Episode Twelve - The Intergovernmental Relations Manager

Our guests today are Nathan and his daughter, Peytn.

0:00:44 - (Nicole): Nathan Rule is manager intergovernmental Relations for the Local Government association of Queensland. His job is to help local governments in Queensland by being a bridge between them and the other levels of government, the state and federal governments. Nathan has worked in politics since 2009 when he had to decide between that and a possible teaching career. We worked together at LGAQ before I changed careers to be a podcaster.

0:01:11 - (Nicole): Nathan and I shouldn't really be friends. I mean, he's a Collingwood supporter and I'm a Carlton supporter. He was a KFC kid, and I was a McDonald's kid. He likes Manchester United and I'm an Arsenal fan. Not to mention we've worked on opposite sides of politics. But his kind and calm manner, his determination to make things better and his belief in public service overshadow all those differences. I'm honoured to call him a friend.

0:01:37 - (Nicole): He brings with him his daughter Peytn, and you may hear her brothers Tanner and Hastings make an appearance in the background too. Peytn wants to be a doctor when she grows up and work at a dog shelter. I always love talking to Nathan, but having Peytn along was a real treat. I know you'll enjoy this conversation as much as I did, so let's get on with the show.

0:01:58 - (Nicole): Welcome to bring your kid to work. This episode is called the Intergovernmental relations manager. And that's what your dad does, isn't it, Peytn?

0:02:09 - (Peytn): I don't know. I don't really know what he does for work.

0:02:15 - (Nicole): Well, good. We're going to find out. You and I together can work it out. What do you reckon?

0:02:20 - (Peytn): Cool? Sure.

0:02:22 - (Nicole): Okay, so I want our two very special guests to introduce themselves. Firstly, we have our youngest special guest. Can you please introduce yourself, young special guest?

0:02:34 - (Peytn): I'm Peytn. And I'm nine years old and I love Italian. And I also love sloths.

0:02:48 - (Nathan): Sloths?

0:02:49 - (Peytn): Yeah. They're my favourite animal.

0:02:51 - (Nicole): Oh, excellent. Okay, so, Italian. The language and the place or the food. What kind of Italian do you love?

0:02:59 - (Peytn): The food.

0:02:59 - (Nicole): Excellent.

0:03:00 - (Nicole): Peytn, what grade are you in at school?

0:03:04 - (Peytn): Three.

0:03:05 - (Nicole): Grade three. Okay, and who did you bring with you? Who's this guy?

0:03:10 - (Peytn): My dad.

0:03:12 - (Nicole): And what's your dad's name?

0:03:14 - (Peytn): Nathan Roll.

0:03:16 - (Nicole): Hi, Nathan.

0:03:18 - (Nathan): Hello. I didn't line her up to say Italian either. I actually wasn't sure what she would say when she kept going with that long introduction, but there you go.

0:03:29 - (Peytn): I love Italian.

0:03:30 - (Nicole): I like Italian food, too. I'm half Italian, in fact.

0:03:34 - (Nathan): Yeah, there you go and see the surprise. Look, she didn't know that, so I didn't tee that up beforehand.

0:03:41 - (Nicole): Peytn, I called this episode the Intergovernmental relations manager because I know that's the job that your dad does. But what does he do exactly?

0:03:54 - (Peytn): Manager.

0:03:55 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:03:57 - (Peytn): Like, type stuff for the government?

0:04:00 - (Nicole): He types stuff, I think.

0:04:03 - (Peytn): Yeah. And he does a lot of election theme majiggies.

0:04:11 - (Nicole): And does he stay in an office all day long, all the time? No.

0:04:17 - (Peytn): Sometimes he works at home.

0:04:22 - (Nicole): Yeah. And what about. Does he go away ever?

0:04:30 - (Peytn): Sometimes, yeah.

0:04:33 - (Nicole): So, does a bit of travel for work?

0:04:35 - (Peytn): Yeah.

0:04:37 - (Nicole): Where does he go when he travels? Do you know?

0:04:40 - (Peytn): He goes to lots of different places.

0:04:42 - (Nathan): Yeah, that's right. Well, where have I just come back from? We were just talking about this before. We're. No. Remember in the middle of Queensland.

0:04:52 - (Peytn): I forgot what it was called.

0:04:54 - (Nathan): Longreach.

0:04:55 - (Peytn): Longreach, yeah.

