A growing pay gap for staff from diverse backgrounds in the ACT public service needs the government to set targets to address the disparity, the main public sector union says.
The Community and Public Sector Union said the average pay gap for public servants from culturally and linguistically diverse (CALD) backgrounds had increased since 2012, as more workers from diverse backgrounds have joined the service.
The union's analysis of ACT State of the Service reports revealed the pay gap had narrowed for other diverse groups, including people with a disability, women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Since 2012, the average pay for public servants in the ACT increased by more than 50 per cent from about $75,843 to $114,754 in 2025.
In the same period, the pay for CALD public servants rose from $73,260 to $104,842, a 43 per cent increase.
The pay gap between CALD public servants and the ACT average between 2012 and 2025 had more than doubled from 3.4 per cent to about 8.6 per cent.
CPSU regional secretary Maddy Northam said the pay gap disparity resulted from systemic issues within the ACT public service and it needed to become a model employer that helps the diverse workforce facing cost-of-living pressures.
"It is completely unacceptable that pay gaps for workers from culturally diverse backgrounds have worsened over the past decade," she said.
"The ACT government urgently needs to develop a specific CALD Employment Framework with directorate-specific targets to reduce these pay gaps and address their causes."
Since 2012, the proportion of CALD workers in the ACT public service rose from 13.8 per cent to 26.6 per cent, the CPSU said.
More than 8470 employees identified as culturally and linguistically diverse in 2025, an increase of 13.2 per cent on the year before.
With an average salary of $108,612, the pay gap for First Nations employees was 5.4 per cent in 2025, which had more than halved compared with 2012, when the pay gap was 12.3 per cent.
The 2025 State of the Service report said the service's Culture and Transformation Branch "developed and launched a pilot mentoring program to support the career progression of people from CALD backgrounds. As many participants were women, this initiative contributes directly to the goals of the ACTPS Gender Equity Strategy".
The branch launched a pilot program to support culturally and linguistically diverse staff who were interested in progressing to senior executive service roles and reviewed staff attraction and retention.
"The review found that while the ACTPS offers positive pathways to employment and fosters supportive workplace cultures, there is a gap in initiatives that help people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds move into leadership and executive roles," the State of the Service report said.
Figures released last year showed the pay gap across the territory's public sector was -0.3 per cent, meaning women on average are paid slightly more than men, and significantly lower than the ACT's 6.1 per cent pay gap and Australia's 11.5 per cent gap.
Nearly 65 per cent of the staff in the ACT's public sector are women, while 58 per cent of executive roles in the ACT public service are held by women, last year's State of the Service report showed.
The average salary of female staff in 2024-25 was $114,910, slightly ahead of the service-wide average of $114,754.
