Many of the victims’ bodies were still yet to be retrieved from the freezing Potomac River following February’s air collision in Washington DC when President Donald Trump reverted to one of his brainworm tropes, this time blaming public sector employment policies for the accident, claiming they had led to the recruitment of people with “severe intellectual disabilities” in the FAA. 

On his second day in office, Trump had already issued an executive order to abolish diversity programs throughout the federal government, allegedly because they demonstrated “immense public waste and shameful discrimination”.

None of this of course was true. But it didn’t stop our own Temu Trump, Peter Dutton repeating the myths and trying to scandalise the non-issue domestically for his own benefit.

“Such positions, as I say, do nothing to improve the lives of everyday Australians,” Dutton claimed regarding the federal public service.

Compelling arguments to be sure. But does he know what he is referring to?

DEI (Diversity, Equity and Inclusion) isn’t a term that has been previously commonly used in Australia. But it can be translated to apply to a whole raft of measures we all practice every day in our workplaces to make them open to anyone just as the Public Sector should be. They can include actively recruiting particular ethnic or cultural backgrounds, or ensuring equal opportunities exist for advancement for everyone, or providing awareness training for all employees.

But it goes further. Do you or your colleagues in your office sometimes celebrate holidays from other cultures like Diwali? That can be defined as DEI. Do you or someone in your office take lactation breaks and use the breastfeeding room? DEI. Does anyone in your office use a wheelchair ramp, or have altered set ups for the phone on account of hearing difficulties, or an ergonomic desk set? Possibly even DEI.

Having a workforce in the Public Sector that has a broad range of perspectives and experiences can only be a benefit to everyone who works in or uses it. Those who dismiss DEI as “woke” – probably the most misused term in the English vernacular at the moment – don’t seem to realise that measures that encourage women, First Nations people, or people with a disability to be in the workforce don’t do so to the exclusion of anyone.

In fact with a vacancy rate at record highs across many agencies we need to be making public sector jobs as attractive and accessible as possible for every person we can find who has the skills to work beside you, not the opposite.

But best of all is the knowledge and experience diversity in the workplace can bring, especially when working within and for a general public as diverse as Australia. As our US counterpart put it:

“The federal government already hires and promotes exclusively on the basis of merit,” the American Federation of Government Employees national president Everett Kelley, said in a statement. “The results are clear: a diverse federal workforce that looks like the nation it serves … we should all be proud of that.”
Including Trump and Dutton.