0:04:58 - (Nicole): Wow. So, dad was in Longreach, and he goes to lots of other places?

0:05:02 - (Peytn): Yep.

0:05:03 - (Nicole): So, he types a lot. He does stuff for elections. He talks to government, that kind of thing?

0:05:10 - (Peytn): Yeah.

0:05:11 - (Nicole): And does he work just all by himself or does he have a team of people that he works with?

0:05:16 - (Peytn): He has a team of people in his office.

0:05:21 - (Nicole): So, he likes working with other people, you think?

0:05:24 - (Peytn): Yes. So, he's not bored and alone?

0:05:29 - (Nicole): Yeah, just like at home. He's never bored and alone, is he?

0:05:33 - (Peytn): Yeah.

0:05:36 - (Nicole): Nathan, did Peytn get that description? Pretty okay.

0:05:41 - (Nathan): Not too bad, actually. We have chatted about this a few times, and, I mean, I actually have trouble explaining my job to people who, as you would know, it's quite a dynamic, sort of unique sort of role that most people, unless you're in it, it's hard to understand or appreciate. And there's so many different elements to it. So, yeah, she did a pretty good job, I think. Yeah.

0:06:05 - (Nicole): How would you describe an intergovernmental relations manager, then?

0:06:09 - (Nathan): Well, I guess it depends who asks. But, I mean, for me, I like to think of it as helping people achieve good outcomes for their communities. That's kind of like the big what we do sort of role, but ultimately, you know, it's connecting our members, who are all the councils in Queensland with different levels of government, with the state government and federal government trying to solve shared problems and come together and try and partner with those two levels in helping make their places a better place to, you know, there's different levers that councils have on what they can do themselves, but there's a lot they can't do, whether that's through a lack of funding or different legislation or policies or whatnot from the other two levels of government. So, working together with either or both the other levels can help unlock really important outcomes for their community.

0:07:08 - (Nathan): So that's kind of a long-winded way of saying it's all about helping people have better communities.

0:07:15 - (Nicole): And so, Peytn, you're nine, you're in grade three.

0:07:18 - (Peytn): Yeah.

0:07:19 - (Nicole): Do you want to do Dad's job? Do you want to be an intergovernmental relations manager?

0:07:23 - (Peytn): No.

0:07:28 - (Nicole): What is it do you think you're going to do when you get big?

0:07:31 - (Peytn): I want to work at a dog shelter, and I also want to be a doctor.

0:07:37 - (Nicole): Oh, okay. So, work at a dog shelter and also be a doctor. Do you know what kind of doctor for dogs or a different kind of doctor?

0:07:46 - (Peytn): Like a doctor. My mom told me that if I wanted to do it a couple of weeks ago, a doctor that works on all the big surgeries and stuff and big accidents for people. For people.

0:08:04 - (Nicole): Okay, so work at a dog shelter but also be a people doctor at the same time. You reckon?

0:08:10 - (Peytn): Yeah.

0:08:12 - (Nicole): Wow. That's going to be a very busy, busy life you're going to have. And so, if you're going to work as a doctor and do surgeries, what do you like with blood? Are you okay with blood?

0:08:25 - (Peytn): Kind of.

0:08:27 - (Nicole): Because I get a little bit faint.

0:08:29 - (Nathan): I get very faint.

0:08:32 - (Peytn): I don't know that.

0:08:34 - (Nathan): No.

0:08:34 - (Nicole): Good to know that Dad's not going to try and take your job off you when you're big.

0:08:38 - (Peytn): Yeah.

0:08:41 - (Nicole): And what about a dog shelter makes you think that's something I want to do as well?

0:08:46 - (Peytn): Yeah, because I love all the types of dogs and I want all the types of dogs because they're so cute and I love animals.

0:08:56 - (Nicole): Oh, that's nice. So, you want to make sure that they've got somewhere nice to live. Okay. And if you want to be a doctor, do you think maybe that means you'll have to do a lot of study and go to school for a long time.

0:09:11 - (Peytn): Yeah. University, I think six years.

0:09:14 - (Nathan): Six, is it?

0:09:15 - (Peytn): Yeah, maybe.

0:09:16 - (Nathan): Yeah.

0:09:17 - (Nicole): I think that's probably the start of it. I think there's probably more after that too. But you like to learn?

0:09:23 - (Peytn): Yes.

0:09:24 - (Nicole): What's your favorited thing at school to learn about?

