In this episode of Real Talk: AI in the VPPS, Will Babington, Head of Enabling at the Building and Plumbing Commission, shares how an AI-powered solution helped frontline social workers access critical information faster and with greater confidence. Drawing on his experience leading a major AI project at The Salvation Army, Will discusses how the team focused on solving a real operational challenge- reducing the burden of navigating multiple systems - so staff could spend more time supporting people in crisis.

Speaking with Kate Fraser, Will explores the importance of starting with the problem, not the technology, involving end users in the design process, and ensuring AI enhances rather than replaces human expertise. He also shares practical lessons for leaders looking to implement AI responsibly and at scale.

In this edition of Public Sector Perspectives, we talk to Ro Allen AM, new IPAA Victoria Fellow and Victoria’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commissioner.

In a 30 year career across the public and community sector Ro has been a powerful voice for human rights and social justice in Victoria.

Ro was Victoria's inaugural Commissioner for LGBTIQA+ communities, and they've also worked widely across the public and community sectors, including being a former Chair of the Youth Affairs Council of Victoria and Chair of the Adult Community and Further Education Board.

As a young person, Ro experienced the trauma of religious conversion therapy, an experience that deeply shaped their commitment to human rights advocacy and has driven their work in investigating and addressing those practices.

In this discussion you’ll hear Ro’s thoughts on:

- the unique role that Commissioners hold in our Westminster system of government and how they exercise the power their position gives them

-why they always welcome seeing an inclusive lanyard or badge in public sector workplaces

- what gives them hope about building a more inclusive community at a time when political debate is becoming more polarised

- and why Melbourne based public servants should think twice before wearing jeans to a meeting with regional colleagues.

You can find out more about the work of Victoria’s Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission here: https://www.humanrights.vic.gov.au/

There is a full list of IPAA Victoria’s newly appointed Fellows here.

You can see IPAA Victoria’s upcoming events here: https://www.vic.ipaa.org.au/events/, and you can stay in touch with what we are doing by following us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/institute-of-public-administration-australia-victoria

In this episode of Real Talk: AI in the VPS, Karen Dermody, Director Digital Design and Innovation at the Department of Education shares a practical case study of how AI is being used to support policy advisors working in a complex, high-stakes environment.

Speaking with Kate Fraser, Karen outlines how her team introduced an AI assistant to help navigate hundreds of policies, reduce cognitive load, and deliver faster, more consistent guidance to schools. The conversation explores how the project was designed to amplify, not replace, human expertise, with strong emphasis on trust, transparency, and continuous feedback. Karen highlights the importance of clear guardrails, daily iteration, and close collaboration between policy experts and technologists to improve accuracy and build confidence in the tool.

This episode offers insights for public sector leaders on implementing AI responsibly, demonstrating how organisations can scale expertise while keeping human judgement at the centre.

In this special edition of Public Sector Perspectives, we talk to Karen Fletcher, CEO of Flat Out and guest speaker at IPAA Victoria’s International Women’s Day event.

Flat Out helps women and gender diverse people work to get out and stay out of prison. But they also work with the public sector at systems level helping to improve to the way that our systems responds to the unique needs to women as they leave the corrections system.

In addition to leading Flat Out, Karen’s career includes more than 13 years working in the Victorian public sector. In this discussion she reflects on the way that prisons work as systems, her own career path, and how the broader public sector could better understand what happens insides a corrections system that employs around 5000 staff and accommodates more than 6000 people

You can find links to the Cultural Review of Victoria’s Adult Custodial Corrections System that Karen Fletcher referred to here: https://www.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2024-03/Final-Report-Cultural-Review-of-the-Adult-Custodial-Corrections-System.pdf

You can see IPAA Victoria’s upcoming events here: https://www.vic.ipaa.org.au/events/ and you can stay in touch with what we are doing by following us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/institute-of-public-administration-australia-victoria-/

In this edition of Public Sector Perspectives, we talk to Tania Farha, CEO of In Touch - and guest speaker at IPAA Victoria’s International Women’s Day event - about the challenges of building family violence services that are better tailored to the needs of our diverse community.

Tania Farha is the CEO of the community organisation In Touch - a Specialist Family Violence Service Provider, that supports migrant and refugee women and their communities to move on from experiences of family violence and thrive.

Tania’s career across the community sector, the Victorian public service, Victoria Police and the United Nations, gives her a unique perspective on this complex public policy challenge.

In this discussion you’ll hear her thoughts on:

- ways we can better tailor family violence services to the needs of diverse communities

- the opportunities and challenges in using the insights of people with lived experience of family violence to improve the way services are delivered

- and what gives her hope that the public sector and the broader community will be able to make the changes needed to reduce cultural bias in the ways family violence services are planned and provided.

You can find out more about the work of In Touch on their website: https://intouch.org.au/about-us/, and the IPAA Victoria’s International Women’s Day gala, where Tania was a special guest speaker: https://www.vic.ipaa.org.au/events/international-womens-day-gala-2026/.

The program for the Prevent X conference that Tania mentions is here.

