Former Services Australia CEO Rebecca Skinner will be the facilitator at the EL1 – EL2 Leadership, Capability & Professional Excellence workshop at the Hyatt Hotel, Canberra, from 9-10 April. Photo: Supplied.
Support at Home Summit
Date: 2 April
Time: 10 am – 12:30 pm
Duration: One 2.5-hour face-to-screen session
Location: Virtual
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
Making good administrative decisions that are consistent with legal and policy frameworks is an essential skill. Examine legal authorities that make decisions and the responsibilities of administrative decision makers. Work through case studies and scenarios to identify, interpret and apply legislation in making decisions and examine how decisions can be reviewed.
This content has been provided by the APS Academy, and is suitable for APS 1 – EL 2.
Support at Home Summit
Date: 2 – 3 April
Time: 9 am – 5 pm
Location: Pullman Sydney Hyde Park | Gadigal Land
Email: [email protected]
At a critical time for the care sector, the Support at Home Summit, developed in partnership with COTA Australia, will provide you with clarity on the actions and strategies to enable you to lead your service with confidence in the transition to Support at Home.
This summit is an industry-leading event and your opportunity to hear firsthand from home care participants, senior government leaders, leading providers and experts, as we debunk myths and unpack the most pressing issues facing Home and Community Care providers.
Don’t miss this chance to be part of these critical conversations and engage with the voices of participants to shape future-thinking services that put older people at the centre.
NSW Public Sector Women in Leadership Masterclass
Date: 2 – 3 April
Time: 9 am – 4:40 pm
Location: Gadigal Land | Sydney
Email: [email protected]
This transformative program is designed to enhance and accelerate your leadership development. Take charge of the next phase of your career. This is a watershed moment in your career, and the skills and behaviours that you cultivate now will become the cornerstones of your senior leadership in the years to come.
Specifically designed for women in public sector leadership roles from all jurisdictions, this highly engaging two-day masterclass will give you key tools to thrive as a senior leader and set yourself up for success for the rest of your career.
The content is designed to provide you with the crucial skills and behaviours to grow and scale your senior leadership for what comes next.
Former Deputy Secretary from the NSW Public Service Alex O’Mara will take you on a journey of lightbulb moments and strategically grow key skills so that you walk away refreshed, inspired and more confident in your leadership and the path ahead.
Public Sector Climate-Related Risk & Disclosure Summit
Date: 2 – 3 April
Time: 9 am – 4:40 pm
Location: Canberra Rex Hotel & Online
Email: [email protected]
Levels of government across Australia are taking action to manage climate risks, reduce their emissions and transparently report on their climate actions. Climate risk management is being embedded in public sector processes, operations and policy. This builds capability to better evaluate, report on and prioritise climate risk.
The Australian Government has committed to achieving net zero in government operations by 2030 and is introducing mandatory climate disclosure requirements for its entities. With state and local governments proactively evolving their own frameworks, now is the critical time to take action.
The 2nd Public Sector Climate-Related Risk and Disclosure Summit will uniquely bring together key stakeholders and climate leaders from across government and disciplines to share their insights into climate risk assessment, management and disclosure.
This summit will explore the key role of leadership, good governance and developing public sector capability to effectively manage climate risk and clearly define actions to meet net-zero targets.
Excel Intermediate Workshop
Date: 7 April
Time: 9 am – 4:30 pm
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Use Excel more efficiently and effectively to improve productivity.
- Understand and use more advanced formulas and functions in Excel
- Tackle complex calculations and utilise time-saving shortcuts
- Optimise your workflow by automating manual tasks
- Analyse, format, and manage data using advanced Excel tools and techniques.
Trainer Mandy Vyner is an IT professional with more than three decades of experience in transformative technology training services, specialising in Microsoft Office solutions. She led successful change initiatives in various sectors, collaborating closely with clients to design precise training programs.
With expertise in instructional design, coaching, mentoring, and project and change management, Mandy excels in facilitating training across diverse industries and has a track history in achieving outstanding results.
SA Women in Leadership Summit 2025
Date: 7 – 11 April
Time: 9 am – 4:30 pm
Location: Adelaide, SA
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Giving you the connections, expertise and confidence to thrive.
- Enhance your impact as an authentic and influential leader
- Create a culture of trust to drive productivity
- Join a community of powerful women and expand your network
- Celebrate your competitive edge and advance your career.
SES Unconscious Bias – Workshops
Date: 7 April – 3 July
Time: 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Duration: Four workshops of varying lengths. Workshops are scheduled over four consecutive months, with one session a month.
Location: Australian Capital Territory – MoAD (Old Parliament House)
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
This four-part workshop series, consisting of two themes, offers SES leaders a deep dive into unconscious bias for organisational change. Supported by follow-up workshops, SES leaders can share personal reflections and action plans.
The two themes are:
- Addressing unconscious bias through authentic leadership and diversity and inclusion advocacy.
- Changing mindsets to improve the employment experience of First Nations APS employees.
