Page 715 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 8 April 2014
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The committee found that there is no sense of a tightly managed implementation exercise focused on achieving outcomes. The ACT public service submission is characterised by numerous references to activities that are aspired to, planned to happen, and/or have only just happened.
The committee concludes that for the ACT public service it would have been better to establish a defined ACT public service-wide Indigenous employment product and use a proven project management methodology to manage the achievement of the deliverables. Such an approach would have resulted in a dedicated cross-functional project team accountable for the delivery of specific service-wide, measurable outcomes.
The committee has recommended that the ACT public service implement a project management approach to ensure the timely achievement of outcomes identified in the ACT public service employment strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Furthermore, the committee has recommended that the ACT public service accurately define the target level of employment. Referring to the employment target as 407, or two per cent of the total workforce, is out of date, as the ACT public service workforce has increased by more than three per cent per year since 2011.
The inquiry has shown that recruitment tends to be at lower classifications and that few Indigenous employees progress to middle management ranks, let alone senior executive roles. In fact, only one out of 197 executives identified as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
The committee concluded that there is nothing wrong with recruiting into junior positions to progress the strategy and provide individual opportunity. However, without deliberate efforts to increase the proportion of senior Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees in the ACT public service, a stated purpose of the strategy to bring Indigenous expertise and insight to government policy to benefit all Canberrans will not be met.
The committee has made a number of recommendations aimed at significantly improving the number of Indigenous graduate employees and increasing the number of Indigenous employees working at more senior levels. Cultural awareness and cultural safety were two areas of interest to the committee. I draw members’ attention to chapter 7 of the report, which recounts an instructive story told at a public hearing by the Chief Executive of the Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre, Ms Rachelle Towart. I commend the story of a man with seven mothers to everyone.
We have made a number of recommendations aimed at making the service more inclusive and improving how Indigenous employees can contribute to improving the effectiveness of the ACT public service. One key area is that of mentoring. The committee has recommended a mentoring system that involves ACT public service Indigenous employees who are respected in the wider Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
The inquiry involved the committee looking beyond the ACT to find lessons learned in other jurisdictions, both in Australia and overseas. Two key findings were common
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