Check out the latest public sector networking and education events. Photo: Supplied.
CPR Exemptions and Conditions for Limited Tender
Date: 13 April
Time: 1:30 pm – 3:30 pm
Duration: Two-hour face-to-face session
Location: Virtual
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPRs) Divisions 1 and 2 are the rules APS officials must follow when procuring. Appendix A lists the exemptions from the rules of Division 2 and from rules 4.7, 4.8 and 7.26 of Division 1.
Limited tender involves approaching one or more potential suppliers directly and requesting they make submissions without having to comply with the process for open tenders. Rules for limited tender are stated in the CPRs and include circumstances where limited tender may be conducted.
This course provides APS officials with the information necessary for applying CPR Exemptions and Conditions for Limited Tender. This learning experience has been provided by the Department of Finance, and is suitable for all staff. It suits officials who are new to procurement, need a refresher, or want to move to a role in procurement. This course will benefit officials working in procurement on an ad hoc basis, regular procurers, and delegates.
Leadership & Management for Policy Professionals
Date: 15 – 16 April
Time: 9 am – 4:30 pm
Location: Online
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Enhance your effectiveness as a policy leader in the complex policy environment by:
- Becoming a strategic policy implementer and change driver.
- Building credibility and influence with effective communication strategies.
- Motivating and empowering teams to achieve their full potential.
- Implementing stakeholder engagement strategies to drive outcomes.
Trainer Alexandra O’Mara is a seasoned leader in sustainability, policy, and strategy. As a former deputy secretary in the NSW government, she led transformative shifts in environment, infrastructure, and renewable energy.
With a master’s in Administrative Law and Policy from the University of Sydney, Alex combines practical expertise with academic insight. She currently drives change as the director and founder of Sustainable Solutions Advisory, a member of the UNSW Science Advisory Council, and a non-executive director at St George Community Housing.
Getting that Selection Right
Date: 15 – 16 April
Time: 10 am – 4:30 pm & 10 am – 12:30 pm
Duration: One 6.5-hour and one 2.5-hour face-to-screen session
Location: Virtual
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
This program helps members of selection committees conduct effective selection processes. Examine relevant legislation and principles guiding staff selection and retention. Look at the three-staged recruitment process used in the APS.
Create effective selection practices that include building rapport with applicants and managing judgments and evaluations. Understand the roles of the selection panel in talking to referees, reaching a recommendation decision, writing a report and giving feedback.
This content has been provided by the APS Academy, and is suitable for APS 1 – EL 2.
SES Band 1 Leadership Development Program
Date: 16 April – 22 July
Time: 1:30 pm – 4:30 pm
Duration: Eight sessions of varying lengths and delivery modes
Location: Hybrid
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
This program is for adaptive and impactful leaders. The SES Band 1 Leadership Development program strengthens the leadership capability of experienced senior executives across the broader APS to effectively deliver on their key accountabilities.
Band 1 executives play a critical role in setting the strategic direction of their group, building a positive and high-performing workplace culture, and making significant decisions on individual policies and courses for which they are directly accountable to government. This program includes a project component that will actively support the integration of APS reform objectives.
Participants will be supported by a Program Sponsor – a highly regarded senior APS executive to enrich and enhance learning and capability development throughout the program.
This content has been provided by the APS Academy, and is suitable for SES Band 1 and long-term acting in the role for more than 12 months.
APS 4 Essential Skills Workshop
Date: 29 – 30 April
Time: 9 am – 4:30 pm
Location: Canberra, ACT
Email: [email protected]
Overview
Your leadership journey starts here:
- Enhance your professional competence to achieve results.
- Learn practical tools to communicate with impact and influence.
- Adopt effective change management principles to support strategic direction.
- Stay abreast of career planning and pathways in APS roles.
Trainer Mark Butz’s diverse work experience includes more than 26 years in senior positions in government agencies, complemented by voluntary participation in community sector governance, and since 2002 working as a consultant, facilitator, trainer and writer.
He has been training others in communication, facilitation, leadership and conflict transformation for more than 25 years, across all states and territories of Australia, and in New Zealand, India and Nauru.
Maximising Regulatory Enforcement & Compliance Outcomes Conference
Date: 29 – 30 April
Time: 9 am – 4:40 pm
Location: Batman’s Hill on Collins, Melbourne | Naarm & Online
Email: [email protected]
The inaugural Regulatory Enforcement & Compliance Outcomes Conference offers an unmissable opportunity for regulators to address the demands of today’s complex regulatory landscape.
With rising pressures to deliver transparent, effective and better compliance outcomes, this conference will connect you with regulatory peers and experts from across jurisdictions to explore how they set their regulatory priorities, use enforcement tools innovatively, and when alternatives to enforcement work.
The Hatchery’s Annual Regulation Conference Series has attracted more than 250 regulatory professionals from various federal and state-level regulators, agencies and departments across Australia and New Zealand. Attend this leading industry event to learn how you can improve your approach to compliance and enforcement.
QLD Public Sector Women in Leadership Masterclass
Date: 29 – 30 April
Time: 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Location: Meanjin | Cliftons Brisbane, Edward Street
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.
This intimate and engaging masterclass is designed to provide you with these skills and behaviours so you can grow and scale your senior leadership for what comes next.
