Ms Shirley Comerford:

I thank Senator O'Reilly. I am happy to respond. As we said, it is important that we continue to do the work we are trying to do. From our perspective, we have to ensure we have a strategy that declare our intent in relation to our aspirations to create a public service that is reflective of the society that it serves. There is a role for government in showing leadership on this matter. There is certainly a policy element around establishing targets and quotas because, as I stated, they focus minds.

As recruiters, it is incumbent on us to make sure we are visible, continue with our outreach work, continue to try to engage with the various groups and model best practice. There is much that we can do in terms of liaising with other government organisations. We are fortunate in the Public Appointments Service in that our reach goes beyond the Civil Service. We have a key role in shining a light, sharing best practice, training interview boards and ensuring they are aware of diversity and unconscious bias, as well as making sure that the composition of interview boards participating in recruitment processes is such that they live that diversity as well. There is much that we can do in this area.

I totally agree with the Senator about the expectation of success. One cannot be what one cannot see. We know from other disadvantaged or marginalised groups in employment that networks and having role models are important, as are mentors and other support mechanisms that could be put in place. We would welcome any policy developments in that area.

We have made a commitment to do our piece around using our influence with the HR communities across our sectors, highlighting to the public sector organisations that they have a public service duty. We will use our influence and reach to try to expand HR and other organisations' knowledge around inclusivity and the importance of this. We are acutely aware that we might get people in the door but if they are going to organisations that do not have an inclusive culture, that work experience for them will be negative. It is important that we have a two-pronged approach where as well as getting people in to organisations, we make sure those organisations are creating environments where people can succeed. I hope that answers the Senator's question.