MasterCraft Series – Working with a Ministerial Office

Parliamentary Workplace Support Service Advisory Board member Liz Dowd shares insights into what day to day life is like working with a Minister. What is the role of a Department Liaison Officer and how do you communicate with them. And what happens with things don’t go to plan?

Panellists

Ms Liz Dowd

Ms Dowd was appointed as a member of the PWSS Advisory Board on 15 April 2024 for a three-year term.  Ms Dowd has worked for three Federal Government Cabinet Ministers including two as Chief of Staff, providing complex policy and political advice on the Members of Parliament staff employment framework and parliamentary business resources, education, vocational training, emergency services and other social services. She has also been a senior public servant who has worked across a number of social service portfolios including employment, education and health for over 20 years.  
  
She has a strong understanding of parliamentary and government processes, ministerial functions, stakeholder engagement and policy development and is now using this to help community organisations form good relationships with government and effectively navigate the political environment.

Further panellist to be advised.

Facilitator

Dr Subho Banerjee

Dr Subho Banerjee is the Deputy Commissioner, Head of APS Academy and Capability at the Australian Public Service Commission. He has previously held Deputy Secretary roles in the Education, Industry and Climate Change portfolios, focusing on vocational education and skills, science and climate change adaptation and negotiations. He has also been responsible for finance, human resources and governance functions in a number of departments, as well as contributing to whole-of-APS efforts on public service reform and Indigenous employment.

Subho has also worked in the private and not-for-profit sectors. Prior to his current role, he worked at the Australia and New Zealand School of Government on public sector reform issues at the intersection of practice and academia. He has also worked for a private sector management consultancy and an Indigenous policy think tank.  
Subho’s initial disciplinary background was in physics, which he studied as an undergraduate and postgraduate at the ANU.

He also holds qualifications in economic and social history, and environmental change and management, from the University of Oxford, where he was a Rhodes Scholar.

Participant benefits

• Hear from Ministerial staff about what it's like working in a Minister's office.
• Learn some of the specific difficulties and challenges to watch out for.
• Build your liaison skills from listening to experts.

Suitable for

All Staff.

Category and User level

This learning experience aligns with the Working in Government Craft at the Foundation level.

Price

Free of charge.