Full Court Appeal: Dr Zabortseva v APSC
Background:
Dr Zabortseva is a public servant at the Australian Public Service Commission (APSC).
Her work involved controversial and sensitive material developed as part of the APS CALD Employment Strategy. The initiative involved a small team tasked with addressing complex and sensitive challenges in the APS that had remained unaddressed for decades, as set out in the Strategy and its materials. During that work, she raised concerns about integrity and risk management as they emerged — and addressed them as part of her professional responsibilities. Dr Zabortseva was initially represented by Maurice Blackburn Lawyers, who assessed that a series of serious adverse actions had been taken against her as a consequence of raising those concerns. Due to financial constraints, she subsequently brought proceedings in the Federal Court of Australia as a self-represented applicant.
The primary judge dismissed the adverse action claims in a decision delivered on 15 December 2025. Dr Zabortseva appeals that decision to the Full Court.
Note: Not all communications made during this period were formal complaints. Many were routine work correspondence concerning complex and sensitive projects, risk management obligations, and the supervision of a graduate requiring workplace support assigned to work on sensitive materials. The characterisation of those communications is a matter Dr Zabortseva intends to address as part of the appeal.
The appeal raises arguable questions of law including: misapplication of the reverse onus under section 361 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth); the IME direction being based on a false factual premise; a breach of section 50 being found without a declaration of contravention; failure to give legal effect to accepted findings under section 341; denial of procedural fairness; and internal inconsistency in the reasoning. Full grounds are set out in the Notice of Appeal filed 23 February 2026.
[The full court record is on the Federal Court file, ACD12/2026 and ACD11/2025.]