CBR Monthly Wrap Up - May 2025

ACS Tech Masterclass series for APS members

As part of its partnership with the Australian Public Service Commission, we are delivery tech Masterclass Series to the APSC Digital Supported Pathways Program’s participants. You can find those Tech Masterclass series recordings on the ACS Digital Library and CPD hours will be automatically recorded after you watched the videos. Software & Programming in Practice - ACS Tech Masterclass (29 May) and Cyber Security in Practice - ACS Tech Masterclass (29 Apr).

On 9 May, participants were fortunate to learn from two subject matter experts, Andrew Hammond and Russ Condick, who shared their valuable knowledge and time with our APS & ACS members.

The Masterclass started with the first session, "Software Testing," presented by Andrew Hammond, the General Manager at KJR. He started his career in software testing and quality assurance at KJR, where he built a strong technical foundation. Over the years, Andrew has helped design and run testing strategies for complex systems, ensuring that the Software is reliable and performs well. The second session was about "Designing Government Tech for real-world impact," presented by Russ Condick. Russ is the Managing Director and Chief Technology Officer at Ten Bags Full Consulting, a company he co-founded to improve the way government and regulated services are built and delivered.

Our event audience enjoyed their presentations, and the content was great, especially learning some of what the structure looks like and the practical skills we need to understand and gain as software developers.

You can listen to the recording here.

On 29 May, participants also learned about “beyond the chatbot” from Richard Smith, Technical expert from Microsoft, and Cheng Yu, Head of Research and development, at Trellis Data.

Participants explored the current landscape and future trends of digital services in government, focusing on the role of chatbots and advanced AI technologies, also examining various case studies, challenges, and citizen expectations in this evolving space.

Cheng Yu took us the AI journey on Australia’s Indigenous languages. It was fascinating that the history shows many things can be done: Modern Hebrew was revived after 1500 years of disuse. Today it has over 8 million active speakers. Inspired by this, we are pioneering AI methods, using Large Language Models to make Aboriginal language revival practical. We’re turning extremely limited data into new hope, breathing new life into these ancient voices. This isn’t just theory. We have the methods. You hear from a company with 8 years of commercial experience in innovating and delivering AI, with an R&D team right here in Canberra. And yes, it's technologically feasible to revive our indigenous languages using LLM.