Manager's Report

by Elizabeth Riley

(The Gender Centre advise that this article may not be current and as such certain content, including but not limited to persons, contact details and dates may not apply. Where legal authority or medical related matters are cited, responsibility lies with the reader to obtain the most current relevant legal authority and/or medical publication.)

N.S.W. Health

To begin with N.S.W. Health has produced a Policy in relation to the employment of transgender people in N.S.W. Health. The policy is printed in full in this edition for your information. The Ambulance Service of N.S.W. has also adopted the N.S.W. Health Policy in its entirety.

N.S.W. Health is responsible for administering all the Area Health Services throughout N.S.W. and each Area Health Services is required to comply with the policy. This means that significantly greater opportunities exist for transgender people to gain employment within the health system. Since Health employs people with a wide range of skills ranging from areas such as cleaning or catering through to administration and medically qualified staff there is a real opportunity for anyone who might be interested in working in the health system to gain employment.

If you are interested it might be worthwhile to peruse the employment pages in The Sydney Morning Herald on Thursdays. The Thursday edition focuses specifically on Health related positions in its employment section.

The Transgender Working Party

Secondly, The Transgender Working Party is advancing on the work reported in the last edition of Polare. A proposal has been put forward The Office of the Director of Equal Opportunity in Public Employment (O.D.E.O.P.E.). This proposal will involve all members of the working party but will specifically be negotiated through O.D.E.O.P.E., The Public Sector Management Office (P.S.M.O.), the Anti-Discrimination Board (A.D.B.) and The Gender Centre. We will be meeting as a subcommittee in early April to examine appropriate modifications to the handbook. The following is an outline of the proposal:

Proposal for developing and communicating a policy on the employment of Transgender people in the N.S.W. Public Service.

It is proposed that the most effective way of introducing a policy to prevent discrimination against, and progress equal opportunity for transgender people is to review and amend the relevant mainstream personnel policies, which are in the Personnel Handbook.

O.D.E.O.P.E. will work on this, in consultation with P.S.M.O., with advice from The Gender Centre and the Working Party.

• The Personnel Handbook provides authoritative policy instructions to all employers bound by the Public Sector Management Act. Other public sector and local government employers often use it as a guide for their policies.
• The Handbook will shortly be published electronically, with quarterly updates. Because of the consultation agreement with Labor Council, we will aim to have the first changes included in the August update.
• Some issues are complex and may take longer to develop. The relevant handbook sections can be revised in stages and included with later electronic updates.
• When the amendments to key sections are agreed and included in the electronic Personnel Handbook, a letter to H.R. Managers will draw attention to the changes.
• Once the most important changes are in place, we hope that The Gender Centre would be interested in preparing a leaflet specifically for the transgender community on N.S.W. Public Sector Equal Employment Opportunity provisions for transgendered people. O.D.E.O.P.E. and P.S.M.O. could assist by providing details of the relevant personnel policies.

This is the outcome of three years of work with the Public Sector and represents a huge step forward in providing equity in employment to the transgender community. It is anticipated that the changes will come into effect when the August edition of the handbook is printed. The P.S.M.O. will provide me with details of the relevant entry opportunities into the Public Sector at our next meeting so I will keep people informed.

However, interested transgender people might like to check the Public Sector Employment pages in Saturday's Sydney Morning Herald. They are listed on pages 2, 3 and 4 of the employment section. If a position interests you it might also be useful to call the contact person and have an information kit sent out to you. Whether you apply or not it will provide you with a good idea of how the sector works and what is likely to be required of you when you do apply.

Increasing Employment Opportunities

Thirdly a reminder that for the first time in our history we are beginning to see a commitment from key elements in the non-transgender community to ensuring transgender people have access to equal employment opportunities.

This is enormously significant, not only in terms of employment but also in terms of creating a transgender presence in the mainstream workplace, and promises to go a long way towards reducing and eliminating the kinds of discrimination and stereotyping that we have all experienced from the wider community in the past.

Once again I encourage every one seeking employment to review your skills, upskill if necessary, and when the time comes flood the public sector with your applications. When the doors finally open we need to make sure that we are standing there in sufficient numbers to pass through them.

N.S.W. Police Service

Finally the N.S.W. Police Service has been working on a transgender policy which covers all areas of police dealings with transgender people, including employment. This is a very promising policy and we will be publishing a copy as soon as it is completed in a coming edition of Polare. Stay tuned for this one.

Polare is published in Australia by The Gender Centre Inc. which is funded by the Department of Community Services under the S.A.A.P. Program and supported by the N.S.W. Health Department through the AIDS and Infectious Diseases Branch. Polare provides a forum for discussion and debate on gender issues. Advertisers are advised that all advertising is their responsibility under the Trade Practices Act. Unsolicited contributions are welcome, though no guarantee is made by the Editor that they will be published, nor any discussion entered into. The editor reserves the right to edit such contributions without notification. Any submission which appears in Polare may be published on our internet site. Opinions expressed in this publication do not necessarily reflect those of the Editor, The Gender Centre Inc.I, the Department of Community Services or the N.S.W. Department of Health.