The Australian Public Service Disability Employment Strategy 2020-25 provides a foundation for building an inclusive and diverse APS which seeks to increase the employment of people with disability across the APS to 7% by 2025. The Department of Finance is responsible for the delivery of Action 10 which involved identifying common accessibility barriers across APS tenancies:
Action 10: Audit of existing Australian Government owned and rented premises for their current levels of accessibility
Agencies should involve employees with disability and experts on organisational planning, digital and IT policy, change management, and job design to improve accessibility. The Australian Public Service Commission will consult with the Department of Finance on the conduct of an audit of existing Australian Government owned and rented premises and a review of current leasing arrangements to ensure entity compliance with the Disability Discrimination Act 1992 and other relevant standards.
In line with the intent of the Strategy, Action 10 considered the perspective of people living with disability to help identify the barriers to dignified access. A sample of APS tenancies were audited by participating entities with reports provided to Finance for analysis of the accessibility barriers experienced across the APS.
The Report focuses on how Commonwealth entities can provide dignified access in an APS office environment for people with disability The final report highlights accessibility barriers faced by current staff, potential new staff and visitors and focuses on how entities can provide dignified access for people with disability as a means of creating inclusive workplaces. The Report makes 3 recommendations to further reduce dignified access barriers by:
- strengthening existing frameworks
- developing tools and resources to support entities in identifying and reducing property barriers in APS office premises
- undertaking further research to understand how property barriers impact neurodivergent staff.
The Final Report on Action 10 of the APS Disability Employment Strategy is now available.
