Our key initiatives

We aim to deliver these key initiatives and activities in 2022–23 through to 2026 and will report on progress and outcomes against them achieved in our annual report.

Achieving strong policy outcomes

To achieve DPC’s strong policy outcomes objective, we will deliver the following initiatives through 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 the whole of government Victorian Digital Strategy 2021-26, creating a cohesive and modern approach to digital reform.
Maximise the value of digital investment across government by collaborating with departments and agencies to collectively deliver future digital investment strategies and provide central agency support for departments to deliver on their digital reforms.
Drive a coordinated approach to digital strategy development and provide strategic guidance to support departments and agencies deliver sub-strategies to bring clear improvements to Victoria’s digital economy.
Drive digital policy reform and enable digital transformation by applying service design and digital insights. Deliver citizen facing whole of government products and platforms.
Implement Victoria’s Cyber Strategy 2021 to strengthening Victorian Government networks and services, support businesses and the community to connect, engage, and work safely online, and develop strategic partnerships to grow Victoria’s cyber sector and drive innovation.
Improve Victorian Government data capability by enhancing data protection and privacy, enabling data-driven policymaking, ensuring effective and ethical use and sharing, and building data literacy to increase administrative efficiency and improve citizen experience with government services.
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.
Embed new skills, ways of working and digital mindsets across the Victorian Public Service through the creation of a Digital Academy, with a particular focus on promoting opportunities for women in tech.
Identify procurement reform opportunities for whole of government IT spend with a focus on simplifying buying process, reducing cost, enabling policy and removing barriers for local, small and social businesses.
Uplift corporate services across Government through the design and implementation of modern polices, processes and cloud-based platforms across Human Capital Management (HCM), Finance and Procurement functions.

Service Victoria

Enhance customer experience with more digital services for Victorians to improve citizen satisfaction with government services.
Deliver new features and journeys to make it easy for customers to find and access the services they need.
Support regulatory reform through a digital reg-tech platform and adding more services for business customers.
Improve digital inclusiveness with new channels for simple and fast interactions with government to make transacting with government as accessible as possible.

Cabinet, Communications and Corporate

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.
Drive an efficient, sustainable and high-quality delivery of DPC services through implementing a range of corporate and workforce transformation initiatives.

Office of the Victorian Government Architect

Provide advice, advocacy and collaboration on good design through the Office of the Victorian Government Architect.
Undertake a review of the office’s operating model to ensure a sustainable, efficient and high impact delivery of services.
Provide key advice for projects of state significance including the Commonwealth Games.

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 health system and Victoria’s policy approach to COVID-19 management across departments and agencies.
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 continuing to strengthen the VET system, justice reforms, and implementing Best Start, Best Life reforms alongside the continued roll out of three-year-old kindergarten.
Lead development of a Whole of Victorian Government approach to building the social services workforce.
Support the successful delivery of the Victorian Government’s Big Housing Build, to help increase the state’s social housing supply by 10% in four years and support Victorians in need.
Support the implementation of recommendations from the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, to deliver a reformed and integrated mental health and wellbeing system with community at its core.

Economic Policy and State Productivity

Provide advice on current and future economic challenges and opportunities, including advice on measures to support Victoria’s economic recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic.
Provide advice to support the government’s budgeting and financial management and efficient government operations.
Provide advice to deliver a renewable energy transition and emissions reduction; support delivery of the government’s environmental and agricultural priorities; and maintain the sustainable use of Victoria’s natural resources in a changing climate.
Support delivery of the government’s infrastructure program and coordinate a range of reforms to improve the safety, liveability and sustainability of Victoria’s built environment.
Support delivery of the government’s industry and innovation agenda, including support for the newly established state-owned company, Break-through Victoria Pty Ltd, which is driving investment in commercialisation and jobs outcomes.
Provide advice to support the efficient operation of markets, while maintaining appropriate protections for consumers.
Facilitate engagement with international stakeholders in Victoria and overseas, particularly by the Premier and Governor, that promote trade, foreign investment and other priority whole of government objectives.

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.

Wage Inspectorate Victoria

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 and improved outcomes in line with the commitments made in the Victorian Aboriginal Affairs Framework 2018-2023, the Self-Determination Reform Framework, and Victoria’s Implementation Plan for the National Agreement on Closing the Gap 2021-2023.
Progress the Victorian Government’s negotiation of treaty elements with the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria (as the representative body for Traditional Owners and Aboriginal Victorians), in line with the Advancing the Treaty Process with Aboriginal Victorians Act 2018.
Lead the whole of government response to the historic Yoorrook 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, maintaining the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Register and acquitting statutory functions under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006, such as activities to promote and enforce compliance.
Deliver the Aboriginal Community Infrastructure Program and the First Mortgage and Community Infrastructure Program to enable Aboriginal organisations to meet their infrastructure needs and serve their communities.
Support and resource Traditional Owner Groups by delivering Nation-Building initiatives, particularly that build and strengthen non-formally recognised Traditional Owner Groups.
Support the Victorian Aboriginal Heritage Council to progress and fulfil its statutory functions.
Progress and fulfil the Victorian Government’s statutory responsibilities under the Aboriginal Lands Act 1970 and Aboriginal Lands Act 1991, and support self-governance and self-determination activities at Lake Tyers and Framlingham Aboriginal Trusts.

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 public sector executive workforce policies to ensure consistent and transparent executive employment and remuneration practices across the public sector.
Provide legal and policy advice to support the Premier, DPC’s Ministers and the department more broadly, including during the caretaker period.
Support the Victorian Independent Remuneration Tribunal to uphold integrity and trust in remuneration arrangements for Members of Parliament, senior public officials and elected local government 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.

Updated 1 September 2022