Equity and diversity under the Public Sector Act 2022

Initiatives to improve equity and diversity

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 such issues.

All agencies are supported to audit their current workforce and given access to equity and diversity data to inform priorities and future action. The Public Sector Commission facilitates conversations and collaborations on emerging workforce issues across its many sector forums and networks.

The sector is also supported to monitor it’s progress through multiple governance mechanisms and publications, such as the State of the Sector Report.

Read through our resources and find out about other Queensland Government initiatives that support workplace inclusion and diversity.

Equity and diversity audit process

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.

The Public Sector Commission supports the sector through the audit process with:

• interactive equity and diversity datasets provided to sector organisations annually
• an Equity and diversity audit guide (PDF, 452.3 KB) to assist agencies and relevant government-owned corporations to interrogate and interpret equity datasets and translate the analysis into their audit reports
• an example section of how to write up an equity and diversity data analysis (PDF, 516.4 KB)
• support and feedback to agencies in the drafting of audit reports
• guidance to agencies on converting audit findings into planned measures and solutions
• conversations with communities of practice, the Commissioner, executive leadership groups and equity and diversity champions across the sector.

Inclusive recruitment and selection

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 Public Sector Commission works with the sector to support implementation of the directive.

Gender pay equity in the Queensland public sector

Annual dashboards provide a snapshot of sector performance:

• 2025 dashboard (online)
• 2024 dashboard (PDF, 587.9 KB) | 2024 report (PDF, 1.3 MB)
• 2023 dashboard (PDF, 637.6 KB)
• 2022 dashboard (PDF, 498.6 KB)
• 2021 dashboard (PDF, 331.6 KB)

Contact us

• Email: diversityandinclusion@psc.qld.gov.au
• Media enquiries: media@psc.qld.gov.au