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Department of Premier & Cabinet

Annual Report 2014 / 15


Secretary's report

Agency Secretary

The Department of Premier and Cabinet experienced significant change during the financial year. We were given new functions, our structure and budget were adjusted, and we saw a number of our staff depart under voluntary separation arrangements. At the same time, the Department maintained a clear focus on delivering the Government’s priorities and achieved very good results in the annual State Service Survey, which is testimony to the strength of our culture.


We began the financial year by welcoming Sport and Recreation Tasmania to the Department, where it merged with Community Development to create a new division of Community, Sport and Recreation. This has given the Department a strong focus on building the capacity of a wide range of Tasmanians to participate regularly and actively in the community and the economy.

The addition of Sport and Recreation to the DPAC family substantially expanded our accommodation footprint. We now operate out of a number of new locations including the Silverdome in Launceston and the Technopark in Glenorchy. At the same time, we consolidated some of our inner-city accommodation to reduce expenditure and bring complementary functions together. This consolidation is continuing.

The Department also combined the functions of its previous Corporate Services area with much of the old Executive Division to create a new Corporate and Governance function. This new area is driving a commitment to customer service and efficiency throughout the organisation.

Changes in our structure and the addition of new functions made the Budget and Estimates processes particularly challenging. This was made doubly so by the fact that we had the unusual circumstance of having two Budgets and two sets of Estimates in a 12 month period. Our corporate team did a great job to make sure that all ran smoothly.

The first Budget brought substantial funding into the Department to honour more than one hundred separate election commitments by the new Government to provide support to a wide range of community and other organisations in Tasmania. Almost all of this funding has now been allocated to those groups.

Elsewhere it was a year of achievement across DPAC. Some highlights included:

  • Helping the Government to host the visit to Tasmania by the Chinese President Xi Jinping;
  • Coordinating reporting and activity across Government to implement the Government’s plans for the “First 100 Days” and “Next 365 Days”;
  • Delivering the highest percentage savings of any Tasmanian Government agency;
  • Administering almost 480 grants worth almost $40 million;
  • Supporting Cabinet meetings across the State;
  • Preparing a comprehensive package of new legislation in areas ranging from planning and local government to forestry and health administration;
  • Representing the State in national discussions about the Future of the Australian Federation;
  • Making sure the Premier had the highest quality support at multiple meetings of the Council of Australian Governments; and
  • Organising two development workshops for all of the State Service’s SES Officers, and administering the first ever audit of skills in our senior executive service.

The nature of our business changed over the course of the year, and into 2015/16, so too have our strategic plans. The Department responded quickly to the priorities of the new Government last year by introducing a transitional strategic plan. This year the Department’s leadership group came together through a series of in-house workshops to develop a new Strategic Plan to guide us for the next three years. This has a clear focus on delivering the Government’s priorities while improving our performance as an organisation and upholding our values.

As the year came to a close I had the opportunity to reflect on our achievements during a time of change and challenge. I am incredibly proud of what the people in this Department have achieved. We have improved the way we operate, expanded the functions and services we provide, delivered on the Government’s priorities and made a significant contribution to the overall savings task in the State Service. And we have done so while maintaining strong results in the annual survey of the State Service.

Thank you to everyone involved.

Greg Johannes

secretary signature
Secretary,
Department of Premier and Cabinet.


Our people

As at 30 June 2015, DPAC employed 355 (337.23 FTEs) employees and 125 (119.15 FTEs) employees in Ministerial and Parliamentary Support offices. This includes Tasmanian State Servants (TSS) and non-Tasmanian State Servants (non-TSS) and excludes casual employees and employees on unpaid leave. The figures are presented below in two groups: DPAC; and Ministerial and Parliamentary Support offices.


DPAC employees by gender and employment status


DPAC employs slightly more women than men, with 56 per cent women and 44 per cent men, with the majority employed on a permanent basis.

DPAC employees by full-time/part-time employment


Twenty per cent of the DPAC workforce is employed on a part-time basis, with the majority of these employees being women.




Our finances

Financial Matters

  • Unqualified audit report issued by the Auditor-General on 14 Sep 2015
  • Budget savings of $4.6 million achieved
  • Estimated $34 million in grants and contributions made to approximately 480 recipients
  • Expenditure matched budget appropriation
  • Successfully managed the transfer of assets and liabilities for Sport and Recreation Tasmania


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