Future Made in Australia Office confirmed for PASA’s Canberra Big Breakfast event

Using procurement as an instrument of policy and the Future Made in Australia Office will feature as a headline topic for PASA’s Canberra Big Breakfast Series event in July.

Sabrena King, who leads the Future Made in Australia Office at the Department of Finance, has been confirmed as a keynote speaker for the July 20 gathering of the capital’s procurement leaders.

The Future Made in Australia Office has been established to coordinate the cross-government delivery of a range of procurement policy and practice reforms announced under the Buy Australian Plan.

The 10-point Buy Australia Plan, includes a policy to “level the playing field” by bringing in a Fair Go Procurement Framework requiring those that gain government contracts to pay their fair share of tax.

Building procurement capability across government

The Future Made in Australia Office also houses the Centre of Procurement Excellence which aims to build procurement capability across the government encouraging innovation and strengthening partnerships with buyers.

Large-scale public procurement today offers the opportunity to think again: particularly, how public procurement can deliver economic, social and environmental benefits to Australia – far beyond simple savings.

The impact that spending public money can have, through a public procurement ecosystem even, can be far greater than the sum of its parts.

Yet this demands not just strong policy, flexible processes and a new mindset for procurement officers, but also market opportunity and demand management. These are some of the challenges Sabrena will discuss that the ‘Future Made in Australia Office,’ within the Department of Finance, is addressing in working towards investing in a future for all Australians, as it coordinates the implementation.

Prior to joining Finance, Sabrena led the Australian Industry Participation program, including Commonwealth Australian Industry Participation policies, at the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, and was the regulator for the Australian Jobs Act 2013. Sabrena has also contributed to and led a number of significant industry development and growth programs.

Procurement breakfast roadshow

The Canberra Big Breakfast, one of seven PASA is hosting across the region’s major cities, will
explore key challenges facing the procurement profession, including:

• Mitigating the effects of high inflation – refocussing on value creation over cost savings
• Rebalancing sourcing decisions based on risk management as well as cost advantage
• Reviewing the future of global sourcing from Australia & New Zealand in the face of deglobalisation worldwide
• Delivering on stakeholder demands for raised ESG standards from the supply side
• Capturing the true benefits now available from eProcurement technology and digitalisation work
• Understanding local needs and differences

Big Breakfast events coming up:

• Adelaide – Thursday April 27, The Adelaide Oval
• Sydney – Thursday June 1, The Hilton Hotel, 488 George St
• Melbourne – Thursday June 8, The RACV Club
• Canberra – Thursday July 20, The QT Hotel, 1 London Circuit
• Perth – Thursday August 10, The Duxton Hotel
• Brisbane – Thursday August 22, The Grand Chancellor, Spring Hill
• Auckland – Thursday August 31, The Rydges