Our equity and diversity approach

We are committed to creating a diverse workforce and an inclusive workplace where people feel safe, respected and valued.

Our priority continues to be improving the support we provide for our people and our leaders to ensure a psychologically safe workplace. As a Commonwealth authority employer, we are bound by the following legislation:

Equal Employment Opportunity (Commonwealth Authorities) Act 1987
Human Rights Commission Act 1986
Racial Discrimination Act 1975
Sex Discrimination Act 1984
Disability Discrimination Act 1992
Workplace Gender Equality Act 2012
Age Discrimination Act 2004

The table below outlines the annual program report in accordance with the requirement set out in section 6 of the Equal Employment Opportunity (Commonwealth Authorities) Act 1987 (EEO Act).

Table 1 – Equity and diversity reporting

EEO Act (1987)	2023–24 activities
Informing employees - s.6 (a) Without limiting the generality of the definition of program in subsection 3(1), the program of a relevant authority shall provide for action to be taken: i. to inform employees of the contents of the program and of the results of any monitoring and evaluation of the program under paragraph (h).	We implemented the People Plan, including priorities for increasing diversity and fostering inclusion across the organisation. Our people are informed of equity and diversity programs through CEO and leader communications, the employee intranet, the workplace social media platform, induction and development training, and our annual and quarterly reports. Our Cultural Reform Board meets regularly and provides inputs to improving culture and informing initiatives. We also have Culture Champion representatives across our organisation that provide a voice for our people. They engage collaboratively to contribute towards our vision and a positive workplace culture.
Conferring responsibility - s.6 (b) To confer responsibility for the development and implementation of the program (including a continuous review of the program), on a person or persons having sufficient authority and status within the management of the relevant authority to enable the person or persons properly to develop and implement the program.	Our Chief People and Culture Officer is responsible for diversity and inclusion within the organisation. Leaders throughout the organisation are responsible for creating a safe and inclusive environment for their teams. They were supported in 2023–24 by ongoing training and development, and awareness events such as psychological safety training, ‘bystander’ training and quarterly senior leadership workshops focused on fostering psychological safety and inclusion, among other issues.
Consultation with trade unions - s.6 (c) To consult with each trade union having members affected by the proposal for the development and implementation of the program in accordance with this Act.	We consult with our people and their representative organisations prior to the implementation of new policies and procedures relating to employment matters. These organisations include Civil Air, the United Firefighters Union, Professionals Australia, the Community and Public Sector Union, and the Communications, Electrical and Plumbing Union. Our National Consultative Council also provides a mechanism for ensuring ongoing dialogue about specific employee- related issues with our employee organisations.
Consultations with employees - s.6 (d) To consult with employees of the relevant authority, particularly employees who are women or persons in designated groups.	We consult with employees, as appropriate, through the workplace social media platform, webinars, site visits, newsletters, and informative videos. Regular employee surveys helped us to identify matters that should be considered in our diversity and inclusion initiatives. In addition, our employee network groups Elevate (LGBTIQ+), Women@Airservices (women), and our Reconciliation Action Plan working group are each sponsored by a member of the Executive team who drives progress and desired outcomes.
Collection of statistics - s.6 (e) For the collection and recording of statistics and related information concerning employment by the relevant authority, including the number of, and the types of jobs undertaken by, or job classifications of: i. employees of either sex; and ii. persons in designated groups.	Please refer to Tables 2-11 for more information on our employee diversity profile, including employees by gender, demographic group and job family. In addition to capturing demographic data through our human resource systems, we also collect attitudinal data through our employee surveys on perceptions of diversity and inclusion practices.
Consideration of policies, examination of practices - s.6 (f) To consider policies, and examine practices, of the relevant authority, in relation to employment matters to identify: i. any policies or practices that discriminate against women or persons in designated groups; and ii. any patterns (whether ascertained statistically or otherwise) of lack of equality of opportunity in respect of women or persons in designated groups.	We review our people policies and processes to maintain inclusive, fit-for-purpose and contemporary working principles, processes and standards. These include our Bullying, Harassment and Discrimination Policy and publication of a refreshed Code of Conduct.
Setting objectives and selecting indicators - s.6 (g) To set: i. the particular objectives to be achieved by the program; and ii. the quantitative and other indicators against which the effectiveness of the program is to be assessed.	Our People Plan outlines the objectives and indicators against which effectiveness will be assessed. We commenced development of a new Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) for 2024–26. Our Cultural Reform Board – comprising members of diverse backgrounds, experiences, and perspectives from across our organisation – has oversight responsibility for monitoring the progress of our cultural transformation program.
Monitoring and evaluation - s.6 (h) To monitor and evaluate the implementation of the program and: i. to assess the achievement of those objectives; ii. to assess the effectiveness of the programme by comparing statistics and information collected and recorded under paragraph (e) with the indicators against which the effectiveness of the program is to be assessed.	We have a program of regular reporting to our Executive and Board on diversity and inclusion matters, including quantitative and qualitative indicators of progress. These include demographic workforce data, progress on gender representation across different job families, evaluation data and information about our people’s experience of inclusion and culture.

