Yehudi Blacher

Changing the Way Government Works (457 KB PowerPoint)

Mr Yehudi Blacher was appointed as first Secretary of the newly established Department for Victorian Communities in December 2002. In this capacity he is responsible for 15 business units with approximately 600 staff and a budget of $800m, providing advice to eight Ministers on a wide range of areas. These include sport, recreation and Commonwealth Games, local government, community strengthening initiatives, volunteering, multicultural affairs, Indigenous policy, women's policy and youth affairs.

Prior to this appointment, Yehudi was Deputy Secretary in the Victorian Department of Premier and Cabinet, where he had responsibility for providing advice to the Premier on matters such as natural resources, and infrastructure policy, and on a broad range of strategic intergovernmental and public sector initiatives.

For three and a half years to December 1999 Yehudi was the Director, Youth and Family Service in the Department of Human Services. There he had responsibility for managing a range of family, youth and community services, juvenile justice and income support programs. This involved managing an annual budget of over $700m to provide both direct services and funding a wide range of non-government agencies.

From 1991 to 1996 Yehudi was the Victorian Director of Local Government. During that period he was responsible for overseeing the major reforms of the Victorian system of local government.

Yehudi joined the Victorian Public Service in 1980. In the variety of senior positions he has held, both policy and operational, he has consistently been involved in major reforms to different aspects of the public sector.

Yehudi has a strong interest in public policy and is a Victorian Fellow of the Institute of Public Administration Australia.

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