Office of the Minister for Indigenous Australians (formerly Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts)
Australian National University
Master of Public Policy
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.
Adina joined the Public Service as a graduate in 1999, working in a range of offices across the Human Services and Social Services portfolios. She has worked in the Department of Social Services on family policy and in the department’s program performance reporting area. Adina has also worked across strategic, corporate and program areas in high level projects.
Adina undertook a masters by coursework with a focus on public policy. In her study, Adina considered the influence public policy has on complex policy systems, the trends shaping leaders and levers for guiding decision making and leadership. Returning to the APS in 2022, Adina is using her postgraduate knowledge to influence her contribution to policy and contemporary policy frameworks.
After completing a double degree in economics and commerce, Cris entered the public service in 1999 and was later accepted into the 2000 graduate program. Cris’ public service career has included policy and program roles covering Indigenous employment and economic development, strategic policy roles, corporate governance roles, and in vocational education and training policy and legislation.
Cris is a descendant of the Stolen Generations. With a father removed from his mother in Meanjin (Brisbane) on Turrbal and Yuggera country, Cris was born and raised on Ngunnawal land. Growing up in Canberra with two parents who worked in public sector roles, some might say his pathway into the APS was predictable.
Cris’ Master of Leadership degree included specialisations in business administration, public policy and leadership. Through his studies, Cris explored how emerging organisational performance frameworks and leadership models can best be applied in the public service context, helping to ensure the APS retains its ongoing relevance to both the Government of the day and to the public it serves. Cris was the recipient of the Pat Turner Coursework Prize in 2020 and 2021.
Since returning to service, Cris has been promoted to Assistant Secretary in the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, responsible for driving efforts across DEWR to help Close the Gap.
Cris is the alumni representative on the Pat Turner Scholarship Advisory Group.
Master of Culture Health and Medicine, College of Arts and Social Sciences
Trish is a Meriam Neur (Murray Island woman), from Waibene (Thursday Island), Zenadth Kes (Torres Strait). She comes from a strong and proud family, with lineage to the Geuram tribe from Mer and family connections to Dauar Island, Yarrabah, New Caledonia and Jamaica. Trish’s professional journey has been quite expansive. Over the past 24 years she has worked in a variety of roles in government, non-government and community organisations. She is a key community advocate and leader, having supported the ACT Torres Strait Islander community both personally and professionally in her role as Director of the Kara Buai Torres Strait Islander Corporation in Canberra.
Trish commenced her career in APS with the Department of Health and Aged Care, influencing and supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health policy and programs. Following completion of a Master of Culture, Health and Medicine at ANU, she accepted a secondment opportunity with Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, in the department’s First Nations Policy – Closing the Gap team.
Currently, Trish is working on Country in Waibene (Thursday Island), leading strategic engagement, policy and projects in the Torres Strait Regional Authority’s healthy communities and safe communities programs.
Her goal as a Pat Turner alumna and Torres Strait Islander leader in the APS is to elevate and strengthen the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples across the entirety of the policy lifecycle.
The Sir Roland Wilson Foundation is a partnership between The Australian National University, Charles Darwin University and the Australian Public Service.
