More than two in five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ACT public servants do not feel culturally safe in their workplace, according to the latest employee survey results.

The 2025 ACT Public Service Employee Survey found only 59 per cent of indigenous respondents feel culturally safe, while 14 per cent personally experienced discrimination in the past 12 months – more than double the 6 per cent rate across the service.

Documents released under freedom of information laws reveal the former head of the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs had warned about poor cultural safety internally for more than two years before resigning.

Brendan Moyle, who resigned in November 2025, told a parliamentary inquiry his workplace was the least culturally safe he had ever encountered.

A 12-page brief from September 2025 shows Mr Moyle detailed “continually increasing pressures and risks” and sought urgent measures to address cultural safety and cultural load.

The brief outlined issues that had “continued to get worse” for more than two years, including lack of cultural capability, lack of commitment to deliver on government pledges, and insufficient authority to meet commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

Mr Moyle’s team faced “challenges and pushback, and at times flat refusal” to provide data required to report on government commitments, according to the documents. Cultural knowledge and technical advice was “diminished and ignored”, while “structural barriers and behaviours” at times “intentionally block key bodies of work”.

Independent Member for Kurrajong Thomas Emerson said the survey results were an affront to the Territory’s claim to be the most progressive jurisdiction in Australia.

“We celebrate being the most progressive state or territory while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working within the ACT Public Service are experiencing discrimination at almost 2.5 times the rate of their non-indigenous colleagues,” Mr Emerson said.

His Public Sector (Closing the Gap) Legislation Amendment Bill, passed in December, makes the ACT the first jurisdiction to legislate its Closing the Gap commitments. When it takes effect on July 1, all senior executives will be required to develop cultural capability and promote cultural safety.

During Question Time last week, Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs Suzanne Orr indicated cultural safety was “primarily a responsibility of the public service” when asked about Mr Moyle’s concerns.

The revelations follow the Productivity Commission’s latest report showing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT are now 25.4 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-indigenous people – the largest gap in the country.

The employee survey, conducted in September 2025, received 13,506 responses with results published on January 29.