The Ethics Advisory Service is available to all Australian Public Service (APS) employees, including agency heads and Senior Executive Service employees, who wish to discuss and seek advice on ethical issues that occur in the workplace. We do this by providing options, considerations, and strategies to help APS employees work through ethical issues and dilemmas, and to assist them to make sound judgements and choices.
Some examples of matters we can advise on include:
considerations in identifying, disclosing, and managing conflicts of interest
balancing employees’ rights as citizens with their obligations as public servants
options that may be available to assist employees in addressing a workplace grievance or reporting a suspected breach of the Code of Conduct
considerations for agencies in responding to inappropriate behaviour.
Decisions relating to an APS employees’ employment must be made within the employees’ agency. However, we can provide advice on any relevant APSC guidelines or policy that may be applicable to an individual’s circumstances.
Please note, that we do not provide any avenue for reporting, handling, investigating, or resolving complaints or allegations of misconduct (unless the matter falls within the remit of the Commissioner’s statutory functions). If you wish to make a complaint about an APS employee, you must direct your concerns to the relevant agency. This can be done by contacting the relevant agency’s central HR area or by using the contact details of the agency found on the Australian Government Directory.