0:09:27 - (Peytn): I like PE, math, and English.

0:09:31 - (Nicole): Right. It's a good combination of things. Some stuff outside and playing games and doing sport and then some maths and doing numbers and then English. Using words?

0:09:41 - (Peytn): Yes.

0:09:42 - (Nicole): Yeah. All works together beautifully.

0:09:45 - (Peytn): I do really well in English.

0:09:46 - (Nicole): Do you?

0:09:47 - (Peytn): Last term I was the only one in my class who got an A in English.

0:09:51 - (Nicole): Well done. That's fantastic. Congratulations. Your dad is an intergovernmental relations manager. But that always been his job. Or has he done other jobs, do you think?

0:10:03 - (Peytn): Other jobs?

0:10:04 - (Nicole): Other jobs, yeah. So, Nathan, what led you to get this Job? What did you do to get this job that you've got?

0:10:11 - (Nathan): Well, before I was in this role, I worked in state politics, I'd probably say for twelve years, which is state government but also state opposition. So, a combination of politics and policy and policy is really all about the solutions to problems and how best to sort of put that together and then the politics is the people and how to get things done and how to achieve outcomes. So, I probably had a pretty good for what I do now. I think I had probably a pretty good sort of lead in role, and I did that for twelve years. So that was a fair stint.

0:10:49 - (Nicole): And so was that your first job? No, in politics being twelve years in the state government?

0:10:55 - (Peytn): No, he did KFC before he did his other two jobs, I think.

0:11:01 - (Nicole): So, your dad worked at KFC? Wow. Do you know anyone else who worked at KFC, Peytn?

0:11:08 - (Peytn): My mom.

0:11:10 - (Nicole): Your mom?

0:11:11 - (Peytn): She worked at KFC with my dad.

0:11:13 - (Nicole): Ah, is that where they met? Wow. So, you only exist because of chicken.

0:11:22 - (Nathan): The colonel?

0:11:24 - (Peytn): Yeah.

0:11:26 - (Nicole): The colonel means that Peytn and her brothers exist. KFC was a job at school, Nathan.

0:11:34 - (Nathan): Yeah, I think I started. I was 15. So, first job, I think that's. Yeah. And I had mates who worked there. And when you get to that age, as people do, they want to earn a little bit of pocket money and get a bit more independent. So, yeah, I worked there at school and then it was a useful job to have at university, obviously because of shift work and things like that. So, I think I was there almost ten years.

0:11:56 - (Nathan): It was a fest in.

0:11:58 - (Nicole): Yeah. Wow. You're a stayer.

0:12:00 - (Nathan): I am.

0:12:03 - (Nicole): And so, Peytn, do you think when you have your first job, will it be at a dog shelter, or do you think maybe you might do KFC first too?

0:12:10 - (Peytn): I might do KFC first too, yeah.

0:12:14 - (Nicole): Family tradition.

0:12:15 - (Nathan): Yeah. There's no pressure. I'm a first-generation KFC, so it hasn't been handed down to me through the generations. But we've just had a new one open up near us, so you never know. It's more convenient now to ride your bike there if you wanted to.

0:12:29 - (Nicole): Yeah. So much better to be able to ride your bike to your first job, Peytn. That's a good tip for life, I think.

0:12:34 - (Peytn): Okay.

0:12:35 - (Nicole): And so, Nathan, you went to university. What did you study?

0:12:38 - (Nathan): I actually started teaching. Well, actually first I studied. I did like a dual degree in Bachelor of Arts, Bachelor of Business, International Business, International Politics. And it wasn't too bad. I did that straight out of uni, but I couldn't really see where it was going to lead in terms of jobs or careers. And I was obviously still pretty young, and the pathway hadn't really narrowed. And so I switched up and did education just because I loved. Well, I loved education generally because it's interest.

0:13:10 - (Nathan): It was such a practical sort of degree as well. So I switched up and did that for four years. And. Yeah, loved it. Really loved it. And so my major teaching area was history. Minor teaching area was English, but I love history, politics, all of that sort of stuff. So it played nicely into those sort of personal interests, I guess.

0:13:34 - (Nicole): And so you were a teacher at a high school then?