During 2023-24, there were no directions given by the Minister under section 12 of the EEO Act.

Diversity and inclusion achievements

In 2023–24, we achieved the following:

The Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) working group continued development of a new ‘Innovate’ RAP for 2024–2026. In September 2023 we commenced a partnership with Yarnnup to support the drafting, design and implementation plan for our RAP. Currently we are working with Reconciliation Australia through the endorsement process and look forward to launching our new RAP early in the 2024–2025 financial year.
We have been announced as a finalist for the Supply Nation ‘Government Member of the Year’ award as part of its Supplier Diversity Awards 2024. This award recognises a government member that has demonstrated exceptional commitment, engagement and leadership in supplier diversity and driven significant growth in the Indigenous business sector.
Our first Indigenous Career Pathway ATC (air traffic controller) traineeship concluded in December 2023 in Brisbane after a 9-month program. This opportunity provided insight into the life of an air traffic controller and the opportunity to undertake study in the various areas of the Brisbane Air Traffic Services Centre and surrounding towers. We have appointed a trainee to a permanent role as a Simulator Support Officer where they will continue to develop their skills in this specialist area. We are currently investigating options to expand this program in 2025.
We signed a formal Program Collaboration Agreement with the not-for-profit organisation Girls on Fire, which works with schools, fire and emergency services, regional towns, and various youth organisations to introduce people aged 15 to 19 years to fire, emergency and disaster management skills. The collaboration will see Airservices, particularly our aviation rescue fire fighting (ARFF) services, working more closely with Girls on Fire for events, targeted educational and culture initiatives and community engagement activities. A large event was held in May 2024 at our ARFF training facility in Melbourne in collaboration with the Girls on Fire principal sponsor, National Australia Bank (NAB), and other emergency services including Fire Rescue Victoria, State Emergency Service, Country Fire Authority, Parks Victoria and Ambulance Victoria.
We strengthened efforts towards gender equality through our continued membership with the Champions of Change Coalition, a globally recognised, innovative strategy for achieving gender equality, advancing more and diverse women in leadership, and building respectful and inclusive workplaces. We are members of one of the national groups and the Fire and Emergency group, requiring a high level of commitment and effort to undertake required activities and initiatives including yearly impact reporting.
The Women@Airservices employee network is supporting AirNav Indonesia with establishing their new women’s network. A cross organisational mentoring program with Airservices and AirNav Indonesia also commenced in late 2023 with 9 mentoring pairs of Airservices mentors and female AirNav Indonesia mentees. This is an important partnership providing professional development opportunities to all mentoring pairs and relationship building between the 2 countries.
The Women@Airservices network led a variety of events and activities to celebrate International Women’s Day on 8 March. We partnered with Women in Aviation/ Aerospace Australia for networking events in Brisbane, Canberra and Melbourne.
On International Women’s Day we also supported a Virgin Australia flight from Melbourne to Brisbane that was dispatched, operated and managed by an all women team. More than 30 women united for this flight including female pilots, ground crew and Airservices air traffic controllers.
Our Elevate network for LGBTIQ+ employees and allies continued to build awareness among our people to foster greater inclusion and belonging. We hosted activities including cultural awareness training; Pride Month, International Day Against Homophobia, Biphobia and Transphobia (IDAHOBIT) and Mardi Gras. Additionally, we continued our LGBTIQ+ education and awareness.
We recognised significant dates including Men’s Health Week, Women’s Health Week, National Reconciliation Week, NAIDOC Week, RUOK Day, IDAHOBIT, Mardi Gras and Pride Month with online events and team gatherings.

