Organisation: Department of Immigration and Border Protection
Job Title: National Client Services Vocational Stream
Word Limit: 2000 characters pp maximum
Location: Perth
Contributes to Strategic Thinking
Describe a situation which demonstrates your ability to use good judgement when interpreting
legislation or guidelines in order to make a decision
I was the OHS office for the organisation and made sure the workers and clients performed their
work in a safe and healthy environment. I updated the manual under the Occupational Safety and
Health Act 1984. I also created induction package for the students and new employee and did the
presentation and guided the OHS procedure. I developed the Emergency Exit Plan for the
organisation, Policy and Procedure Manual and insurance information, making sure that the
updated manual was well covered by the Insurances guidelines and the Act . I also created
emergency plan where, in a situation of emergency we had a meeting point and I made sure all
staff were out of the building and returned to their office when safe. This was reviewed by the
organisation CEO and Program Managers and Approved by the City of Stirling-landlords of the
building
On one occasion an Ishar’s Client, while walking through front door to attend a doctor
appointment hit her head on the door. Because she was our client she considered that she needed
to make the accident claim through us. According to the Occupational Safety and Health manual I
determined that we were not the responsible party for building construction and maintenance as
we were purely tenants. However I immediately assisted her and provided first aid before
referring her to the landlord of the property as the owner of the building and its construction for
further medical treatment and any further incurred costs. I pointed out to her also that although
she is our client she was injured in a different department. She understood that and was happy
that I stayed with her and performed the first aid assistance. As a result of this accident the
department responsible acknowledged that the door was faulty and required rectification and it
was subsequently repaired.
2. Achieves Results
Give an example of a time when you have drawn on the expertise of others in order to achieve a
work outcome
During my work at Ishar Multicultural women’s health centre, a Diversity and Social Cohesion
Program funded by the Department of Social Services, as a project manager my goal was to
increase community harmony and reduce cultural stereotyping, to increase an awareness of the
commonalities amongst cultures, to involve families rather than particular age groups and to
empower and encourage women to aspire to and achieve improved lifestyle goals. This project
was focusing on "Past, Present & Future" and explored the pre-migration experiences, current
situation, and future expectations of the women participants. The overall goals include increased
community harmony and reduce cultural stereotyping, increased awareness of the
commonalities amongst cultures, getting families involved rather than particular age groups and
empowering and encouraging women to aspire to and achieve improved lifestyle goals.
Other people were drawn upon such as in weekly workshops where each of the women are
encouraged to share their stories of the past and present, then explore the possibilities for their
future as Australians . With the help of a facilitator and the other members of the group we
developed the stories into a dramatic verbal presentation which will be staged at a local venue,
as well as built into a written documentary for local publication . Among the questions to be
answered will be "What holds you to your country of origin?" and "What connects you to
Australia?"
My determination and passion for the subject ensured that I would utilise all resources and
expertise to ensure success for the project.
Among the notable achievments I made were, the success of the formation of new inter-cultural
friendships between individuals and cultural groups a community level, at a family level younger
family members encouraged to have pride and an appreciation of their cultural heritage and
their parents to better understand the environment in which their children are being raised and
on a personal level individuals inspired and empowered to achieve improved relationships and
reduced family conflict. Also I wrote and had published a book, Women under Blue Skies,
published by Big Picture Factory, Perth 2014 which the Hon. Liz Behjat acknowledged in State
Parliament ‘the great work done by 'Ishar', a Multicultural Women's Health Centre in Perth.’
3. Supports Productive Working Relationships
Tell us about a specific situation where you have demonstrated your ability to create productive
relationships with people or groups outside your work area or organisation (including clients)
The International Women’s Day "WA Women's Hall of Fame" Is a state- sponsored International
Women's Day event. And The International Women’s Day (IWD) Centenary an annual global event
celebrating 100 years of the economic, political and social achievement of women past, present
and future. In August 2010 a meeting was convened and peak women’s groups were invited to
attend to discuss the celebration of this important milestone. The resultant event was the 2011
WA Women’s Hall of Fame and the following year, the 2012 WA Women’s Hall of Fame and Roll of
Honour. For 2013 it was decided that the celebrations and funding applications should continue to
be managed under the auspices UN Women Australia’s Perth Chapter. The 2013 event continued
with the same management structure and many of the same committee members. However due
to UN Women losing their office space in Perth they reluctantly decided to end this Celebration. I
saw this as an excellent opportunity for my organisation to become a leading agency and continue
with this Celebration. There were two positive results of this decision. First by becoming a leading
agency for women’s organisation or event our organisation would become more recognised and
secondly the recognition and validation of the efforts of many women who have worked to
improve the standard of living for all women in Western Australia would become recognised. The
result is that continues to be the recognised leading agency to this day and continues to support
International Women’s Day. Ishar Multicultural Women's Health Centre now has a recognised
track record in the successful delivery of the multi-organisational events. Its efforts will be
supported by a Collaborative Committee comprising the other key women's interests groups and
organisations including the Soroptimists International of WA, BPW Australia (WA), Zonta
International and CWA (WA Branch) UN Women (WA), Young UN Women (WA) and it will
continue to recognise the efforts of thousands of women who have worked in collaboration to
improve the standard of living for all women in Western Australia.
4. Displays Personal Drive and Integrity
Describe a situation in which you were able to remain calm and motivated when facing a
challenging work issue
As a project manager at Ishar Multicultural Women’s Health Centre I had opportunities to
managed special projects. One project was called Women Searching for New Beginnings providing
women from humanitarian refugee and migrant backgrounds with the skills and information to
move into further training leading to employment with all of the financial, social and personal
benefits associated with workforce participation. This project aimed to economically empower
women, decrease social isolation, and provide pre-employment education and training and help
women develop sustainable plans to continue their own economic independence. The women
were encouraged to participate in training programs and support groups aimed at developing
economic empowerment, self-esteem and personal strength. The training programs was focusing
on small business development and working from home options.
A situating arose in which one of my staff was not meeting her Key Performance Indicators, her
behaviour was not as usual and she was behaving erratically and the program we were on began
to suffer as a result. I organised a one on one with her to find out the issue as it was detrimentally
affecting the program. I broached the subject in the one on one and the employee became very
emotional, extremely agitated and very critical of me and the department. I realised that she was
not in the best of emotional health and in this challenging situation I remained calm and relaxed
while working to give her support. We determined that she was extremely stressed out and had
wanted to take a holiday for some time and realising in view of her erratic performance I was not
going to get the performance required of her if she continued, so despite this possibly affecting
the program, decided it was in the best interests to grant her the holiday. There was 3 months
period left until the end of the program and as that was insufficient time to train new staff to work
on the coordination of the program picked up the pieces and re-coordinate the project myself.
Being thoroughly knowledgeable and understanding the work involved I was able to re coordinate
ther program complete the project successfully.
