Premier's Excellence Awards

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:30): My question is to the Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector. Will the minister update the council on the Premier's Excellence Awards for the public sector?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:30): I thank the honourable member for his question. I certainly will update the council on the Premier's Excellence Awards for the public sector.

As some members of the council would be aware, these are awards that have gone on for some time, and recognise that the public sector serves an essential function in our society. It delivers services that are crucial to the wellbeing of our communities and does jobs that the private sector are unable to do or can't do at a scale and in a socially equitable way: emergency health care, protecting the health and safety of the community through the police force, and the child protection system are but some examples.

In that context it is important that we recognise excellence in public sector service. That is why for many years the Premier's Excellence Awards have been delivered to acknowledge South Australian public sector employees, teams and agencies who have consistently demonstrated exemplary service delivery consistent with South Australian public sector values.

These awards are run with the general support of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment, who is responsible for coordinating them. This year, the commissioner has invited public sector leaders, including chief executives, agency heads and senior human resources leaders and directors, to identify and nominate suitable employees within their agencies. Agencies have also been encouraged to submit nominees for employees who have been shortlisted as finalists throughout their own agency-based reward and recognition programs.

These awards send a message that we value and appreciate the hard work, dedication and commitment that goes into the Public Service, and reward those who have demonstrated outstanding performance and service to the community. But these awards also help to improve the morale and quality of the services that are provided to the public more broadly. When we acknowledge and reward the exceptional performance, we encourage others to go above and beyond in their delivery of services to make sure that they are of the highest quality for the community.

This year Premier's Excellence Awards are due to be presented by the Premier at a ceremony at the Adelaide Convention Centre on Wednesday 1 March and will involve awards in both individual and group categories, including excellence in service delivery, emergency response, making a difference, and public sector values.

There have been many individual winners of awards in previous years. Organisational awards in recent years have included Green Industries SA and the South Australian Environment Protection Authority for their work on single-use plastics, SA Health and SA Police for pop-up medics, SA Police for their COVID-19 border operations, and Wellbeing SA for the COVID-19 vaccine hesitancy project.

I am advised that this year's awards have pleasingly received a record number of submissions and entries, many of which have demonstrated the continued versatility of the public sector in light of the challenges posed by COVID-19. Their work also highlights the breadth of emergency management and critical services in the SA public sector and what it delivers for the South Australian public, including its responses, importantly, to the recent floods in the Riverland. I look forward to reporting back to the council on the winners of these very important awards in the very near future.