We’re continuing to deliver a range of initiatives which progress the reform of the Australian Public Service. To do this, we’re leading 3 new priority initiatives under the Ambitious and Enduring Reform Plan for the APS measure. These include:
- Capability Reviews
- Boosting First Nations People Employment
- Workplace Relations.
APS Reform doesn’t just affect every public servant across Australia. It also touches the communities, industries and people the APS serves. A trusted public service that functions effectively and efficiently supports an Australia which is fairer, safer, and more inclusive.
The APSC is committed to supporting a public service that:
- embodies integrity in everything it does
- puts people and business at the centre of policy and services
- is a model employer
- has the capability to do its job well.
We’re also supporting the APS Digital Traineeship Program. Announced at the Jobs and Skills Summit on 2 September 2022, it will create employment opportunities for First Nations peoples, women, older people, veterans transitioning to civilian roles and their spouses, with 1,000 participants over the next 4 years.
Capability Reviews
We will be the first agency to pilot a capability review. This will provide us with an opportunity to engage fully in the new process we will then be responsible for administering within other agencies. Beginning this year, these reviews will be short, sharp and focused on the future. Using existing data and reports and engagement with staff and stakeholders, agency-level reviews will give the APS the evidence to identify opportunities for service-wide reform. This will directly contribute to an APS that has the capability to do its job well, but will also build ownership and a self-sustaining culture of improvement.
Boosting First Nations Employment
Representation of First Nations people in the APS is 3.5%. This figure has barely moved in twenty years, and government policy is that the APS meet a target of First Nations people employment of 5% by 2030. A key framework for this is the Commonwealth Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Workforce Strategy 2020-2024. This sets out actions to boost First Nations people employment, which, while they are progressing, are not having the effect we want. The APSC is reviewing the Strategy to identify opportunities to get better outcomes. We will publish the review by the end of 2022 and the results will inform decisions by Ministers, Secretaries Board and agencies on making faster progress.
Workplace Relations
We’ve started consulting with Australian Government agencies and unions to develop an approach to service-wide negotiations for core, common conditions. Agencies will negotiate specific entitlements. A comprehensive policy will:
- help address fragmentation in pay and conditions across the Australian Public Service
- make it easier for employees to flexibly work across the public service
- create an APS that is a model employer.
The Public Sector Interim Workplace Arrangements 2022, released on 6 October 2022, provide certainty to employees and agencies with a 3% pay increase while we consult on the comprehensive policy.
Further information
- The Budget website provides further information on these specific measures.
- For more information on the APSC’s role in these measures and the APS reform agenda, contact media@apsc.gov.au
- The APS Reform website is a great resource if you are interested in the APS Reform Agenda.