Page Content
Australian Public Relations Reserve
Objective
With the support of the Public Relations Institute of Australia (PRIA), DAFF is establishling a reserve pool of public relations practitioners from the private sector who could assist in a response to a major agricultural pest or disease emergency. To be called the Australian Public Relations Reserve (APRR), this pool would supplement an existing resource of government public relation officers already accredited to undertake a public communications role at such a time.
Remuneration
Non-Government public relations officers (NGPRO) would be paid a daily rate for each day of their active involvement in the APRR during an EAD response. Remuneration and conditions for the employment of private PR practitioners by the Australian Government or states/territories in the event of a major EAD response would be based on:
- The acknowledgement of four categories of experience (see below).
- Salaries to be paid on a daily rate on the basis of a 75 hour fortnight plus a on-cost factor of 20 per cent fully taxable to reflect superannuation, sickness entitlements and other factors.
- Maximum pay rates would apply nationally and be based on the DAFF Policy and Technical Stream Salary Scale (DAFF Certified Agreement) under which full-time pubic relations staff in DAFF are remunerated – this would remove the need for individual jurisdictions to negotiate pay rates with their administrators over and above those paid to government employees
Level of Eligibility
NGPRO 1
Practitioner with less than five years experience since graduation.
NGPRO 2
Practitioner with less than five years experience since graduation, plus completion of the EAD Crisis Communication training course.
NGPRO 3
Practitioner with more than five years experience since graduation.
NGPRO 4
Practitioner with more than five years experience since graduation, plus completion of the EAD Crisis Communication training course.
Remuneration is detailed in the DAFF Certified Agreement, for example:
| Level | Equivalent Salary Level | 2006/07 Salary* |
|---|---|---|
| NGPRO 1 | DAFF Band 2 Work Level 6 |
$58,745 |
| NGPRO 2 | DAFF Band 2 Work Level 6 Increment 3 | $65,496 |
| NGPRO 3 | DAFF Band 3 Work Level 7 |
$73,562 |
| NGPRO 4 | DAFF Band 3 Work Level 8 (a) | $85,321 |
* DAFF CA 2005/06
The remuneration levels for the APRR will be supplemented by the addition of an on-cost factor of 20 per cent and be fully taxable. The annual pay rate is to be divided by 230 (the number of working days in a year) to calculate the daily rate. This achieves a similar outcome to the 365-day tax free calculation used by the Defence Force Reserves. The proposed remuneration scale would apply to NGPROs employed on a full-time, short-term basis, as opposed to casual employment.
Confidentiality
NGPROs would need to sign a confidentiality agreement not to disclose information that came to their attention during an EAD response other than information agreed for public release. This would need to be captured in an employment contract.
Training
Ideally, all NGPROs should have undertaken the two-day EAD Crisis Communication training course. This course will in future be replaced by an induction course which will be provided to NGPROs once they are called in to join an active response effort.
Activation
It is up to each jurisdiction to decide what numbers of public relations staff are required to successfully mount a communication response in a major pest or disease emergency. Jurisdictions would be able to approach trained and accredited PR staff on a DAFF maintained database to assist them as required. In addition, all jurisdictions would be able to advertise for additional non-trained and accredited PR staff from the private sector and employ them pursuant to the broad principles and at the remuneration levels indicated above.
For more information or to register your interest contact the Emergency Risk Management Unit in DAFF.