Legislative Council - Fifty-Fifth Parliament, First Session (55-1)
2023-06-28 Daily Xml

Contents

Executive Induction Program

The Hon. R.B. MARTIN (14:54): My question is to the Minister for—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! Sit down. I would like to be able to hear—

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! I want to hear the Hon. Mr Martin's question. The Hon. Mr Martin, please.

The Hon. R.B. MARTIN: Thank you, Mr President. My question is to the Minister for Industrial Relations. Will the minister please update the chamber about his recent address to the Executive Induction Program?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:55): I thank the honourable member for his question and his interest in induction programs. I know it is something the honourable member has a lot of familiarity with, having spent a lot of his life helping, particularly in the retail sector, inductions in his former role in the great trade union movement in Australia, in that area.

One of the many functions of the Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment is to coordinate the South Australian Leadership Academy, which is a training academy committed to developing leaders across the public sector to promote a resilient and focused workforce. One of the programs run by the academy is the Executive Induction Program, which provides newly appointed public sector executives with the essential knowledge to build capacity in their teams and deliver on the government's priorities.

This program is undertaken by all executives in their first year and features approximately 20 guest speakers from across the public sector and external organisations as part of the program. I have been fortunate on a number of occasions already since we have returned to government to be invited to speak to a group of new executives in the public sector, and I was pleased very recently to speak to a group of around 60 public sector executives.

In my role as Minister for Industrial Relations and the Public Sector, I was able to speak about the great value and importance we place on people who work in the public sector that deliver much-needed and essential programs across a whole range of areas to South Australians. Many of the services that are delivered by our hardworking members of the public sector are those services that can't be found elsewhere and provide that backstop for many members in society who are having trouble accessing services.

I was also pleased to be able to speak in my role as Minister for Aboriginal Affairs about the importance of the public sector in providing services to Aboriginal people and the promotion of Aboriginal people within the public sector. I look forward to the group of 60 new executives whom I spoke to having a long and fruitful role in the public sector, making a difference in South Australians' lives, and I look forward to engaging with this group more in the future.