Message from Ambassador Bill Tweddell
Transformations Through Leadership Development: Human Resource Symposium
Pacific Grand Ballroom, Waterfront Hotel, Lahug, Cebu City
27 May 2015
• Honourable Robert Martinez, Acting Chairman of the Civil Service Commission (CSC)
• Honourable Nieves Osorio, CSC Commissioner
• Honourable Austere Panadero, Undersecretary of the Department of the Interior and Local Government (DILG)
• Mr Adrian Robles, President of the Philippine Society for Training and Development (PSTD), and one of our Australian alumni, of whom we are very proud
• Our friends from Griffith University, in my home state Queensland, “beautiful one day, perfect the next, and from the University of Sydney
• Delegates from the Laos-Australia Institute
• Our Philippines Australia Human Resources and Organizational Development Facility (HRODF) team headed by Ms Milalin Javellana
• Our partners in development
• Distinguished guests
• Ladies and gentlemen
Maayong Hapon!
Thank you for the opportunity to address you today. On behalf of the Australian Government, I warmly congratulate the Philippines Civil Service Commission (CSC) and the Philippine Society for Training and Development (PSTD) for this 3rd Annual Human Resource Symposium. Australia is proud to once again partner with you on this successful initiative.
It is a pleasure finally to be able to join you this year. I have heard good things about the previous years’ symposia and I commend the CSC, headed by Chairman Martinez, for spear-heading this initiative. Today, it is an honour to witness another important moment in the collaboration between Australia and the Philippines in building the capacity for transformation.
Which brings me to this year’s theme of transformation – how it begins with the individual, affects the organisation, and eventually spreads to the wider community. The Australian aid program is working with the Philippine government to achieve our mutual goals of promoting prosperity, reducing poverty, and enhancing political stability, not only in this country but in the region.
Let me tell you more about this partnership that is making a difference.
Next year, we will be celebrating the 70th anniversary of Australia-Philippines diplomatic relations, marking a milestone in our continuing friendship on a wide range of areas such as trade, development, people-to-people links and security.
Hallmarks of this partnership include education and good governance. The Australian Government has always believed that building the talent of people and strong institutions are necessary preconditions for reform. Within the public sector agency where I have built my career, the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, this belief is enshrined in our value statement that places a premium on valuing people and on accountable and effective leadership.
Our aid program continues to support the Philippine Government’s agenda on good governance. It was in this context that the Human Resource and Organisational Development Facility or HRODF was born. And it is because of the Philippines’ strong agenda on governance that HRODF has been successful.
Now on its 5th year, HRODF continues to provide high-quality support to government agencies.
We have worked with many national and local government agencies, such as with the Department of Education, where we have strengthened their systems in support of the K-12 agenda.
I am pleased to see Usec Panadero here today on behalf of the Department of Interior and Local Government (DILG) – one of the departments for which we have enjoyed a long and productive association. HRODF has been working with DILG so that they can enhance support to local governments including on disaster risk reduction and roads asset management.
HRODF has been providing best-practice expert advice to current and future leaders within the Philippines bureaucracy. For example, our Australia Awards scholarship programs have been providing opportunities to the best and brightest Filipinos to undertake post-graduate study in Australia.
Australia also provides assistance in enhancing basic education and works to enhance qualification recognition arrangements with ASEAN economies for both mainstream education and vocational activities.
We also value engagements with the private sector. I am therefore pleased to see our friends from PTSD headed by Mr Robles. We are inspired by this public-private partnership that has emerged in the area of human resource management.
As I draw these remarks to a close, I would like to again congratulate the organisers of this conference – to CSC, PTSD and to our own HRODF – for what promises to be an exciting three days of learning and innovation. To all participants, I hope this symposium will not only lend you the latest knowledge in human resource and organisational development but also stir within you the passion for change and for transformation.
May you all have a most fruitful stay here in Cebu.
Thank you and good afternoon.