EP#19: Keeping it simple – with Tax Commissioner Chris Jordan AO

Chris Jordan has driven major change in the Australian Tax Office since assuming his position of Commissioner in 2013.


 

But it wasn’t his first public service role.

Straight out of school, Chris followed his father into the N.S.W Police Force where he served on Sydney’s North Shore.

It was the skills of observation and communication that he learnt on the beat that helped him to turn the ship around.

In his view, it was been the cultural “Reinvention’’ of the ATO over the past 7 years that prepared the tax office to deal with the challenges of Covid 19.

Chris Jordan is effusive in his praise of his people and their leadership as they have battled with the demands of major bushfires and a global pandemic in 2020.

Please enjoy our conversation with Chris Jordan.

 

Discussed in this episode:

  • Chris’s public service beginnings as a policeman
  • What can the public service learn from the private sector
  • Challenging the status quo
  • How the ATO is preparing for the future
  • What were the biggest challenges when implementing the Job Keeper program
  • IPAA Future Leaders Questions