0:13:36 - (Nathan): High school, but I sort of finished my degree. I had my last. The last part you had to do was a ten-week prac, which I did. And then I was at a high school, just bought a new house not long ago and we sort of had to live in the area. And I wasn't overly keen at that stage of moving anywhere to do sort of rural service. So it got to, I think it was March 2009, there was a state election and I had sort of two competing offers. One was to go and work and start a career in state government, state politics, and the other was to keep teaching, but only on a sort of short-term contract basis.

0:14:22 - (Nathan): So I didn't really have any long-term certainty for me around that. And as I said, I wasn't overly keen to move away from the coast yet. So it was one of those fork in the road moments and I took the state politics turn and stayed there and did many different roles, working with many different people over that sort of twelve-year period, which was great. Yeah.

0:14:46 - (Nicole): So you thought you were going to go on one path and then you went to something completely different. Is that Something that you think lots of people do?

0:14:58 - (Nathan): I think it's a lot more common now and think probably over the last maybe ten or 20 years, people's philosophy around jobs, careers, employment has changed so much from my parents’ generation and probably yours. People did jobs for 40 years, that's all they did. They were a teacher or a banker or a butcher or whatever it was, that's what they did, that was their job. But now it's so much different, which is good. I mean there's so many different options I guess, now and different pathways you can go down which makes things a lot more dynamic and can change at short notice and often unexpectedly. So, yeah, I don't know, it was one of those things.

0:15:40 - (Nathan): I didn't really sort of know what I was getting myself in for. You sort of sign up to something and then you go down a certain pathway and then just things change. And I find it interesting that I guess within. So I sort of said that was twelve years within either state politics or state government. But throughout that twelve years I had many different roles. As I said, working for many different people and where I started to where I ended was not a linear journey. It sort of twisted and went around different things. So that was great. I really enjoyed it. There's so many different opportunities, learned so much, but I think that's generally more common now for people's careers.

0:16:24 - (Nathan): Where they start and where they end is long windy road that goes down many different pathways that are often unexpected, which I think is great.

0:16:33 - (Nicole): Yeah. And you just have to be ready.

0:16:35 - (Nathan): For it, don't exactly, yeah. And open to opportunities, I think I would say.

0:16:43 - (Nicole): Yeah. Peytn, I wanted to ask you, what do you think makes a good job? Like when you go out into the workforce, when you're big, you finish university, if you go there, what do you think makes a good job?

0:16:57 - (Peytn): Like a well-paying job and also a job that you enjoy, and you think you're good at?

0:17:06 - (Nicole): Yeah, those are three really important things for a good job. I like that. And for you, do you think you're going to be someone who works inside all the time or outside all the time or a bit of both. What do you think?

0:17:21 - (Peytn): Think a bit of both. Because of the dog shelter and then inside for the doctor.

0:17:30 - (Nicole): You like, you like having a bit of variety?

0:17:33 - (Peytn): Yeah.

0:17:34 - (Nicole): That's really cool. Peytn, I've heard your dad talk about his job. Does he like his?

0:17:41 - (Peytn): Yeah, I think yeah. Yeah. Because if he would do the job then he must like the job?

0:17:50 - (Nicole): Yeah. I think that's a good lesson for everyone. If they don't like the job, maybe they should do a different one.

0:17:56 - (Nathan): Yeah, 100%.

0:17:59 - (Nicole): Are you excited about getting a job and being a grown up?

0:18:04 - (Peytn): Yes.

0:18:05 - (Nicole): What do you think are going to be the best things about getting your own job and being a grown up?

0:18:11 - (Peytn): That you can pay for your own things and get your own things without asking and also having a fun time and a new thing at your job.

0:18:26 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:18:27 - (Peytn): And not just staying out all the time.

0:18:30 - (Nicole): Yeah. And you can adopt lots of dogs if you have your own house.

0:18:34 - (Peytn): Yeah.

0:18:37 - (Nicole): I see you've got a dog. What kind of dog have you got?

0:18:40 - (Peytn): I got two dogs.

0:18:41 - (Nicole): Wow. Two dogs. Okay. Do you look after them? Do you feed them and walk them and clean up their poo?

0:18:47 - (Peytn): Yeah, I feed them at morning and night and my brothers pick up their poo.

0:18:55 - (Nicole): That sounds like a good separation of jobs there. I think you've done well, so you're used to it. When you go to the dog shelter, you're very experienced.

0:19:06 - (Peytn): Yeah.

0:19:09 - (Nicole): If something happens and you don't get to work in a dog shelter or you don't get to be a doctor, is there anything else that you think would be something that you'd like to do?

