Office of Multicultural Affairs Achieving Accessand Equity, A Second Edition Guide for theAustralian Public Service Canberra, AustralianGovernment Publishing Service, 1994, pp i and1-5.

One of the key strategies of OMA and theGovernment involved detailed plans insidegovernment departments. This guide (1994)provides an introduction to that process.

Foreword by the MinisterAssisting the Prime Ministerfor Multicultural Affairs

This Government seeks to build an Australiawhich is fair, strong, prosperous and united inits purpose and outlook.

Such a goal can only be achieved if policydevelopers and program managers in theAustralian Public Service deal with allAustralians in an even-handed manner. It isparticularly important, in programs and servicesdelivered by government agencies to the public,to ensure equality of opportunity and equity inoutcomes.

This Government is firmly committed toensuring that all Australians, irrespective of theirrace, culture, religion or first language, are ableto benefit equitably from the resources itmanages on behalf of the community.

To this end, the Government adopted theAccess and Equity Strategy in 1985 forimplementation throughout the AustralianPublic Service. The Strategy was evaluated in1991-92. The recommendations of theEvaluation Report were endorsed byGovernment and constitute the current Accessand Equity Strategy. The recommendationsstipulated ways in which the Strategy could beimproved and all Commonwealth departments

and agencies are required to implement them.

The Evaluation highlighted the importance ofequitable program outcomes. Equity is afundamental principle of democratic governanceand a just social system. In the form of 'a fairgo', equity is a basic principle of theGovernment's social justice policy.

For managers it is important to understand thatequity is not simply equality of treatment.Equity policies recognise that citizens aredifferent in their needs, interests and values.Treating everybody the same may simplyperpetuate existing inequalities. The goal is agreater social equality overall, but takingaccount of the reality of difference.

Achieving Access and Equity - A Second EditionGuide for the Australian Public Service willprovide public service managers with aninvaluable tool for creating accessible servicesand achieving equitable outcomes for those whouse the services. It updates A&E policy andpractice and particularly sharpens the focus onA&E practice at the client contact level. I trustthat it will go a long way towards ensuring theAccess and Equity Strategy continues to beimplemented with vigour by all Commonwealthdepartments and agencies.

Nick Bolkus

August 1994

1Making Multicultural Australia Achieving Access & Equity

Achieving Access & Equity

Chapter 1: Overview

1.1 What is Access and Equity ?

Two key social justice objectives of theCommonwealth Government are to ensure that:

• all Australians can access its programs andservices with equal ease; and

• all Australians receive a fair share of theresources delivered through Commonwealthprograms.

The concept of access implies that all who areentitled to a public service should face nobarriers that make their situation inequitable toothers so entitled.

Equity implies that all who are entitled togovernment provision should be equally likelyto receive it.

The Access and Equity (A&E) Strategy began in1985 as a policy response to the provision ofservices to people of non-English speakingbackground, ie to persons coming from acountry where the national or commonly usedlanguage is not English. In 1989 the Strategywas formally extended to include all groups whomay face barriers of race, religion, language orculture, including Australian-born people ofnon-English speaking background (NESB2) andAboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islanders,with a continuing emphasis on the doubledisadvantage which may be faced by womenand the ethnic disabled.

In the past, government departments andagencies have not always communicatedeffectively with many of their clients who maynot speak, read and write English well enoughto find out about and use entitlements andservices on a par with other Australians. Theyhave not always factored in to program designand delivery that many overseas-bornAustralians lack familiarity with thepredominant Australian cultural norms and lackunderstanding of the role of government, as well

as having different cultural values and modes ofbehaviour. Many Australians still experienceinsensitivity towards their religious obligationsincluding dress codes and observances. Manysuffer racial stereotyping, bias and prejudice.

The Commonwealth Government is intent onremoving language, cultural, religious and racialbarriers from its interactions with the Australiancommunity. It wants all Australians to receive afair go and a fair share, regardless of theirbackground.

To achieve this goal, the Government has placeda range of requirements and obligations,designed to remove these barriers, on its owndepartments and agencies. Essentially the A&EStrategy consists of this series of requirements.They encourage departments and agencies totake steps to reflect the diversity of their clientbase - the Australian community - in the waythey conduct their business. Theserequirements, together with associatedguidelines and activities, make up what isknown as the Commonwealth Access andEquity Strategy.

