The Institute of Public Administration Australia WA (IPAA WA) celebrated individual and organisational excellence in public administration at its 11th annual Achievement Awards ceremony on the 9th of December 2022.
Gail Barrow opened proceedings with an inspiring and educational acknowledgement of country, taking attendees on a journey through WA, and challenging everyone to connect with the country around them.
Hosting this year’s ceremony were IPAA WA President and Co-Chair of the judging panel, Mr Mike Rowe, and former IPAA WA Vice-President and member of the Main Judging Panel, Dr Yvonne Haigh. Mr Rowe commented on the record number and the quality of nominations received this year. “As Co-Chair for the last three years I have been consistently impressed by the calibre of nominations. The record number of nominations this year have upheld the standards of previous years. Importantly, they have revealed many more areas in which terrific work is being done”.
28 awards were presented across 20 categories, and similar to last year, the Awards saw an influx of nominations for COVID-19 related projects this year. This continues to highlight the incredible work that has been done across the WA public service to respond to the challenges of COVID-19 to deliver better outcomes to the WA community.
The two collaboration award categories again proved popular this year, as was the Best Practice in Innovation category, with multiple winners announced in these categories. The influx of nominations highlights the outstanding collaboration being undertaken by the WA public service, and the innovative practices being utilised. Dr Haigh conveyed the sentiment from the judges, saying, “this year we received so many high-quality nominations from organisations adept at bringing about innovative change that judges decided to create two categories, General and Covid Response”.
The IPAA WA Patron’s Award, the highest accolade in public administration in WA, was the final award presented on the afternoon. IPAA WA was honoured to welcome their Patron, His Excellency the Honourable Chris Dawson APM, Governor of Western Australia, to present the Award this year. His Excellency presented the IPAA Patron’s Award to Garry Hunt PSM for his significant contributions to public administration. As a leader within and beyond the local government sector in Western Australia, Garry earned recognition for his innovation, vision, business acumen and his collaborative and engaging leadership. As a leader who epitomises the true spirit of leadership and commitment with his devotion to local government and the communities and people they represent, Mr Hunt was a worthy recipient of this award.
Mr Rowe concluded the awards presentations by congratulating all the winners for their commitment to best practice in the WA public service and community sector and highlighting that their contributions are positive accomplishments that deserves recognition. Gail Barrow then concluded proceedings with a farewell on behalf of the traditional owners.