8.00 AM

I ride my bike through the city, across Lake Burley Griffin, past Old Parliament House to PM&C. After locking my bike up in the underground carpark, I iron my shirt, get changed and head up to the office.

8.30 AM

I scan the daily media for any coverage relevant to my area and send articles to my team on key policy developments in our policy area.

9.00 AM

I head downstairs to grab a coffee with a few colleagues. We chat about new policies and the latest news from around the country.

9.20 AM

I finish adding changes to a brief to the Prime Minister that I’ve been working on, print it out and discuss with two team members. We submit the brief to our Assistant Secretary and chase up some remaining data from another department to add to the brief attachments.

10.30 AM

I head off to an Interdepartmental Committee Meeting in Civic (Canberra’s CBD). Today’s meeting is about the engagement strategy for an Australian delegation visiting overseas.

12.00 PM

I head back to PM&C and write up a meeting summary for my area. We know that the relevant Minister will need further authority from the Prime Minister to make the policy changes necessary to execute the strategy, so I draft an email to that department and make a start on a letter from the Prime Minister.

12.30 PM

I head over to the rose garden across from Old Parliament House and have a sandwich and an iced coffee with a few other PM&C graduates.

1.00 PM

I race back to the office to see Dr Ken Henry speak about responses to the global financial crisis.

2.30 PM

I prepare an outline for a brief for one of the Prime Minister’s upcoming interstate visits. We need input from a few other departments about the policy detail for announcements and meetings. I make some phone calls with other areas in PM&C to get the best departmental contacts and the most up-to-date information.

3.05 PM

We receive an urgent request from the Prime Minister’s Office to prepare a new Question Time Brief on a set of projects the Prime Minister will be announcing. We make calls to other departments and collect information to insert into the brief. We upload the brief and take further instructions from Prime Minister’s Office to add more detail to the brief.  

5.00 PM

This morning’s Brief has come back for comment from our Assistant Secretary with final changes before it goes up to the Prime Minister’s Office. I make the changes and send up to the Deputy Secretary’s office for clearance.

5.35 PM

I pack up my desk and get on my bike to head home for my 6.00pm gym class.