News and updates

Released 22 July 2010
Event: Tapping the Talent of People with Disability

The Australian Public Service Commission and the Australian Network on Disability are pleased to present this joint ‘best practice forum’ where agency representatives will have an opportunity to share information and learn from each other’s experiences that may help them develop and implement more strategies for “Tapping the Talent of People with Disability”.

Speakers

• Stephen Sedgwick, Australian Public Service Commissioner
• Dr Jeff Harmer AO, FaHCSIA
• Paul O’Connor, CEO, Comcare
• Suzanne Colbert AM, CEO, Australian Network on Disability
• John Norton, Australian Public Service Commission
• Kate Bairstow, Australian Taxation Office
• Cristina Ricci, Australian Human Rights Commission

Register your attendance by Monday 2nd August 2010, by email to events@and.org.au or phone 1300 363 645.

Flyers and registration forms are available in PDF and MS Word formats.

Released 20 July 2010
Caretaker conventions

On Saturday morning the Prime Minister announced her intention to hold an election on August 21 and the Governor-General dissolved the House of Representatives on the evening of Monday 19 July.

The current Gillard Government now assumes a ‘caretaker’ role and a number of important constraints or conventions come into operation. More information on these conventions can be found on our Caretaker conventions page

Released 19 July 2010
Workplace Relations Advice 4 of 2010: Agreement Making During a Caretaker Period

The Australian Government Employment Bargaining Framework (Bargaining Framework) sets out the Australian Government's workplace relations policy in relation to its employees. APS agencies, non-APS authorities and relevant Ministers are required to implement the Bargaining Framework, including during the agreement making process.

2. During the caretaker period, the business of government continues and ordinary matters of administration still need to be addressed. However, successive governments have followed a series of practices, known as the 'caretaker conventions', which aim to ensure that their actions do not bind an incoming government and limit its freedom of action.

Updated 19 July 2010
2009 Census Report: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander APS Employees

Since August 2005, the APS Employment and Capability Strategy for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Employees has contributed to the stabilisation of Indigenous employment levels in the APS, as well as to the Australian Government’s wider agenda of improving employment and equity outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

As part of the research component under the Strategy, the Commission conducted the first comprehensive survey of Indigenous APS employees in 2005. The results provided valuable insights into the views of Indigenous employees on the nature of their employment in the APS and helped shape the work under the Strategy.

Since then the Commission has conducted a second census of Indigenous APS employees to ask them again about their experience as employees in the APS, and about what is and is not working well for them. It also aimed to determine if current initiatives for the employment, development and retention of Indigenous staff were meeting their needs.

The launch speech by the Public Service Commissioner is now available.

Released 9 July 2010
Workplace Relations Advice 3 of 2010: Interpretation of the Australian Government Employment Bargaining Framework from 1 July 2010

From 1 July 2010 responsibility for Australian Government policies for public sector agreement-making, classification structures, APS pay and employment conditions, work level standards and workplace relations advice, has been transferred from the Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations to the Australian Public Service Commission.

Information on the framework is available at: www.workplace.gov.au/workplace/Organisation/Government/Federal/AgreementMaking/

Released 7 July 2010
Circular 2010/3: Changes to timeframes for lodging Review of Actions

The Public Service Act 1999 provides that an APS employee is entitled to review of any APS action relating to his or her employment, subject to the Public Service Regulations 1999 (the Regulations). Under the Regulations an action may not be reviewable if the application for review is made outside the time limit established for review.

Following consultation by the Merit Protection Commissioner with agency heads and relevant unions, the Regulations have been amended to change the time limits for applications for review of action by APS employees. The changes are designed to better meet the policy objectives that reviews be conducted quickly, fairly and impartially, and that productive and harmonious workplaces be encouraged.

The changed arrangements will impact on all non-SES employees who seek a review of an employment action that occurs on or after 2 August 2010.

Released 2 July 2010
Circular 2010/2: Engagement of people with disability through disability employment service providers

This circular advises that the Public Service Commissioner’s Directions 1999 have been amended to provide greater flexibility for APS agencies to employ people with disability.

Released 30 June 2010
Our Values online forum

The Government has tasked the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC) with revising the APS Values into a smaller, tighter set of values that are meaningful, memorable and effective in driving change.

We want to get a set of Values that will be relevant and useful to all APS employees and guide strong performance across the APS. To help us do this, we are asking for your input.

Find out more…

Released 18 June 2010
Australian Public Sector Reform: The past, the present and the future

Speech by the Australian Public Service Commissioner at the Roundtable Seminar—Bureaucratic Reform Dialogue MenPAN Conference Facility - Jakarta

Released 11 June 2010
Secretaries Board and the APS 200

Central to APS reform is the establishment of two leadership groups:

• a Secretaries Board, accountable for achieving excellence across the APS; and
• the APS 200, a senior leadership forum to support the Secretaries Board.

The Secretaries Board is a new leadership forum that has replaced the Management Advisory Committee and the Portfolio Secretaries meeting as the preeminent forum for discussion of issues affecting the Australian Public Service. 

Members of the APS200 have a standing role as a leader in the APS – this role is not restricted to within their one agency.  In addition to their role as leaders in their organisations and more widely across the APS, APS200 members will also support the Secretaries Board by undertaking strategic projects and initiatives as cross-portfolio teams. 

Find out more...