Senior Executive Service cultural and linguistic diversity
The Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Employment (CALD) Strategy and Action Plan introduced a reportable benchmark of 24% for CALD representation in the Senior Executive Service (SES). This will lead to an Australian Public Service leadership cohort that reflects the Australian population and wider APS. While the strategy acknowledges that CALD is multi-dimensional in nature, the single metric of ‘First language not exclusively English’ has been selected for tracking against the reportable benchmark.
APS agencies collect information on first language from SES employees in their human resources information systems, which they then report to the Australian Public Service Commission’s centralised APS Employment Database (APSED).
Figure AB 3 and Table AB 3 show members of the SES with a first language not exclusively English in selected agencies as at 30 June 2024.
Figure AB 3: CALD SES employees by agency (at 30 June 2024)
Source: APSED
Table AB 3: CALD SES employees by agency (at 30 June 2024)
| Agency | CALD SES |
|---|---|
| % of APS SES employees | |
| Total SES | 11.3 |
| Federal Court of Australia | 25.0 |
| National Disability Insurance Agency | 19.6 |
| Australian Public Service Commission | 19.0 |
| Foreign Affairs and Trade | 18.8 |
| Finance | 18.4 |
| Australian Taxation Office | 16.2 |
| Bureau of Meteorology | 15.4 |
| Australian Trade and Investment Commission | 12.7 |
| Home Affairs | 12.4 |
| Services Australia | 12.3 |
| Education | 12.1 |
| Health and Aged Care | 10.9 |
| Treasury | 10.3 |
| Australian Competition and Consumer Commission | 10.0 |
| Employment and Workplace Relations | 9.8 |
| Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry | 9.3 |
| Attorney-General's | 8.6 |
| Defence | 8.3 |
| Veterans' Affairs | 7.0 |
| Prime Minister and Cabinet | 7.0 |
| Social Services | 6.0 |
| Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development, Communications and the Arts | 6.0 |
| Australian Bureau of Statistics | 5.0 |
| Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water | 4.7 |
| Industry, Science and Resources | 4.6 |
| National Indigenous Australians Agency | 2.0 |
| Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission | 0.0 |
Source: APSED
CALD proportions are calculated as a percentage of employees who have provided their first language. Calculations are based on headcount totals that exclude missing data and choose not to give values.