The Commonwealth Government has recently published its 2008-09 State of the Service Report which provides a comprehensive summary of the workforce trends and capabilities of the Australian Public Service (APS).
The report, being launched in Perth today, is produced each year by the Australian Public Service Commission to provide Parliament with an overview of the APS. The report draws on a range of sources, including the results of an APS employee survey across all 95 agencies or semi-autonomous parts of agencies.
National Native Title Tribunal Registrar, Stephanie Fryer-Smith: The Tribunal's mission is consistent with the aims of the APS.
Acting APS Commissioner Carmel McGregor said the report provided a valuable insight into the APS’ capacity to meet the challenges facing Australia in the 21st century, and this was particularly important given the Prime Minister’s proposed blueprint for APS reform.
The report notes that most APS employees are proud to work in the APS, are motivated to do their best work and have high levels of job satisfaction.
It suggests the APS is benefiting from an increased level of graduate recruitment: in 2008–09, 68 per cent of people engaged by the APS had graduate qualifications.
The report also indicates that, in comparative terms, the National Native Title Tribunal retains a highly qualified and diverse staff.
The APS overview shows that the Tribunal has the fourth highest proportion of ongoing (permanent) Indigenous employees. Ongoing Indigenous staff make up 9.7 per cent of total Tribunal staff—compared with the APS average of 2.1 per cent.
In addition, Tribunal employees maintain a relatively low level of 8 to 9.9 days per employee per year of ‘unscheduled absences’ (mainly sick leave and carers’ leave). The APS median rate of unscheduled absences is 10.2 days per employee.
Tribunal Registrar Stephanie Fryer-Smith said the Tribunal’s strategic priorities of excellence in client and stakeholder relationships, service delivery, workplace culture and accountability standards were key to improving workforce trends and capabilities even further.
“Our commitment to the Tribunal’s mission of ‘facilitating the achievement of timely and effective outcomes’ is consistent with and gives effect to the objectives of the wider APS,” the Registrar said.
The report and a summary of the key findings are available via links at the top of this page. |