Senior Government Lawyer

Job Description

Services Australia is at the frontline of government service delivery, supporting almost every Australian.
We support the economic, health and social wellbeing of Australia by delivering high-quality services and payments to the community on behalf of government.

Our agency’s responsibilities include Centrelink, Medicare and Child Support services, as well as whole of government services such as myGov and digital identity.

Our agency also delivers help to Australians in times of need from a natural disaster and delivers a range of other government services, such as the Australian Immunisation Register, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme and aged care.

As a custodian of the personal and highly sensitive information of almost every Australian, ensuring privacy protections are built into how we deliver services is key.

With over 30,000 staff, we are also one of the largest government employers with significant human resource management obligations, particularly in delivering in-person and telephony services to the public.

In this context, our lawyers work at the forefront of emerging technological, ethical and legal issues on a wide variety of complex and challenging matters that often require a multi-disciplinary approach to problem solving.

We are building our public law capability
We have one of the largest administrative law and dispute resolution practices in Australia. We work with stakeholders to engage with oversight bodies, regulators and public scrutiny mechanisms, including representing the Commonwealth in merits review, judicial and inquisitorial proceedings.

We regularly advise on unique factual circumstances and untested areas of the law. We advise on:

The emerging fields of automation of administrative decision-making and the use of artificial intelligence,
Building in and meeting privacy and secrecy provision obligations,
Managing and sharing vast amounts of data to deliver more effective services to Australians, including with other Commonwealth, State and Territory entities,
The correct application of program laws, and
The proper management of public money.

By working with us, you will gain legal experiences and skills that are highly sought after by both the public and private legal sectors.

Our practice areas include:
Public law advice and advocacy – Advice on meeting the agency’s obligations under social security, emergency response, child support, health and aged care program laws, and representing the Commonwealth in challenges to, or investigations into, decisions under those program laws.
Information law – Advice on compliance with privacy and secrecy obligations when delivering essential government services to the Australian public. This includes providing privacy by design advice on transformative technology projects, including digitisation of government services and the delivery of key digital initiatives , such as myGov and Digital ID.
Freedom of information – Advice on complex FOI decision-making and representing the agency and policy departments on merits or judicial review of agency decisions.
Commercial, property and ICT procurement – Contracting and procurement matters, general advice on commercial matters, agency agreements, commercial property disputes.
Employment law and litigation – Legal services on all people management issues, workplace relations disputes, and human rights disputes by both employees and agency customers.

We have current and expected vacancies at the Senior Government Lawyer (EL1) level. We have roles that suit lawyers with ideally 2 years or more post admission experience. Senior Government Lawyers can progress a specialisation or mobilise into different practice areas over time. Senior Government Lawyers may work across practice areas or in project teams.

This is a bulk round to fill current or expected vacancies, as well as to establish a merit list for future vacancies as they arise. A merit list can be established for up to 18 months.

Depending on the vacancy, roles may be filled in Adelaide, Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne, Newcastle and Sydney.

Work Environment

Flexible and part-time arrangements will be considered.