Drawing together In 2007 the Australian Public Service Commission partnered with an unprecedented twenty-two public service agencies to successfully deliver Drawing together – an art competition exploring reconciliation and promoting the employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Australian Public Service. Communities across the country received a loud and clear message that the Australian Public Service is not only an employer that can offer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) Australians varied and rewarding career paths but that the public service values and celebrates Indigenous people, communities and culture. The response from the public was overwhelming with over 570 entries exploring the theme of reconciliation from Indigenous and non-Indigenous artists all over Australia. Further information on the Drawing together awards, sponsors and winning artists can be found at t Table 17.

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Performance review : Better practice and evaluation : Indigenous employment
Output 3.2: Promote better practice

Indigenous employment

Employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous) people in the APS provide an important contribution to achieving government policy development and programme and service delivery. It also contributes towards achievement of social and economic equity for Indigenous Australians.

Continuing to foster Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment in both mainstream and Indigenous-specific areas in the APS through strategies to attract, recruit, develop and retain Indigenous employees was a top priority for the Commission during 2006–07. The vehicle for this has been through implementation of the APS employment and capability strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees.

Table 16: Performance Information - Output 3.1—Indigenous Employment

Target	Result
Quantity
1. Medium and long term strategies developed and implemented to support employment and retention of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the APS.	Achieved. Strategies under the APS employment and capability strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employees have been implemented and planning has begun on a replacement strategy.
2. Number of agencies involved in initiatives to increase the knowledge, skills and capacity of Indigenous employees and their employers across the APS.	Achieved. 27 agencies were involved in the Graduate initiative, 25 in the NICP initiative, 35 in the entry level initiative, and 25 in the Indigenous capability fund.
3. Satisfaction with levels of access to support networks and development programmes, as measured by response to annual State of the Service employee surveys	Achieved. The State of the Service Report 2005-06 data indicated that 63% of Indigenous employees were satisfied with their access to learning and development. This was similar to the APS overall (61%) (However, the low number of Indigenous respondents means that this data should be treated with caution). No data was collected on levels of access to support networks.
4. Agencies’ implementation of strategies has a positive impact on engagement and separation rates of Indigenous employees—target is proportional representation consistent with the wider APS workplace and community.	Partly Achieved. The State of the Service Report 2005–06 indicated that the separation rates for Indigenous employees fell from 4.3% to 4.2% in 2005–06. While the engagement rate for Indigenous staff also fell from 2.6% to 1.8% in the same period, the number of Indigenous employees engaged increased from 295 to 372.
Quality
1. Levels of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employee satisfaction with working in the APS—target is an increase compared to the State of the Service Report timeline data.	Achieved. The State of the Service Report 2005–06 reported that overall, job satisfaction levels of Indigenous staff were 86%. This compared to a figure of 72% for 2004–05.
2. Levels of agency participation in cross-agency and cross-jurisdictional projects	Achieved. The number of agencies participating in the pathways projects increased and a cross-jurisdictional forum was held
Estimated price: $4.338 million	Actual: $4.494 million

Implementation of the APS Indigenous employment strategy

The APS employment and capability strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees was announced by the Australian Government in August 2005 with funding of $6.4 million over three years. This strategy aims to increase employment and career development opportunities for Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islander Australians in the APS.

The strategy involves five core elements:

• supporting whole-of-government work on Indigenous policies and programmes
• pathways to APS employment
• supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees in the APS
• helping agencies to be good employers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees
• partnerships.

Supporting whole-of-government

The Commission facilitated a pilot mentoring programme for Indigenous Coordination Centre (ICC) managers as selected ICC managers were provided with a mentor at the Senior Executive Service (SES) Band 3 level. Feedback from the programme has been extremely positive with ICC managers indicating that the mentoring relationships have been invaluable. In turn SES mentors have also indicated that they have developed an on the ground perspective which has assisted them to understand the complexities and challenges of working in a whole-of-government environment. It is expected the programme will be rolled out to the remaining ICCs in 2007–08.

A two day workshop entitled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy in practice has been developed and conducted for SES and SES equivalents, focusing on the current arrangements affecting Indigenous affairs. The workshops cover working in the whole-of-government context and the programme is on the Commission’s public programmes calendar which can be found online at: http://www.apsc.gov.au/learn/

Pathways to APS employment

The Commission, in partnership with other Australian Government agencies, administered three individual pathways initiatives in 2006–07 to identify and assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders seeking careers in the APS.

