officials

This page considers information collected by Australian governments as employers of officials and members of the armed forces.

It covers -

• introduction
• coverage

     introduction

It is a rarely-remarked fact that government knows about large numbers of people merely through its employment of those individuals.

As of mid-2004 the national government employed some 131,500 people under the Australian Public Service Act, with a much smaller number under other legislation (eg the armed forces and personnel in some statutory authorities). At that time there were 1,220,000 state and territory government employees and 167,000 local government employees. Some of that employment was part time and short term.

The scale of employment by the states and territories reflected their responsibility, consistent with the national Constitution, for delivery of most government services (eg public sector hospitals and schools).

Employment thus includes -

• teachers
• police and staff in corrections facilities
• nurses and doctors in public sector health facilities
• personnel working in government-owned utilities
• staff in transport services such as the NSW State Railways
• people in major cultural institutions such as the state libraries, museums and art galleries

rather than merely policymakers and regulators.

     coverage

As with the activities covered in the preceding pages of this note there is not a single comprehensive database covering all information about Commonwealth and state/territory employees.

Instead the public sector employment landscape is an archipelago of data islands, of varying shapes, sizes and sensitivity. Some information on those islands is increasingly handled by private sector contractors, for example recruitment companies and even payroll service companies. Much of it is still held in non-electronic formats, for example paper 'personnel files'.

Typically a government agency will hold basic information about its staff, including -

• name
• employee identity number
• personal tax file number
• age
• gender
• educational qualifications and professional affiliations
• next of kin
• income
• address and contact details
• medical history
• personal photograph

Documentation will include core personal identity documents such as a copy of the individual's -

• birth certificate
• driver's licence
• academic diploma or transcript

Many agencies will hold some form of information about the employee's recent and past work history, along with vetting information such as details of -

• overseas travel
• criminal convictions

Personnel files are typically accessible, although not always in full, by the individual and by other officials with 'a need to know'.

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