You can see IPAA Victoria’s upcoming events: https://www.vic.ipaa.org.au/events/, and you can stay in touch with what we are doing by following us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/institute-of-public-administration-australia-victoria

In this special edition of Public Sector Perspectives, IPAA Victoria CEO Amanda Stevens talks to new IPAA National Fellow Paul Broderick PSM. Paul has been Commissioner of the State Revenue Office for more than 20 years and in this discussion he reflects on his career, his perspectives on leadership, how the public sector is changing, and the one organisational measurement that he thinks leaders should always looks at in the VPSC’s annual People Matters survey.

You can find our more about the work of the State Revenue Office here: https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/ and you can check their Unclaimed Money Register here.: https://www.sro.vic.gov.au/unclaimed-money

There is a full list of all IPAA National Fellows here: https://www.ipaa.org.au/national-awards/national-fellows/.

You can stay in touch with what we are doing by following us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/institute-of-public-administration-australia-victoria-/

In this episode of Public Sector Perspectives, Dr Steve Hodgkinson talks about the potential impacts of AI on the way the public sector works. Drawing on his long experience in the sector, including his current position as Chief Digital Officer for Victoria Police, Steve offers some very practical advice on how public servants can safely use the new tools that AI creates and the sort of the traps that you need to avoid. Whilst it’s tempting to see AI is being totally new and different, Steve argues that AI is still just IT and that many of the IT policies and procedures that we have built in the past are still relevant in the AI-enabled workplace.

RESOURCES REFERRED TO IN THIS PODCAST

Jobs and Skills Australia recently released a new report Our Gen AI Transition - Implications for Work and Skills. You can find it here: https://www.jobsandskills.gov.au/publications/generative-ai-capacity-study-report

You can register for IPAA Victoria’s free for members webinar AI in action: real stories and lessons from the Victorian Public Sector on Thursday 9 October 2025 12:00 pm – 1:30 pm. You can find it here: https://www.vic.ipaa.org.au/events/ai-in-action-real-stories-and-lessons-from-the-victorian-public-sector/

You can find out more details about IPAA Victoria’s other upcoming events here: https://www.vic.ipaa.org.au/events/

In Australia, serious mental illness is much more common in women than it is in men. In 2021, 23% of all women reported experiencing some form of serious depression or anxiety. That compares to 14% of men.

This gender disparity is example of what drives the work of our guest on this episode of Public Sector Perspectives: Professor Jayashri Kulkarni AM, Professor of Psychiatry at the Alfred Hospital and Monash University and the Founder and Director of two research centres: the HER Centre Australia and the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre. Together we examine why using a gender lens is so important when we think about mental health services for women, whether the current funding priorities in mental health services are appropriate and what gives Professor Kulkarni hope that things will get better.

This is the second of two episodes profiling two women who are changing the way health services are delivered in Australia. The first episode profiles the work of Professor Marion Saville AM, Executive Director of Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer.

RESOURCES REFERRED TO IN THIS PODCAST

• Find out more about the work of the HER Centre Australia (https://www.monash.edu/medicine/her-centre) and the Monash Alfred Psychiatry Research Centre (https://www.alfredhealth.org.au/research/research-areas/maprc).

• You can find out more details about IPAA Victoria’s upcoming events here https://www.vic.ipaa.org.au/events/.

This episode of Public Sector Perspectives profiles an unsung public policy success story: Australia is on track to be the first country in the world to effectively eliminate cervical cancer. We talk to Professor Marion Saville AM, Executive Director at the Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer, about what has put us in this unique position and what she thinks are the lessons this success should teach us about effective public policy.

This is the first of two episodes profiling two women who are changing the way health services are delivered in Australia. The second episode profiles the work of Professor Jayashri Kulkarni AM who is Professor of Psychiatry at The Alfred Hospital and Monash University and the founder of two research centres focusing on women’s mental health.

Podcast Host

Nick Bastow

IPAA Victoria

Podcast Guest

Professor Marion Saville AM

Executive Director at the Australian Centre for the Prevention of Cervical Cancer

RESOURCES REFERRED TO IN THIS PODCAST

• You can find out more about the work of the Australian Centre for the Prevention Cervical Cancer here: https://acpcc.org.au/

• Details about the Centre’s work to reduce cervical cancer in the Pacific region can be found here: https://acpcc.org.au/epicc-program-update-may-2025-on-our-journey-to-fairer-cervical-cancer-outcomes-in-the-indo-pacific-region/

• This Our World In Data summary shows the extraordinary potential of combined vaccination and screening programs to effectively eliminate cervical cancer worldwide: https://ourworldindata.org/hpv-vaccination-world-can-eliminate-cervical-cancer

You can find out more details about IPAA Victoria’s upcoming events here: https://www.vic.ipaa.org.au/events/

IPAA Victoria CEO Amanda Stevens speaks with Robert Hortle – one of IPAA Victoria’s newest Fellows and Commissioner of Wage Inspectorate Victoria. Robert talks about his career in the public sector and the secret to being a good industry regulator. He also reflects on the work of the Inspectorate and why the impact of the public sector needs to be measured in both the really big - and the really tiny - moments.

Wage Inspectorate Victoria promotes (https://www.vic.gov.au/wage-inspectorate-victoria) and enforces Victoria’s long service leave, child employment, owner driver and forestry contractor laws.

You can find out more details about IPAA Victoria’s other new Fellows here: https://www.vic.ipaa.org.au/insights/ipaa-victoria-announces-2024-victorian-fellows/