ANZSOG welcomes delegation from Singapore Civil Service College leadership program

ANZSOG has welcomed a delegation of 30 mid-level public servants from the service delivery functions of over 20 Singapore ministries and agencies to Australia for a three-day visit focusing on building connections and sharing ideas with the NSW public sector – the first face-to-face delegation ANZSOG has brought to Australia for over two years due to COVID border closures. 

The delegation was able to meet with high-level public servants from a range of NSW Government agencies with a focus on technology and the digital transformation of government and service delivery. 

They discussed ‘setting a strategic vision for transforming and delivering government services’ and ‘collaboration between different levels of government on data strategy’ with Department of Customer Service Executive Director Customer Strategy and Delivery, James Batess and Chief Data Scientist Dr Ian Opperman. Other speakers included Damon Rees, CEO, Service NSW, Simone Walker, Group Deputy Secretary, School Improvement and Education Reform, NSW Department of Education, and eHealth NSW chief executive Dr Zoran Bolevich who discussed ‘creating a digital health strategy with human-centre design’. 

The group also met with City of Sydney Councillor HY William Chan to discuss ‘shaping a future city with diverse stakeholders’ and engaged in a panel discussion hosted by UTS and James Martin Institute for Public Policy, to discuss collaboration between government and academia and the bringing in of other experts in key stages of policy making to solve complex problems. 

Patrick Lau, CSC’s Assistant Chief Executive (Strategy & Transformation), Dean’s Office said that ANZSOG had put together a well-curated program that had allowed participants to leave with many valuable insights for their work in Singapore. 

“The sharing by different parts of the of Department of Customer Services has been very insightful. It is interesting to see how energised the team is although they are dealing with massive amounts of work.” 

 “The generous sharing by the departments today offered much food for thought to me. I learnt that our challenges are universal but the way to choose to respond to these challenges differed. What the departments shared about starting small and their ability to see interconnectedness in the way they worked resonated especially well with me. The frameworks they shared provided common language across the departments.” 

 “Sharing by the NSW government on the projects that highlighted collaboration has inspired us to know that collaboration is actually possible between agencies, and the ultimate beneficiaries are citizens.” 

ANZSOG is delighted to have the chance to resume work with the Singapore Civil Service College, strengthening the relationship which began in 2013, and has involved programs delivered in Canberra and Sydney covering a range of topics in public administration, with the last face-to-face exchange occurring in 2016.