Operations of the Gene Technology Regulator Annual Report 2009-2010

Appendix 4 - Staff profile and training and development activities

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At 30 June 2010, the OGTR employed 56 staff (see Table 25). Of these, 54 were ongoing APS employees, two were non-ongoing employees and two officers were on maternity leave. This equates to 51 full-time equivalent staff at 30 June 2010.

Staff membership of equal employment opportunity groups has changed little since the last reporting period except that four more women were employed (58% compared to 52% in 2008–09: see Table 26)

Table 25: OGTR staffing profile, at 30 June 2010

Classification of officers	Male		Female		Total
	Full-time	Part-time	Full-time	Part-time
Statutory Office Holder	1	–	–	–	1
Senior Executive Service	2	–	1	–	3
Legal Officer Level 2	1	–	–	–	1
Executive Level 2	6	–	2	–	8
Executive Level 1	8	–	6	3	17
APS Level 5–6	5	–	11	7	23
APS Level 1–4	–	–	1	2	3
Total as 30 June 2010	23	–	21	12	56
Total as 30 June 2009	25	2	19	8	54
Total at 30 June 2008	21	1	20	11	51

Table 26: Membership of equal employment opportunity groups, 2009 and 2010

Equal employment opportunity group	2010		2009
	No.	%	No.	%
Women	32	58	28	52
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff	0	–	0	–
Non-English speaking background	9	16	9	17
Staff with disabilities	0	–	0	–

Performance pay

Most performance payments made in 2009–10 related to assessments for the 2008–09 cycle. Due to the small numbers of staff at the SES Band 1 level, details for SES Band 1 and non-SES staff have been combined (see Table 27). Payments have been aggregated to preserve employees’ privacy. The OGTR makes performance bonus payments available to staff working under a current Australian Workplace Agreement and under section 24(1) determinations which provides eligibility. As well, a range of non-salary benefits is afforded to non-SES staff employed under Collective Agreement 5 or current Australian Workplace Agreements (see Table 28).

Table 27: SES and non-SES bonus payments, 1 July 2009 to 30 June 2010

Level	Number
SES Band 1 and non-SES staff	8

Table 28: Non-salary benefits afforded non-SES staff employed under the Certified Agreement 5 or current Australian Workplace Agreement

Agreement	Benefits
Collective Agreement 5	Access to the Employee Assistance Program Extended purchased leave Flextime Study assistance Support for professional and personal development Award scheme Flexible working locations including, where appropriate, access to lap-top computers, dial-in facilities and mobile phones Access to negotiated discount registration or memberships fees to join a fitness or health club Reimbursement of eyesight testing and eyewear costs prescribed specifically for use with screen-based equipment Influenza and hepatitis B vaccinations for staff who are required to come into regular contact with members of the community classified as at increased risk of exposure to influenza Flexible working hours Parental leave Leave for compelling reasons and exceptional circumstances Pay-out of additional duty in certain circumstances Recognition of travel time
Australian Workplace Agreement	All of the above benefits except flextime Private use of motor vehicles or an allowance in lieu (not all officers)

Internal training presentations

During 2009–10, OGTR’s Legal Officer, Mr Alceo Turello, conducted introductory and ongoing training for OGTR staff on legal issues (see Table 29). The Science Cohort Section also conducted training on Risk Assessments (see Table 30).

Table 29: Internal legal issue training presentations, 2009–10

Date	Topic
June 2010	Accountability and Administrative Law Review of the Gene Technology Act
April 2010	Providing advice
March 2010	Confidential Commercial Information for newcomers Administrative Law Fundamentals
February 2010	The Gene Technology Act for newcomers
November 2009	The Sugar Beet Case
October 2009	The Gene Technology Regulations
September 2009	Stacking of GMOs
August 2009	Confidential Commercial Information and the Public Interest
July 2009	The ERMA case

Table 30: Internal risk assessment training presentations, 2009–10

Date	Topic
July 2009	Advanced Risk Analysis – Are risk and safety assessments equivalent?
May 2009	Introduction to Risk Assessment

The OGTR Forum provides a venue where, in addition to presentations by visiting experts, current information is shared among staff on topics such as scientific and risk assessment issues, summaries of recent conferences or feedback from international meetings. A range of OGTR staff and guest speakers made presentations at the OGTR Forum during 2009–10 (see Table 31).

Table 31: Presentations at OGTR Forum, 2009–10

Month	Topic	Speaker
June 2010	Report on OECD meetings Working Group on Harmonisation of Regulatory Oversight of Biotechnology Taskforce for the Safety of Novel Foods and Feeds	Dr Peter Thygesen
	Eucalyptus genomics	Professor Zander Myburg, University of Pretoria, South Africa
	Eucalyptus breeding/genetics in Brazil	Professor Dario Grattapaglia, Catholic University of Brasilia, Brazil
	Report on Managing Regulation, Enforcement and Compliance Workshop	Mr Andrew Radanovich
	Report on Biotechnology Regulatory Workshop	Dr Kylie Tattersall
	Report on meetings with European regulators	Dr Joe Smith
April 2010	Virus resistant GM maize, GM vaccines and biosafety issues: A South African perspective	Professor Ed Rybicki, University of Cape Town, South Africa
	Report on risk assessment workshop, Vietnam	Dr Michael Dornbusch, Dr Brian Weir
	Risk communication and public perception	Dr Janet Gough, Environmental Risk Management Authority, New Zealand
March 2010	Report on Canadian Food Inspection Agency Symposium: integrating foresight and emerging trends into timely scientific advice	Dr Paul Keese
December 2009	Report on Australian Centre for Plant Functional Genomics Salinity Symposium	Dr Alison Wardrop
	Report on forth International Conference on coexistence between genetically modified and non-GM based agricultural supply chains	Mr Greg Barber, Mr Peter Wenzel, Dr Kylie Tattersall
	Report on Biosecurity in the new Bioeconomy: threats and opportunities conference	Dr Joe Smith, Mr Will Tucker, Dr Meena Rajagopal Murthi, Dr José ten Have, Dr Heidi Mitchell
November 2009	Report on risk assessment workshop in Malaysia	Dr Michael Dornbusch
	Honeybees	Doug Somerville, New South Wales Department of Primary Industries

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