Public servant Jim Varghese was the Director General of Main Roads, Employment and Training, Education and Primary Industries and Fisheries and was involved in developing and implementing policy reforms during the Borbidge, Goss and Beattie eras. He discusses several key policy reforms in each of these portfolios and outlines some of his strategies for change management.
Long time public servant Erik Finger reflects on a career which began as an engineer in the Main Roads Department in 1961, and ended as the Head of the Premier's Department in 1994. He focuses particularly on the 1989 transition from long-term conservative government to new, reformist Labor government, and the changes wrought to the public service.
Public servant Leo Hielscher reflect on his long career in the Treasury Department and in the Queensland Treasury Corporation, serving fifteen different treasurers.
Public servant Ann Scott talks about her work in the Women's Policy Unit, the Public Sector Management Commission and the Queensland Police Service during the 1990s. She contrasts the outgoing Bjelke-Petersen Government with the incoming Goss Government, and discusses the reform agenda, the Fitzgerald Inquiry, and Criminal Justice Commission.
Ross Rolfe was Director General of three Queensland departments, Environment and Heritage 1996, 1998, State Development 1998-2002, and Premier and Cabinet 2005-07, working on state infrastructure and with Premier Peter Beattie on many of the Smart State initiatives, the water policy and the Cyclone Larry recovery plan.
Queensland public servant Scott Prasser discusses the Smart State strategy of the Beattie Government and the changing nature of the Queensland public service.
Ruth Matchett was Director General of the Queensland Department of Family Services and Aboriginal and Islander Affairs 1990-95, during a time of unprecedented legislative change in that policy area, including child protection, domestic violence, disability services, ageing and land rights.
Public servant and academic Brian Head reflects on a public sector career that spanned 13 years and three governments during the 1990s and early 2000s. He focuses on his time in the Premier's Department and in the Public Sector Management Commission, reflecting on the upheaval experienced by the public service during the early Goss Government, and then again during the Borbidge and Beattie governments.
