Govt Appoints Head of Office for the Not for Profit Sector
31 March 2011 at 4:02 pm
The Federal Government has appointed Helen McDevitt, the Assistant Secretary of the Social Inclusion Unit as the head of the new Office for the Not-for-Profit Sector within the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
Minister for Social Inclusion, Tanya Plibersek announced the establishment of the Office for the Non-Profit Sector shortly after the Gillard Government returned to power in October as part of its promise of a reform agenda for the Not for Profit sector.
The Government has already established the Not-for-Profit Sector Reform Council (the Council) to support the new Office for the Not-for-Profit Sector and drive the reform agenda.
The Council is chaired by Linda Lavarch from the Australian Centre for Philanthropy and Nonprofit Studies.
Helen McDevitt is an experienced social policy and reform adviser in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C).
She has previously led the Workforce Participation and Education Branch in PM&C for two years, leading COAG reform work in education, training, policy advice and coordination across education, training and employment.
She has also worked in the Commonwealth departments of education (two years in schools division) and transport (five years in strategic land transport taskforce).
As head of the Office for the NFP Sector, she works to Paul Ronalds who runs the Office of Work and Family within the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet and who is also very active in progressing the NFP reform agenda.
Ronalds was appointed from the NFP sector and will be known to many people through his prior roles including at World Vision Australia.
One of her first public events will be as guest speaker at the Annual General Meeting of Philanthropy Australia in Melbourne on Wednesday, 27 April 2011.
In May, she will speak at a Conference on the topic of “Making Reform a Reality”, outlining the Office’s early priorities around regulation, reducing red tape and improving transparency and accountability as well as early progress and what the future holds.
The Conference is called Building Partnerships between Government & Not-For-Profits- Fostering collaboration for improved social service delivery. For more information on this go to: http://www.governmentnfp.com/
I note that the Conference (of which, ProBono is a sponsor) on Building Partnerships between Government and NFPs has, at its lowest, a registration fee of $3000 for two days. Looking at the speaker list, I would guess that most are attending for low or no fee. Perhaps we could soon have a Conference on Building Partnerships which most NFP Board members and staff could actually afford to attend.
I see that the Conference which Ms McDevitt will be making her debut… Building Partnerships between Government and NFPs … and which ProBono is a sponsor, has a starting registration fee for the 2 days of $3000.
I am not sure which part of the NFP sector this Conference is seeking to engage with, but its unlikely that there would be many Board Members and CEOs who could afford to attend.
Given that most of the speakers are being paid no or low fees, its a pity that the event could not be more accessible, especially given the relevance of Ms McDevitt's presentation.