Summary

The Australian Public Service is supporting the Australian Government to address significant economic, social and geopolitical challenges. Working within the framework of the APS Values, the APS develops major policies and reports and delivers the government’s initiatives for the benefit of the Australian people.

• The Intergenerational Report 2023 was released in August 2023, projecting an outlook for the Australian economy and the federal Budget to 2062–63. The report highlights the forces that will change how Australians live, work and engage with the world.
• The Future Made in Australia plan was funded in the 2024–25 Budget. This commitment over the next decade is intended to maximise the economic and industrial benefits of the international move to net zero and contribute to securing Australia’s place in a changing global economic and strategic landscape.
• Landmark economic reports were released in 2023–24. One report released is Working Future: The Australian Government’s White Paper on Jobs and Opportunities, setting out the government’s vision for a dynamic and inclusive labour market. Another is The State of Australia’s Regions 2024, with a focus on ensuring regional people, communities and industries are vibrant, strong and sustainable – now and over the coming decades.
• The 2024 National Defence Strategy and Integrated Investment Program were released in April 2024. These are intended to provide a coordinated, whole-of-government and whole-of-nation approach to defend Australia and its interests. The Australian Government remains strongly committed to engaging with countries in Australia’s region.
• The report of the Multicultural Framework Review, Towards Fairness – a Multicultural Australia for all, and the Australian Government response, were released in July 2024. The report makes recommendations for changes to laws, policies and institutional settings that build on the strengths of multiculturalism.
• APS Reform initiatives are strengthening public administration and rebuilding public trust. They support greater transparency and genuine partnership with the community, prioritising integrity and a focus on people and businesses, as well as the capability to deliver. The Trust in Australian public services: 2024 Annual Report captured community feedback on the government services they used during 2023–24.

The APS is building a workforce that represents the people it serves, tapping into a diversity of knowledge and skills. Reflecting the community means the APS can provide better informed policy and service delivery.

• The Boosting First Nations employment initiative aims to increase the number of First Nations employees in the APS to 5% by 2030 and increase representation at senior levels. APS enterprise agreements now require all agencies to take reasonable action to upskill their employees’ cultural capability.
• The APS Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Employment Strategy and Action Plan was released in April 2024, with key actions relating to cultural safety and literacy, cultural understanding, leadership and management, recruitment and progression, and senior representation.
• Gender equality in the APS is supported by actions to improve both working conditions and workplace culture. In 2023–24, APS bargaining led to the creation of common clauses in agency enterprise agreements relating to equal parental leave entitlements, flexible work, family and domestic violence support and respect at work.
• The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability has made recommendations concerning public sector employment of people with disability. The APS is working to implement these recommendations.
• The APS LGBTIQA+ community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, asexual and other sexually or gender diverse) is growing. Employee networks across and within agencies are supporting LGBTIQA+ colleagues, promoting a work environment where everyone feels accepted and safe to be themselves.
• The proportion of APS employees who consider themselves to be neurodivergent is increasing. APS agency programs and neurodiversity networks are helping to create better working environments and promoting the importance of diverse skills and capabilities.

The APS is creating a workplace where all employees are welcomed, engaged and able to perform at their best. This is a workplace where work conditions are fair and inclusive, remuneration is competitive, and everyone is treated with respect. Engaged and respectful workplaces are more productive, delivering better for Government, Parliament and community.

• The APS Employee Value Proposition was released in November 2023, to communicate the benefits of working in the Australian Government and position the APS to attract, retain and develop the workforce it needs.
• The new APS Value of Stewardship embeds the important and enduring role all employees have in ensuring that the APS serves the government, Parliament, and Australian community into the future.
• Service-wide bargaining concluded in March 2024, paving the way for reduced fragmentation of pay and conditions across the APS and improving entitlements for parental leave and personal/carer’s leave. This includes support for employees experiencing family and domestic violence.
• Changes to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984 prohibiting workplace sexual harassment, sex discrimination, victimisation and related behaviours are reflected in updated APS employee programs and agency guidance.
• Employee engagement levels in the APS continue to be high. Key drivers include a culture of integrity and inclusion, a willingness to consider frank advice and new ways of doing things, and effective agency communication. APS employees have a positive view of how their health and wellbeing are considered by their managers and their agency.
• The APS workforce is growing, with employees working from 583 locations across Australia as agencies look to attract and develop the people they need.

The APS is working hard to deeply embed and sustain integrity at all levels. This means government is better trusted and outcomes are more enduring.

• Integrity begins with individual decisions and actions. APS employees are expected, and supported, to understand and fulfil their important responsibilities under the Public Service Act 1999 (PS Act), including adherence to the APS Values and Code of Conduct. Senior leaders in the APS have an additional responsibility to model and promote the highest standards of ethical behaviour.
• The APS is building a service-wide approach to psychological safety, setting the standard for a workplace that enables and encourages honest communications.
• Integrity systems within APS agencies are being assessed and improved using the Commonwealth Integrity Maturity Framework and other integrity metric resources. The Capability Reinvestment Fund is supporting work to develop ways to better measure and monitor integrity data and analyse the effectiveness of integrity systems.
• Louder Than Words: An APS Integrity Action Plan, the final report of the APS Integrity Taskforce, was endorsed by the Secretaries Board and published on 17 November 2023. It made 15 recommendations across the areas of culture, systems and accountability. Implementation is in progress across the APS.
• The Centralised Code of Conduct Inquiry Taskforce found that current and former APS agency heads and employees breached the APS Code of Conduct on 97 occasions in matters associated with the Robodebt Scheme. The APS acknowledges its role and takes responsibility for its actions and is learning from these failures and enacting change.
• An Integrity Strategy for the Commonwealth Public Sector is being developed to enhance coordination and information-sharing across all government agencies.
• The new Commonwealth Fraud and Corruption Control Framework came into effect on 1 July 2024, supporting a more proactive and targeted approach to minimising fraud and corruption.
• A new Commonwealth Supplier Code of Conduct also came into effect on 1 July 2024, strengthening the Australian Government’s ability to identify and respond to supplier misconduct.
• The National Anti-Corruption Commission started operations on 1 July 2023. This independent agency detects, investigates and reports on serious or systemic corrupt conduct among public officials, and educates the APS and the public about corruption risks and prevention.
• The Administrative Review Tribunal started operations on 14 October 2024, providing the public with an avenue to seek review of government decisions on important matters that affect them.

