Hannah Kirk

Graduate – Department of Health

Balancing a dynamic workday at the Department of Health and Aged Care, I delve into tasks ranging from managing correspondences to crafting engaging presentations. After insightful meetings and a population health seminar, I cap off the day with social sport—a perfect mix of professional growth and personal well-being.

7.30 AM

My first alarm sounds and it’s time to get ready for work.

8.00 AM

I make sure I have my headphones, put on my morning podcast, head out the door, and walk down to the bus stop.

8.30 AM

Made it into work just in time! I make my way up to level six and am welcomed by all the early birds already in the office. I settle into the day by checking and responding to emails, then familiarising myself with my schedule for the day. I have a look over my to do list to check that I don’t have any outstanding tasks.

Starting work

9.30 AM

My morning generally involves monitoring the inboxes and actioning anything urgent that has come up! I check our media inboxes to see if any relevant media has been released that needs to be shared around our division. I then our parliamentary document management system and read all the latest correspondences that have come through to our division. It’s my task to assign correspondences to correct section for their input.

10.30 AM

Coffee time! The Department of Health and Aged Care is surrounded by so many delicious coffee spots! I meet up with some other graduates and we head downstairs for a quick catch up and coffee.

10.45 AM

I head into a quick team catch up where we discuss what everyone is working on and where everyone is at with their priorities.

11.30 AM

First meeting of the day. We have a meeting with The Royal Australian College of General Practitioners to discuss engagement at an upcoming conference. We are going to be delivering a presentation on compliance education which is a key function of our team. During the meeting we discuss what the RACGP wants the focus of the presentation to be – they want us to focus on Medicare compliance in general and what the departments compliance functions are. We go on to discuss ideas to make the presentation both engaging and informative for the particular audience.

Meeting time

12.30 PM

Lunch time! I head up to level nine to meet the rest of the grads for lunch where we catch up on our weeks so far!!

1.30 PM

Time for me to pop my headphones in and smash out some work. I spend time reviewing my notes from the mornings meeting and then get on with developing slides and preparing speaker notes for the upcoming compliance education presentation.

3.30 PM

The whole department has been invited to listen into a Population Health Seminar on Child Maltreatment. I pop my headphones on and tune in via Webex. One of my favourite things about working at The Department of Health and Aged Care is the opportunity to listen into the interesting work that is being done to improve population health across Australia. It’s also a great opportunity to gain some insights that could be applicable to my future work.

4.30 PM

I start wrapping up my work for the day. Firing off any emails and writing down my to do list for the following day.

5.30 PM

Time to head out the door and back on the bus towards home!

6.30 PM

Social sport time. I meet up with some friends for a game of basketball! I find it a great opportunity to do some exercise and socialise at the same time!

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I acknowledge that Murdoch University is situated on the lands of the Whadjuk Noongar people.

I pay respect to the enduring and dynamic culture and the leadership of Noongar elders both past and present.

The boodjar (country) on which Murdoch University is located has for thousands of years been a place of learning. We at Murdoch University are proud to continue this long tradition.