Publications and reports

Acknowledgment of Country

The Department of Customer Service (DCS) acknowledge the Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of this nation. We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands and waters. We pay our respects to ancestors and Elders, past and present. DCS is committed to honouring Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ unique cultural and spiritual relationships to the land, waters and seas and their rich contribution to society.

1. Our public commitment to grow the First Economy of NSW

This DCS Aboriginal Participation Strategy reflects our commitment to the NSW Government Plan for Aboriginal Affairs, OCHRE, and is a key deliverable under the Aboriginal Procurement Policy.

OCHRE aims to support strong Aboriginal communities in which Aboriginal people actively influence and fully participate in economic, social and cultural life. It recognises that the NSW Government and the business community have a key role to play in broadening opportunities for Aboriginal people to deliver positive socio-economic outcomes.

The Department’s commitment to increasing Aboriginal participation is described throughout this strategy, with targets to increase participation through engagement with Aboriginal owned businesses, industry and our government partners.

1.1 Our strategy

The DCS Aboriginal Participation Strategy is our commitment to support the growth of the First Economy of NSW and describes how we will work meaningfully in partnership with businesses to achieve positive outcomes through Aboriginal owned business and employment opportunities.

1.2 Objectives

The key objectives of our strategy include:

• support employment opportunities for Aboriginal people within Aboriginal owned businesses.
• support employment opportunities for Aboriginal people within non-Aboriginal owned businesses.
• support sustainable growth of Aboriginal owned businesses through government procurement of goods and services.

2. Working with suppliers to Government and with Aboriginal owned businesses to identify and develop business and employment opportunities
 

2.1 Whole of government policy development and implementation

NSW Procurement is responsible for NSW Government procurement policy development and implementation on behalf of the NSW Procurement Board. This includes supporting government agencies to identify and develop business and employment opportunities for Aboriginal employees and Aboriginal owned businesses across NSW Government procurement opportunities. Department of Customer Services complies with these policies and has embedded them as part of its Procurement processes. 

2.2 Aboriginal participation in procurement

On 1 July 2018, NSW Procurement released the revised Aboriginal Participation in Construction (APIC) policy and newly developed Aboriginal Procurement Policy (APP). The policies support the NSW Government Plan for Aboriginal Affairs, OCHRE, and is a key deliverable under the Aboriginal Economic Development Framework.
The objectives of these policies is to create opportunities for Aboriginal owned businesses and encourage Aboriginal employment and training through direct engagement with NSW Government agencies or through the supply chain.

2.3 Targets and requirements

The APP and APIC policies aim to support an estimated 3,000 full-time equivalent employment opportunities for Aboriginal people through NSW Government procurement activities by 2021.
To support increased business opportunities and growth for Aboriginal owned businesses, the APP aims for 3 per cent of NSW Government domestic goods and services contracts be awarded to Aboriginal owned businesses by 2021.

The APIC policy requires that 1 per cent of eligible project spend on projects valued over $1 million is directed toward Aboriginal participation.

Aboriginal participation must be directed towards Aboriginal employment, engagement of Aboriginal owned businesses, education and training, and engagement or consultation with Aboriginal organisations or businesses

Both policies include new purchasing permissions for government agencies. These aim to reduce red tape for Aboriginal owned businesses and agencies by permitting direct engagement of Aboriginal owned businesses for procurements valued up to $250,000.

The policies have mandatory reporting requirements to assist agencies and government in tracking compliance and the progress towards the contract and employment targets. NSW

Procurement has developed the Aboriginal Participation Portal to streamline reporting and data collection for suppliers.

2.3.1 ICT and Digital Sourcing – Digital Procurement Transformation Program

The Digital Procurement Transformation Program, through buy.nsw, is developing capacity to host meaningful supplier profiles (for all registered suppliers) that will assist suppliers in advertising their business and capability. Currently, suppliers may self-identify as an Aboriginal owned business. In the next year, buy.nsw will be working to automatically verify and support the needs of SME and Aboriginal owned businesses. 