Through exercises and self-reflection, participants will explore unconscious bias and cognitive dissonance and their impacts, understand how authentic leadership reduces bias, and create psychologically, psychosocially, and culturally safe workplaces. The aim is to apply an integrated framework to improve the employment experience of First Nations APS employees and lead organisational change for a bias-free APS workplace.
This learning experience has been provided by the National Indigenous Australians Agency, and is suitable for SES Band 1 – 3.
Inside Look Webinar Series
Date: 7 April
Location: Online (via Teams)
Cost: Free, bookings are essential
Kim Vella Coaching’s free Leadership Strategies Series will equip leaders with insights into leadership challenges and teach them how to close the gap.
In today’s volatile, uncertain, complex, and ambiguous (VUCA) world, public sector leaders face unique challenges that demand more than traditional leadership approaches. The Inside Look Webinar Series is a monthly opportunity to explore one key “gap” holding leaders back from thriving in their roles.
Each session focuses on a specific leadership challenge, offering insights into why it matters and how leaders can begin to close the gap. Topics include:
- The Wellbeing Gap: Balancing performance with sustainable leadership.
- The Confidence Gap: Leading with clarity, courage and conviction.
- The Collaboration Gap: Building partnerships that create meaningful change.
- The Expert to Orchestrator Gap: Transitioning from technical expert to leadership orchestrator.
In each webinar, you will:
- Gain clarity on the leadership challenges unique to today’s VUCA environment.
- Reflect on your own experiences and begin identifying ways to bridge the gap.
- Connect with peers and explore insights that empower leadership growth.
The Inside Look Webinar Series is your chance to step into a community of reflective leaders and get a taste of the transformative insights offered in the Leadership Strategies Series 2025.
Effective Policy Essentials Masterclass Series
Date: 8 April – 6 May
Time: 9 am – 4:30 pm
Location: Livestream
Email: [email protected]
This series is a toolkit for designing and implementing good policy. It builds technical expertise in crafting, implementing, and evaluating policy. Developing effective policy requires more than a simple rote understanding of the policy development process.
It must be concerned with real-world problem-solving delivered in a volatile, complex, and ambiguous system in which the government of the day and the APS officials are only two of many stakeholders that must be understood and whose views must be addressed.
Marc Ablong, former deputy secretary in the Department of Home Affairs, will lead participants through the fundamentals of effective policy-making. Marc’s experience spans 31 years working at a senior level in the Australian Public Service, including 25 years working across defence policy portfolios.
The course will provide a grounding in the theory and practice of policy-making, provide exemplars of good and bad policy-making, and provide tools for developing good policy, evaluating policy options for their intended, unintended, and perverse outcomes, and writing effectively for decision-makers.
Mental Health Access & Quality in Emergency Departments
Date: 8 – 9 April
Time: 9:00 am – 4:50 pm
Location: Batman’s Hill on Collins, Melbourne | Naarm & Online
Email: [email protected]
Implement effective, innovative models of care to enhance emergency mental health outcomes. Learn practical strategies to reduce emergency department (ED) access block for mental health patients. ED demand remains high, with mental health presentations among the most complex and challenging cases for staff.
As EDs remain the primary entry point for mental health consumers, the pressure on under-resourced public hospitals is becoming unsustainable. Without urgent attention, this will lead to longer wait times and greater challenges for staff.
As emerging models and approaches reshape how we tackle this issue, the Mental Health Access & Quality in Emergency Departments conference will uniquely bring together experts from emergency, nursing and mental health specialties to explore these solutions. In its third year, this conference will showcase fresh perspectives and case studies on interdisciplinary, clinical and non-clinical solutions that reduce access block and improve consumer outcomes.
EL1 – EL2 Leadership, Capability & Professional Excellence
Date: 9 – 10 April
Time: 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Location: Hyatt Hotel, Canberra
Email: [email protected]
Here is an unmissable opportunity to gain skills, strategies and advice from one of the most accomplished APS leaders. This immersive program is designed to strengthen and guide your public sector career.
Learn how to lead at the top of your game, with tips from the top of the public sector. The more you climb the leadership ranks of the public sector, the more is demanded from your leadership. You will gain more responsibility, have more difficult and complex problems to solve, and you will need to understand the distinctions between your own ideas and the demands of the role.
Facilitator is former Services Australia CEO Rebecca Skinner, who has a deep defence and national security background. She was the associate secretary of defence and deputy secretary for strategic policy and intelligence. A long-term member of the Defence Committee, she has led Defence strategic policy, capability and technology investment, ministerial engagement and driven transformed governance, human resource management and integrated service delivery.
Rebecca led Services Australia through the social security and health demands of the pandemic in the post-Robodebt era, setting the organisation on its customer-centric cultural renewal. She is a resilient people-focused leader experienced in operating under intense pressure through international and domestic crises such as the COVID-19 pandemic, natural disasters and defence operations.
Rebecca was awarded a PSM in 2021 for outstanding public service in the areas of national security policy, intelligence, business transformation and service delivery.
With an emphasis on capability, accountability and integrity, and a valuable blend of ideas, advice and practical tips, this is a learning and development opportunity that cannot be missed. Join Rebecca for two full days of learning and interactive activities to gain the perspective you need to lead at the top of your game.
