By Dr Robert Jansen, APS Academy practitioner and facilitator
All governments have committed to building genuine partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to share decision-making and improve the wellbeing of communities. The APS is also boosting its craft capabilities through the Academy to better engage with First Nations families, communities and organisations.
To this end, a series of one-day workshops – facilitated by an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander expert and Academy practitioner – have been convened to discuss the Closing the Gap Priority Reforms and the APS Charter of Partnerships and Engagement. These open discussions have added to the learning pathways of APS staff to examine current practices and move to better relationships among governments and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
These workshops have been developed and delivered with the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies and the Academy is continuing to draw on their expertise and knowledge to consider further opportunities for learning forums. This includes a Mastercraft Series event panel discussion on legal pluralism and public policy that refers to keynote addresses at the 2026 AIATSIS Summit.
The engagement workshops cover the foundational APS resources relevant to a partnership approach and draw on the work and life experience of the participants. Recent feedback included:
‘Excellent session – and not just the content that was presented but the learning style was perfect and demonstrated the expected approach to engagement’.
- Workshop participant
The workshops also use real work scenarios and case studies from the practitioner facilitators, which makes the discussions more active and reinforces the learning. From a recent workshop:
‘The scenario discussions were through provoking and encouraged true reflection’.
- Workshop participant
The workshops aim to enhance engagement capabilities so staff can think through engagement tasks in the context of the APS values and reflect on how to deploy existing skills and experience to transition through consultation, engagement and partnership to understand the options for devolution of government services to the community level. The discussions identify gaps in capabilities and seek ways to address these gaps with further learning over time.
The engagement and partnerships workshops are offered at different levels of work (APS staff, ELs and SES), both in-person and online, and in specific agencies and across the APS.