Work with Purpose: A podcast about the Australian Public Sector

After 164 episodes, we bid farewell to Work with Purpose. Marking this special occasion, IPAA ACT CEO Kate Driver turns the microphone around on host David Pembroke, CEO of contentgroup, and one of the podcast’s first guests, IPAA National President Andrew Metcalfe AO. On the final episode before its hiatus, David and Andrew look back at over 160 stories told on Work with Purpose – starting with u...

On the penultimate episode of Work with Purpose, Jaala Hinchcliffe, Secretary of the Department of Parliamentary Services, shines a light on the important, yet often unseen work of DPS, and discusses why integrity is not simply something people have or lack, but rather a skill that must be practised. When you make a mistake at work, what is your first impulse? Do you trust your leaders to work it...

Governments generate endless information, but so much of it goes unseen. So, how do we turn it into content people actually care about? In this special crossover episode of Work with Purpose and GovComms, David Pembroke chats with Heather Lansdowne, a leader in transforming social media in government. As the social media manager at the Australian Bureau of Statistics, Heather and her team are turn...

What happens when senior leaders step out of meeting rooms and into frontline service environments? In this episode of Work with Purpose, host Louise MacDonald, managing partner, at EY, Canberra speaks with Kirsty Kirk, director of Leadership Programs at Services Australia, and Ken Walker, National Manager, Emergency Response at Services Australia, about Services Australia’s Service Delivery Immer...

In this episode of Work with Purpose, we discuss how a widening gap between external change and internal capability in the public sector is becoming a major threat to both public trust and effective government. As governments navigate social media distortion, geopolitical instability, cognitive warfare and rapid advances in AI, many public institutions are still operating in rigid, slow-moving way...

On this episode of Work with Purpose, the Hon Patrick Gorman, Assistant Minister for the Public Service, revisits performance, reform, and the future direction of the Australian Public Service.  "It’s an incredibly patriotic thing to be a public servant", says Assistant Minister Gorman. At the same time, it requires consistent, positive frontline interactions as well as acting with integrity...

Host David Pembroke, CEO of contentgroup, speaks with APS CALD Champion Jim Betts, Secretary of the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Art, and Nu Nu Win, assistant secretary at the Department of the Treasury, about cultural diversity in the Australian Public Service and the work underway to create a more inclusive and representative senior leader...

What does it take to lead with purpose in one of Australia’s most complex public institutions ?  In this episode of Work with Purpose, we hear from Rob Heferen, Commissioner of Taxation, about the responsibility of public servants to build trust, improve systems, and deliver better outcomes in complex, high pressure environments .    Rob Heferen looks back on a career span...

Medicare Urgent Care Clinics offer free, walk-in care for urgent but non-life-threatening health issues. In this episode, we explore how the Department of Health and Aged Care turned a good idea into a service that’s taking pressure off busy emergency departments across Australia. Since opening in June 2023, Urgent Care Clinics have cared for over 2 million people and grown rapidly from an initial...

How does the government actually buy the things that keep Australia running, from everyday supplies to major infrastructure? In this episode of Work with Purpose , host Kate Driver speaks with Richard Windeyer, former Head of the APS Procurement and Contract Management Profession, and Deputy Secretary of the Department of Finance, along with Andrew Marsden and Kim Hunter, partners at O’Connor Mars...

Trigger warning: themes of mental health/sexual assault. Robin Edmonds from the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communication and the Arts and Joey Ballantyne of Grit n Grace Collective talk about neurodiversity, developing a strong sense of self, and supporting people to learn and work in a way that helps them thrive. When Joey Ballantyne, founder of Grit n Grace Co...

On this episode of Work with Purpose, we hear from Ray Griggs AO CSC about what working in the navy has taught him about taking and giving feedback, and why difficult conversations are part and parcel of becoming a better leader. Ray Griggs AO CSC looks back at a long and distinguished career in the public sector – from Australia’s Defence Force to most recently the Department of Social Services....

In this landmark episode of Work with Purpose, host  David Pembroke  sits down with  Her Excellency the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC , Australia’s 28th Governor-General, for a deeply personal and wide-ranging conversation recorded at Government House. Marking one year and one day since her appointment, the Governor-General reflects on her journey from suburban Canberra to one of...

