An application you can defend at the interview.

Our question, round 1. Tell me about one written piece you produced where you had to set out policy options or a recommendation for a decision-maker. Walk me through how you put it together and what happened to it.

I prepared an options paper for the executive on the kinship care review. It set out three options, including one that nobody wanted to fund. I estimated costs for each option using existing program data. The executive chose a modified version of option two.

Round 2. Thinking of a piece of writing you've prepared — the kinship care options paper or another document — how did you shape it for the people who had to read it?

I drafted the Ministerial brief on the section 162 amendment timeline. The Minister's office asked a narrow question, but the answer only made sense alongside two dates the branch had not settled. I set out the question, the two dates and what each would mean, in one page. The brief came back cleared without amendment and the earlier date was adopted.

Our question, round 1. Describe a situation in a team where you had to deal with a difference between people, or a call about what was fair. Tell me what you did and how it played out.

No example

Round 2 — asked a different way. Can you describe a time at work when doing the right thing by the public interest, or treating people fairly and consistently, shaped how you handled a situation? Walk us through what happened and what you did.

A caseworker asked me whether a new regulation applied to a particular family. I checked the Act and the departmental guidance and found the guidance was out of date. I told the caseworker what the Act said and flagged the out-of-date guidance to the policy owner. The guidance was updated.

Our question. Describe a time you had to work through an issue with external stakeholders face to face or by phone. Tell me what you did at each stage and how the stakeholders responded.

It wasn't face to face, but I ran three online consultation sessions with five peak bodies about proposed kinship care changes. Two of the bodies opposed the changes. For the second session I changed the order of my presentation to start with what families would actually experience, instead of starting with the legislation. I wrote the consultation summary. One of the two opposing bodies agreed to co-sign the department's submission.