South Australia: Premier’s Direction on Recruitment

Status and scope

Listed by the Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment. 24 September 2018. This agency direction was made under section 10 of the Public Sector Act 2009 (SA). Check the statutory limit for quasi-judicial and statutorily independent functions and the exclusions stated in the direction.

What it requires

Covered agencies must consider a completed pre-employment declaration before making an offer, conduct and assess adequate referee checks, assess whether role-specific background screening is needed, and keep records in line with recordkeeping and privacy requirements. The direction also requires agencies to record specified separation events in the Eligibility for Re-employment Register and to search it before offers for advertised roles, except agency-internal expressions of interest.

What to check in corrections

For corrections recruitment, distinguish a required declaration from the screening appropriate to the particular role. Ask which criteria and evidence were relied on, who considered them, and whether any adverse or out-of-date register information can be corrected. The direction sets minimum process standards; it does not itself decide a candidate’s suitability.

Read the official direction (PDF) · Premier’s Directions register · Public Sector Act 2009 (SA), section 10