Have you ever considered what it takes to design public services that keep pace with technology while staying genuinely human-centred? In this episode of Work with Purpose, IP Australia Deputy Director-General Margaret Tregurtha joins Wendy Cohen, Deputy CEO of IPAA, to explore how modern public institutions can foster innovation, build trust and deliver services that meet evolving community needs...

In this special International Men’s Day episode, Work with Purpose host David Pembroke , Founder and CEO of contentgroup, brings together two senior public sector leaders to explore what male role modelling looks like in practice, not in theory. Deputy Secretary David Mackay (Regions, Cities and Territories, Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications, Sport and t...

Have you ever wondered how political leaders decide which issues make it to the top of the agenda? In this episode of Work with Purpose , host David Pembroke speaks with Professor Liam Smith and Dr Connor Wynn from Behaviour Works Australia to explore how politicians make high-stakes decisions under pressure and what the public sector can learn from the process. Drawing on extensive behavioural re...

What does it really take to lead people well in a world of constant change? In this episode of Work with Purpose , host David Pembroke sits down with Jacqui Curtis, Chief Operating Officer at the ATO and Head of the APS HR Profession, and Eliza Kirkby, Managing Director at Hays, to explore how human resources in the Australian Public Service is being redefined. From the power of trust and genuine...

In this episode of Work with Purpose, host David Pembroke speaks with Jamie Lowe , the Merit Protection Commissioner for the Australian Public Service and the Parliamentary Service, about how fairness, transparency and integrity are upheld across the APS. Described as the Commonwealth’s “workplace umpire,” Jamie and her office review promotion decisions, Code of Conduct inquiries and other workpla...

In this episode of Work with Purpose, David Pembroke speaks with Dr David Gruen AO Australian Statistician and the inaugural head of the APS Data Profession about the transformative role data plays in the public sector. The APS Data Profession, launched in 2020, it has grown from a pilot into a thriving community of 13,500 members across Commonwealth, state and territory governments. The professio...

How do public servants make smart decisions when time is short and the stakes are high? In this episode, host David Pembroke is joined by two leading experts in organisational decision-making: Eric Barends , Managing Director of the Centre for Evidence-Based Management, and Alessandra Capezio , Associate Professor of Organisational Behaviour at the Australian National University. Together, they ex...

Have you ever written to a politician? What did you hope to achieve? In this episode of Work with Purpose, guest host Andrew Metcalfe AO FIPAA explores the power of personal correspondence in shaping Australia's political landscape. With around 150,000 letters and emails received annually by the Prime Minister, new research is shedding light on how these messages influence policy and public discou...

Hosted by IPAA National President Andrew Metcalfe, AO FIPAA , this episode of Work with Purpose explores how the public sector might manage an increasingly complex global public sector environment, while maintaining a spirit of humility and empathy in serving the community. Public administration on a global scale is facing challenges from growing hostility influenced by misinformation and politica...

How can public sector professionals keep their skills sharp without committing to years of study? Microcredentials may be the answer. In this episode of  Work with Purpose , host David Pembroke speaks with Professor Deborah Blackman from UNSW Canberra and Kristen Risby from the Australian Public Service Commission about how microcredentials are transforming learning in the public sector. Expl...

In this landmark episode of Work with Purpose, host  David Pembroke  sits down with  Her Excellency the Honourable Ms Sam Mostyn AC , Australia’s 28th Governor-General, for a deeply personal and wide-ranging conversation recorded at Government House. Marking one year and one day since her appointment, the Governor-General reflects on her journey from suburban Canberra to one of...

In this special NAIDOC Week edition of  Work with Purpose , guest host Kate Driver, CEO of IPPA ACT, leads a powerful and heartfelt conversation celebrating the theme of NAIDOC Week 2025: The Next Generation – Strength, Vision, and Legacy. Kate is joined by two inspiring young First Nations leaders – Luke Stevens , a proud Gimuy Waluburra Yidinji and Kuku-Yalanji man working at the Depar...