The APS should engage properly with Indigenous communities and recruit staff using culturally appropriate ways, a leading Aboriginal public service figure says.
Speaking at an inaugural event named after him, former Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies leader Russell Taylor on Tuesday urged agencies to build relationships with Indigenous communities and institutions.
![APS leader: Former Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies chief Russell Taylor.](http://web.archive.org./web/20170619003007im_/https://www.fairfaxstatic.com.au/content/dam/images/g/w/g/n/s/l/image.related.articleLeadwide.620x349.gwg536.png/1496135868155.jpg)
He told a crowd at the inaugural Russell Taylor Oration in Canberra, aiming to inspire Indigenous people in the public service and encourage others to consider joining, Aboriginal employment needed to be core APS business.
"Engagement, through establishing relationships built on trust and shared values, and recognition of the strengths Indigenous people bring to the partnership, can facilitate negotiations and the achievement of positive outcomes around more specific objectives concerning policies, programs and projects – including employment," he said.
Mr Taylor, the inaugural chief executive of the agency leading Australia's collecting, research and publishing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, said the public service needed to use more culturally appropriate recruitment processes to identify potential employees.
"The APS has to develop broader and deeper pathways to employment through innovative interventions into and partnerships with communities, high schools and universities to facilitate and promote Indigenous employment opportunities," Mr Taylor said.
"In addition, the APS must be prepared to better engage with those Indigenous Australians already in the workforce and must be prepared to develop incentives, both financial and non-financial, to support such approaches."
He said a 2016 Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research report identified motivations for Indigenous resignations from the APS, including concerns about being undervalued as employees, racism and lack of opportunity.
Agencies needed to create initiatives aimed at retaining Indigenous staff, and to develop ways to enhance their careers through accelerated leadership training to increase the number of Aboriginal leaders in the APS, Mr Taylor said.
Goals to lift Indigenous APS employment should not be left to a few 'heavy lifting' agencies, he said.
Indigenous staff make up 2.4 per cent of the public service's workforce, compared to 3 per cent of the total population.
"To exacerbate this challenge there is a serious lack of Indigenous numbers in the senior and the senior executive ranks of the APS," Mr Taylor said.
"These gaps need to be addressed as a matter of priority for a number of reasons including the importance of having visible and accessible senior APS role models."