Partnership project scoops award
27 January 2010
A training course developed under the Partnership Agreement has won the Cross-Government Collaboration category of the 2009 Chief Minister’s Awards for Excellence in the Public Sector.
The win was announced at the awards dinner on Thursday, 10 December 2009.
Earlier this year, the Department of the Chief Minister (DCM), the Office of the Commissioner for Public Employment (OCPE) and the Charles Darwin University (CDU) got together to design a training course on the structures and processes of the Territory Government specifically for NT public servants (NTPS).
The result was two NTPS Machinery of Government courses – a one-day overview workshop and a four-day in-depth workshop.
The workshops cover topics such as models of government, the rule of law, the separation of powers between the courts, parliament and executive government, the role of the public sector, policy-making, Cabinet, and the Budget cycle.
The workshops also look at governance issues and the role of institutions such as the Auditor-General and the Ombudsman.
The workshops span both academic and practical perspectives, and can provide a stepping stone to further study.
The four-day course was run in August–September 2009 and again in October-December 2009. The inaugural one-day course took place in November 2009.
The courses filled up very quickly, indicating significant demand for this type of training in the NTPS. More courses are planned for 2010, including some in regional centres of the Territory.
The Steering Committee for the project consisted of Julie Nicholson and Zelma Collins of DCM, Danielle Cross of OCPE and Professor Ian Thynne of CDU. Professor Thynne also runs the workshops.