The new minister for employment and workplace relations, Tony Burke, has told public servants that he is listening. 

Mr Burke has addressed employees of the Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE), saying he will work one-on-one with those in policy roles.

“I like hearing your advice, and I don’t want everything filtered. And I don’t mind hearing your advice if you think the direction we’re heading is not right,” he said.  

Mr Burke said the government is committed to acting as a ‘model employer’, specifically in regard to short-term contracts.

“There will always be some people who want the flexibility of insecure work, and that’s fine,” Mr Burke said. 

“But it should not be the case that if your job is always there, you are perpetually on a short-term contract. It should not be the case that you are in a situation where the security of the requirement is there, but the security of your job is lacking.”

The minister said he wants the department’s employees to be able to focus on what they do best.

“That’s your own professionalism, your own commitment to serving the public, your own commitment to delivering on what I hope you find is — no matter which way you voted — over recent weeks is an agenda that as you help to implement, you actually see the country becoming stronger,” Mr Burke said. 

“The work you do is important, essential. We don’t have a functional democracy without you.”