2.3.2 DCS Corporate Procurement

Currently the Department’s Procurement process promotes and allows for direct engagement with Aboriginal suppliers for contract values up to $250,000. For all planned procurements (above and below $10m), DCS includes an Aboriginal Supplier Opportunity Statement to ensure also major procurements include opportunities for commercial engagement of the Aboriginal supplier community.

Some procurement categories are be targeted for increased participation of Aboriginal suppliers by adding a recommendation in the DCS Procurement Guide to invite at least one Aboriginal supplier located on the NSW Indigenous Chamber of Commerce or Supply Nation business directories for tenders relating to facility services, training services, catering, marketing and advertising services. In 2019 the Department decided to migrate its Office Supplies services to an Aboriginal Supplier, Cultural Choice.

2.3.3 Service NSW

Service NSW continues working with Aboriginal owned businesses to increase employment opportunities for Aboriginal employees.

A three-year partnership was entered into with Yarn’n Employment Services to attract candidates across all levels of Service NSW, including leadership positions. This partnership, together with a two-year partnership developed with Maxima that will supply up to 40 entry-level Aboriginal trainees across NSW over two years.

These initiatives further support the Premier’s Priority: Creating Jobs and the State Priority: Strong budget and economy, which aims to increase the proportion of people completing apprenticeships and traineeships by 65 per cent. Service NSW has a three per cent targeted increase of Aboriginal staff.

2.3.4 NSW Telco Authority

The NSW Telco Authority (Authority) is delivering the Critical Communications Enhancement Program improve emergency and day-to-day operational communications for a wide range of NSW Government agencies, including public safety, law enforcement and essential services. Supplier partners that work with the Authority have made commitments to increase the engagement of Indigenous professionals in the telecommunications industry. Moreover, Aboriginal consultants are engaged as part of the planning, design and construction phases to ensure local Aboriginal cultural heritage is maintained.

The Authority also manages the Whole of Government Operational Telecommunications Equipment, Infrastructure and Services procurement scheme. Suppliers in the scheme include telecommunications equipment, electrical, engineering, construction and maintenance service providers. The Authority is exploring opportunities to engage local Aboriginal owned businesses to supply these services at telecommunications facilities.

3. Aboriginal participation targets
 

DCS Procurement

ICT and Digital sourcing

4. Procurement opportunities over $10 million

The Department of Customer Service (DCS) is authorised by NSW Government to make act of grace payments in exceptional circumstances to people who are ineligible for other funding. 

See the act of grace payments made by The Hon. Victor Dominello, MP up until 30 June 2021.

We have created an action plan in response to a NSW parliamentary committee’s inquiry into bullying at WorkCover.

The Inquiry’s recommendations that were supported by the NSW Government will continue to be implemented across WorkCover’s three successor entities:

• the State Insurance Regulatory Authority (SIRA)
• SafeWork NSW
• icare.

These reports provide progress against the actions.

Read the reports below:

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  GPSC1 Inquiry - Action Plan - Progress report - March 2017 (PDF 530.16KB)

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  GPSC1 Inquiry - Action Plan - Progress report - September 2016 (PDF 514.14KB)

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  GPSC1 Inquiry - Action Plan - Progress report - March 2016 (PDF 240.18KB)

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  GPSC1 Inquiry - Action Plan - Progress report - July 2015 (PDF 174.85KB)

Our annual reports outline our performance, key achievements, corporate governance and financial information.

Read the most recent report or those from previous years.

The Benefits Realisation Management Framework provides best practice principles and concepts drawn from proven practice in setting up and managing programs that are transferable across NSW agencies.

The Benefits Realisation Management Framework informs investment decisions and establishes plans to realise intended benefits. 

Learn more about the Benefits Realisation Management Framework

New research into the collaborative economy in NSW has found that the sector has grown significantly over the last 12 months in terms of revenue, increased competition and business innovation.

The collaborative economy, sometimes called the sharing or peer-to-peer economy, links customers directly with providers typically through online and mobile platforms.

