Aboriginal Workforce

​Aboriginal Workforce is part of the Workforce Planning and Development Branch of the NSW Ministry of Health. More information on the organisational structure of the Ministry of Health is available.

Our core business is:

• to increase the Aboriginal health workforce across NSW Health services
• develop policy and strategies that support Aboriginal workforce growth, capability and supply, and
• develop and manage strategic relationships with Aboriginal stakeholders including education providers, professional associations and NSW Health Aboriginal workforce managers.

NSW Health Aboriginal Workforce Composition Policy

The NSW Health Aboriginal Workforce Composition Policy (PD2023_046) is intended to provide local health districts, specialty health networks and other NSW health organisations the direction to grow and develop their Aboriginal workforce. It sets out the Aboriginal workforce development priorities, targets and key performance indicators (KPIs) for NSW Health for the 2021 - 2026 period.

It provides direction for NSW Health to deliver against six key priority areas, meet minimum Aboriginal workforce representation targets, and to report against KPIs.

The six key priority areas are:

• lead and plan Aboriginal workforce development
• build cultural understanding and respect
• attract, recruit and retain Aboriginal staff
• develop and strengthen the capabilities of Aboriginal staff
• collaborate to achieve workforce priorities
• track our achievements and improve results.

More information, including reporting collection and in depth information can be found on Aboriginal workforce composition.

NSW Health Aboriginal Workforce Profile

2021 Census data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) states there were 278,000 Aboriginal people living in NSW, representing 34.2% of the Aboriginal population of Australia and 3.4% of the NSW population.

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