Members' Professional Values
The APS Professions Members’ Community connects practitioners from a range of disciplines. These include Complex Project Management, Data, Digital, Evaluation, and Procurement and Contract Management professions. These values aim to support respectful, collaborative, and inclusive participation.
Professional knowledge
· Consider relevant professional and government standards, frameworks, and guidance when developing and delivering government work.
· Understand what the target audience needs when designing, developing and delivering government policies, programs, products, and services.
· Demonstrate the right use of tools, methods, and best practices relevant to policies, programs, products, and services.
Professional practices
· Apply relevant ethical, security and privacy standards when deciding about the use of information, data, and technologies.
· Collaborate with teams, functions, and agencies to reduce duplication and improve the experience of citizens, partners, and colleagues.
· Contribute to government outcomes that build a trusted and contemporary Australian Public Service that delivers for Government and for Australia.
Professional engagement
· Engage actively in learning and development to build skills and keep up with evolving professional practice.
· Collaborate respectfully and constructively with colleagues, communities of practice and APS networks, in line with APS Values and the Code of Conduct.
Standards of Behaviour
The Members’ Community Platform is for all APS professionals who are Commonwealth employees. You must always act in accordance with the APS Values, Code of Conduct, Employment Principles, and in compliance with any relevant policies in your workplace. For more guidance see the APS Values and Code of Conduct in practice.
As a member of the APS Professions Members' Community, you must:
1. Treat everyone with respect.
Use inclusive and professional language. Be considerate of people’s different opinions, backgrounds and experiences. This community includes members at all career stages and all levels of expertise. Avoid making assumptions about others, and do not criticise someone for not knowing or understanding something.
2. Contribute to a positive and inclusive community
Interact with others in ways that are welcoming, constructive, open, and supportive.
3. Keep your topics aligned with the purpose of the community
Share content that contributes meaningfully to shared learning, collaboration and professional practice across the public service. Relevant content includes professional insights, questions, resources, events or discussions that build capability for the community.
Examples of relevant topics include:
· lessons learned or case studies from your work,
· questions about professional tools, practices, or standards
· resources that support capability uplift across the APS
· discussions on cross-profession opportunities, challenges, or methods.
Examples of topics which are not relevant include:
· political commentary
· advertising or promotion of any kind, including commercial, political, or personal causes
· inappropriate personal advances toward other users.
4. Post appropriate content for a professional setting
Only post content which is appropriate for APS Professions community and members. This platform includes people from diverse backgrounds and is a professional workspace.
Content may be seen by many people, displayed on devices and retained by the APS Professions team. Treat this site, including communities and messages, as if they are public. Assume anything you post could appear as a notification on someone’s screen during an all-staff meeting and consider if you would be comfortable with that.
Examples of content which is not appropriate for this site include:
· content containing sexual references or sexual material
· trolling, insulting or derogatory comments, and personal or political attacks
· public or private harassment
· publishing another person’s private information, such as their physical or email addresses, without their explicit permission
· content that depicts or discusses violence
· content linked with illegal activities or users associated with them
· any other conduct that would be inappropriate in a professional setting.
5. Protect the integrity and security of the APS
· Do not post any content that could damage the reputation of the Australian public service or the Australian Government.
· Do not post harmful material, including software or code that infiltrate, damage, alter, corrupt, or interfere with any system, data, or device.
· You must keep your login details private.
6. Keep your login details private
Do not provide your log-in details to anyone or let others use your community account. You are solely responsible for all content posted from your account.
7. Do not use bots or automated tools to collect or share information
Do not use bots, AI agents, transcription tools, or any automated systems on this platform without explicit approval from the APS Professions teams. These tools can collect, record, use or share information from this platform or its online events. Therefore, these tools are not permitted as they may compromise members privacy and platform security.
8. Respect members’ privacy
Respect the privacy of other members. Do not assume information about other members on this platform is public. Only share another member’s personal information if you have their explicit consent.
9. Comply with intellectual property law
Follow intellectual property law by only posting content that you have created yourself or have permission to use. Ensure you give proper attribution to the original content creator. See the legal disclaimer below for further information on this.
10. Understand that the site uses cookies
This site uses session-based cookies. A cookie is a small file containing usage information that a website sends to your browser when you access it. You can change your browser settings to block cookies or request for your approval each time a website wants to use one.
Participation Guidelines
Posting content
Post your messages or documents to the most appropriate communities. This helps improve the quality of response and reduce noise.
Use clear and concise language in the subject line so members can better respond to your post and find it easier in future searches.
When posting items in our collaborative environment, please indicate if the item is not available for reuse. If you want to use an item you find on the site, ask the original content owner for permission.
These guidelines are adapted from the Contributor Covenant, version 2.0, available at https://www.contributor-covenant.org/version/2/0/code_of_conduct/.
