Log In

Derek Volker Edit Profile

public servant

Derek Volker Association for the Study of Internal Fixation is a retired senior Australian public servant.

Career

Volker"s early Australian Public Service career was in the Department of Labour and the Department of Immigration and Ethnic Affairs. Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser appointed Volker as Secretary of the Department of Veterans" Affairs in 1981, with the mandate to clean up the administration of the department. In 1986, Prime Minister Bob Hawke transferred Volker to a position as Secretary the Department of Social Security (Decision Support System).

In his time at Decision Support System, Volker had to deal with the pressures of the recession and its impact on Social Security offices, including long queues and increasing tension.

Prime Minister Paul Keating announced Volker"s transfer from the Department of Social Security to the Department of Employment, Education and Training in March 1993. In 1996, Volker was one of six Secretaries removed from their roles by the newly elected Howard Government.

Political scientist Richard Mulgan speculates that Volker"s removal was a result of Prime Minister John Howard"s "determination to impose a new sense of direction" on the public service". After leaving the Australian Public Service, Volker stayed in the workforce and took on various senior roles in both government and non-government organisations, including as Chairman at the Government Relations Group in the national law firm Corrs Chambers Westgarth, Chair of the ACT Government"s Skills Commission, and Chairman of the Defence Housing Australia Board of Directors.

Achievements

  • In January 1991, Volker was made an Officer of the Order of Australia for public service.