About Country Needs People:

Country Needs People (CNP) is an independent, non-partisan organisation dedicated to supporting Indigenous land and sea management Australia wide through federal and state advocacy, policy development, research, and a variety of partner support activities. We are a newly independent organisation developed from over a decade’s steady work with Indigenous land and sea management groups around Australia with a strong track record of positive impact across Australia and beyond. With a network of over 40 frontline organisational partners and over 100,000 Australian supporters, Country Needs People works to celebrate and strengthen the success of Indigenous Australians working on country for the benefit of all Australians.

We are a small team, with an office in Canberra and staff and contractors working remotely from other places in Australia. We work closely and strategically with Indigenous partners, governments, and other stakeholders to enhance the quantity, quality and security of Indigenous led natural and cultural values land management. We combine:

• strategic, non-partisan advocacy to state and federal governments
• communications campaigns to build a broad public support base across Australia
• collaborative project work and organisational advice and support with and for our Indigenous partners.

About you:

We are looking for an experienced all-rounder with strong communications, advocacy and organising skills, who also has a strong interest in and motivation around environmental and social justice outcomes (particularly for Indigenous Australians in remote areas) and a strong sense of the elements required to affect constructive political change. You are a people person who is confident but doesn’t bring a big ego to work, capable of working both with significant delegated responsibility and at times under close direction but can turn a hand to any task required in a small team including sharing the work program of organisational administrative and campaign tasks. You treat your work colleagues with respect at all times and contribute to a friendly and enjoyable team environment while keeping focused on the task at hand.

The role:

The work will include engaging with a variety of stakeholders and partners including remote Indigenous partner organisations. Some travel and occasional weekend work may be required. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander applicants and women are strongly encouraged to apply.

The Communications Manager is part of a small campaign team, reporting to the CNP Executive Director, with a digital communications/support role still to be recruited, and expected to work in close collaboration with the team to deliver the following:

Communications and campaigns strategy

• Develop and implement communications strategies and narrative that promote CNP as an organisation, and our aims and activities - to the wider community as well as funders and policy makers
• With the CNP team, develop and implement campaign and advocacy strategies
• Understand and navigate the complexities and sensitivities around working with our many Indigenous partner organisations
• Lead on campaign research, planning and implementation
• Identify strategic media and communications opportunities, including when and when not to undertake various activities.

Advocacy

• Support advocacy and negotiations with cross-sectoral partners and political decision makers at state and federal levels
• Organise public and parliamentary targeted events often with partner groups to build profile for the campaign, sector and organisation, occasionally in remote settings, and initiate appropriate materials as required.

Digital communications

• Oversee digital campaign strategy and implementation, including provision of analytics data reports as required
• Monitoring media and digital media platforms in relevant sectors/ areas and recommending appropriate action when necessary
• Develop and implement strategies to engage and recruit online supporters Australia wide within key target audiences
• Manage a digital communications/support officer when they are recruited in a few months time.

General communications

• Oversee public facing communications, creating and editing content and supporting and managing other CNP staff to develop and maintain content and narrative as appropriate
• Undertake research, and produce and review articles, blog posts, media releases and other materials for a range of channels and outputs
• Work with the team to develop information sheets and resource materials for partner organisations and to promote public understanding of the work of partners as required
• Project manage development and production of reports, briefs, and other publications and communications materials
• Develop CNP’s regional media presence
• Manage relationships with partner organisations in relation to use of images and videos
• Other communications, campaigns and relevant ICT tasks as required.

Essential Skills Required:

• Be invigorated by CNP’s purpose of protecting and preserving the natural environment through Indigenous community-based conservation and land and sea management, as well as our work and our journey

• Skilled campaigner with five-ten plus years of experience in advocacy and non-profit operations or equivalent relevant experience
• Strong senior communication skills including demonstrated experience with mainstream, online and social media, production of basic communications products and a strong understanding of the broad communications needs associated with advocacy
• Experience contributing to the design and implementation of campaign and communications strategies and tactics that build support for a campaign or issue, connecting a mass audience with political decision-makers

• Have campaign nous, so recognise when restraint or different approach needed, ensure consistency with our branding, narrative and advocacy and be able to tailor focused outputs across a variety of channels

• Strong interpersonal skills and capacity to work effectively within a cross-cultural environment including with Indigenous partner organisations. Good humoured.

• As CNP is a small organisation, be a hands-on worker able to direct your energy and effort to undertake a variety of tasks across a small team

Desirable Attributes:

• Demonstrated capacity to work with a wide range of sectors and people including regional and remote stakeholders and Indigenous and environment sectors
• A demonstrable capacity to work independently and also work as part of a small but geographically dispersed team
• Well-developed political instincts and an ability to respond quickly to changing political circumstances while building and sustaining a longer-term strategy
• An understanding of or the capacity to quickly develop understanding of remote area and community-based Indigenous land and sea management context, policy and politics and how to apply that in a campaign setting
• Experience with managing online supporter lists using software such as Nationbuilder or similar

Terms:

• Initial contract for 2 years but extension likely depending on funding.
• CNP will also be recruiting further positions, including digital communications officer, fundraising officer and administrative officer over the next 2 months.
• This role will preferably be filled as a full-time position, however part-time applications will also be considered based on experience.
• Remuneration will be based on the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services Industry Award, and will be in the range of Level 8 $105,000-$110,000, depending on skills and experience. This rate includes leave allowances and has an additional 10% superannuation. For highly skilled candidates there is some room to negotiate remuneration.
• The role reports to the Executive Director.
• There is a strong preference for this role to be undertaken in our office in Canberra City, however other offsite options will be considered for outstanding candidates. Moving allowance can be negotiated.
• Very occasional weekend work may be required at times.

We will be commencing shortlisting for this role immediately. Applications will be closed once a suitable applicant has been identified so please get your application in ASAP.

If you wish to inquire further about the position please contact Indra on 0402 486 647.