One in five public servants reported having been bullied last year, but Stephen Sedgwick, head of the Australian Public Service Commission said it is a reporting error, rather than a major problem (State of the Service Report 2010-2011, chapter 3).
Even more worryingly, one in three public servants with a disability reported being bullied, yet Mr Sedgwick told the Senate Finance and Public Administration Committee on Monday night his Commission has no specific plan to deal with this (State of the Service Report 2010-2011, chapter 7)
High levels of reported bullying in the public service are all the more concerning, considering Prime Minister Julia Gillard – to whom the Public Service Commissioner reports – has campaigned strongly against bullying. Her senior frontbenchers, including Industrial Relations Minister Bill Shorten, have also condemned bullying in the strongest language.
“I’ve seen the tragic consequences of workplace bullying left unchecked which led to the suicide of a young woman in the restaurant industry a number of years ago and I think that the starting point for all interests in terms of workplace bullying is it is unacceptable,” Mr Shorten said in an interview on January 5 this year.
Senator Scott Ryan, chair of the Finance and Public Administration References Committee, called on the Prime Minister to take the lead in sorting out the public service workplace culture.
“There is a major problem when one in five public servants and one in three public servants with a disability feel they have been harassed,” Senator Scott Ryan, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Small Business and Fair Competition, said. “I understand that reporting levels may be different to confirmed cases, but this shows that for many, the public service is an unhealthy workplace.”
“The APS Commissioner reports directly to the Prime Minister. I call on Prime Minister Gillard to take the lead in improving the culture among the workforce that services the government.”
“It will be difficult though, for a Prime Minister who knifed her predecessor and who breaks her promises to her coalition partners and to the Australian people to be demonstrating good workplace behaviour,” Senator Ryan said.