More analysis on the achievements under the People and Culture key initiative can be found in the Annual Performance Statement section.

Diversity profile

Over the past year the number of women employed at Airservices has grown 12% compared with a growth of 5% in men. Further, there has been a 35% increase in women in senior leadership, compared to a 9% increase in men.

Table 2: Representation of designated groups in overall headcount 2020–2024

Designated groups^1,2	2019–20	2020–21	2021–22	2022–23	2023–24
Indigenous Australians	1.7%	1.6%	1.9%	1.9%	1.8%
People with a disability	0.9%	1.0%	0.9%	0.9%	1.0%
People from a culturally or linguistically diverse background	6.1%	5.9%	23.0%³	22.8%	23.9%
Female employees	17.8%	17.2%	20.2%	19.8%	21.0%
Gender: Non-binary, ‘Uses a different term’, ‘Prefers not to answer’⁴	-	-	-	0%	0%

Note that disclosure is voluntary, and not all employees provide equity and diversity data for these groups.
All figures are reported on an actual head count basis (number of employees) excluding labour hire, contractors and consultants.
Definition updated to meet the MCIMA Minimum Core Set of Standards for reporting culturally and linguistically diverse statistics.
Reporting of non-binary and other gender terms is not yet captured effectively by current Human Resources Information System (HRIS).

Table 3: Employees in diversity groups by job role classification as at 30 June 2024¹

Job family	Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander	Culturally and linguistically diverse	Disability
Air traffic management	3	254	7
Aviation rescue fire fighting services	46	102	7
Engineering	0	85	0
Technical and trade	3	58	5
Information and communications technology	2	62	3
Enabling professions	8	256	12
Senior leadership	0	52	1
Total by diversity groups	64	869	35
Percentage of workforce	1.8%	23.9%	1.0%

All figures are reported on an actual head count basis (number of employees) excluding labour hire, contractors and consultants.
Personal information, as recorded in our Human Resources Information System (HRIS), is treated confidentially according to the Privacy Act 1988.

Table 4: Gender by job role classification as at 30 June 2024

Job family¹	Female by percentage	Female by number	Male by number
Air Traffic Management	17.4%	221	1042
Aviation Rescue Fire Fighting services	5.0%	44	831
Engineering	12.2%	20	144
Technical and Trade	6.0%	16	252
Information and Communications Technology	25.8%	32	92
Enabling Professions	48.4%	372	397
Senior Leadership	32.4%	58	121
Total by gender	20.9%	763	2,879

All figures are reported on an actual head count basis (number of employees) excluding labour hire, contractors and consultants.
Reporting of non-binary and other gender terms is not yet captured effectively by current Human Resources Information System (HRIS).

Table 5: Employee age profile as at 30 June 2024

Age range¹	Under 25	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+
Number of employees	78	638	1230	1116	543	64
Percentage of employees	2.1%	17.5%	33.0%	30.6%	14.9%	1.8%

All figures are reported on an actual head count basis (number of employees) excluding labour hire, contractors and consultants.

