Director, First Nations Program

Director, First Nations Program

Job title: Director, First Nations Program

Reporting to: Chief Executive Officer

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.

Location: Can work from anywhere, with expectation of some travel and time-to-time attendance at your designated office.

Salary range: $189,000 + 12% superannuation (Pro rata if offered part time)

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.

We recognise the urgency of this decade of consequence. In response we work on behalf of clients and communities to design and deliver transformative legal interventions which push the boundaries of existing legal frameworks. Our work has the power to influence rapid systemic changes which have the potential to address the underlying structures which lead to environmental degradation and prevent environmental enhancement.

The burdens of environmentally destructive practices are unequally shared between communities and across generations. We fight for environmental justice and invest in long-term community partnerships, enabling us to focus on the needs and desires of those communities. Through our work we address the distributive injustice and inequity associated with environmental degradation.

We acknowledge, value and respect the different legal systems that exist and apply in the region, First Laws, International Law and Western law. We also acknowledge the ongoing harm and racism which is perpetuated by the colonial legal framework. We are working to understand and define our role within that framework of legal pluralism. The First Nations Program plays a big part in helping us answer those big questions.

Our vision cannot be achieved alone. Consequently, we play a leadership and partnership role alongside the many organisations seeking a world where nature thrives, collaborating with partners, both traditional and unexpected – because many strategies and tools are necessary to achieve our strategic objectives.

Candidate Profile:

First and foremost, a First Nations leader with a big vision. Someone looking to make a big difference in a crucial space, at a crucial time. You’re looking for an organisation with the courage to seek improvements to “the system” and a desire to serve First Nations communities. You may or may not be a western trained lawyer, but you will be:

• Deeply connected to the First Nations community with an unbounded understanding of the histories, challenges, opportunities and current thinking within First Nations communities.
• Passionate about supporting First Nations communities protect their Countries as they wish.
• A leader with exceptional emotional intelligence.
• Able to ensure adequate funding for the Program is secured.
• Understand, and respect the principle of free, prior and informed consent under international human rights principles, and the role of FPIC in the context of environmental and cultural heritage legal practice
• A strategic thinker.
• Someone who is able to create new relationships, sustain those relationships and current relationships with First Nations organisations.
• Someone who enjoys advocacy and pushing boundaries.
• A person capable of building deep connections and leading cultural changes within organisations and external to them.
• Someone who understands the complexities associated with development where a community has mixed views about the proposal. And someone who understands (or will quickly appreciate) the challenge associated with providing legal services in that context.

Background

In 2019, the Environmental Defenders Offices merged to form a single, regionally focused organisation.

EDO’s First Nations Program was established in 2020 to work for and advocate for the rights of First Nations peoples across all EDO’s work. In June 2023, the Country and Cultural Heritage Program was incorporated into the First Nations Program, as a dedicated, nation-wide program specifically tailored to provide services to First Nations communities seeking legal support to protect their culture and Country.

EDO is committed to continuing support and building the long-term success of this Program. In addition to the establishment of the Program and the establishment of Indigenous leadership at the Executive level, EDO has also built internal governance and policy infrastructure to sustain, whilst continuously improving, culturally safe work practices for all team members, but specifically First Nations team members. This structure includes a First Nations Strategic Advisory Committee (FNSAC), made up of First Nations community members from across Australia and the Torres Strait Islands who provide strategic guidance to EDO.

The First Nations program focusses on supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in their advocacy to protect their Country and cultural heritage.

This includes, but is not limited to, working for First Nations communities concerned about:

• their cultural heritage
• protecting fresh water sources
• fixing drinking water issues
• accessing and looking after Country in a culturally appropriate way

EDO’s Strategic Plan 2025 – 2030, identifies six Strategic Public Interest objectives. The public interest objective of Defending Country and Cultural heritage is that:

First Nations and Indigenous communities are supported in defining, preserving and protecting their country and cultural heritage as they deem fit.

Underpinning this objective are four goals:

1. First Nations and Indigenous Communities have access to legal advice, education and representation to fight for the protection of their cultural heritage, and to hold those who damage, destroy or desecrate cultural heritage accountable.
2. First Nations and Indigenous Communities have access to legal support to access and look after Country and cultural heritage as the community deems appropriate.
3. Advocate for cultural heritage reform across Australia and the Pasifik which improves rights of First Nations and Indigenous communities to defend cultural heritage and challenges western notions of cultural heritage and upholds UNDRIP, and especially FPIC.
4. The public across the region understands the importance of contemporary cultural heritage protection as a crucial component for protecting Country.

EDO’s First Nations Program has oversight of these objectives as they relate to the First Nations communities within Australia and the Torres Strait Islands, and of EDO’s general work for First Nations clients, or as that work relates to matters impacting First Nations communities.

The role of the Director of First Nations Program does not encompass work in relation to EDO’s Pasifik Program.

A specialist First Nations Program within the EDO reflects our view that Indigenous peoples’ knowledges and cultures, play a central role in the protection and restoration of nature.

Key selection criteria

Personal qualities and leadership and management skills

• Ability to engage appropriately with First Nations organisations, staff and communities.
• Deep understanding of First Nations cultures, histories and current challenges.
• Understanding cultural protocols and cultural safety.
• A champion of the values of the EDO.
• The ability to collaborate and work across teams to achieve great outcomes – and a desire to work in a collaborative and team-based environment.
• Demonstrated ability to drive program development, strong initiative and self-motivation.
• Demonstrated ability to work effectively and constructively with multiple internal and external stakeholders, including First Nations organisations and communities:

o The ability to lead, to bring others along.

o An ability to bring out the best in others and mentor other lawyers.

o Excellent emotional intelligence.

o A demonstrated history of effectively uplifting performance through individual accountability and goal setting.

• A strong sense of ethics and understanding of professional obligations.
• The ability to manage a team with diverse skill sets and experience to effectively achieve results.
• 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-legal audiences – including funders – to help them interpret and understand our work, particularly as it relates to the First Nations Program.
• Strategic thinking and technical skills
• A strong vision for the development of the First Nations Program.
• The ability to think creatively and ambitiously about how we deliver access to justice.
• An understanding of community empowerment and engagement.
• Demonstrated experience in the effective delivery of services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
• Experience securing diverse funding streams, including the sourcing of funding leads, writing funding proposals and reports, including philanthropic grants and direct fundraising.

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.
• 8 weeks of paid parental leave, regardless of gender or carer status.
• 15 days personal/carers leave.
• 20 days annual leave.
• 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave per year.
• Extra leave over the Christmas period.
• 3 days paid cultural leave per year.
• Opportunities and encouragement to attend NAIDOC week events.
• ICIP and Colonial Loading protection within employment contract.
• Access to 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 Program with the aid of indigenous-led consultancies. 
• Three Affinity groups for the following: Disability, Global Majority* and LGBTQIA+

*Global Majority is a collective term that first and foremost speaks to and encourages those so-called, to think of themselves as belonging to the majority on planet earth. It refers to people who are Black, African, Asian, Brown, dual-heritage, indigenous to the global south, and or, have been racialised as ‘ethnic minorities’. 

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.

Applications

• To review the position description, please see this link: https://www.edo.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2025/09/EDO-Position-Description-Director-First-Nations-Program-September-2025-F.pdf

For a confidential discussion, or to express interest in being considered for the role, please call Jamie Hardy at Aboriginal Employment Strategy on 0428 523 005 or email jamie.hardy@aes.org.au.

Applications and expressions of interest will be considered until Friday, 31 October 2025. However, EOIs at the earliest opportunity are encouraged.