Events
You must not invite or forward event links to non-members who have not formally agreed to the Terms and Conditions of the MCP. This is to ensure we continue to deliver safe and secure events to our members.
To share an event with other members, you can use the share button on the event page and send an invitation. If someone is interested in an event and is not a member, you should encourage them to join the APS Professions by signing up for an account.
No meeting bots and AI meeting assistants are allowed at our events to protect the privacy of our presenters and members attending the events.
Reporting misconduct or inappropriate behaviour
If you believe the conduct of another member on this platform does not adhere to the Standards of Behaviour or these Participation Guidelines, we encourage you to report it to the APS Professions MCP team.
Do not directly engage with or comment on the behaviour.
Report posts and provide your comments directly using the “mark as inappropriate” option from the drop-down menu that you can find next to the “Reply” button.
Use the contact form to report any other behaviour or content, including private messages or event attendance. We will determine necessary actions and conduct investigations when needed resolve the issue.
We will respect the privacy of any member who reports inappropriate behaviour. For privacy and other reasons, you may not hear back from the APS Professions MCP team, even if we act on your report.
Legal Disclaimer
The APS Professions provide this platform as a service for their members, including:
- Complex Project Management Profession, co-led by the Department of Defence and the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing (HDA)
- Data Profession, led by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS)
- Digital Profession, led by the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC)
- Evaluation Profession, led by the Department of Treasury
- Procurement and Contract Management Profession, co-led by the Department of Finance and the Department of Industry Science and Resources (DISR)
Information provided on this platform including page content, events and interactive tools, is for general information only. If you need advice on the application or interpretation of content, please contact the original creator or Commonwealth entity that administers it. This platform is not a substitute for independent professional advice and users should obtain appropriate advice relevant to your circumstances.
The APS Professions, their respective Australian Government departments/agencies, and the MCP team make every effort to ensure that the information on this platform is accurate and current. However, you should exercise your own independent judgement before you rely on the information found on this platform.
The APS Professions, their respective Australian Government departments/agencies, and the MCP team do not warrant or guarantee, and accept no legal liability whatsoever arising from or connected to the accuracy, reliability, currency, or completeness of any material contained on this platform or on any linked site.
The APS Professions, their respective Australian Government departments/agencies, and the MCP team are not responsible for the opinions, information and content posted on this site by others. These views may not reflect the views of the Professions, their respective departments/agencies, and/or the Australian Government. This platform is moderated; however we rely on members to bring inappropriate postings to our attention, at which time we will take fair and appropriate action.
This platform includes links to external websites. Links to other websites do not constitute endorsement of material at those sites, or any associated organisation, product, or service. Please make your own decision on how accurate, current, and reliable such information is.
In no event shall the APS Professions, their respective Australian Government departments/agencies, and the MCP team be liable for any special, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use or data arising, including the downloading of any harmful material, out of or in connection with the use of any information posted on this site. Visitors and members should ensure they have adequate protection against viruses when accessing the internet.
In line with the standards above, members must not post any:
- defamatory, abusive, profane, threatening, offensive or illegal material
- classified information
- information or other material protected by copyright without the permission of the copyright owner.
By posting material, the posting author warrants and represents that they own the copyright with respect to such material or has received permission from the copyright owner. In addition, the posting party grants the APS Professions, their respective Australian Government departments/agencies, the MCP team and users of this site the non-exclusive right and license to display, copy, publish, distribute, transmit, print, and use such information or other material.
Except as expressly stated in these Terms and Conditions, no part of the APS Professions Members’ Community may be copied, reproduced, republished, uploaded, posted, publicly displayed, encoded, translated, transmitted or distributed in any way without the APS Professions, their respective Australian Government departments/agencies, and the MCP team prior written consent.
The APS Professions, their respective Australian Government departments/agencies, and the MCP team reserve the rights, at our sole discretion, to change, modify, add or remove portions of these Terms and Conditions at any time. We will notify you via email should we make any changes to the Terms and Conditions. Your continued use of the APS Professions MCP following the posting of changes will mean that you accept and agree to any changes.
If you have questions about these standards, contact the MCP team. For more information about what data the MCP collects, you can review the privacy and collection notice for this platform. Additional information about how the APS Professions will manage personal information is available in the APSC Privacy Policy.
The APS Professions, their respective Australian Government departments/agencies, and the MCP team reserve the rights to terminate access to any user who does not abide by these standards and guidelines. This platform is intended to be a helpful resource for all members to ask questions, learn from one another and engage in a professional community. In the interests of this goal, the APS Professions, their respective Australian Government departments/agencies, and the MCP team reserve the right to remove content, suspend or terminate membership in this community for anyone who does not uphold these standards.