APS profile

In accordance with the Public Service Act, the Australian Public Service is building and supporting a workforce that reflects the Australian people it serves.

The APS workforce spans 583 locations across Australia in 101 agencies. At 30 June 2024, the APS had 185,343 employees, working across 234 job roles in fields such as service delivery, research, regulation, project management and policy development.

In addition to being a geographically dispersed workforce, APS-wide and agency-level strategies and programs exist to promote and enhance diversity, equity and inclusion. These programs are complemented by employee-led networks and communities of practice.

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. This is critical to ensure that First Nations knowledge and perspectives contribute to all aspects of the work of the APS. At 30 June 2024, there were 85 First Nations Senior Executive Service leaders in the APS, up from 54 a year earlier.

Strengthening First Nations cultural capability is being supported through the changes to APS enterprise agreements requiring departments and agencies to take reasonable action to upskill their employees’ cultural capability.  

The APS Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Employment Strategy and Action Plan was released in April 2024. It sets out clear standards and expectations for the APS to better reflect the community it serves and ensure better policy and service delivery.

Key aspects of the CALD strategy are being delivered through 5 headline actions relating to cultural safety and literacy, cultural understanding, leadership and management, recruitment and progression, and senior representation. Both the CALD strategy and action plan will be delivered over 6 years for all APS agencies. Agency-specific plans will be integrated into business operations.

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.

Employee development programs and agency guidance have been updated to help prevent, and respond to, workplace sexual harassment, sex discrimination, victimisation and related unlawful behaviours. Updates reflect changes to the Sex Discrimination Act 1984.

Recommendations about public sector employment of people with disability were made by The Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. The Australian Government has agreed to all of these recommendations in principle and the APS is working on implementation.

The APS Disability Employment Strategy 2020–25 includes action to examine the accessibility of Australian Government-owned and rented premises. The final report of an accessibility audit 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. 

The APS LGBTIQA+ community (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, queer, asexual and other sexually or gender diverse) is also growing. The 2024 APS Employee Census indicates that 9.2% of the APS workforce identifies as LGBTIQA+. Employee networks across and within agencies are supporting LGBTIQA+ colleagues and advocating for equal treatment. Networks are celebrating events that are significant to the LGBTIQA+ community, promoting a work environment where everyone feels accepted and safe to be themselves.

APS employees who consider themselves to be neurodivergent is increasing as a proportion, as indicated by responses to the APS Employee Census over the past 2 years. APS agency programs and neurodiversity networks, including the Public Sector Neurodiversity Community of Practice, are helping create better working environments and promoting the importance of the availability of diverse skills and capabilities.