6.00 AM

My first of ten alarms goes off.

6.30 AM

I get out of bed and begin my morning ritual. Eating overnight oats for breakfast while reading the news on my phone. Afterwards, I get myself ready for work and pack my backpack with my laptop and lunch.

7.15 AM

I walk to the station and catch the bus to work (thank you 50 cent fares!). All placements in the Policy Futures program are easy to reach by public transport.

8.00 AM

Depending on the placement, there is some flexibility in start and finish hours. I generally like to get in the office just before 8am especially during the summer. I start the morning by grabbing a coffee with another one of the Policy Futures grads from the café at the ground floor of our office building.

8.15 AM

The first thing I always do is say hello to my coworkers both in the office and on Microsoft Teams. Being placed in Regional Development, many of my colleagues are based in regional Queensland.

8.30 AM

After having a quick chat with coworkers, I check my emails to see if anything interesting came in on Friday night or over the weekend. This week I am working on two projects of equal importance, so I take the time to block out parts of my calendar this week dedicated to working solely on either project.

9.30 AM

On Mondays we have a team meeting where we talk about how we’re feeling, priorities for the week, challenges we anticipate and opportunities for collaboration on projects that we are working on.

10.30 AM

Following the team meeting, I get stuck into whatever my priorities are. This week my two main objectives are to help create a framework for evaluating the cumulative impacts that construction and capital works projects have on a specific region and working on an ongoing review of the rollout of electric vehicles for regional public servants.

The cumulative impact work is most exciting to me as, if all goes well, it could be the basis for a whole-of-government model used to evaluate the impact of major works in regional communities.

12.30 PM

Lunchtime!

1.15 PM

Returning from lunch, I get stuck back into work. To prepare for an upcoming meeting with some folks from Transport and Main Roads, I polish up some documents we prepared earlier in the week regarding the review of EV rollout in the regions.

It’s often said that the policy officer role can vary from day to day, but in my experience as a graduate it often varies from hour-to-hour. At the start of the day you could be writing a ministerial briefing note and then come back from lunch and be asked to conduct some interjurisdictional analysis on legislation.

2.30 PM

I move to a quiet room to meet online with both our colleagues at Transport and Main Roads and my other team members who are working from home today. Meeting with other agencies to put our heads together to come up with solutions is one of the most rewarding parts of the job. While it can sometimes be a bit disheartening to be told that the idea that your team has been stewing is impractical or won’t work, the insight that other agencies provide is invaluable.

3.30 PM

After wrapping up the meeting, I attend to any emails that have come and set myself an outline for the upcoming week on how best to act on the two projects I’m working on.

4.00 PM

It is home time! But more importantly it’s Monday so naturally it’s chest day at the gym. I use the end-of-trip facilities at work to get changed and walk to the gym in the city. Afterwards, I walk back and have a shower here before catching the bus home.

6.00 PM

When I get home, I like making myself dinner for tonight as well as preparing breakfast and lunch for the next day. After that, I will typically spend entirely far too long sitting on the couch with my cat playing Baldur’s Gate 3.

10.30 PM

I fall asleep on the couch.

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