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Melissa
Coade THE MANDARIN |
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Meet Kirsten Fish, the woman working to make the Australian Tax Office a respected and trusted source on all things tax law. |
Meet the woman working to make the Australian Tax Office (ATO) a respected and trusted source on all things tax law.
Kirsten Fish, a second commissioner for the ATO’s law design and practice group, leads the team in charge of delivering confidence and integrity for tax and super laws. The 46-year-old’s agency group is responsible for ensuring legislation is informed, understood, administered and applied comprehensively. They also undertake initiatives that aim to ensure the Commissioner is seen as the authoritative voice on matters of law and revenue analysis.
Fish made the jump from private practice to join the APS in 2014 and big changes were on her mind for a career reset. She went from being a tax advisory partner at a law firm responsible for bringing in business and developing a team of four to now managing an organisation of 20,000 public servants as part of the executive group leading one of the government’s biggest agencies.
At the time she interviewed for her ATO role, Fish says she was also 10 days from giving birth to her second child.
“When I attended the interview for my first role in the ATO, I was pregnant, very pregnant,” Fish tells The Mandarin.
“It was my last day in my former job before taking maternity leave, but when asked about making the move I responded that it was ‘perfect timing!’.”
People often ask what prompted the switch from private to public sector and Fish admits it was a big decision to leave everything she knew behind. But she saw an opportunity to improve tax administration and wanted to be part of the agency building a way of delivering services to clients that was citizen-centric.
The chance to literally ‘shape the tax system’ as Fish puts it, was too good to pass by, and she genuinely believes the work she is involved in today influencing the development of tax law and administration can build the foundations of a framework that will support future generations of Australians.
“I truly believed it would make a difference. I wanted that opportunity – so I took a deep breath and stepped forward to be considered,” Fish says.
“My work in the private sector was stimulating and engaging and I learned a lot. But in my role at the ATO I have the privilege of contributing to the community, making a difference and doing something with real purpose.”
The year before she joined the APS Fish was recognised as one of Australia’s best lawyers and recognised by the Australasia Women in business law awards with a gong for ‘best rising star in tax’. She was a high-flying partner at top-tier law firm Clayton Utz (serving the financial services industry and providing finance and investment transaction advice) when there were only about 20 female partners out of 200 at the firm.
“I joined the ATO and became the ATO’s Chief Tax Counsel (SES Band 2) from 2015, one of the highest legal authorities within the ATO, leading the Tax Counsel Network and providing technical leadership in relation to significant tax issues, cases and rulings,” Fish says.
“I was acting second commissioner for 12 months before being formally appointed to the statutory role in October 2021.”
In private practice, Fish can recall regularly being the only woman in a room for meetings and almost all of her clients were men. Initiatives by the firm to foster client relationships, therefore, were often events like days out putting the green playing golf or box seats at the rugby. Life at the ATO is a far cry from the sporty networking days of her old law firm, and Fish says it was the breath of fresh air she needed when she revised what she wanted from her career.
"At the ATO we have more women in senior leadership roles than ever before – half of the ATO Executive, nearly half of our deputy commissioners and more than half of our assistant commissioners are women,” Fish says.
“And it’s just not women that are gaining better representation, but people from various diverse groups and backgrounds as well.
“This not only helps our organisational culture be more supportive and inclusive, but it also leads to better decision-making and outcomes for the community,” she says.
Reflecting on issues of workplace bias for International Women’s Day this week, Fish’s view is that for all people to thrive and grow at work -- with the same opportunities -- management must ditch assumptions about the capabilities of staff. More needs to be done to understand and make the most of workforce talent, and also remedy the negative impact of unconscious bias, she adds.
“For me, this means not making assumptions about people, their circumstances, their constraints or ambitions.
“It means taking the time to get to know people and understand what support they need to excel and contribute to the best of their ability,” Fish says.
The lawyer’s own experience landing a senior ATO job while pregnant was one positive one that reinforces her belief things are changing for the better for working women in Australia. She says the fact men on her interview panel did not make assumptions about her availability, commitments, circumstances or ambition, despite being obviously pregnant was powerful proof and key to the course of her own career trajectory.
“They selected me as the person with the greatest skill and ability to do the job, to perform and to lead the ATO into the future,” Fish says.
“People in leadership roles have the opportunity to [create a more flexible workplace], understanding that flexibility can increase the well-being and value of an employee, regardless of their gender. And as we embrace ‘flexibility without penalty’ for all, we will see the continued cultural shifts that will drive the outcome of equity for all, in the workplace and hopefully in broader society,” she adds.
Of course, equal opportunity entering the public service is only one frontier to overcome in the ongoing gender equality movement for working women. One painfully simple pattern that Fish says she has witnessed throughout her career is the assumption in meetings that a woman in the room will be responsible for pouring glasses of water and taking notes. The contribution of female voices to a discussion in a room is also largely ignored, Fish says, until a male colleague repeats the same thing later on only for others to commend its merit.
“These may sound like small things, but these micro-biases are all examples of inequality. We need to call out this behaviour when we see it. It’s not just up to women either – or leaders – it’s up to everyone,” Fish says.
“Make the effort to get to know the people you work with, rather than making assumptions about who they are and the support they need. This way you can check your own views and prejudices, call out bias when you see it and be someone’s champion.”
Kirsten Fish - Second Commissioner, Law Design and Practice
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The Chinese were pathbreakers.
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