The Secretary
Alison Frame commenced as Secretary of the Department of Veteran’s Affairs in January 2023. Prior to this, Alison was Deputy Secretary, Social Policy in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet from August 2020. This work included leading the partnerships between the Commonwealth and state and territory jurisdictions on delivering social policy and services outcomes for all Australians. A key priority was providing sustained leadership and coordination across government to manage Australia’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Alison has led social policy initiatives and reform across both the Commonwealth and the NSW governments as a senior executive for over 16 years. Most recently in the NSW Government as Group Deputy Secretary, Property and Housing, Alison was responsible for nine housing and property agencies, including Crown Lands, Property NSW and Land and Housing Corporation.
During her time in other NSW Government senior leadership roles Alison led reforms on child protection, domestic violence, indigenous policy, disability policy, housing and planning, and governance. Prior to this, in the APS, Alison worked in a number of social policy roles, including First Assistant Secretary, Policy and Strategy, Department of Human Services.
Alison holds a Bachelor of Speech-Language Pathology and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from the University of Queensland and a Master of Public Administration from the London School of Economics and Political Science.