The Department of Home Affairs has once again been identified as having one of the most significant workplace bullying problems across the Australian government, according to the latest official data released this week.
Bullying rates show mixed results across agencies
The 2025 State of the Service report reveals that while perceptions of bullying and harassment at Home Affairs decreased from 15 percent to 12.7 percent, the department still recorded the worst bullying rates among large and extra large government agencies. This represents a decrease of more than 2 percentage points from the previous year's figures.
The Department of Social Services, Department of Defence and Department of Veteran Affairs followed closely behind Home Affairs with the next highest rates of bullying and harassment perception among staff members.
In concerning news, the Department of Social Services reported the largest increase in bullying perception across all agencies, rising by approximately 1 percentage point in the latest survey results.
Commissioner demands accountability and action
Australian Public Service Commissioner Gordon de Brouwer acknowledged the overall improvement in bullying rates across the public service but emphasised that current levels remain unacceptably high.
"Transparency provides accountability, but then those agencies are accountable for explaining it, and they have to set out what they're doing about it, if that's a primary issue that comes up in their census results," Dr de Brouwer stated.
The Commissioner highlighted that addressing workplace culture issues requires individual attention from each agency, rather than a one-size-fits-all approach across the public service.
Positive improvements in some departments
While some departments struggled with bullying perceptions, others demonstrated significant progress in improving workplace culture.
The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry recorded the most substantial improvement in bullying perception with a notable 3.2 percent decline in reported incidents.
The Treasury and Australian Taxation Office achieved the lowest perception of bullying among all agencies, with both organisations showing improvement from their 2024 results.
Dr de Brouwer noted that several metrics in this year's report represent some of the best scores the public service has achieved in recent years. "When it comes to staff engagement, staff wellbeing, and integrity in the public service, these scores are the best we've had," he commented.
The Commissioner attributed part of the improvement to a fundamental approach: treating public servants like adults. "When you're treated like an adult and you're respected for your job, well, frankly, you feel engaged, you like your workplace, you feel better," he explained.
Despite the ongoing bullying concerns, Home Affairs staff reported significant improvements in job satisfaction in the 2025 census, a result welcomed by department secretary Stephanie Foster.
The report also indicated that Home Affairs had one of the lower SES managers index scores at 68, despite a 2 percentage point increase from previous results. The department additionally recorded one of the highest rates of personal and miscellaneous leave taken by staff members.
