Paul Fennelly describes the addition of the Innovation portfolio to the State Development Department under the Beattie Government. He comments on the machinery of government changes following elections generally, and on the changes specifically to State Development while he was Director General.
Peter Coaldrake details the skills and lessons learnt from his time in government. He discusses his involvement in a review of the university sector and his relationship with government and opposition as the Vice Chancellor of QUT.
Peter Coaldrake states that he held the position of dean for three years, before moving to become head of school at QUT. He became a pro-vice-chancellor of research but decided to work for government after the election of Wayne Goss.
Clyde Gilmour discusses how overseas travel challenged his way of thinking about education and discusses how education was restructured in Queensland, starting with the Committee on Advanced Education. He explains how recommendations from the committee led to the establishment of technical colleges.
John Strano discusses the Smart State by noting that a lot of the thinking and push for the branding came from the university sector. He details the influence of universities upon the encouragement for biotechnology. He goes on to detail the outcomes of this policy that many strategists did not consider, largely that biotech had very different flow on effects for the economy compared to IT.
Ross Rolfe describes the relationship between government and vice chancellors under the Beattie era, including John Hay at UQ, and Dennis Gibson at QUT, Glyn Davis's links between government and Griffith University, and the role of Ken Fletcher and billionaire philanthropist Chuck Feeney.
Ruth Matchett describes how she resigned from the public service in 1995, began a small social policy consultancy and then moved into the university sector and worked at QUT for 10 years.