The APS is using innovative approaches to invest in capability and leadership to do its job better.

• Pathway programs and traineeships present options for joining the APS. Employees have the unique opportunity to undertake important, diverse and interesting work across many different agencies and locations, developing and sharing their knowledge, skills and experiences across their career.
• Learning and development occur throughout an APS career. The APS Academy promotes a continuous learning culture across the public service, and APS Professions continues to build the specialist capability of the APS.
• In-house capability in government is being enhanced and supported. The APS Strategic Commissioning Framework was released in October 2023, setting the expectation that core roles and functions will be delivered by APS employees.
• Workforce planning capability is being strengthened. An APS Data and Digital Workforce Plan is being developed to support the vision outlined in the Data and Digital Government Strategy released in December 2023.
• Australian Government Consulting is delivering services to APS clients across strategic policy, organisational performance, and process optimisation projects. This is building APS capability to deliver projects that would otherwise be outsourced.
• The Australian Centre for Evaluation started operations in July 2023. It aims to improve the volume, quality and use of evaluation evidence and embed a culture of evaluation across the Australian Government.
• APS agencies are developing and sharing specialised data expertise across government, industry and community organisations to support evidence-based insights and decision-making across portfolios and throughout Australia.
• Investments in leadership are having a positive impact. Participants in the Secretaries Talent Council and Deputy Secretaries Talent Council programs are becoming increasingly self-aware, collaborative and inclusive. Building on this success, there is now a strong focus on developing a pipeline of First Nations leaders for the APS.
• The principle that behaviours are as important as outcomes is a key feature of a standardised leadership framework for the Senior Executive Service (SES). The SES Performance Leadership Framework creates the psychological safety necessary for frank and fearless advice and high performance.
• The Capability Review Program published 5 reviews in 2023–24. These reviews give agency heads the information they need to improve their agency’s readiness. They facilitate discussions around an organisation’s desired future state, highlighting strengths and identifying organisational capability gaps.
• Ten Capability Reinvestment Fund Round 1 projects involving 14 APS agencies were completed in 2023–24. The fund supports the development and implementation of scalable and impactful activities that help all agencies to better prepare for current and future challenges.

The APS is supporting the Australian Government to make sure policy and service delivery meet the current and future needs of the Australian community.

• Investment is occurring in APS futures and foresight capabilities, enabling APS agencies to better explore long-term issues and plausible future scenarios and improve policy, strategy, planning and decision-making.
• The first Long-term Insights Briefing, exploring how artificial intelligence (AI) might affect the trustworthiness of public service delivery, was published in October 2023. The next annual briefing will consider how the Australian Government can better work with communities to deliver outcome-focused services. It will be delivered in late 2024.
• The Charter of Partnerships and Engagement aims to improve the way the APS puts people and business at the centre of policy, implementation and delivery. It sets out 6 aspirational principles to achieve quality engagement and partnerships with external stakeholders.
• Working for Women: A Strategy for Gender Equality was released in March 2024. It is a framework for driving gender equality through government policies and programs. It supports a vision for an Australia where people are safe, treated with respect, have choices and have access to resources and equal outcomes no matter their gender.
• Development of Measuring What Matters, Australia’s first national wellbeing framework, continues. Changes to the frequency of data, and larger sample sizes, will increase the value of the framework for policy development so it represents all segments of the Australian population.
• The Data and Digital Government Strategy was released in December 2023. This strategy outlines the Australian Government’s vision to deliver simple, secure and connected public services through world-class data and digital capabilities by 2030. It aims to ensure everyone’s experience with the Australian Government is inclusive, accessible, and responsive to their needs.
• The policy for using AI in the Australian Government came into effect from 1 September 2024. For the responsible adoption of AI in Australia, government is taking a coordinated approach with 5 pillars of action. These are delivering regulatory clarity and certainty, supporting and promoting best practice, supporting AI capability, government as exemplar, and engaging internationally.
• A new Climate Risk and Opportunity Management Program is helping APS agencies understand and treat climate-related risks, and to build climate considerations into business-as-usual practices so Australian communities are resilient and adaptable.

APS teams work extensively with non-government, industry and research partners to identify and respond to the needs of communities and businesses around Australia. Individual employees are embracing their important roles as stewards of the APS by understanding the long-term impacts of what they do.

• At 30 June 2024, the APS was made up of 101 agencies with 185,343 employees delivering services and undertaking policy, regulatory and specialist work.
• For this report, APS agencies have contributed examples of how their teams are delivering government priorities and serving communities. This includes powerful and efficient ways of sharing place-based information, new and improved vital services, designing and implementing infrastructure projects of national importance and encouraging knowledge-sharing and social inclusion.
• As part of amendments to the PS Act in 2024, stewardship becomes a new APS Value. In this report, APS employees in a range of roles and from locations around Australia share their personal understandings of stewardship, and how this impacts the way they work. Their perspectives are shaped by their diverse life experiences, career journeys and cultural backgrounds.