My name is James Pullin I'm a proud Darug man with connection to Coonabarabran in western New South Wales on my father's side and Sri Lankan heritage on my mother's side. I studied at Queensland University of Technology, and I did a Bachelor of Law (Honors) and a Bachelor of Justice, majoring in Criminology and Policing.
My name is Joe Marsh I'm a proud Githabul man, within the Bundjalung Nation. I studied a Bachelor of Social Work and have Honors in that in that area as well.
My name is Jessica Kiss, I'm a Gooreng Gooreng woman. I grew up in Bundaberg. I moved to Brisbane for University. I did a Bachelor of Arts at University of Queensland and I majored in Geography and International Relations.
I didn't know that I specifically wanted to be involved in public policy when I graduated. I knew that I wanted to do meaningful work probably within the public sector and it wasn't until I saw the Policy Futures program that I realised that the public policy space was something that really appealed to me. So far during the program I've worked on passing legislation, developing the critical minerals strategy, the development of a consultation paper and so many more different policy tools. I'm now on my third rotation with the Policy Futures Program. I've experienced so much, and I have full confidence that I'll be able to navigate the public sector afterwards.
I chose Policy Futures because I want to help make a change for our people um the First Nation's people. The other reason why I've chosen it is because I've studied Social Work, other areas I've worked in, sports areas, but I found that we can make a big difference in policy area and be able to make a change back in the community so that is one of the reasons why I wanted to look into policy area.
See, I always wanted to merge the worlds of governance and policy with criminology and justice, but I wasn't quite sure how to do that. Through the Policy Futures program, I'm given the opportunity to rotate to different departments where I could make that dream become reality. You don't need a policy background to thrive in this space. I think that policy concerns every facet of life so it doesn't matter what social or tertiary background you have, there are transferable skills that you've learned that the public service will definitely value.
The recruitment process was really good. I had very good mentors. I had a good support person, able to speak to people, especially the mentor, whenever I needed to and also talk to the Policy Futures team were very helpful so if I needed help they were there to give me that advice.
My advice for anyone looking to apply for the program would be to just go for it, don't doubt yourself, embrace your insecurities. If you're young or inexperienced, from a different cultural background, these are all things that will make you a great public servant.
My main goal with the recruitment process was for the Policy Futures team to understand who I am, where I come from and ultimately what I stand for but by the end of the recruitment process I realised that I learned things about myself and I think that's a testament to the amazing structure that the Policy Futures program offers.