Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment
Claim
11. The Agreement will improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment provisions, including:
a. Strengthening of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment clause.
b. Adding definitions and approvals.
c. Increase to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural leave.
Clause
19.1 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment
a. For the purposes of this clause, “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander” person means any person who is of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent who is recognised and accepted as such by other Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander peoples and who identifies as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
b. The University is committed to reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians and will establish and maintain a workplace environment that values Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ cultures, aspirations, and contributions. This is expressed in the University’s Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Employment Strategy, and the University’s Strategic Plan.
c. The University will continue to improve the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees with the aim of achieving population parity in Queensland (currently 4.6% - 356 FTE), guided by the objectives outlined in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Employment Strategy with the following objectives:
(i) Ensure significant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation in employment throughout the University, over the life of this Agreement the University will increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment to the full-time equivalent of one hundred and forty-five (145) Academic employees and two hundred and ten (210) Professional employees by 1 September 2029.
(ii) The University will maintain the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employment Steering Committee which will include two (2) Union representatives, at least one (1) of whom will be Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
d. Should it be apparent to the parties to this Agreement that the targets in clause 19.1(c)(i) may not be met, the parties will confer, in consultation with the Staff Consultative Committee(s) to determine what reasonable measures should be taken to increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment to the targets specified in clause 19.1(c)(i) above. The implementation of these measures shall be taken as compliance with clause 19.1(c)(i) and as such the parties agree that a dispute under clause 17 cannot be taken in relation to this clause.
e. The University shall ensure that the following measures are undertaken jointly with the NTEU:
Development of a series of performance indicators for the employment strategy that address:
Professional and career development opportunities;
The classifications of positions and mode of employment (i.e. casual, fixed term or continuing – Number (headcount) and Full Time Equivalent (FTE)) occupied by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees as compared to positions occupied by non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons; and
Retention and promotion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff.
19.2 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Allowance
a. In recognition of the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages, when an employee uses Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Language substantially in the course of their employment or is required to use Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Language as part of their role, they will be paid an allowance as specified in Table ?
Table ?: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Languages Allowance
Level
Amount
Qualification
1
$3500 Gross per Annum
Minimal knowledge and use of language for simple communications
2
$6000 gross per Annum
Proficient language skills for general business, conversation, reading and writing
b. For the purpose of this clause, Languages include the complex system of communication used in Indigenous cultures in all their diversity, such as sign language, speech taboos, Indigenous gestural systems, ceremonial language, utterances, auditory, visual, and/or non-verbal communications.
19.3 Provision for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander cultural duties/load within workload allocations
a. The University acknowledges that Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander employees have commitments and obligations to maintaining their relationship to Country, their communities and to the broader community. Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander employees engaging in cultural activities undertaken on behalf of the University will have such activities identified and recognised in their workload allocation and considered in criteria for promotion. The workload allocation will be no less than 10%.
b. While the University encourages Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees to undertake cultural duties as part of a celebration of their culture, the University recognises that an employee is not obligated to undertake any requests which involve additional cultural duties that are not part of their role.
c. For the purposes of this clause, Cultural Load means the additional and often-unrecognised labour, responsibilities, and pressures borne by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees, beyond the ordinary requirements of their position, arising from cultural obligations, workplace representations, cultural education, the management of culturally unsafe environments, responses to racism, and community-related responsibilities that non-Indigenous colleagues do not have.
Examples of cultural load include, but are not limited to:
Unpaid Education: Being expected to educate non-Indigenous colleagues about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures, histories, or racism.
Representation Expectations: being expected to act as a representative or spokesperson for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, perspectives, or experiences or to provide cultural advice or input without appropriate recognition.
Cultural Safety Navigation: managing, navigating, or being affected by, workplaces that lack cultural understanding or cultural safety, including the emotional labour, and trauma associated with racism or cultural unsafety; and
Community Obligations: understanding additional work to support community members, or meet cultural or community obligations, including outside ordinary working hours.
d. The University will, in conjunction with the NTEU, develop a policy to ensure that Cultural load is recognised as genuine occupational load, and that it is implemented ethically and responsibly throughout the University.
19.3.1 Promotion and Career Progression
(a) Promotion, reclassification and career progression processes will recognise Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural, community and University service work as legitimate evidence of contribution, leadership, engagement and service.
(b) Where an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander employee applies for promotion or reclassification, the University will ensure that Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander representation, or a person with appropriate Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural expertise, is included in the assessment process.
(c) Where cultural, community or University service work forms part of an employee's recognised workload allocation, promotion and assessment criteria will explicitly recognise and assess that work as a substantive criterion, weighted commensurately with its scope, complexity and contribution relative to other role components.
19.4 Provision of Cultural Services
The University will allow time and reimbursement of costs (pre-approved) incurred by identified Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander employees, for undertaking activities required by the University, in addition to those cultural duties identified in an employee’s workload allocation. Eligibility confirmation will be sought through the Office of the Deputy Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Engagement or Associate Dean Indigenous Engagement in the relevant faculty.
