Cris Castro believes leadership is something anyone in the public service can practice and apply, no matter what their position or experience.

The Sir Roland Wilson Pat Turner alumnus undertook a Master of Leadership through The Australian National University (ANU) Research School of Management. He graduated in 2021.

The Master of Leadership teaches contemporary approaches to leading people, managing teams, undertaking organisational change, and explores how businesses and leaders can deliver societal impacts.

“While most people consider management and leadership to be an art form, it was amazing to see how much scientific evidence exists around what does and does not work,” Cris said.

Cris has recently been promoted to Assistant Secretary, Closing the Gap at the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR).

“I work in Secretary Natalie James’ office and am responsible for overseeing and driving DEWR’s contributions to the Closing the Gap reform agenda, including the Priority Reforms set out in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.”

Cris uses his platform wisely.

“As an Aboriginal person and holding a leadership position within DEWR, I advocate on behalf of staff and the Indigenous community in everything I do.

“It is about sharing a vision of how we could be doing bigger and better things for the community – building a coalition of motivated and willing public servants and harnessing their collective power to deliver even greater public value.”

Throughout his career, Cris has continued to prioritise learning and professional development.

“As I’ve transitioned from an early-career to a mid-career public servant, I’ve remained conscious of the need to continue challenging myself and learning new things.

“The more experienced we become, the more efficient we get at doing our jobs. Unless we make a special effort, our brains switch into autopilot. I didn’t want to fall into that trap and become a senior public servant who is set in his ways, thinks he knows best, and stops challenging the status quo.”

The Master of Leadership has added to Cris’ growing toolkit of skills and experience.

“Since returning to my department I have successfully practiced a range of leadership

techniques to obtain the buy-in from internal and external stakeholders, including to some significant reforms in the vocational education and training sector.”

Cris says it is an exciting time to be working in the public service.

“Whether you are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander or not, there is an elevated focus on Indigenous Australia. Sometime in the future I hope we can all look back and be proud of what Australians achieved together as a country and with First Nations peoples during the mid-2020s,” Cris said.

The Sir Roland Wilson Pat Turner scholarship is a one-to-three year full-pay scholarship for any level of postgraduate study at ANU or Charles Darwin University (CDU) for high performing APS 4 through SES Band 1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australian Public Service employees.

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