The types of goods and services available through the collaborative economy is growing every day, and includes car sharing, ride sharing, accommodation, second-hand goods, personal and employment services and other goods and services.

In early 2016, the NSW Government released its

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on the collaborative economy, noting the significant economic and employment opportunities it presents. At that time, Deloitte Access Economics estimated that the value of the collaborative economy in NSW was $504 million and growing.

The NSW Government’s position paper is built on five guiding principles to position NSW to take advantage of opportunities presented by the sector:

1. Support a culture of innovation
2. Ensure regulation is fit for purpose in the digital age
3. Maintain consumer protection and safety
4. Promote competition
5. Adopt an agile approach to government procurement

The position paper also acknowledges that the collaborative economy presents some challenges and sets out how the NSW Government will approach regulatory issues to ensure that regulation is fair and flexible for all market participants.

The latest findings

Twelve months on from the release of the NSW Government’s position paper DFSI engaged Deloitte Access Economics to provide an update on how the sector was faring. Deloitte’s report found significant markers of growth in NSW:

• Key existing collaborative economy businesses saw revenue growth of 68 per cent, from an estimated $1.6 billion in 2014-15 to $2.6 billion in 2015-16
• A number of new businesses have entered the market, services have expanded into regional NSW, and new niche sectors have continued to emerge
• Businesses providing financial services saw particularly rapid growth, with a 345 per cent increase in revenue. Crowdfunding and peer-to-peer lending are continuing to disrupt the financial services industry, competing with traditional providers
• Other categories analysed in the research also saw high revenue growth, including transportation and automotive (242 per cent); goods and redistribution (67 per cent); services and labour hire (57 per cent); and accommodation services (55 per cent)
• The number of people earning income through these platforms has also doubled – from 45,000 to 92,400 people.

Support for the collaborative economy forms a key component of the NSW innovation agenda, spearheaded by the NSW Government Innovation Strategy. The Strategy sets out government’s vision and actions for boosting innovation in the state, including ways to make Sydney and NSW even better for entrepreneurs and investors. We welcome ongoing feedback and comments, which can be submitted at digitalreform@finance.nsw.gov.au or through NIC, the NSW Innovation Concierge.

Our vision is to create a safe and inclusive place to work, to achieve exceptional service for our customers and a sense of belonging for our people (both staff and contractors) who serve the citizens of NSW.

Find out more about our Disability Inclusion Action Plan

On 25 October 2022 the New South Wales Government announced the appointment of the Hon. Robert McDougall KC to carry out an Independent Review of SafeWork NSW.

Interested members of the public and organisations were invited to make written submissions on any aspect of the Terms of Reference. Submissions closed on 28 February 2023.

Find more information about the call for submissions.

In April 2017, Service NSW experienced a process break-down in respect of the production of Photo Cards which resulted in a number of cards being mailed to incorrect addresses. As a result of this incident, the NSW Department of Finance, Services and Innovation (DFSI) engaged Pricewaterhouse Coopers (PwC) to conduct an independent "end-to-end" review of the Photo Card production services processes, with a view to improving and strengthening them in order to prevent future incidents. 

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The NSW Subjective Wellbeing Survey Pilot has been designed to help the NSW Government to understand people’s perspective on aspects of life that influence their wellbeing.

Beyond material conditions, such as income, there are aspects of life that are considered highly influential on individuals’ perception of wellbeing. To create a more complete picture of community wellbeing subjective wellbeing data can be used.
 
This report has used tangible and intangible aspects of our lives to measure wellbeing such as satisfaction with our health, safety, environment and things we enjoy doing.

For more information read the full survey report below - 
NSW Subjective Wellbeing Survey Pilot (2020-2021)

When not controlled, silica dust is a major hazard for workers in NSW. It can lead to the serious and often fatal lung disease silicosis. As part of SafeWork NSW’s Roadmap for NSW 2022, a five-year chemicals strategy (2017-2022) has been developed that calls out silica as a top priority chemical. The silica dashboard shows what is being done and includes statistics from SafeWork NSW and NSW Health.