19.5 Recognition of Cultural Intellectual Property, Indigenous Cultural Knowledges, Indigenous Data Governance and Data Sovereignty
19.5.1 Recognition of Rights and Authority
The University recognises that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples hold inherent, collective, and continuing rights and interests in relation to their Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP), Indigenous Knowledges, and data, consistent with the principles of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP) and the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (AIATSIS) Code of ethical research.
These rights:
are collectively held, and are not extinguished by employment;
include ownership, custodianship, control, access, and governance; and
extend beyond western intellectual property frameworks and are not limited to copyright, patents, or moral rights.
19.5.2 Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)
The University will not use, reproduce, publish, commercialise, archive, digitise, or otherwise exploit Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property or Indigenous Knowledges without the Free, Prior, and Informed Consent (FPIC) of the relevant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and/or Knowledge holders.
FPIC must be:
obtained prior to any use or research activity;
ongoing, with the right to withdraw consent;
based on full disclosure of purpose, risks, benefits, and future use.
19.5.3 Collective Ownership, and Control
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Employees retain the right to:
assert collective ownership and custodianship of cultural Knowledges, practices, languages, stories, and expressions;
determine how, when, and if such Knowledges are shared;
refuse use or publication without penalty or disadvantage.
Where ICIP is created in the course of employment:
such Knowledge remains the property of the relevant community, not the University;
the University acknowledges its role as a steward only where authorised, not owner.
19.5.4 Indigenous Data Governance and Indigenous Data Sovereignty
The University recognises that Indigenous data is subject to the principles of Indigenous Data Governance (IDGov) and Indigenous Data Sovereignty (IDSov).
Accordingly:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have the right to control the collection, access, storage, interpretation, (re)presentation, use, and reuse of their data;
all Indigenous data must be managed in accordance with IDGov principles and CARE Principles (Collective Benefit, Authority to Control, Responsibility, Ethics);
Indigenous communities retain the right to:
access and retrieve their data at any time;
determine conditions of storage (including culturally appropriate repositories);
require deletion or repatriation of data.
19.5.5 Benefit Sharing and Commercialisation
Where Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property or data contributes to:
research outputs,
teaching materials,
commercial activities,
grants or funding,
the University must ensure:
equitable benefit-sharing arrangements are negotiated and agreed in advance, such as full disclosure of all potential benefits consistent with the academics’ benefits;
recognition includes fair and just financial compensation where appropriate, consistent with the value of the shared Knowledges as well as, attribution; and
no commercialisation occurs without explicit community agreement.
19.5.6 Cultural Integrity and Protections
The University will:
ensure ICIP is not used in ways that are misleading, culturally unsafe, or harmful;
prevent misappropriation, decontextualisation, or unauthorised reproduction;
respect restrictions relating to sacred, gendered, or community-specific knowledge.
19.5.7 Indigenous Data Governance and Decision-Making
The University will establish and maintain Indigenous-led governance (IDGov) mechanisms to oversee ICIP and Indigenous data matters, including:
decision-making authority resting with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives and communities;
processes for dispute resolution grounded in cultural authority and community protocols.
Consultation alone is not sufficient—decision-making authority must be shared or led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders.
19.5.8 Employment Protections
No Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Employee will be:
required to disclose cultural Knowledges;
pressured to share Knowledges outside appropriate cultural protocols;
disadvantaged for exercising their rights under this clause.
Recognition of ICIP contributions must be reflected in:
workload allocation;
performance recognition;
promotion criteria.
19.5.9 Breach and Remedy
Any breach of this clause will:
be treated as a serious breach of the Enterprise Agreement;
trigger immediate review and remediation;
include options for:
withdrawal of materials;
compensation;
formal apology;
restoration of cultural authority
referral to the dispute resolution procedure of this Agreement, including application to the Fair Work Commission and/or relevant court for enforcement.
Clause 44 Cultural Leave
Employees who identify and are accepted as members of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander communities will be entitled to paid leave of ten (10) working days and leave without pay of ten (10) working days per calendar year for the purpose of fulfilling cultural obligations.
Such obligations may be traditional or urban in nature and include but are not limited to initiation, birthing and naming, sorry business, undertaking lore, smoking or cleansing, sacred site or land ceremonies, community organisation business, 715 health checks, Native Title business, providing Welcomes and ceremonial items for external events, National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observation Committee (NAIDOC) Week functions, Reconciliation week, Festival of light, large Elder gatherings and other relevant cultural events.
An employee may elect to use recreation leave in lieu of any unpaid leave granted in accordance with Cultural Leave provisions.
Cultural Leave:
is available in full at the start of each 12-month period of the employee’s employment; and
does not accumulate from year to year.
Casual workers will have access to the leave on the same eligibility and payment terms as is set out in s 106 of the Fair Work Act.
Leave can be taken as a single continuous 10-day period; or separate periods of one or more days each; or any separate periods to which the employee and the employer agree, including periods of less than one day.
Presented on 8/4/26
Management Response
Sharlene Leroy-Dyer developed these claim with input from indigenous members and presented them to management on 8/4/26 and Management asked Bronwyn Fredericks to attend to discuss these claims. These discussions were almost entirely between Sharlene and Bronwyn and were positive and constructive.
Sharlene and Bronwyn attended another meeting on 17/6/26 and discussions progressed on certain parts of these claims, but other parts were omitted.