APS commitment to boost First Nations representation by 2030 to be considered ahead of the federal budget

The commitment is part of a broad suite of public service reforms promised by the Albanese government at the 2022 election.

The APS employed 5799 First Nations people in December 2022, its employment data release showed, representing 3.6 per cent of the workforce of 161,645 people.

That figure has remained the same for the last three years, and has grown modestly over the last two decades, First Nations people making up 2.8 per cent of the APS in 2003.

Five per cent would be a realistic goal if agency heads were serious about making it happen, a former senior Indigenous public servant said.

Wiradjuri man Geoff Scott was a deputy chief executive at the now defunct Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, and a long-serving NSW public servant.

ATSIC, established to represent the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in government processes, was abolished in 2005.

"If the APS are serious about trying to do it, it's a realistic goal," said Mr Scott, now director of the Uluru Dialogue.

But agencies need to support their employees and refrain from placing undue pressure on them.

"Not making those people out to be the only voices, and putting that pressure on them is one thing they should keep in mind," he said.

"Because it can put pressure on staff at a time where they're trying to learn and stake out their career."

Dr Julie Lahn, a researcher at the Australian National University, co-authored a 2018 study examining barriers and enablers in the APS for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to progress.

The public service needs to explicitly recognise the contributions of its First Nations staff in order to improve representation, she said.

"A target is OK, but it's not sufficient. You have to make the case, make that value a proposition for why we need First Nations public servants in the public service," she said.

"What is that value that they bring? And there's a number of really important values, and that's where that thinking needs to happen."

A greater proportion of Aboriginal people would create a bureaucracy better equipped to serve the public, Mr Scott said.

"I think it can only make the APS a better work environment, but also a more productive work environment, to get people to understand the clients you're working with," he said.

"But it's important you provide that space and support to do that."

The Australian Public Service Commission has given advice to the government on opportunities to improve First Nations employment outcomes and meet the government's target, including at senior levels. This advice is being considered for inclusion in the federal budget, to be handed down on May 9.

The latest employment data showed the APS employed 753 Indigenous people at the executive level and 48 in the senior executive classifications.

"For the APS, improving that representation still seems like an issue and particularly for having more senior people at the top," Dr Lahn said.

Agency heads who make it clear First Nations perspectives are valued in their organisations make the biggest difference, she said.

"Where that value is articulated, employment outcomes follow," Dr Lahn said.

"That was a key take-home for us, that you need people at the top really explicitly valuing and seeing the value of having public servants who are First Nations as well."

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Mr Scott agreed representation at the senior levels was vital, referencing his current work on the Indigenous Voice to Parliament.

"I'm working on the Voice at the moment, and that's what that's all about, because I think people can lose track," he said.

"Those at the top are not clear about what the real agenda is here and how they're going about doing their job.

"The reason we want a voice at the moment is because governments and public servants don't listen."

In February, the Australian Public Service Commissioner Peter Woolcott and Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Glyn Davis gave advice to agency heads on supporting First Nations staff through the Voice referendum process.

"During this important national conversation, which is already under way, we understand that some of our staff, particularly our First Nations colleagues, may find some of the commentary and public debate distressing," Mr Woolcott and Professor Davis wrote.

"We all have a duty and responsibility to ensure all APS workplaces are psychologically and culturally safe."

Staff should be referred to networks such as the Indigenous Employee Network, Indigenous Champions and Indigenous Liaison Officers, the senior public servants wrote.

Creating a public service which appeals to First Nations people will also come down to improving pay and conditions.

Addressing pay fragmentation between agencies, which negatively impacts staff at the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies, will be vital.

The issue will be discussed in APS-wide pay negotiations this year, but government representatives have been quick to point out discrepancies in pay emerged over decades, and will take multiple rounds of bargaining to rectify.

Mr Scott said lower pay at First Nations agencies sent a message to staff that "their skill set and their abilities are lower than the rest of public service".

"That's disastrous, that will surely drive people away," he said.

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