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Page 20 Senate Monday, 27 February 2017 Mr Stefanic: The reason is Ms Croke received, as I received, an email from the aggrieved party. It was substantively about the decision, and it was the decision about which I sought a review from Ms Croke. In terms of the duration of time, it did not enter my mind that that was something that should be reviewed. Senator McKENZIE: I want to follow up some questions that I asked at last estimates around the department's performance against the Commonwealth target of three per cent Indigenous employment. Are you happy to take those questions, Mr Stefanic? Mr Stefanic: Yes. Ms Croke might have the details. We certainly are exceeding our target, Senator. Senator McKENZIE: That is great news. Ms Hinchcliffe, you are going to help me? Ms Hinchcliffe: I will, Senator. Senator McKENZIE: Could you give me an update on the target and how it relates to last year's performance? Ms Hinchcliffe: We currently have an Indigenous headcount within the department of 11. That is 1.2 per cent of our employees. Senator McKENZIE: What was it last year? Ms Hinchcliffe: As of 30 June 2016 it was, again, 11, which was 1.26 per cent. For 30 June 2015 it was nine, which was 1.3 per cent. Senator McKENZIE: So there has been no increase towards the target of three per cent across the department since 30 June last year. You had 11 last year. You have 11 now. That is 1.2 per cent. How long do you think it will take you to reach the three per cent target? Ms Hinchcliffe: We have a number of initiatives underway at the moment in the area of Indigenous employment within the department. Senator McKENZIE: Such as what? Ms Hinchcliffe: We have recently joined the Indigenous Australian Government Development Program, a graduate program for Indigenous employees. We had been hopeful of receiving a number of graduates under that program. We have received one graduate. That graduate commenced on 16 September 2016 and will be with us for the duration of the graduate program, which runs for 15 months. We have also just commenced, with the other parliamentary departments, a RAP initiative—an Indigenous employment network. That had its first meeting this year. We see that as being a positive initiative to provide support to Indigenous employees across the parliamentary service, as well as to help retain Indigenous employees as they come to each of the parliamentary departments. Senator McKENZIE: How long has this initiative been in place? Ms Hinchcliffe: The Indigenous employee network? It had its first meeting on 2 February 2017. Senator McKENZIE: When was the target of three per cent set? Ms Hinchcliffe: I would have to take that on notice. Senator McKENZIE: I think it was a while ago—but the departments have all just got together this February for the first time? Ms Hinchcliffe: The parliamentary departments have a RAP champion group. One of the initiatives of our RAP champion group was to set up the Indigenous employee network. We had previously had discussions with the Attorney-General's Department's Indigenous employee network to see how they had established theirs. As part of our process we have now established one here. Senator McKENZIE: Can you give me a breakdown of those 11 employees? What levels are they at within the Public Service? Ms Hinchcliffe: I will need to take that on notice. Mr Stefanic: To clarify: I thought heard the word 'procurement' earlier—not 'recruitment'. That is why I said we had exceeded our target. I apologise. Senator McKENZIE: I am getting to procurement, so it will not be in vain. Nobody here from the department has a list of the 11 Indigenous employees? There is a senator who regularly asks you questions on this, but you do not have a breakdown of the levels of those 11 individuals? Ms Hinchcliffe: I do not have that with me. I will have to take that on notice. Senator McKENZIE: When do you think you could get that information to me? Can someone back in the office print that off? FINANCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
Monday, 27 February 2017 Senate Page 21 Ms Hinchcliffe: I am not sure when I can get that to you, but we will work on it. If we are able to get that to you while we are still here, we will. If not, I will take it on notice. Senator McKENZIE: I find it incredible that we have 11 people in one of the flagship programs of this government within the Public Service but that we cannot be told where the 11 people are within your organisation. If they are so important that we are having interdepartmental committee meetings, how can we not know what level they are at, and how can it take more than two hours to get that piece of information to this room? I find that quite staggering, Mr Stefanic. Mr Stefanic: We will certainly have it for next time. Senator McKENZIE: 'Next time'? Which next time? Mr Stefanic: We will be prepared for your question the next time you ask it, but we will— Senator McKENZIE: I would like to know the level of the employees. I cannot imagine, Mr Stefanic, that it would be difficult to get that. You should know them by name if you have a program in place to support their ongoing employment—which you have just told me you do. You should know them by name, let alone having a document somewhere that you could just print off with their levels. Ms Croke: I am sure somebody in our HR area is watching this right now and trying to get that information as fast as they can. Senator McKENZIE: Thank you! That is the answer I was looking for. That is fabulous. Thank you, Ms Croke and HR. I am looking forward to getting that piece of information. I will have a couple of questions once we do get that information. I will now move to procurement. We have exceeded expectations. That is good news. Do you want to talk us through how DPS performed under the Indigenous procurement policy? Mr Stefanic: Perhaps we can throw that across to Ms Croke. Ms Croke: I might get Mr Creagh to answer that. Mr Creagh: We have exceeded the number of contracts that DPS had. As to the target, we entered into 15 contracts with 13 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses for a total value of $1,410,395, GST inclusive. That was for the 2015-16 financial year. I do not have the figures for this financial year with me at the moment, but I am sure my procurement guys will be able to get it to me very shortly. I guess the other thing that probably identifies that we did exceed our target for the year is that we are going to look for further initiatives that we can do, particularly in the building space and in the subcontractor space, where there is a fair bit of scope for accessing Indigenous businesses. At the moment our procurement practices require people who are going to procure services to check Supply Nation before they go out to tender. We are looking at ways to potentially modify our requests for tenders to, at the very least, ask for best efforts on subcontractors for Indigenous businesses. We are also looking at our training across the department to ensure that people understand both the requirements under the Indigenous procurement policy and also how we can help business areas to achieve their goals. Senator McKENZIE: In breaking down those 15 contracts, do you want to quickly run through which sections of DPS? Mr Creagh: I will have to get my procurement guys to double-check that for us, but I know that the areas were in the artwork space and in the construction space as well. Senator McKENZIE: The idea of this policy is that it extends to all activities within the department? Mr Creagh: Correct. Senator McKENZIE: The Indigenous procurement policy applies to the catering arrangements? Mr Creagh: It should, yes. Senator McKENZIE: Yes, it should. How many Indigenous businesses have won catering contracts from DPS? Mr Creagh: I will have to take that on notice. Senator McKENZIE: Hopefully the procurement guys will be as forthcoming as the HR guys. Do you manage the gift shop? Mr Creagh: No, that is not under my responsibility. Ms Croke: That is within my area and it fits into the Parliamentary Experience Branch. Senator McKENZIE: So we manage it in-house? FINANCE AND PUBLIC ADMINISTRATION LEGISLATION COMMITTEE
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