The South Australian public sector is committed to creating a diverse, inclusive, informed, accessible, and safe workplace where everyone belongs.

Workforce participation is fundamental to social inclusion and economic independence. As the state’s largest employer, we have a responsibility to ensure our policies and practices are innovative and flexible, and support the inclusion of people with disability across the public sector.

Disability should never be a barrier to employment, and agencies must cultivate workplaces where people feel safe to share their status and are supported to do so.

Information and resources are available to assist agencies in creating inclusive, accessible, safe and informed workplaces that value the contribution and experience of people with disability.

A disability may be visible or hidden, permanent or temporary, and may have minimal or substantial impact on a person’s abilities. Some people are born with disability while others may acquire disability throughout their life. Every person with a disability is different, and every disability is different.

For the definition of disability refer to: Disability Inclusion Act 2018 (external site) (PDF) (SA)

It is against the law to discriminate against people because of a disability, regardless of whether the disability is permanent or temporary.

In South Australia, the Equal Opportunity Act 1984 (external site) includes discrimination on the grounds of disability. All employers are legally obliged to prevent discrimination and harassment in the workplace.

If you are unsure of your rights and obligations regarding employees with disability, contact the Equal Opportunity Commission (external site) for advice.

The SA Public Sector Disability Employment Toolkit is an online resource to assist employees, especially those working in human resources, learning and development, and leadership positions, to improve employment outcomes for people with disability by providing accessible information and resources. View the toolkit

Under the Public Sector Act 2009, a Disability Employment Program has been established, which means that people registered with a Disability Employment Service (DES) provider can apply for all South Australian Government internal vacancies, even if they are not currently employed in the public sector.

In addition, people with a declared disability aged 17-35 years can also apply for Public Sector Traineeships.

Public sector jobs are advertised on the I WORK FOR SA jobs board available at https://iworkfor.sa.gov.au (external site).

Candidates who are registered with a Disability Employment Service (DES) provider, can select “I am a SA Public Sector employee” when signing up to access internal vacancies.

Candidates can set up job alerts in agencies / areas of interest for automatic system notifications of relevant vacancies.

As the state’s largest employer, the SA Public Sector has a responsibility to ensure policies and practices are innovative and flexible and support the inclusion of people with disability.

The SA Public Sector has introduced a minimum disability employment target of 3% across the public sector by December 2026 to further encourage the recruitment of people living with a disability.

The National Disability Recruitment Coordinator (NDRC) provides a free job vacancy distribution service to promote vacancies to Disability Employment Services (DES) providers.

Agencies can share their vacancy with the NDRC to broaden the talent pool of candidates to be considered for roles by reaching people with disability with a broad range of interests, skills and experience who are looking for work.

To do this:

Further information is available on the Australian Government’s JobAccess website (external site).

According to the Australian Human Rights Commission, reasonable adjustments – sometimes called workplace adjustments or reasonable accommodation - are changes to work processes, practices or environments that are made to ensure employees with disability can perform their job, free from barriers.

Reasonable adjustments in the workplace could include:

  • changes to the recruitment interview process (e.g. questions provided in advance to all candidates)
  • flexible work arrangements (e.g. flexible start or finish times)
  • training (e.g. receiving some one-to-one training on how to use online tools)
  • equipment modification, specialised equipment, furniture or work-related aids (e.g. screen reader technology, adjustable desks, headphones).

Employers must, subject to some exceptions, make reasonable adjustments to allow people with disability to work productively and safely. For further information on reasonable adjustments in the South Australian Public Sector refer to the Disability Employment Toolkit (PDF).

Eligible employees may be able to obtain funding for adjustments through the Australian Government’s Employment Assistance Fund.

While sharing information about your disability is a personal decision, there are some reasons you may wish to share information about your disability with your employer or potential employer, including:

  • You may require a reasonable adjustment.
  • Your disability has changed or you have acquired a disability while employed.
  • There may have been a change in the work you do or the workplace.

Agencies may also ask candidates or employees about disability to:

  • better understand the demographics and diversity of the workforce. For example, to measure progress and refine its approach.
  • ensure a safe and inclusive workplace is being provided for all employees
  • provide reasonable workplace adjustments from the recruitment stage and throughout employment.

This aligns to information provided by the Australian Human Rights Commission (external site).

The Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment coordinates the SA Public Sector Disability, Diversity and Inclusion Community of Practice.

This includes public sector employees who as part of their role actively support diversity and inclusion in their agency, across public sector agencies or the broader community.

For more information, please email OCPSEDiversityInclusion@sa.gov.au.