One of the three pathways initiatives included the successful Indigenous graduate recruitment campaign resulting in 25 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander graduates being engaged in a number of APS agencies. The 2008 graduate programme was advertised in May 2007 and the Commission is optimistic that the 2007–08 period will see similar participation by both APS agencies and Indigenous graduates.

The Commission continues to work with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations (DEWR) and again coordinated a bulk recruitment initiative under the National Indigenous Cadetship Project. Thirty-two cadets were engaged under this initiative in 2006–07 with applications for the 2008 programme opening in June 2007.

In recognition of the need to develop alternative pathways into the APS for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who do not have tertiary qualifications or engagement in the university sector, the Commission conducted a recruitment initiative for entry level Indigenous staff. Sixty-two Indigenous entry level recruits were engaged nationally under this initiative.

A memorandum of understanding with DEWR has secured the Commission’s role in distributing Structured Training Employments Project (STEP) funding to APS agencies as employees of entry level Indigenous staff through Commission programmes. The Commission also organised and funded Certificate level III and IV in Government and / or business training for the entry level recruits.

Supporting employees

Research has shown that one of the main reasons why Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees may leave the APS is because of a lack of workplace support. As a result, in 2006–07 the Commission continued to provide targeted support to this group of employees.

The Commission has continued to provide resources and secretariat support to the Indigenous Australian Public Service Employee Networks (IAPSENs) in Canberra, Adelaide, Brisbane, Melbourne, Perth, Sydney and Townsville. In 2006–07 the Commission assisted to initiate a network in Darwin and expects that several other networks will commence in other regional locations in 2007–08.

In Victoria the APS Indigenous Employment Steering Committee was presented with a 2006 Executive Leadership Group Victoria Innovation Award for its work in organising the Us Government mob—making our mark event which included the creation of a banner.

In New South Wales, the IAPSEN agreed to focus its energy on seminar-based activities with a learning component to help build the skills of members. The major event of the year was the Indigenous Employees Career Forum held at the end of July 2006. Over 70 Indigenous employees from around New South Wales attended. The focus of the forum was the value of networking and mentoring and the keynote address was delivered by Mr Tom Calma, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner and Acting Race Discrimination Commissioner.

In June 2007, the West Australian Office of the Commission together with the Western Australian (WA) Department of Premier and Cabinet in conjunction with the IAPSEN, organised the one-day conference Stand up & be proud and Pathways to a successful career in the public sector for over 60 participants from the APS and WA state public sector. The conference was shaped around the topics of current trends in employment, networking and mentoring, career planning and promoting cultural understanding. Lieutenant General John Sanderson, WA Government Special Adviser on Indigenous Affairs, opened the conference with a breakfast address, followed by a series of talks and workshops presented by a range of prominent speakers.

Horizons—the APS Indigenous mobility scholarship programme was undertaken for the first time in 2006–07. The programme was introduced to enhance career progression opportunities for high potential Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees in the APS. The scholarship provides Indigenous APS 4–6 employees with the opportunity to experience a secondment of between 4–6 months within another APS department or agency. It also provides a scholarship grant of $15,000 to the participant’s home agency to help off-set the costs associated with releasing employees for secondments. Six participants were selected to take part in the Horizons programme in 2006–07 with secondments being undertaken at: the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet; Medicare Australia; the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts; the Australian Crime Commission; DEWR; and the APS Commission.

The Indigenous Capability Fund was established to assist small and medium sized APS agencies provide training and development opportunities for their Indigenous staff. Agencies that met a set of defined criteria were offered $500 for each ongoing Indigenous employee as at 30 June 2006. In 2006–07, $434,000 was distributed to 25 agencies to support the capability development of their Indigenous employees.

Supporting employers

During 2006–07 the Commission initiated the Public calling: APS Indigenous career ambassadors campaign targeted at attracting Indigenous people with the professional experience to work at the APS 5–6 and Executive Levels. Eleven Indigenous APS employees from various agencies act as ambassadors to promote the APS as an employer of choice to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Eleven Indigenous career ambassadors were selected from a strong field of over 50 applicants. They were provided with training in leadership, media and presentation skills to promote the APS through a range of media including the internet, press advertising, radio and public appearances. A three-month National Indigenous Radio Service campaign featuring the ambassadors was launched in June 2007 complemented by a Public calling web interface featuring each of the ambassadors on the Commission’s website: http://www.apsc.gov.au/publiccalling/

The Commission attended various careers fairs and job expos during 2006–07 to introduce the APS and promote it as an employer of choice to Indigenous Australians. The locations of the career fairs have included Redfern, Mount Druitt, Illawarra, Rockhampton and Canberra.

