakeholders?
This two-day workshop is designed to build your data literacy from the ground up and help you translate data into clear, meaningful insights. You will learn how to interpret raw data, identify what matters, and communicate it effectively using Power BI and proven visualisation techniques.
Designed for public sector professionals, this workshop focuses on real-world application, not theory. You will work through practical examples and leave with tools and frameworks you can apply immediately in your role.
How to Embed Child Safeguarding into Everyday Practice
Date: 21 — 29 July
Time: 9 am — 12:30 pm | 9:30 am — 4:00 pm
Location: In-person and online
Email: [email protected]
We are currently at a crossroads in the child-serving sector. Despite an abundance of research, national principles, and state-based standards, headlines continue to reveal breaches.
These failures rarely stem from a lack of paperwork; they stem from cultures where unacceptable behaviour goes undetected. While frameworks and reporting schemes are essential tools, they are not a shield in themselves. Policies do not keep children safe; people do. True safety is found in the living, breathing culture of an organisation where child wellbeing is woven into every interaction and decision.
This masterclass addresses the critical gap between compliance and genuine protection. It is designed to help you move beyond the ‘’rules and tools’’ and focus on the human element of safeguarding. Guided by Brad Poynting, a dedicated advocate with deep experience in frontline child protection, you will unpack the key facets to embracing and embedding genuine protection.
Virtual Indigenous Governance Forum + Workshop
Date: 22 — 23 July
Time: 9:30 am — 2 pm
Location: Virtual
Email: [email protected]
The Governance Institute of Australia and the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute are pleased to host the 2026 Virtual Indigenous Governance Forum. Following NAIDOC Week, this annual forum provides a timely opportunity to reflect on Indigenous governance and to explore the strategies, tools and approaches that support self-determination and nation-building.
Join us to explore Indigenous governance, and the structures, systems and processes by which different First Nations peoples have framed leadership, culture, social and economic practice, self-determination and decision-making.
The focus for this year is on nation-building, including:
- How Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples collaboratively create the tools they need to build strong, self-determined futures.
- How nation-building takes many forms, shaped by community priorities, cultures and histories, with no single model.
- An exploration of the foundations of Indigenous governance, including culture, identity and resilience, deep knowledge of Country, infrastructure and resource management, and the systems that support long-term sustainability.
- Consideration of Indigenous Data Sovereignty and how it is embedded within transformative AI design and implementation.
- Insights from leaders across sectors, including community leaders, directors, senior regulators and governance practitioners, on what is happening on the ground across Australia to advance First Nations self-governance, self-determination and economic independence.
Whether you’re a community leader, board member, governance professional or ally, this forum is open to all who want to listen, learn and reflect on what effective Indigenous governance looks like — and how we can take action towards strategy, implementation and accountability together.
