About The Department of Home Affairs

The Department of Home Affairs is responsible for coordination and strategic policy leadership in relation to cyber and critical infrastructure resilience and security, counterterrorism and the protection of our sovereignty. 

The Department regulates Australia’s borders and facilitates legitimate trade and travel and contributes to Australia’s prosperity and unity through the management and delivery of the migration, humanitarian and refugee programs and immigration compliance activities. 

The Department promotes community cohesion through cross-cutting policy, multicultural programs, providing settlement services and managing and conferring citizenship.

About the Roles

Assistant Secretaries and Australian Border Force Commanders in Immigration lead the development and implementation of strategic immigration policies that align with the government's objectives and departmental outcomes. This role requires a deep understanding of immigration laws, regulations, and best practices to ensure the integrity and effectiveness of the visa and migration system. Immigration Assistant Secretaries and Commanders will work closely with various stakeholders, including government agencies, industry partners, and community organisations, to address skill shortages, improve skill diversity, manage compliance and support higher productivity and wages through Australia’s migration programs.

The roles play a critical role in promoting Australia's economic prosperity by drawing on your established and effective networks and relationships to develop and oversee the implementation of continually optimised migration settings. You will collaborate with senior leadership to modernise systems and ensure a skilled, sustainable workforce for current and future national needs. This position requires a proactive and innovative approach to policy development and program delivery, with a focus on achieving measurable outcomes and continuous improvement.

 Core Capabilities

As an Assistant Secretary or Commander, you will demonstrate the highest levels of accountability and oversee the implementation and planning of strategic and operational efforts across Immigration, including providing timely, evidence-based, and risk-based advice to senior leadership to ensure accountability, effective management, and timely resolution of current, emerging and persistent issues. 

In addition, you will possess the capabilities as outlined below:

• Demonstrated ability to actively contribute to and promote a positive culture of inclusion and respect within the Department.
• Demonstrated experience in providing strategic and operational leadership.
• Strong understanding of strategic external and internal communications, including working with ministers' offices and media management.
• Proven ability to build and maintain networks across government agencies, key industry stakeholders and community groups, and other relevant bodies.
• Skilled in managing stakeholder expectations, priorities, and changes, considering strategic government, demographic and cultural issues, risks and opportunities.
• Demonstrated track record of achieving organisational outcomes, building high-performing team capability, and managing workforce and operational risks effectively.
• Self-awareness, cultural competence, and ability to promote respect and inclusion in the workplace.
• Ability to foster a positive and inclusive culture aligned with APS Values.
• Commitment to promoting and applying the APS Values, Code of Conduct, and agency values.
• Innovative thinking and personal accountability for the quality of advice, products, and strategies.
• Ability to demonstrate decisive leadership and stewardship when appropriate to deliver timely and impactful outcomes.

The key duties of the position include:

As an Assistant Secretary/Commander, your specific duties will be developing and implementing strategic immigration policies that align with ministerial objectives and departmental outcomes.

You will be accountable for:

• Overseeing the delivery of key initiatives, including providing evidence and risk-based advice to other senior leaders and the ministers’ offices, on emerging and pervasive threats and challenges as well as viable options to address them.
• Proactively managing complex and sensitive issues and ambiguity and acting as a key escalation point for technical or service delivery matters. 
• Overseeing and enabling the high-performance of a Branch or comparable business unit, including meeting key performance metrics within set budgets and timelines.
• Proactively managing shifting workforce and capability requirements by implementing strategies for attracting and retaining talent, fostering a supportive work environment, and providing professional development opportunities.
• Fostering innovation and contemporary approaches to business service delivery by empowering staff to consider improvements that enhance efficiency and effectiveness.
• Leveraging your established networks and nurturing new relationships to collaborate with government agencies, industry partners, and community organisations.
• Promoting Australia's economic prosperity by contributing to the strategic efforts to plan, support and enable optimising Australia’s migration settings.
• Ensuring compliance with all relevant laws, regulations, and ethical standards, and maintaining transparency and accountability in all policy decisions and actions.
• Demonstrating advanced crisis management skills, with the ability to lead effectively during times of public scrutiny and rapidly evolving challenges.
• Providing support across the Department’s SES and broader Australian Public Service to achieve outcomes and contribute to maintaining public trust in Australia’s critical democratic institutions.
• Actively contributing to and promoting a positive culture of inclusion and respect within the Department.

In addition, you will hold responsibilities for:

• Promote APS and departmental values and behaviours.
• Translate organisational vision and strategy into operational reality.
• Demonstrate responsible stewardship through effective governance, reporting and resource management. 
• Lead change and engage staff through clear communications and proactive stakeholder engagement. 
• Motivate and manage team performance, including monitoring divisional performance and addressing potential barriers to success. 
• Build and sustain a high-performance culture, including building staff capability and nurturing talent.
• Regularly review and communicate accountabilities across the division.
• Contribute to and communicate the strategic direction of the Department and your strong leadership credentials and ability to engender trust and respect will be complemented by sound judgement, a strong focus on results, and the ability to solve complex issues.

Eligibility

The successful candidate must:

• To be eligible for the position you must be an Australian Citizen.
• Hold or be able to obtain and maintain at a minimum a Negative Vetting Level 2 security clearance and;
• Home Affairs Workers will also be required to obtain and maintain an Onboarding Check.
• ABF Workers will also be required to obtain and maintain an Employment Suitability Clearance (ESC).

Notes

The Department currently offers flexible work opportunities for many roles. Remote work may also be considered. Please reach out to the contact officer to discuss this further.

This advertisement will be used to fill a current vacancy and to create a merit list for future vacancies arising over the next 18 months.

RecruitAbility applies to this vacancy. Under the RecruitAbility scheme you will be invited to participate in further assessment activity for the vacancy if you choose to apply under the scheme; declare you have a disability; and meet the minimum requirements for the job. For more information visit: https://www.apsc.gov.au/recruitability

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