0:19:20 - (Peytn): Yes, maybe. I was thinking of being someone who does sports athlete or something.

0:19:28 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:19:29 - (Peytn): Because I do lots of sports.

0:19:31 - (Nicole): Would you like to play for the pies and make your dad the happiest man in the world?

0:19:36 - (Peytn): Well, I would have to play for the woman's AFL.

0:19:40 - (Nathan): Yeah.

0:19:40 - (Peytn): Well, they've got possibly.

0:19:44 - (Nicole): Or. What sport are you into?

0:19:46 - (Peytn): I'm into, like, netball and also footy.

0:19:50 - (Nicole): Nice.

0:19:51 - (Nathan): And about to start playing cricket.

0:19:53 - (Nicole): Yeah. Oh, wow. You could be a Firebird, you could be in the cricket team, you could be a just. It's all happening.

0:20:01 - (Peytn): Yeah.

0:20:01 - (Nicole): And so those are things you do outside of school.

0:20:04 - (Peytn): Yeah.

0:20:05 - (Nicole): What, Nathan, do you do outside of work that you love?

0:20:08 - (Nathan): I think. I know it sounds a bit sort of cliche, but just sort of spending time with friends and family, because especially when you've got young kids as well and they're so interesting and so we like to go away camping and stuff like that. That's always good. And just get away, but in your own space.

0:20:26 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:20:27 - (Nathan): And whether that's with family or often we go with different groups as well, so we'll have a big group thing. It's fun to get out. Sort of bit of an adventure living outdoors, camping, being away, being out of the electronic and digital world and just being in the environment is simple, but really relaxing.

0:20:47 - (Nicole): Yeah. In your job, do you have to be on devices quite a lot? You have to kind of be contactable all the time.

0:20:54 - (Nathan): Yeah, you do. I guess you're always sort of alert to things as well. There's a combination of proactive, reactive and the reactive stuff you can't control. You've just got to respond and that can be at any time of the day. Sometimes. I don't want to sound dramatic. It's not like regularly it calls at midnight, but when you're not expecting it or late on a Friday afternoon or on a weekend, occasionally, things like that. So, yeah, you've got to be responsive. But also, given the political overlay, you're always following what's happening more generally. So you're always looking at media and stuff like that just to see what other levels of government are talking about, what they're announcing, the different political dynamic as well. So it's good because it's a personal interest of mine, so I find it interesting.

0:21:44 - (Nathan): But also, it can be exhausting and it's very hard to switch it off as well. So that's why I think going camping where you can literally get away because you're outside, but often it's in areas that have no very poor connectivity, which is it just forces you to switch it off because it's switched off for you. Yeah.

0:22:05 - (Nicole): Nice. And when you were Peytn's age, when you were nine and at school, did you say to your parents, you know what I want to do? I want to be an intergovernmental relations manager.

0:22:15 - (Nathan): No, because I didn't know what that does. Sometimes I still don't. But no, I think I wanted to be a teacher for many years. When I was in primary school particularly.

0:22:27 - (Peytn): I kind of want to be a teacher because you can buy lots of candy and eat it at school, but you would have to go on duty too.

0:22:35 - (Nathan): Yeah, no, I think I want to be a teacher for a few years. And then I think throughout high school I didn't have any sort of really specific things I particularly wanted to do. I guess I was interested in politics, but I didn't really know where that would lead. So I'm not surprised that I've done a lot of my work in state government and local government at all, to be honest, because from my interests of a young age, I first started watching and been interested in politics when I was eight.

0:23:04 - (Nicole): Wow.

0:23:04 - (Nathan): Just through curiosity and just like watching the news. I used to love watching the news. And you would learn so much because it was just current events and I mean, politics is an element of that, but I guess just opened your eyes to what's happening in your community, in your state, in your country, across the world. My parents weren't political in any way. I mean, they had different views, as everyone does on different issues, but they weren't overly political. Certainly didn't push me down a path, but, yeah, I found it fascinating, I guess, and being into history, it kind of opened your eyes up and then you just choose your own adventure after that.

0:23:43 - (Nicole): So what did your parents do then?

0:23:44 - (Nathan): Well, my dad did banking for a long time and I think for probably nearly 30 years. And then after that he owned his own business for a little while, but then went back into mortgage broking, so sort of banking, but not directly for a bank. And my mum worked in a range of different sort of admin roles. I think she worked at a couple of councils at different stages, both here and in New South Wales, but worked for doctors as well. But now she works at a school as like a sort of guidance officer. So she did like a counsellor or social worker kind of counselling degree and now does that at a school massively. Yeah.