The A&E Strategy primarily targets barriersfaced by Aboriginal peoples and Torres StraitIslanders, non-English speaking backgroundmigrants, their families and their communities.

The A&E Strategy is not designed to give thesetarget groups any special advantage. It isdesigned to enhance program design anddelivery arrangements so that they effectivelyand efficiently account for client diversity.

The overriding goal of the CommonwealthA&E Strategy is to put the onus on governmentdepartments and agencies to ensure an even-handed approach to all clients and client groupsin particular, and the public in general. Goodmanagement practice and client orientation areas much the objective as social justice.

A&E requirements are designed to encouragedepartments and agencies to address clientdiversity more effectively through planning,consultation, participation, staff training,

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information strategies, language services, datacollection, evaluation and reporting. Theprogram logic of the A&E Strategy is set out inAppendix A, the meaning of 'access' inAppendix B and the meaning of 'equity' inAppendix C.

1.2 Why We Need an Access And EquityStrategy

Aboriginal peoples and Torres Strait Islandersoccupy a unique place in our cultural heritage.In 1991 Aboriginal peoples and Torres StraitIslanders numbered 265,378 or 1.6 per cent ofthe total population. In certain areas indigenousAustralians make up a much higher proportion.For example, in the Northern Territory theymake up nearly one-quarter of the population.

Over the past two hundred years, Australia hasattracted people from all parts of the world.Following the major post-war waves ofimmigrants to Australia, the proportion of ourcitizens and permanent residents from non-English-speaking backgrounds (NESB) rosedramatically.

Today, nearly one in four Australians is animmigrant from a non-English speakingbackground or the child of an immigrant from anon-English speaking background:

• nearly four million Australians were bornoverseas, over half of them from non-Englishspeaking backgrounds;

• almost two in five Australians have at leastone parent born overseas; and

• in excess of 15 per cent of people over the ageof five speak a language other than English athome with 3 per cent of the total Australianpopulation either unable to speak the Englishlanguage well or at all.

Australia is an ethnically and linguisticallydiverse or multicultural society.

This diversity of language, religion, race andculture in our population presents a challenge to

government to deliver services in ways that arerelevant, meaningful and easily accessed by allAustralians from whatever backgrounds.

The A&E Strategy is the Government's policyresponse to this diversity. While Aboriginal andethno-specific services exist, the Governmentseeks to ensure that all services are so developedthat all members of the community can fullyparticipate in its programs.

The A&E Strategy promotes measures such as:

• provision of information about governmentservices in languages other than English;

• greater use of bilingual staff and interpreters;

• training staff to be sensitive to the differentcultural backgrounds of clients; and

• consulting with client groups.

These sorts of measures are intended toprogressively erode language, cultural, religiousand racial barriers to access and equity in thedelivery of government programs and provisionof services.

1.3 How the Access and Equity StrategyDeveloped

In recent decades there has emerged a clear needto manage diversity in the population in orderto maximise economic benefits for thecommunity as a whole, foster social cohesionand ensure that all Australians get a fair go.

Many Commonwealth departments andagencies have progressively modified andaugmented their program and service deliveryarrangements to reflect their increasingly diverseclient base. At a broader governmental level,there have been several reviews of servicedelivery to NESB Australians, the most well-known of which was the 1978 Galbally Report.

In 1985 the Government decided to bring allCommonwealth activity designed to makemainstream programs and services accessible and

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usable by NESB immigrant Australians underthe umbrella of the A&E Strategy. This Strategyabsorbed and reinforced previously relatedactivities and provided a broader policy contextfor meeting A&E objectives.

The A&E Strategy was initially coordinated bythe Department of Immigration and EthnicAffairs and later taken up by the Office ofMulticultural Affairs (OMA) upon its creationin 1987. Initially the Strategy focused on themain service delivery departments and theirNESB immigrant clients. This focus laterbroadened to include all Commonwealthdepartments and agencies. In 1989, as part ofthe National Agenda for a MulticulturalAustralia, the Strategy was strengthened toinclude Aboriginal peoples, Torres StraitIslanders and also second generation NESBmigrants. The double disadvantage experiencedby NESB women and NESB people withdisabilities was also highlighted.

It is generally recognised that during these earlystages the Strategy assisted departments morewith the implementation of 'access' than withmaking operational the concept of 'equity' .

