Media Release
Thursday 12 October, 2006
Eleven years with the CSA … and loving it!
Alison Tucker has her mum to thank for the 11 wonderful years she's worked at the Child Support Agency. According to the Indigenous officer, her mum was the one who pushed her to go for an interview, even though she was nervous and didn't know what to expect.
Starting out in the mail room as an APS 1 in Adelaide, Alison has worked her way up to a Quality Adviser and Indigenous Relations Officer for the Sydney site making many friends along the way.
"Gradually I learnt more about the CSA and why it exists – to make sure both parents contribute financially to their kids even if they're no longer living together," she said.
"It feels great when parents tell me that I've helped them to understand child support," said Alison.
"In my current role, I work with site coaches to implement training, discuss complex issues and sometimes attend court," she said.
In July this year, the CSA launched its Indigenous Recruitment and Career Development Strategy 2005-08 in time for NAIDOC Week.
The Strategy was developed to improve CSA's recruitment and retention of Indigenous Australians, like Alison, as employees.
Figures from September 2006, show Indigenous employees made up 1.64 per cent or 57 of CSA's staff total. CSA's striving to increase the number of Indigenous staff to at least 2.2 per cent by June 2008.
CSA General Manager, Matt Miller thinks this is a good outcome for CSA, as it works towards increasing its numbers of Indigenous Staff to be more representative of Australian Society and provide better service for Indigenous customers.
Alison's also a member of the Indigenous Staff Network (ISN), which celebrated its first birthday in August. The ISN meets informally to discuss issues and policies that impact Indigenous staff and customers.
CSA has an active and strong ISN. Currently most are located in NSW but they offer e-mail and phone contact to staff in other states.
Alison believes the ISN is extremely important. "It makes CSA a happier and supportive environment. There are also staff at various levels who can mentor you if you're interested in applying for another position within CSA."
Department of Human Services Indigenous Ambassador and Australian Women's Touch Football Champion, Bo de la Cruz said, "The CSA understands that Indigenous peoples' needs are different to others and this is where I think having the ISN is great for Indigenous officers like Alison."
Like Bo, Alison is also a top female sportsperson. She's played netball alongside greats like Liz Ellis, Vicki Wilson and Irene Van Dyke, just to name a few and also got to travel by doing what she loved.
"My most memorable game was winning a Gold Medal at the World Youth Cup in 1996 in Canada. I've recently retired after playing netball for 10 years at the national level and looking at being a coach for the sport," said Alison.
Alison spent most of her childhood growing up in suburban Heathcote and then later moved to Adelaide with her family before transferring to Sydney's CSA office from Adelaide's.
The soon-to-be mother of two believes, "Never forget where you've come from and who your people are."
To apply for a job with the CSA, you can either phone 1800 054 226, check the CSA website http://www.csa.gov.au/careers/index.aspx or e-mail CSAIndigenousRecruitment@csa.gov.au to ask about advertised positions in your area.
Media contact CSA: (02) 6272 8540
Media enquiries should be directed to media@csa.gov.au
