Sir Roland Wilson Foundation

Kayannie is Aṉangu Luritja with strong family and cultural ties to Bagarrmuguwarra and Kuku Yalanji Bama of Cape York. She is an experienced executive level leader and has led policy, research, program and grants management teams since joining the APS. She also has experience as a political staffer and in the not-for-profit sector. Kayannie graduated with a Master of Public Policy from The Australian National University in 2022.

Kayannie currently works as a Senior Advisor to the Minister for Indigenous Australians, on leave from her position at the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications and the Arts. She joined the APS in 2015 after relocating from Far North Queensland and prior to moving to Canberra, had never considered a career in the public sector. Kayannie is passionate about creating and leading high-performing teams and championing the unique role that Indigenous staff play in mainstream APS agencies to deliver outcomes to all Australians.

From Services Australia, Sharna is a proud Wuluwarra and Pitta Pitta woman, born and raised in Mount Isa Queensland. Sharna began her career in the public service as an APS2 and has since secured a wealth of knowledge through various jobs in service delivery; fraud and compliance; business improvement; human resources; parliamentary services, and; agency transformation.

Throughout her career Sharna has observed significant gaps between the intent of policy, to the delivery on the ground. Sharna aims to utilise the Master of Public Policy to empower her with the knowledge to close the divide between policy intent and program delivery.

Her goal is to support the public service to establish a best practice for seeking input from end users and communities in the development and implementation of policy and programs.