While the A&E Strategy has specific objectives,mechanisms and target groups, it is also part ofthe Government's Social Justice Strategy whichseeks to redress broader disadvantage acrossAustralian society.

The most recent changes to the A&E Strategyresulted from the 1991-92 major cross-portfolioevaluation of the Strategy.

1.4 The 1991-92 Evaluation of the Strategy

After over five years in operation, theGovernment decided that a major cross-portfolio evaluation of the A&E Strategy shouldcommence in 1991.

The Evaluation set out to establish whether theA&E Strategy had improved the delivery ofgovernment programs to clients facinglinguistic, cultural, religious and racial barriers.

While this Evaluation was concerned with howwell departments and agencies were performinggenerally in delivering their programs andservices to A&E target groups, its main focuswas on the Strategy itself. The core concern waswhether the A&E Strategy was making adifference or adding value to the manner inwhich Australian Public Service programs andservices were overcoming language, cultural,racial and religious barriers.

The scope of the Evaluation embraced theAustralian Public Service and its myriad roles,functions and activities. All Commonwealthdepartments and a selection of key agencieswere included. Their A& E performance wasexamined at all levels from central offices inCanberra to counter staff dealing with thepublic in metropolitan and rural settings.

The Evaluation involved public submissions,community consultations, an extensive researchprogram, staff surveys, and inputs from allCommonwealth departments and key agencies.It was conducted by a Task force within theDepartment of the Prime Minister and Cabinetworking to an interdepartmental SteeringCommittee. Represented on the SteeringCommittee were the Aboriginal and TorresStrait Islander Commission; the Departments ofEmployment, Education and Training; the thenHealth, Housing and Community Services,Social Security; Finance; Immigration andEthnic Affairs; and the Prime Minister andCabinet.

The Evaluation Task force reported its keyfindings, conclusions and recommendations tothe Government in October 1992 (seeAppendix D). A significant finding of theEvaluation was the need for a shift of emphasisfrom planning to results: a shift from a 'top-down' approach to implementation to one thatfocused more directly on making a difference tothe way things happen 'over the counter' - thatis, at the interface with clients. Also identifiedwas the need for a more systematic andcomprehensive approach to A&E training forstaff at all levels. All Commonwealth publicservants must be equipped with the skills to

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respond professionally and flexibly to theirdiverse clientele.

Government endorsed the A&E EvaluationReport and its forty-three recommendationswhich now provide the current framework forongoing implementation of the Strategy. Thekey characteristic of the new A&E regime isconcern for results and outcomes. Thecornerstone of monitoring and accountabilityunder the new regime is the A&E AnnualReport, the first of which was tabled inParliament by the Prime Minister in November1993. The report assessed the A&E performanceof individual departments and their programs.

1.5 Current Access and Equity Requirements

Following the 1992 Evaluation of the A&EStrategy, the Commonwealth Governmentdecided that all its departments and agenciesshould meet the following Access and Equityrequirements:

• Planning: incorporate A&E objectives intocorporate planning and all relevant programand service delivery planning;

• Evaluation and audit: incorporate A&Eperformance into all relevant internal andexternal evaluations and audits;

• Performance indicators: collect and use datarelevant to A&E, including ethnicity and costdata, in program planning, implementationand evaluation;

• Public accountability: provide information onA&E performance in annual reports, programperformance statements and to OMA for anannual A&E report to the Prime Minister fortabling in Parliament;

• Language services: implement measures toovercome communication barriers for clientsand potential clients who do not speak,understand, read or write English well;

• Staff Training: ensure staff at all levels aresensitive to client diversity and its

implications for policy formulation andprogram design and delivery;

• Consultation: consult with client groups,their advocates and intermediaries onprogram design, delivery and the effectivenessof A&E measures;

• Participation: ensure equitable participationof representatives of A&E target groups ingovernment advisory and review bodies andprocesses;

• Funded Programs: address A&Eaccountabilities in programs funded by theCommonwealth and delivered by State orlocal Government and community or privateorganisations; and

• Coordination: ensure efficiencies are achievedthrough interdepartmental cooperation andcoordination on A&E matters such as sharedconsultative mechanisms and informationstrategies.

These are the third round of A&ERequirements since the introduction of theStrategy in 1985. They replace the secondround that resulted from the Government'sdecision to extend the A&E Strategy as part ofthe National Agenda for a MulticulturalAustralia in July 1989.

5Making Multicultural Australia Achieving Access & Equity