0:24:28 - (Nicole): Which is a good example that I think is that you can do one thing and then change to something else and learn new things and try new things.

0:24:36 - (Nathan): Yeah. I think always being ready and open to opportunities is important because you just never know what's around the corner and it makes life interesting.

0:24:45 - (Nicole): Yeah, that's for sure. Peytn, your dad was saying that when he was eight, he was watching the news. Is that something that you do as a family? You all sit and watch the news together?

0:24:55 - (Peytn): No, I don't think. No, we normally watch the footy together, though.

0:25:01 - (Nathan): Yeah, that's more important.

0:25:02 - (Nicole): Oh, I see, yeah.

0:25:04 - (Peytn): More important than the news.

0:25:06 - (Nicole): Yeah. Peytn, what do you think is the kind of thing that people need to think about when they're going to grow up and think about university or going and getting a job somewhere? What do you think people have to think about to make sure that they.

0:25:20 - (Peytn): Have a good life, that they make sure they know what they really want to do in life and that they make sure that they have a fun time in life and always enjoy themselves.

0:25:32 - (Nicole): That sounds good. I really enjoyed working with your dad, even though I'm a Carlton supporter and he's a Pies supporter.

0:25:38 - (Peytn): Yeah, everyone has something different.

0:25:42 - (Nathan): Yeah. It would be boring if we all went for the same team.

0:25:44 - (Peytn): Hey, imagine everyone going for Collingwood and then Collingwood always win every year because everyone goes for it, and they get lots of support. That would just be boring to see Collingwood win everywhere.

0:25:58 - (Nicole): Yeah, I agree. I think it would be very boring if Collingwood won all the time. Nathan, any advice for people who are thinking? Because politics is quite an interesting job and there's lots of different ways to get into it, but if people are interested in making their communities better, what advice would you give them?

0:26:21 - (Nathan): Don't be afraid to explore the opportunities. I think most people don't really understand how it works, so it's a small minority of people who I would say are sort of interested in engaged in politics, but there are so many different opportunities and ultimately it comes down to what I was talking about earlier. It's about helping people with different ideas and whether you want to put your hand up and actually be a community representative and be elected, or whether you want to work behind the scenes or whether you want to go down a road of working in working for a government department or local government.

0:27:04 - (Nathan): There's so many different opportunities within local government itself. I'm always amazed to think that across Queensland and across people who work in councils, there's 300 almost different types of occupations from people that are in offices or people working inside or outside in so many different roles. And that's just one sector and all the touch points that has on people's lives, I think that's just so fascinating for me.

0:27:35 - (Nathan): I've more worked on the political side of things, which is ultimately about achieving outcomes and making changes that you'll think will be better and improve things. But as I said, there's so many different sort of pathways you can go down and got to, I think, always be open to explore different opportunities. I think in my working life, I've only ever had one interview, which is the first one I ever had.

0:27:58 - (Nathan): After that, it's just you sort of meet people and as I said, there's just different opportunities that present and if it's the right one that you think will challenge you and you can achieve things in and contribute to and also work with great people as well and meet great people, then be ready to go for it. And I've been lucky, turned 40 this year, and you get to those milestone birthdays and that you have little sort of moments of reflection. And I think if the next 20 years is as good as the last 20 years, I'll be very happy.

0:28:31 - (Nathan): Just from all the different people I've met worked with the different sort of experiences you have throughout working life. Yeah, it's enjoyable. And I think, as Peytn said, I think you should try and enjoy your work. You do it for a long period of your life. So if you're lucky enough to find jobs that you think you're good at, you can grow, you can learn, develop yourselves, you work with great people.

0:28:55 - (Nathan): That's what you want to achieve, I think. And that's the environment where you can really grow as an individual, but then contribute as part of a team as well, which I've been lucky to do in many different roles in my working life.

0:29:07 - (Nicole): Good way of wrapping it up. I think that idea that you can go in one path and then explore what goes on in that particular area, I think makes a lot of sense, because just because you get one job in an organization doesn't mean there's not lots of different jobs within that place that you can try as well.

0:29:23 - (Nathan): Yeah, exactly.

