National Indigenous Employment and Capability Plan 2010-11

• Secretary's Forward
• National Indigenous Employment and Capability Plan 2010-11
• Why Have a National Indigenous Employment  and Capability Plan?
• Timeframes and Targets
• Who has a Role in the Success of this Plan?
• Evaluation and Reporting

Secretary’s Foreword

I am pleased to present the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry’s National Indigenous Employment and Capability Plan 2010-2011.

The National Indigenous Employment and Capability Plan 2010-11 forms part of the Workplace Diversity Strategy 2010-11, which, over the next two years will focus on the development of employment plans for Indigenous Australians, mature age employees and people with disability and promotion of flexible working arrangements.  These initiatives will form the foundation for the department in developing future strategies and strengthen our approach to diversity.

Our department has responsibility for the development of policy and the delivery of programs to both the Indigenous and wider communities, including the National Indigenous Forestry Strategy, Caring for our Country, Landcare and Indigenous Fisheries programs.  Additionally, the department provides funding for Indigenous scholarships and grants through the Australian Rural Leadership Foundation and Community Network’s and Capacity Building, a component of Australia’s Farming Future. 

Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees are working across Australia with around 80 per cent located outside of central office and over one third situated in the Northern region alone. Our employees can be found at airports, seaports and abattoirs and are involved in ensuring Australia’s world class biosecurity systems are upheld.  This geographic dispersion highlights the need for a national employment plan that takes into account regional differences and business requirements.

It is important that we can recruit and retain highly skilled and highly capable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who can help us to deliver on these critical business outcomes.

Furthermore, I am committed to achieving a departmental target of 3 per cent Indigenous employment by 2015.  To achieve this goal, areas including workplace environment, attraction, recruitment and retention are incorporated in this plan, ensuring we not only attract Indigenous Australians into our department, but we support and retain these employees throughout their careers.

The department has a number of key stakeholders who are responsible for the delivery and maintenance of this plan.  These include:

• People Management Committee
• Indigenous Working Group
• Human Resources Branch
• Indigenous Policy/Program areas
• Indigenous Employee Network
• Indigenous Employees

Ultimately, the responsibility for the success of this plan lies with all departmental employees, managers and the executive and I look forward to working with you to achieve the benefits this plan will bring.  

Dr Conall O’Connell
Secretary

National Indigenous Employment and Capability Plan 2010-11

The aim of this plan is to improve the employment opportunities and capability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the department.  The National Indigenous Employment and Capability Plan 2010-11 is a core component of the DAFF Workplace Diversity Strategy 2010-11.

The National Indigenous Employment and Capability Plan 2010-11 is supported by the National Indigenous Employment and Capability Action Plan which provides more detailed information on the actions to be undertaken to assist in the achievement of objectives outlined in this plan.  The action plan will be updated twice per year and reported on to the People Management Committee to reflect the progress being made.  This is likely to occur in June/July and November/December. 

The National Indigenous Employment and Capability Plan 2010-11 seeks to:

• foster an environment that embraces Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the workplace
• position DAFF as an organisation that attracts and retains Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to work in the department
• provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees with the skills they need to do their jobs, with a focus on enhancing leadership opportunities.

Why have a National Indigenous Employment and Capability Plan?

The National Indigenous Employment and Capability Plan 2010-11 has been developed to:

• utilise the specific skills, knowledge, experiences and networks of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the development of good policies and programs
• build our capacity to deliver services more effectively to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the wider Australian community
• raise the profile of DAFF and the wider APS, promoting ourselves as an employer of choice
• assist in meeting the Australian Government’s commitment, under the National Partnership Agreement on Indigenous Economic Participation, of increasing Indigenous employment in the Commonwealth public sector to 2.7 per cent by 2015.

Timeframes and targets

The National Indigenous Employment and Capability Plan 2010-11 is in effect from June 2010 to 2011, with the ultimate achievement being 3 per cent Indigenous employment by 2015. 

More detailed actions, including responsibilities and timeframes specific to each of the actions outlined in the table above can be found in the National Indigenous Employment and Capability Action Plan.

Who has a role in the success of this plan?

The responsibility for the success of this plan lies with all departmental employees, managers and the executive.  However, there are key stakeholders responsible for the delivery and maintenance of the National Indigenous Employment and Capability Plan 2010-11, these include the following:

People Management Committee

As the governance committee with responsibility for Indigenous employment, the People Management Committee will:

• provide guidance, set directions and priorities for Indigenous employment across the department
• drive and present Indigenous related papers at Executive Management Team meetings
• champion Indigenous initiatives across the department.

Indigenous Working Group

While providing a coordinated approach to Indigenous policies and programs across the portfolio, the Indigenous Working Group will:

• identify opportunities to support and increase Indigenous participation in primary industries
• ensure working group members are informed of policy developments, program progress and opportunities to partner on activities
• promote closer and more effective working relationships with other departments
• progress, review and report on the department’s Reconciliation Action Plan.

Human Resources Branch, Regional Human Resources Teams and Indigenous Employee Officer

As the key Indigenous employment policy and program coordinator, the Human Resources Branch will:

• work closely with the People Management Committee and Indigenous Working Group to support Indigenous employment opportunities, by aligning recruitment, retention and performance against policies across the department
• encourage staff to identify as an Indigenous Australian to assist with reporting requirements
• encourage non-Indigenous employees to attend cultural awareness training
• coordinate the development and implementation of Indigenous initiatives
• promote learning and career development opportunities for Indigenous employees.

Indigenous Policy / Program areas

Having responsibility for Indigenous related policies and / or programs, these areas will consider positions that could be ‘identified positions’. 

An identified position is one in which part of all of the duties involve the development of policy or programs relating to Aboriginal and / or Torres Strait Islander people, and/or involve interaction with Aboriginal and / or Torres Strait Islander communities, including service delivery. 

In order to perform these duties efficiently and effectively, the occupant needs to have an understanding of the issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and an ability to communicate sensitively and effectively with them.

Indigenous Employee Network

As a supportive group for Indigenous employees, the Indigenous Employee Network will:

• meet, network, advocate and discuss issues relevant to Indigenous employees
• provide input into Indigenous related departmental policies, strategies and programs
• provide support and guidance to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees.

Indigenous Employees

Within the department, our Indigenous employees will:

• actively participate in the Indigenous Employees Network and wider Indigenous APS Employees Network
• provide support and guidance to other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees though informal coaching and networking
• assist the department in the coordination and running of events of cultural significance such as NAIDOC Week.

Evaluation and Reporting

The National Indigenous Employment and Capability Action Plan will be provided to the People Management Committee bi-annually to monitor its implementation.

The following measures will be used to evaluate the implementation and success of the National Indigenous Employment and Capability Plan 2010-11:

• staff survey results indicate workplace diversity is an accepted part of the department’s culture
• increased levels of employees identifying themselves as Indigenous Australians
• recruitment policies and practices reflect the diverse needs of the Australian community in terms of accessibility and flexibility seen through an increased amount of job applications received from Indigenous Australians

In addition, the department has a legislative requirement to report against workplace diversity, including Indigenous representation, through the departments Annual Report and the annual Australian Public Service State of the Service Report.