Hiring in the Australian Public Service has emerged as a point of contention in APS-wide bargaining, as the main public sector union pushes for changes to ensure "fair and merit-based recruitment" in negotiations for a new enterprise agreement with the Albanese government.
A perceived lack of transparency around how merit lists and pools are drawn from - and external processes being conducted despite active merit pools already existing - are top concerns for Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) members.
Public Eye can reveal the CPSU is seeking the changes to how federal bureaucrats are hired and enabled to climb up the ranks, with the Commonwealth so far declining to agree to its demands.
Members are unhappy with how bulk recruitment rounds are being handled by some external recruiters, with concerns around assessment tools like one-way video interviews, psychometric testing and artificial intelligence used to rank and filter candidates.
The Australian Taxation Office was forced to cancel a recruitment round last month after discovering AI had been used to filter candidates, breaching the tax office's guidelines that require a human to have the final say on the candidate shortlist for each role.
The union is making recruitment a priority issue in bargaining along with job security, work-life balance measures and wider AI-related protections, after securing some early wins on flexible work, paid parental leave for surrogacy and part-time work rights for parents.
And it is pushing for enterprise agreements to include measures to drive the conversion of insecure jobs - including both casuals and contractors - into ongoing employment.
Members are also concerned about the rate of decisions to promote APS employees being overturned by the Merit Protection Commission.
CPSU national secretary Rebecca Fawcett said the Commonwealth had "fallen well short in its response to the CPSU's job security claims" and should be "investing in capability of the APS".
The government "has committed to being a model employer on AI, but so far we are not seeing that commitment matched by action," Ms Fawcett said.
"What has been presented in APS bargaining does not provide the strong, enforceable protections workers need, or safeguards around AI that CPSU members expect," she said, calling for "strong protections ... to ensure AI is not used in surveillance, performance assessment, or recruitment and promotions."
Finance and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher said: "I encourage the union to continue negotiating."
Australian Public Service Commission chief negotiator Alison Stott, who is leading the Commonwealth's negotiations, will next meet with unions on October 6.
Home Affairs Secretary Stephanie Foster has explained why she and fellow agency heads are pushing to ban video footage from parliamentary hearings being edited and shared on social media - a move that's been slammed as "an affront to democracy".
The Secretaries Board chaired by Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet secretary Steven Kennedy called for the ban in a recent parliamentary submission, complaining bureaucrats were being subjected to "ridicule, hostility and abuse" online.
"Nobody likes being caricatured," Ms Foster told this columnist in an interview, while acknowledging that "the more senior you get, the more you get used to public commentary, and understand that that isn't what defines you."
The secretary confirmed she wants to see the end of Senate estimates clips being used to drive home a partisan message, as mastered by MPs across the political spectrum - but it's not to avoid personal scrutiny.
"The Senate won't get the best out of the public servants who are appearing before them if they are scared by what might transpire from their evidence," she said.
"I am concerned where public servants, particularly those in less senior positions, find themselves belittled, targeted in social media."
Home Affairs officials spent "a lot of time as an agency preparing for estimates," arming themselves with detailed briefings in the hopes of surviving an estimates grilling.
"I want them to be able to operate in a safe environment, and it's not safe when you find yourself belittled, bullied on social media."
While this was "never okay," the experience was toughest for those less experienced with the ordeal.
Ms Foster said she did not wish to "impede the operation of the Senate and the transparency that it brings."
"I absolutely believe in the importance of transparency and in public servants coming to estimates well prepared and in a position to to assist the Senate in their inquiries," she said.
"But I also want to ensure that my staff operated a safe and respectful workplace.
"When they go to Senate estimates, it's their workplace. I know that all of my staff who appear at estimates go with the clear intention of doing their best."
Public Eye made inquiries recently after noticing that a number of media transcripts - including from press conferences during the 2025 federal election campaign - had disappeared from Finance and Public Service Minister and ACT Labor senator Katy Gallagher's website.
It seems that Senator Gallagher's office changed the content management system behind her website, with the migration of old content still a work in process.
And the Finance Department was asked to ensure that the missing transcripts were restored to their rightful place on the ministerial website, for the public to see.
