De Brouwer to take the reins as IPAA’s National President
Dr Gordon De Brouwer PSM, IPAA’s new National President
At the 2019 IPAA National Conference held in Darwin last week, Professor Peter Shergold AC concluded his two-year term as IPAA National President.
IPAA National Secretary, Mr John Hubby, who also serves as IPAA NSW Vice-President and whose day job is as a Deputy Secretary of the NSW Government, paid tribute to Peter in his vote of thanks to the outgoing National President.
“In his two years as President, Peter has done an amazing job of travelling the country, engaging with all IPAA Divisions, IPAA leaders, IPAA Presidents, and understanding… trying to bring better clarity to what the role of IPAA National is, and the role of IPAA President.
“I thank Peter, and on behalf of IPAA and all Divisions across the country, thank you Peter,” said Mr Hubby.
Professor Shergold thanked Mr Hubby and expressed the honour he felt in serving IPAA in the capacity of National President before “handing on the reins” to his distinguished successor in the role of National President, Dr Gordon de Brouwer PSM.
In his closing remarks, Professor Shergold made two points: first, that the role of professional public servants was “more important than ever” and second, that “IPAA, able to represent the collective interests of those public administrators much continue to play a key role in maintaining, even protecting, the vocational ethos of a merit-based public service.
Speaking about his new role as the incoming IPAA National President, Dr de Brouwer said that he was pleased to be able to bring his recent experience as a member of the Independent Review of the Australian Public Service to the leadership role with IPAA.
“I have great respect for the role IPAA plays in supporting the profession of public service in Australia and look forward to engaging with IPAA nationally to promote the important role of the sector”, said Dr de Brouwer.
In addition to his role on the APS Review, Dr de Brouwer is a former Secretary of the Department of the Environment and Energy and a former President of IPAA ACT.