Our key initiatives

We aim to deliver these key initiatives and activities in 2021–22 through to 2025 and will report on progress against them and outcomes achieved in our annual report.

Achieving strong policy outcomes

To achieve the strong policy outcomes objective, we will deliver the following initiatives through First Peoples-State Relations; Digital Victoria; Service Victoria; Cabinet, Communications and Corporate; Office of the Victorian Government Architect; Social Policy and Intergovernmental Relations; Economic Policy and State Productivity; Industrial Relations Victoria; and Wage Inspectorate Victoria.

First Peoples-State Relations

  • Support strong policy outcomes for First Peoples, by driving whole of government policy and reform in the Aboriginal affairs portfolio.

Digital Victoria

  • Drive digital transformation through a whole of government digital strategy, creating a cohesive and modern approach to ICT and maximising the value of Victoria’s digital investment.
  • Deliver better customer experiences through insightful design and public engagement, improving trust and participation with the Victorian Government.
  • Implement a cyber security strategy that focuses on the safe and reliable delivery of government services and better protects businesses and the community from the growing threat of cybercrime.
  • Unlock improved service delivery by using data, analytics and artificial intelligence to better identify and understand Victoria’s needs.
  • Provide open government data to the public in a safe, secure, lawful and ethical way, empowering our public and private sectors to make better decisions and strengthening collaboration with our digital and technology industry.
  • Prioritise open and efficient IT spend and purchasing processes to reduce costs, improve procurement outcomes and support our local small and medium technology enterprises.
  • Create common corporate and public digital platforms across all government departments to improve productivity and staff experience.

Service Victoria

  • Enhance customer experience with more digital services for Victorians.

Cabinet, Communications and Corporate

  • Provide support for core Government systems and activities vital to the Victorian response to, and recovery from, the COVID-19 pandemic.

  • Provide clear, timely and practical guidance, expertise and support to our stakeholders in relation to Cabinet, Parliament, legislation, Executive Council and ministerial correspondence related matters.

  • Provide central media relations, communications, advertising and research governance advisory services to Victorian departments and stakeholders in relation to Private and Ministerial offices.

  • Provide behavioural science capability to all Victorian government departments to support the delivery of behaviourally informed programs and services.

Office of the Victorian Government Architect

  • Provide advice, advocacy and collaboration on good design through the Office of the Victorian Government Architect.

Social Policy and Intergovernmental Relations

  • Provision of advice and coordination of strategic Victorian Government responses to the COVID-19 pandemic at both a state and national level, including supporting the vaccination roll-out, Victoria’s policy approach to quarantine, international arrivals and economic cohorts.
  • Advocate for Victoria’s interests in intergovernmental fora, including supporting the Premier at National Cabinet.
  • Ensure strategic decision makers are supported in their efforts to strengthen the disaster resilience and security of all Victorians, including through implementing the recommendations of state and national reviews and inquiries.
  • Support the Victorian Government to deliver critical social policy reforms, including recommendations from the Royal Commission into Mental Health System, continuing to strengthen the TAFE system, justice reforms, and continuing the roll out of three-year-old kindergarten.
  • Support the successful delivery of the Victorian Government’s Big Housing Build, to help increase the state’s social housing supply by 10 per cent in four years and support Victorians in need.

Economic Policy and State Productivity

  • Provide advice on current and future economic challenges and opportunities, including providing advice to government on Victoria’s economic recovery following the COVID-19 pandemic.
  • Strengthen Victoria’s productivity through the delivery of the government’s environmental priorities; support clean, affordable, reliable and secure energy; and improve the management of our natural resources.
  • Support delivery of the government’s infrastructure program and coordinate a range of planning reforms to deliver a more efficient planning system that provides greater certainty to the community and other users.
  • Support the government’s industry capability, capacity and growth programs, including the newly established company, Breakthrough Victoria, which will drive new Victorian jobs through investment in research commercialisation, innovation and the next great breakthroughs.
  • Provide advice to support the efficient operation of markets, while maintaining appropriate protections for consumers.
  • Support engagement with priority international partners to improve economic, investment and other whole of government outcomes.
  • Maintain compliance with Australia’s Foreign Relations (State and Territory Arrangements) Act.

Industrial Relations Victoria

  • Drive co-operative and productive workplace relations in the Victorian public sector by developing and facilitating compliance with the Victorian Government’s industrial relations policy and overseeing the timely and efficient resolution of enterprise bargaining.
  • Deliver and support policy and legislative reform that contributes to fair, productive and equitable Victorian workplaces, including promoting gender pay equity.
  • Promote access to secure, ongoing and meaningful employment for Victorian workers.
  • Monitor significant public and private sector industrial relations matters and disputes and provide timely and strategic advice to government.
  • Support industrial relations portfolio agencies and authorities to deliver their legislative obligations, including in relation to wage theft, long service leave, labour hire, child employment and owner/drivers.
  • Influence Victorian workplaces to achieve enduring compliance with Victorian law covering wage theft, child employment, long service leave and contractors in transport and forestry.

Ensuring First Peoples in Victoria are strong and self-determining

To ensure we meet this objective, we will deliver the following initiatives through our First Peoples-State Relations group, including the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council.

First Peoples-State Relations

  • Advance Aboriginal self-determination in line with the commitments made in the Victorian Aboriginal Affairs Framework 2018–2023 and Victoria’s Implementation Plan for the National Agreement on Closing the Gap 2021–2023.
  • Progress the Victorian Government’s negotiation of the Treaty process with the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria, in line with the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act 2018.
  • Lead the Whole of Victorian Government response to the historic Yoo-rrook Justice Commission, the first ever truth-telling inquiry into the historic and ongoing systemic injustices committed against Aboriginal Victorians since colonisation.
  • Drive and support strong cultural heritage management and protection, including supporting Traditional Owners, the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council, and acquitting DPC’s statutory functions.
  • Deliver the Aboriginal Community Infrastructure Program to enable Aboriginal organisations to meet their infrastructure needs and serve their communities.
  • Support the recognition of Traditional Owner Groups by driving Nation-Building initiatives, particularly to support non-formally recognised Traditional Owner Groups.
  • Progress and fulfil the statutory responsibilities of the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council.

Providing professional public administration

To achieve the professional public administration objective, we will deliver the following initiatives through the Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel, the Office of the Governor and Public Record Office Victoria. Our Legal, Legislation and Governance group also have an oversight role in supporting the Victorian Public Sector Commission and public entities and special bodies deliver initiatives.

Legal, Legislation and Governance

  • Enhance public sector integrity and governance capability, including through shadowing the Victorian Public Sector Commission, to ensure that the public sector operates in accordance with the highest expectations of trust.
  • Provide guidance and advice on the caretaker conventions to support the operation of government during the caretaker period.
  • Support the Victorian Electoral Commission to maintain the State electoral roll and carry out electoral events.
  • Support the Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal to uphold integrity and trust in remuneration arrangements for Members of Parliament and senior public officials.

Office of the Chief Parliamentary Counsel

  • Develop and implement a new work management system to deliver efficiencies and enhanced services to stakeholders and the public.

Office of the Governor

  • Support the Governor to carry out the role for the benefit of Victoria.

Public Record Office Victoria

  • Improve government recordkeeping through standards, guidance and compliance monitoring.
  • Increase the usage of the state’s archives through digitisation, provision of innovative online access and promotion of the collection.
  • Build the collection by identifying records of state significance and ensuring they are securely cared for.

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