Specifically designed for women in public sector leadership roles from all jurisdictions, this 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.
One of The Hatchery’s most seasoned and highest-rated facilitators, Eleanor Groat, will take you on a journey of light-bulb moments and strategically grow key skills so that you walk away refreshed, inspired and more confident in your leadership and the path ahead.
EL 2 Data Leadership
Date: 30 April – 21 May
Time: 9 am – 1:30 pm
Duration: Four 4.5-hour face-to-screen sessions
Location: Virtual
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
The EL2 level has a critical role to play in lifting the data capabilities of the APS. In addition to their responsibility to show leadership in their use of data in their own activities, EL2s build organisational capability and responsiveness, marshal professional expertise, and harness information and opportunities. EL2s are also required to help raise the reputation of the entire public service, including by demonstrating professionalism and probity.
This course is designed to enhance data leadership knowledge and capability, focusing on the role data plays in the work of the public service and critical issues that impact on the availability, integrity and use of data. The course is pitched at APS EL2s working in policy, regulatory, corporate, service delivery and other roles. That is, those who might not otherwise see themselves as data professionals.
This learning experience has been created by the Australian National University (ANU) in partnership with the APS data profession. The content has been provided by the APS Academy, and is suitable for EL 2.
APS6 – EL1 Women in Leadership Masterclass
Date: 30 April – 1 May
Time: 9:30 am – 4:30 pm
Location: Hyatt Hotel Canberra
Email: [email protected]
This transformative program is designed to enhance and accelerate your leadership development. Lift your APS career by becoming an inclusive & trusted leader who delivers with impact.
Choosing to lead at the APS6 – EL1 level is a watershed moment in your career, and the skills and behaviours that you cultivate now will become the cornerstones of your APS senior leadership in the years to come. This intimate and engaging masterclass is designed to provide you with the crucial skills and behaviours to step out of being a technical expert and ready yourself for more senior leadership.
This two-day masterclass has been specifically designed for women in APS 6 – EL1 leadership roles to build understanding and capability to deliver more of what your SES requires of you. It will help you navigate the APS context, be more influential, find your voice, have greater confidence leading diverse and hybrid teams, and set yourself up for success for the rest of your career.
Seasoned Commonwealth public service leadership coach and facilitator Kylie Holyland will take you on a journey of light-bulb moments and strategically grow key skills to excel in the APS. Carve out your own leadership plan, network with peers at the same stage as you and walk away refreshed, inspired and more confident in your leadership and the path ahead.
SES Orientation Program
Date: 30 April – 16 May
Duration: One two-day workshop (30 April – 1 May) and one three-day workshop (14-16 May)
Location: Australian Capital Territory – MoAD (Old Parliament House)
Email: https://apslearn.apsacademy.gov.au/user_login
This program establishes the essential skills, partnerships and networks required for effective SES leadership. Working at the SES level will be a little different from what you’re used to if you’re being promoted from an EL2, or if you were working outside of the APS and are newly appointed to an SES position (Band 1 to Band 3). That’s why the APS Academy designed the SES Orientation program.
The SES Orientation program enables SES staff to step up to the higher strategic accountabilities of the role, step out to take a broader systems view and engage more effectively with a diverse stakeholder group, and ‘’step forward’’ to develop more capable teams.
The program will support a new SES to take up the leadership (stewardship) and management (accountability) dimensions of their role. This content has been provided by the APS Academy, and is suitable for SES Band 1 – 3. Consideration will be given to long-term acting EL2s (more than six months).
Leadership Strategies Series 2025: Online
When: 13 – 14 May; 24 – 25 June; 29 – 30 July; 9 – 10 September
Where: Online (via Teams)
Cost: Ticket prices vary; find out more at Kim Vella Leadership
As a leader in the public service, do any of these resonate with you?
- I feel overwhelmed all the time, like I’m spinning plates that could drop at any moment.
- I’m always under pressure with competing priorities, limited resources, and an ever-changing geopolitical landscape.
- I’m worried the hard work I put in isn’t recognised.
- I walk into meetings and feel anxious about what to say.
- I don’t usually think about my wellbeing. I just want to make it through another week.
- I feel like I’m never enough, and don’t know what could change that.
If any of these do resonate with you, you’re not alone.
The skills every public sector leader needs to thrive in today’s environment are next level – yet they’re rarely taught. Instead, we rely on outdated leadership models that will leave you feeling stressed, exhausted and helpless.
Join respected executive leadership coach Dr Kim Vella, with the support of esteemed industry professionals, for a new leadership skills pathway: The Leadership Strategies Series.
This workshop series gives you access to 32-plus hours of online collaborative learning, including:
- Cutting-edge leadership strategies
- Coaching from PS experts and industry professionals
- Advanced psychometric tools
- Personalised assessments
- Individualised feedback
- Tailored action plans.
This series is delivered in two stages: Essentials level and Enhanced level. Each level comprises two full-day workshops, with a six-week break in between to apply your new skills. You’ll also have the opportunity to join a facilitated peer mentoring session during this time to discuss challenges and insights.
Become the APS leader you can be – confident, balanced, insightful, and authentic – by levelling up your leadership skills with the Leadership Strategies Series.
