Equity and diversity under the Public Sector Act 2022

The Public Sector Commission supports the sector to meet the Public Sector Act 2022 obligations to promote equity, diversity, respect and inclusion, by working with organisations to better understand and address equity and diversity issues. The annual equity and diversity audit process allows agencies to understand:

• potential inequalities that are occurring
• causes of identified inequalities
• how to best address inequalities.

All agencies are supported to audit their current workforce and given access to equity and diversity data to inform priorities and future action.

Find out about other Queensland Government initiatives that support workplace inclusion and diversity.

The equity and diversity audit process supports agencies to analyse their workforce data and other relevant data to identify equity and diversity challenges. The process includes:

• interactive equity and diversity datasets provided to sector organisations annually
• audit report requirements
• 2025 audit guide to assist agencies to interrogate and interpret equity datasets and translate the analysis into their 2025 audit report.
• 2025 audit guide to assist government owned corporations and prescribed agencies to interrogate and interpret equity datasets and translate the analysis into their 2025 audit report.

The Public Sector Commission supports the equity and diversity audit process through:

• an audit guide and an example section of how to write up an equity and diversity data analysis
• information sessions to public sector entities and government own corporations
• support and feedback to agencies in the drafting of audit reports
• guidance to agencies on converting audit findings into planned measures and solutions
• organisation or whole-of-sector audit refresher sessions
• conversations with the Special Commissioner, executive leadership groups and equity and diversity champions across the sector.

Public sector chief executives’ obligations to address equity and diversity, respect and inclusion, are outlined in Chapter 2 of the Public Sector Act 2022.

A key lever for building a diverse workforce is through inclusive and accessible recruitment processes and practices. The updated Recruitment and selection (Directive 07/23) provides a progressive approach. The Special Commissioner works with the sector to support implementation of the directive.