Page 2436 - Week 07 - Thursday, 4 August 2022
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roles within the Senior Executive Service without success. I have spent hours addressing selection criteria and updating resumes only to be rejected. Far from winning a job, I haven’t even received a single interview call. It is frustrating to the extent that I have almost given up applying these days, because, why bother!
Another example was:
Many friends pointed out that they sit at one level for a long period of time whereas their Australian counterparts rise quickly in ranks. Most of them are also denied acting roles even though they are more qualified and suitable for the role.
Or another one:
A cursory look at the resumes of the CALD community members applying for SES equivalent roles within the ACT public service will reveal that the applicants are highly skilled, qualified and educated, often possessing multiple post graduate degrees and diplomas.
Or yet another example:
Most [of the] CALD community is sitting at lower to medium levels in public service and very few make it to the top. Women in particular feel grateful that they have a job and hardly ever speak up.
Or yet another:
It’s very difficult for members of the CALD community to be successful in winning the senior executive service roles. CALD community members are thus excluded from key strategic decision making and forming exercise within the public service, leading to a sense of frustration and being left out.
I have to say that this is a disgrace. For too long we have justified our inaction and engaged in self-satisfied braggadocio about our so-called successes in diversity. Meanwhile, ethnically and racially diverse Canberrans have been suffering a systemic exclusion, only to be told that the injustices they are experiencing are not real! And yet they are trotted out for show during multicultural festivals. I say enough is enough. Yes, these issues are not unique to the ACT or the ACT Public Service. Yes, the national standards can and should be improved. But we Canberrans have a proud tradition of leading the way on reforms that make Australian society more equitable, and I am calling on the ACT government to do so once again.
The federal government has committed to developing national standards for CALD data collection. It is absolutely imperative that we monitor and, if appropriate, contribute to and apply these national standards for diversity data collection. In the meantime, there are some concrete steps we can take at the territory level. As Sandra Wright, Chief Executive Officer of the Settlement Council of Australia, said:
We don’t need to wait for the data to be collected to start making changes. Good practice in hiring people from minority cultures should be implemented no matter what the statistics are.
We need to create an evidence-based best practice guideline that can be used in recruitment, retention and promotion of ethnically and racially diverse people. This
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