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Allegations about the welfare and treatment of First Nations staff in the ACT Public Service have been referred to an independent watchdog. It comes after Indigenous leaders called for a formal investigation into the issue. Last week, the former head of the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs blew the whistle on serious and systemic problems within some ACT directorates.

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00:02Claims that policies were undermined, ministers were lied to and a workplace that was harming
00:09its employees. That's what Brendan Moyle, who led the Office of Aboriginal and Torres
00:13Strait Islander Affairs for two and a half years until the end of 2025, told ABC Canberra
00:19last week.
00:20People have moved away from Canberra with their own horror experiences, having to go
00:23to hospital, having to go to doctors for extreme depression, suicidality, severe anxiety.
00:30Mr Moyle says discrimination, racism and policy negligence warrant a Board of Inquiry, now backed
00:37up by First Nations community leaders.
00:40If you're serious about these issues, then the best thing you can do is call for an immediate
00:44investigation. I would want to know that if I was the Minister.
00:47Internal government documents indicate advice from Indigenous staff may have been ignored,
00:52undermining agreements with the Commonwealth and the ACT elected body.
00:56Where our voice gets diluted, that's a problem. It affects people that rely on those gaps to
01:04be closed.
01:05The Chief Minister acknowledges there are problems in the workplace.
01:08There are some examples, clearly, where agencies and individuals need to do better and there
01:14are examples that are, I think, evident of a challenge that is broader than just the public
01:20service that reflects society and community attitudes.
01:24Late this afternoon, the ABC learned Mr Moyle's allegations have been referred to the ACT Public
01:30Sector Standards Commissioner, a body independent of government and the public service.
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