With five months to go, the IPAA2012 International Congress on 18-20 September is continuing to grow into being the event for public servants in 2012. We now have 120 speakers in 50 sessions over 3 days.

The Municipal Association of Victoria are holding a workshop, ‘Rescuing Policy: The new public engagement framework for the 21st century’ (co-convened by the Canadian Public Policy Forum). This workshop will explore new ways of engaging citizens in service delivery, highlighting results from the ground-breaking Australian Co-design project involving 3 levels of government working with citizens and local providers to generate a new service vision.

IPAA has been progressively strengthening it's relevance to local government. The local government representative on our Board is Kerry Thompson, CEO, Wyndham City Council. Local government membership has now grown to 17 councils and we look forward to welcoming many more in the coming months.

Over 700 Victorian Public Administrators celebrated International Women's Day at Melbourne Town Hall on Thursday 8 March 2012. The "Inspire" Gala Dinner truly did inspire with highlight presentations and performances by inspirational women.

Take a look at our media scrapbook covering the inaugural IPAA Regional Conference held in Albury on 15 - 16 March 2012

In response to increasing demand, and because we realise it isn’t always possible to attend training during the week, we are offering a selection of our professional development workshops on Saturdays.

IPAA Victoria’s Leadership in the Public Sector Awards have gone to projects that do everything from managing the safety of Victoria’s 400 rapidly filling dams to a radically new approach to youth homelessness. Presenting the awards, Grant Hehir, Secretary, Department of Treasury and Finance, said that ‘as a group, the entries in these Awards are a testament to variety and to the skills of Victoria’s public administrators'.

Building the capacity of public administration in regional Australia is integral to developing vibrant, economically sustainable communities. That’s why IPAA Victoria, NSW and ACT are hosting the inaugural IPAA Regional Public Administration Conference on 15 to 16 March at the Albury Entertainment Centre.