0:29:24 - (Nicole): And so, as an intergovernmental relations manager, I just want to be really clear about how you spend your days so that people listening, going, oh, I couldn't do that. That's not something I'm interested in doing. How do you actually spend your days? Mostly, not that they're ever the same.

0:29:39 - (Nathan): Good start, because they're not. And often you sort of wake up in the morning and think what you've got on your plate ahead of you. And then where you end at the end of the day is nowhere near where you thought you'd be, which is fine. But I mean, generally I start every day, whether it's a working day or not. I'm just reading the media and what's happening, the news and sort of being across what other levels of government are talking about, as well as what's happening in local government.

0:30:03 - (Nathan): And then from there with our team, talk about what we're all working on. Sometimes there's things we work together on in our organization. We've got different teams. So sometimes you work with people in your own team. Other times you work with different people across the organization, of which there's many different people doing different roles on different projects. Sometimes it's just responding to consultation that the state or federal government have put out, so you've got to write submissions.

0:30:31 - (Nathan): Often it's talking to both levels of government about advocating for different issues. Or every day almost a new sort of problem arises, and that creates an opportunity to then engage with the other levels of government. Sometimes that's picking up the phone, sometimes you have to meet with them. Sometimes you just got to do your homework and really understand issues a bit more to figure out a bit of a game plan as well.

0:30:50 - (Nathan): So, yeah, it's very dynamic, and every day is different. Where you start and where you end each day is often vary significantly. But that's fine. That's the role. We're there to obviously help our members as well. And that can be urgent things that arise that you're just not expecting. So you've got to be ready for.

0:31:10 - (Nicole): Anything that's fun because you never know what's going to come up.

0:31:13 - (Nathan): No, exactly.

0:31:14 - (Nicole): Hi, Peytn.

0:31:15 - (Peytn): Hi.

0:31:16 - (Nicole): Your dad, his title is Intergovernmental relations manager, which means he's a boss of some people. What kind of boss do you reckon your dad is?

0:31:25 - (Peytn): One that he still works and does the other stuff of the other people, but he also helps other people do their work? Think.

0:31:36 - (Nicole): Yeah. So being a boss is about helping other people with their stuff. What other things do you think a boss does?

0:31:42 - (Peytn): I reckon he does lots of things with other bosses.

0:31:46 - (Nicole): Yeah. They all get together.

0:31:49 - (Peytn): Yeah.

0:31:49 - (Nicole): Have meetings. Yeah.

0:31:52 - (Peytn): And not a Karen boss, which is an angry boss.

0:32:00 - (Nicole): Definitely not.

0:32:02 - (Nathan): I've never heard that. So there you go.

0:32:05 - (Nicole): I love it. Peytn, thank you so much for joining me.

0:32:09 - (Peytn): Thank you.

0:32:11 - (Nicole): Nathan, thank you so much for making time even though you got in late from your last trip.

0:32:17 - (Nathan): Nic, thank you.

0:32:19 - (Nicole): Thank you both.

0:32:21 - (Nicole): Coming up next, we'll talk to Peter and his son Ezra.

0:32:26 - (Nicole): When you get big. Ezra, do you want to be a pharmacist or a social justice advocate?

0:32:31 - (Ezra): Not particularly.

0:32:32 - (Nicole): What do you think you might want.

0:32:33 - (Nicole): To do when you get big?

0:32:34 - (Ezra): Engineering.

0:32:35 - (Peter): Ooh, yeah. Kind of fell into it. Really?

0:32:39 - (Nicole): Yeah.

0:32:39 - (Peter): I get asked all the time. Are you qualified? What qualifications do you have for that? I was like, nothing. A big heart, basically. Just a sucker for helping things to happen.

0:32:48 - (Nicole): You don't want to miss this one.

0:32:50 - (Nicole): Talk to you then. Bring Your Kid To Work is a Lioness Media Production this episode was produced and edited by me, Nicole Lessio. Our music is composed by Rikkuo with graphics and design from Anastasia Makhuka. Subscribe to bring your kid to work wherever you're listening right now to hear all our episodes. And you can also share with your friends. We hope they enjoy listening too. You can follow us on Instagram at Bring your kid to work and on Facebook at Bring Your Kid To Work - the podcast and you can follow me on TikTok. Nicole Lessio Visit Bring Your Kid To Work to see bonus content, transcripts from our episodes and to sign up to our newsletter for the latest updates.

0:33:31 - (Nicole): Thanks for listening.