This week: a Working for Queensland survey prompt, “vacancy management” hits Child Safety, and wage ruling saga lands senior teachers on par with their juniors.
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saga → hit → juniors
It’s everyone’s favourite time of the year.
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It → ’ → year
By everyone, of course, we mean those with thoughts about their public sector employment they would maybe only dare lay out in the free-text general feedback box of the anonymised questionnaire.
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they → mean → questionnaire
This year, however, it seems there could be a catch.
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it → seem → ?
Word has reached the Circus tent from multiple agencies the no-holds-barred rant box has disappeared from some surveys, or been replaced with a more restrictive prompt for others.
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box → reach → others
Since landing in inboxes from late August, some eager (only about 20 per cent of the 330,0000-strong workforce filled it out in 2025) and eagle-eyed public servants have clocked the curious changes.
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cent → land → changes
But it’s not uniform across the sector, with the separately collected free-text section included at the discretion of each agency and sent directly, unedited, to the boss.
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section → ’ → boss
We’ve caught whispers some folks receiving surveys have this year found no open feedback section at the end.
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folks → catch → end
Other departments we’ve had intel from are said to have replaced the general feedback prompt with one asking what you’d tell someone considering a job there, or what is one thing you would change.
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you → have → job
“It’s not as open-ended as it has been in previous years,” a department source said, speaking to us on condition of anonymity for perhaps the obvious reason of not being authorised to do so.
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source → ’ → reason
They noted it seemed to be an attempt to steer staff away from airing more detailed or specific gripes.
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it → note → gripes
One former agency chief, also granted anonymity, told us they viewed it as one of the most important parts of the surveys because of the freeing, anonymised nature of the comments.
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they → grant → comments
They suggested any removal of or constraining of this would reflect a lack of willingness to “really hear what people think”.
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people → suggest → what
With a couple of weeks left to complete, we imagine more will discover the changes as they open them closer to the due date – a practice Circus members are certainly not immune from on our workplace feedback forms, either.
But what to do if you discover you’re cut off from the trauma dump you were hoping to give, or have already been confronted by such an injustice?
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you → leave → injustice
We’ve got you covered.
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you → get → ?
Drop contact details if you’re willing to talk more, anonymously, of course.
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you → drop → course
We’ll even try and publish what we can in a future segment.
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we → try → segment
Let the frank and fearless feedback flow!
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feedback → let → ?
‘Vacancy management’ comes for Child Safety frontline support roles
Fresh on the heels of the state’s first credit rating downgrade in almost 20-years, Circus can add a seventh department to its list of those with various efforts in place to squeeze staffing budgets.
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Circus → come → budgets
The latest “vacancy management strategy” word (don’t call it a hiring freeze!) is from over at Belinda Drew’s Department of Families, Seniors, Disability Services and Child Safety.
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word → call → Families
There, the strategy is said to review vacant roles across child safety, disability services and corporate support before they can be filled.
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they → say → safety
Those not deemed “key frontline” require stricter approval.
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Those → deem → approval
This includes sign-off by a deputy director-general and a documented rationale.
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This → include → general
So far, so similar to what we’ve heard from widely across the sector.
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we → hear → sector
But the thing that has some child safety staff, and their union (Together), up in arms?
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staff → have → arms
What, exactly, is being classified as a frontline role under the exemption list.
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What → classify → list
In particular, the lack of an exemption for administration and business officers in child safety service centres – who keep such centres, which support frontline child protection workers, running.
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which → keep → workers
“These roles are critical to frontline child protections, and they should be treated as critical workers when it comes time to fill them,” Together assistant secretary Dee Spink said in a statement.
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Spink → treat → statement
“The department says this isn’t a recruitment freeze, but for some workers it can feel like one.”
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it → say → one
Comment has been sought from the department.
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Comment → seek → department
For what it’s worth, we quizzed independent economist Saul Eslake about this vacancy management approach to belt-tightening while chatting to him on Friday about that credit downgrade.
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we → ’ → downgrade
“They’re a lazy way of trying to save money,” Eslake offered.
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Eslake → ’re → money
“They’re fairly crude measures and not ones that I would ever support.”
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I → ’re → that
Eslake also reckoned the roughly 3 per cent staff expense growth projected from next financial year in Treasurer David Janetzki’s June budget (this year’s is 5.4 per cent) is only possible with a proper freeze on the size of the public service.
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year → reckon → service
Either that, or that slim surplus pencilled in for after the 2028 election might end up being kicked down the road – something we’re sure the ratings agencies will be watching closely.
Saga leaves senior teachers on same pay as more junior colleagues
The state industrial umpire’s decision to lift awards by 4.75 per cent will see such rises flow through to some workplace agreements with clauses ensuring wages don’t fall below award rates.
But the ruling has caused strife in education, where an interim pay rise of 3 per cent was recently awarded amid drawn-out efforts for a deal to replace the one which expired more than a year ago.
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which → pencil → one
This trouble boils down to a discrepancy between the classifications (specifically, the experienced senior teacher, or ESL, role) in the state school teacher agreement and award, according to an email sent out to Queensland Teachers’ Union members.
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trouble → boil → members
The second, EST 2, can be reached after three years at EST 1.
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second → reach → EST
That higher band was created in the 2019 agreement and is not reflected in the award.
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band → create → award
While EST 1 wages were set to lift through a safety net tied to the state wage case ruling, EST 2 wages were not.
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wages → set → ruling
Then acting general secretary Brendan Crotty said the union clocked the issue weeks ago, raising it with Sharon Schimming’s apparently unaware department and Minister John-Paul Langbroek.
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union → act → department
…and 5 more, not listed.