Staff in the West Australian regional office showcased two Commission guides developed in 2005–06, Not just a job and Getting a job in the APS at Centrelink Employment Expos in Albany, Northam, Geraldton, Bunbury and Kalgoorlie. Staff in the Victoria/Tasmania office also provided APS employment information at the Centrelink Swan Hill employment expo.

An Indigenous liaison officer was established within the Commission in 2006–07. This officer meets with Indigenous staff and supervisors of Indigenous staff to discuss the APS, the assistance available in the strategy and provide guidance on supervising Indigenous staff.

The Commission is also developing an Indigenous cultural competency training programme for managers of Indigenous employees to be piloted in early 2007–08.

Partnerships

To ensure that employment outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are met, the Commission works collaboratively with both APS agencies and external organisations. For example, 25 APS agencies have been active partners in the range of pathways to employment initiatives being co-ordinated by the Commission.

As a way of forging partnerships with other jurisdictions also involved in Indigenous employment, in May 2007 the Commission hosted a Cross-jurisdictional forum on Indigenous employment in the public sector. The forum was attended by representatives of the Commission and all state and territory public services (excluding Queensland). The forum was well-received and it was proposed that a similar forum be held during 2007–08.

In order to inform stakeholders about the Commission’s Indigenous employment initiatives and other Indigenous employment matters, the Commission instigated an electronic newsletter Going public. Four editions of the newsletter were produced during 2006–07 and distributed nationally to a range of Indigenous and non-Indigenous stakeholders, both internal and external to the APS.

Overall, significant progress has been made on the implementation of the APS employment and capability strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees.

Drawing together

This year marked the 40th anniversary of the 1967 referendum which is largely remembered as a vote to end discrimination against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and is recognised as a landmark event in Indigenous and non-Indigenous relations in Australia.

The referendum proposed two changes to the Australian constitution: the removal of a discriminatory clause preventing the Federal Government from legislating for Aboriginal people; and deletion of Section 127 of the Australian Constitution which excluded Aboriginal people from being counted in the national census. Both proposals were accepted by an overwhelming 90 per cent of Australian constituents.

To commemorate the significant anniversary of this historic event, the Commission developed Drawing together which was delivered in partnership with the National Archives of Australia, the National Museum of Australian and the Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.

Drawing together comprised two major initiatives: a national art competition exploring reconciliation and promoting the employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Australian Public Service and an exhibition showcasing selected artworks from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Art Collection.

Drawing together art competition

The Drawing together art competition was launched on 9 March 2007 at the National Archives of Australia and invited all Australians to explore the theme of reconciliation through the mediums of painting and print. Over 570 entries were received to the competition and an exhibition of 38 short-listed finalists was held at the National Archives of Australia from 2–28 July 2007.

Indigenous artists dominated the field of winners taking out six of the seven prize categories, including the major prize which was awarded to Mr Shane Pickett, a Nyoongar man from South Australia. The competition offered prizes in seven award categories as identified in Table 17.

Table 17: Drawing Together art competition – award categories, sponsors and winning artists

Award Category	Sponsors	Winning Artist and Title	Art
Drawing together…. Major Award	Australian Public Service Commission, Attorney-General's Department, Treasury, Australian Customs Service	Mr Shane Picket ‘Travel lines crossing the Bunurroo Waterway’
Indigenous Award	Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs	Ms Daisy Loongkoonan ‘Bush Tucker in Nyikina Country’
Youth Award	Department of Health and Ageing	Ms Frances Belle Parker ‘Forty’
Caring for Country Award	Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service	Watarru Artists ‘Kuka Kanyini’
Partnerships between Community and Government Award	Centrelink	Ms Kelly Dee Knight ‘In Loving Memory of our Drover’s Boys’
The Australian Public Service Indigenous Employees Award	Attorney- General's	Mr Jandamarra Cadd ‘United Journey’
Commissioner’s Choice Award	Australian Public Service Commission	Omborrin ‘Gullaroonari-Munja Country’

In addition to the three partner agencies, 21 other agencies provided sponsorship to assist in raising the profile of the Australian Public Service as an employer that welcomes, values and encourages its Indigenous employees to enjoy diverse and rewarding careers.

Drawing together – showcasing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs art collection

Drawing together – showcasing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs art collection was held at the National Archives of Australia from 18 May–15 July 2007 and generated a great deal of positive response from the public. The exhibition offered the general public the opportunity to view artworks from this collection for the first time. The works were collected over a 30 year period by various federal government departments with responsibility for the administration of Indigenous affairs and featured pieces by renowned artists such as Mr Jimmy Pike, Ms Sally Morgan and Mr Shane Pickett.