Employees with disability
Increasing opportunities for people with disability in public sector employment is an Australian Government commitment.
The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability Final Report was released in September 2023. Recommendations include setting new disability employment targets, introducing consistent adjustment principles and passports, and annual reporting on the progress of public sector disability employment strategies.
Recommendations 7.18 to 7.23 concerning disability employment in the public sector have been accepted in principle by the Australian Government. The Australian Public Service Commission has established a Disability Royal Commission Discovery Project to consider the implementation of these recommendations.
The Australian Public Service Disability Employment Strategy 2020–25 includes action to examine the accessibility of Australian Government-owned and rented premises.
The Department of Finance, with support from the APSC, has undertaken an accessibility audit highlighting the accessibility barriers faced by current staff, potential new staff and visitors. The final audit report was released in March 2024. It focuses on dignified access as a means of creating inclusive workplaces and includes ways agencies can improve the accessibility of their physical assets.
Prime Minister and Cabinet’s Behavioural Economics Team has partnered with the APSC to conduct research into disability identification in human resource systems and improved data collection. Employees report disability more often in the APS Employee Census than in HR systems (in 2024, this was 11.7% compared with 5.4% in APSED). Guidance materials for APS HR professionals have been developed to improve communication to APS staff about disability data collection and use. The final research report was published in June 2024.
A new Secretary-level Disability Champion has been appointed to provide an enterprise view of disability employment across the service, and provide strategic direction to the Disability Champions Network. Champions work to strengthen the connections and collaboration between the Champions Network and the Senior Executive Service Disability Network.
The APS Disability Employment Strategy 2020–25 aims to increase the employment of people with disability across the APS to 7% by 2025. It supports Australia’s Disability Strategy 2021–2031.
See also in this report
APS agency benchmarking – Employment of people with disability
Appendix 2–State of the Service additional data
Find out more
Australian Public Service Commission (2020) APS Disability Employment Strategy 2020–25, APSC website, accessed 29 August 2024.
Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability (n.d.) Final Report, Royal Commission website, accessed 29 August 2024.
Australian Government (2023) Increasing disability identification in the Australian Public Service, Prime Minister and Cabinet website, accessed 29 August 2024.
Australian Government (2024) Final Report on Action 10 of the Australian Public Service Disability Employment Strategy 2020–25, Finance website, accessed 29 August 2024.