In 2013 the ACT Government conducted an inquiry into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment. The inquiry’s terms of reference announced on 16 March 2013 stated that the intention was to review the ACT Public Service (ACTPS) Employment Strategy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People (2011-2015) at its midpoint. Indigenous employees of the ACT were invited to participate and provided testimony at a live-streamed meeting to inform the inquiry on 12 December 2013. Participants from the following directorates and departments included:
Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate
Melba High School
ACT Human Rights Commission
Community Services Directorate
Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University, College of the Arts and Social Sciences
Territory and Municipal Services
Justice and Community Safety
ACT Corrective Services
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Student Education and Training Directorate
Employee Relations, Education and Training Directorate
Belconnen High School
Australian Indigenous Leadership Centre
Notice anything missing? There are no representatives from the Chief Minister, Treasury and Economic Development Directorate (CMTEDD). There are also none from the Office of the Government Solicitor.
In the court case against Mullins in 2017, witness Robert Lewis, a former senior CMTEDD employee, recounted a discussion with the former Commissioner held in 2003 with an earlier Commissioner Wayne Perry. The conversation was to the effect that Perry said that there was an unofficial policy in CMTEDD not to employ Indigenous people.
By the time of the inquiry in 2013, you would think that a progressive and diverse CMTEDD would have employed Indigenous people and would want them to be represented on an inquiry such as this. We know that in 2003 there was only one Indigenous employee in CMTEDDD and we all know what happened to him – he was ethnically cleansed. By the time of the inquiry a decade later, could the situation possibly be that there were still no Indigenous employees in CMTEDD? With the change of leadership from Stanhope’s golden girl Katy Gallagher to the token LGBTIQA+ Andrew Barr, has there been any further improvement on this front? Doubtful at best.
Take the time to listen to these ACT Indigenous employees tales of frustration at not being heard when they are racially vilified, difficulties with career progression and social marginalization within the ACTPS. And then think of one black man in 2003, who was fitted up, sacked and his career and life decimated. Until the ACT Government takes seriously the experiences of Indigenous employees and creates real change rather than token policies and legislation that they have no intention of enforcing equally, Indigenous people in the ACT will continue to be second-rate citizens.
