• Location: Australia-wide
  • Mandatory Requirements: This is an Identified Position – It is an occupational requirement that this position be filled by an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person.
  • Term: 12 months with possible extension
  • Full-time: 37.5 hours (Part time at 0.8 FTE will be considered)
  • Remuneration: SCHADS Level 4: FTE $78- $84k+ 10.5% super + 17.5% Annual Leave Loading
  • Reporting to: Head of Marketing and Media with frequent interactions with the First Nations Director

Download the position description:

First Nations Communications SpecialistDownload

The organisation

Environmental Defenders Office (EDO) is the largest environmental legal centre in the Australia-Pacific, dedicated to protecting our climate, communities and shared environment by providing access to justice, running ground breaking litigation and leading law reform advocacy.

As the region’s legal experts in our field, we aim to be a brave, unified, and focused team, committed to inclusion and excellence in all that we do. We strive to be a diverse and inclusive workplace supporting a highly skilled, engaged, and effective team, where everyone can feel that they belong.

See our website for more information on our exciting, cutting-edge legal work.

The opportunity

EDO’s vision is a world where nature thrives.  Since time immemorial, First Nations peoples have been taking care of their Countries. These deep understandings, knowledges and experiences are critical to maintaining the health and vitality of Australia and the Pacific’s unique wildlife and ecosystems.

EDO has established an Indigenous-led First Nations Program to support First Nations peoples to protect their Countries, and centre understanding of – and respect for – First Nations perspectives in our work. EDO recognises that story is a key medium through which First Nations law is held and transmitted and that the communication of our work in this field requires specialist knowledges and lived experiences.

Candidate profile

The First Nations Communications Specialist will work as part of the Fundraising, Marketing & Media team to foster culturally safe practices to partner with First Nations communities and empower them to tell their stories, promoting a deeper understanding amid our supporters, the media and the wider community.  The First Nations Communications Specialist will work to deepen EDO’s relationships with First Nations communities, nurturing partnerships built on trust, respect, and innovation in storytelling. 

You are a skilled, creative communicator with experience developing compelling content across a range of audiences and digital channels.   

You are someone looking to make a significant difference in a crucial space, at a crucial time and understand the historical and contemporary context. 

Use your specialist skills at content development to work at the forefront of the legal fight for environment and help tackle climate change and Australia’s extinction crisis. 

You will have strong relationship-building skills and be confident in developing trusted relationships with a diverse range of clients and other stakeholders, including First Nations communities, other local communities, and media.

At a personal level you will be comfortable working with diverse communities, and in remote and isolated areas. You will have resilience, tenacity, and compassion.

Key selection criteria

Essential

  • Demonstrated ability to plan, implement and evaluate a culturally appropriate and accessible communications strategies with First Nations Peoples.
  • The ability to foster and hold relationships with First Nations Communities across Australia, paying attention to social, political and cultural sensitivities. 
  • Lived experiences of First Nations communities, cultures and histories within Australia and the Torres Strait Islands.
  • The ability to act as a bridge between First Nations Communities and non-Indigenous  worlds.
  • A minimum of two years’ experience working in a content creation role. 
  • Experience creating compelling content and copy for a range of audiences across a range of digital channels. 
  • Skills in Adobe Creative Cloud, Canva and/or similar platforms. 
  • Ability to think quickly and creatively about communicating complex narratives and facts to a range of key audiences. 
  • Ability to seek out and adapt to new digital platforms for content creation and distribution. 
  • Excellent attention to detail and the ability to understand and communicate about legal processes. 
  • Demonstrated ability to work productively and to deadlines.
  • Capacity to travel interstate for work, including rural and remote locations of Australia when required.

Desirable

  • Experience with WordPress and various social media platforms.
  • Experience in working with bi-lingual communities.
  • A strong knowledge of context compatible environmental law developments such as, ecocide, a right to a healthy environment, Indigenous led rights of nature.
  • A strong knowledge of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander environmental initiatives. A strong knowledge and understanding of the impact of climate change on Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander communities.

Personal qualities 

  • A champion of the agreed values of the EDO
  • Personal leadership, tenacity, and resilience
  • Demonstrated ability to bring out the best in others and high emotional intelligence
  • The ability to give and receive regular formal and informal feedback in a timely, constructive, respectful, and consistent manner.
  • Demonstrated awareness of and sensitivity to the needs and concerns of individuals from diverse cultures, backgrounds, and orientations in both the delivery of our work and our internal culture.
  • An ability to engage non-First Nations audiences to help them interpret and understand our goals
  • Demonstrated ability to work in a collaborative and team-based environment

Our culture and benefits

  • We care deeply about creating a workplace where our team members feel valued, respected, and empowered. We are committed to providing equal opportunity regardless of gender identity, ethnicity, disability, sexual orientation, or life stage.
  • The chance to be part of the largest environmental legal practice in the Australia-Pacific
  • A very flexible and family-friendly workplace
  • Option to work from home and the office
  • 8 weeks paid parental leave, regardless of gender or carer status 
  • 15 days personal/carer’s leave   
  • 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave 
  • 3 days paid cultural leave  
  • Extra leave over the Christmas period
  • Access to Employee Assistance Program (EAP)
  • Ongoing professional development opportunities
  • EDO proudly has a JEDI (Justice, Equality, Diversity, Inclusion) Committee and a Mental Health Ambassador Committee, and has developed a First Nations Indigenous Peoples Program with the aid of indigenous-led consultancies.

Our values

Commitment – We are committed to; a united organisation, to each other, to collaboration, to justice, to our communities and to creating a world where nature thrives. 

Diversity – We are respectful of and welcome diversity of staff, volunteers, offices, environmental regions, communities, stakeholders. 

Integrity – We work effectively, efficiently, strategically, professionally, and ethically; “justice is in our nature”. 

Vision – We lead change and environmental empowerment using innovation, creativity, and courage. 

How to apply

All offers of employment may be subject to satisfactory background checks including a National Police Check, disclosure of previous or current disciplinary action, referee checks, proof of eligibility to work in Australia and qualification checks.

EDO particularly encourages applications from Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, workers of all ages, people living with disability and people who identify as LGBTQIA+.

Applications must include a CV and a letter that clearly addresses each of the selection criteria.

Applications which do not address the selection criteria will not be considered.

Applications close on 17 August 2022. Applications should be emailed to [email protected] with “Application for position of First Nations Communications Specialist” in the subject line.