Samantha Palmer
Samantha Palmer oversees People, Capability and Communication for the Australian Government’s Department of Health and Ageing. She is also honoured to be the Department’s Disability Champion, advocating for and supporting staff with disability since 2009 and contributing to disability confidence across the Australian Public Service.
The Department has more than 4000 staff with almost 5% identifying as having disability. Samantha instigated and led the development of the Department’s innovative People Strategy 2010-2015: Performance through People and is a member of the Department’s People Committee, Audit Committee, Change Program Board, and Bullying and Harrasment Working Group.
During her time as Disability Champion Samantha has been a driving force in the establishment of the Network for Staff with Disability, the implementation and improvement of the Disability Action Plan, the delivery of enhanced facilities for staff and increased education, awareness and support for staff with disability.
Prior to joining DoHA Samantha was the Deputy-General Manager External Relations, People and Assurance for the Child Support Agency, Department of Human Services and was part of a senior executive team who delivered significant child support and internal reforms for the benefit of separated families and children. Samantha’s specific contribution included establishing an effective stakeholder engagement and media relations program, overseeing a series of new support products for parents and teenagers, and building an internal communication system to support cultural change, leadership development and technical capability across the organisation.
Before joining the Australian Public Service Samantha worked in senior positions in Queensland for more than 15 years including for the Queensland Government (Office of Fair Trading, Environment Protection Authority, Transport, road safety, Housing), and Griffith University.
Samantha has also worked for the non-profit and private sector and lectured part-time in communication at the Queensland University of Technology.
Samantha has a Master of Public Administration from the University of Queensland (1995) and a Bachelor of Business (Communication) from QUT (1990). She edited the Public Interest quarterly journal for the Institute of Public Administration Australia Queensland 2003-2006.