The 2010 IPAA National Conference: BRINGING IT TOGETHER, will be held in Adelaide on Thursday 21 and Friday 22 October at the Adelaide Convention Centre. Practitioners and academics are invited to submit proposals for papers that focus on the key themes of the conference and the future direction of shared responsibility in Australia. The Program Development Committee particularly encourage proposals that adopt a comparative perspective and address the implications of research and practice for public administration.

Recent events indicate just how much we rely on experts to forecast and predict our weather today, tomorrow and into the future. Join IPAA and the Australian Bureau of Meteorology at an exclusive Executive Conversation with weather and climate experts speaking on Australia's climate record, how to make sense of the data and how we can use this information to adapt and plan the future.

Helen Silver, Secretary, Department of Premier and Cabinet, presented the five winners of the IPAA Victoria Leadership in the Public Sector Awards with their certificates at an awards ceremony at Parliament House on 15 February.

Gain the Policy Edge has been specifically designed for public sector officers and managers who want to develop their leadership potential. This bi-annual 5-day intensive is simulation-based and includes the involvement of senior public sector leaders who share their perspectives on pressing public policy questions. Now in it's eleventh year Gain the Policy Edge has become the rite of passage for public sector leaders. The next program takes place in the first week of June.

First held in 1997, the IPAA State Budget Briefing Breakfast is now an annual address, delivered by the Secretary, Department of Treasury and Finance, and follows the launch of the Victorian State Budget. The next day the Regional Budget Briefing Lunch to be held this year in Dandenong focusses on the impact of the Budget on Regional Victoria.

The 2010 YIPAA Peer Plus Mentoring Program kicked off this month with 32 mentees and 18 mentors from across the public sector, ‘matched’ individually and in groups.