Table 6: Average retirement age

	2018–19	2019-20	2020-21	2021-22	2022-23	2023-24
Average retirement age	61.6	61.1	63.4	66.7	67.9	60.7

Table 7: Part-time employees by age bracket

Flexibility	Under 25	25-34	35-44	45-54	55-64	65+	Total
Permanent part-time	0	9	60	47	29	3	148
Temporary part-time	2	0	3	1	1	2	9
Casual	1	1	1	0	0	4	7

All figures are reported on an actual head count basis (number of employees) excluding labour hire, contractors and consultants.

Table 8: Ongoing employees by location (2023–24)

	Man/Male			Woman/Female
State	Full-time	Part-time	Total male	Full-time	Part-time	Total female	Non-binary, Uses a different term, prefers not to answer²	Total
NSW	325	5	330	59	2	61	0	383
QLD	935	29	964	220	27	247	0	1,211
SA	98	1	99	10	3	13	0	98
TAS	67	1	68	2	0	2	0	63
VIC	788	18	806	169	35	204	0	997
WA	234	1	235	17	2	19	0	248
ACT	180	4	184	95	20	115	0	356
NT	70	0	70	6	0	6	0	74
External Territories	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Overseas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	2,697	59	2,756	578	89	667	0	3,423

All figures are reported on an actual head count basis (number of employees) excluding labour hire, contractors and consultants.
Reporting of non-binary and other gender terms is not yet captured effectively by current Human Resources Information System (HRIS).

Table 9: Ongoing employees by location (prior period 2022–23)

	Man/Male			Woman/Female
State	Full-time	Part-time	Total male	Full-time	Part-time	Total female	Non-binary, Uses a different term, prefers not to answer²	Total
NSW	294	3	297	44	4	48	0	345
QLD	898	24	922	198	25	223	0	1,145
SA	87	1	88	7	3	10	0	98
TAS	61	0	61	2	0	2	0	63
VIC	747	16	763	143	34	177	0	940
WA	225	1	226	18	2	20	0	246
ACT	206	3	209	99	23	122	0	331
NT	69	0	69	5	0	5	0	74
External Territories	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Overseas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	2,587	48	2,635	516	91	607	0	3,242

All figures are reported on an actual head count basis (number of employees) excluding labour hire, contractors and consultants.
Reporting of non-binary and other gender terms is not yet captured effectively by current Human Resources Information System (HRIS).

Table 10: Non-ongoing employees by location (2023–24)

	Man/Male			Woman/Female
State	Full-time	Part-time	Total male	Full-time	Part-time	Total female	Non-binary, Uses a different term, prefers not to answer²	Total
NSW	23	2	25	17	0	17	0	42
QLD	41	1	42	30	2	32	0	74
SA	0	0	0	1	0	1	0	1
TAS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
VIC	43	1	44	29	1	30	0	74
WA	1	0	1	2	0	2	0	3
ACT	10	1	11	13	1	14	0	25
NT	0	0	0	5	0	0	0	0
External Territories	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Overseas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	118	5	123	92	4	96	0	219

All figures are reported on an actual head count basis (number of employees) excluding labour hire, contractors and consultants.
Reporting of non-binary and other gender terms is not yet captured effectively by current Human Resources Information System (HRIS).

Table 11: Non-ongoing employees by location (prior period 2022–23)

	Man/Male			Woman/Female
State	Full-time	Part-time	Total male	Full-time	Part-time	Total female	Non-binary, Uses a different term, prefers not to answer²	Total
NSW	23	1	24	12	1	13	0	37
QLD	41	1	42	25	0	25	0	67
SA	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
TAS	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
VIC	36	0	36	20	0	20	0	56
WA	0	0	0	1	1	2	0	2
ACT	13	0	13	11	1	12	0	25
NT	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
External Territories	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Overseas	0	0	0	0	0	0	0	0
Total	113	2	115	69	3	72	0	187

All figures are reported on an actual head count basis (number of employees) excluding labour hire, contractors and consultants.
Reporting of non-binary and other gender terms is not yet captured effectively by current Human Resources Information System (HRIS).