Looking for a change in 2025? Passionate about advancing gender equality? Share our commitment to driving meaningful change and empowering women? Want to make workplaces fair and safe for women? This Law Reform and Advocacy Officer role is a unique opportunity to be involved in establishing the Working Women’s Centre in NSW. Join us in the fight for women’s safety and economic security.

NEW POSITION

This a unique opportunity to be involved in establishing a new advocacy program for working women. The Working Women’s Centre NSW will form part of a national network of Working Women’s Centres that have been funded in each state and territory to deliver employment law legal services to women. You will work with solicitors and industrial officers who will provide high-quality, culturally safe, trauma-informed, and holistic services, focusing on workplace rights, underpaid entitlements, dismissals and discrimination and sexual harassment. They will provide you with emerging issues and case studies to enhance your campaigns and advocacy. This is a dynamic role that will collaborate with a range of stakeholders role both nationally and in NSW.

The Working Women’s Centre is a specialist service, and we are experts in gendered workplace legal issues. This makes us uniquely placed to address systemic inequality at work. We are looking for a Law Reform and Advocacy Officer who wants to lead the advocacy work of the Working Women’s Centre and make meaningful change for working women. We invite you to join us in the fight for women’s safety and economic security.

THE ROLE

This is an opportunity to work with a dynamic team of employment law specialists and best practice frontline access workers.

This is a new role, and we are keen to work with the right candidate to develop and shape the role and program. We are seeking an experienced advocate and campaigner who is passionate about our mission to advance gender equality. As the Law Reform and Advocacy Officer, you will drive meaningful change to allow our clients to fully participate in safe, fair, and equitable workplaces. You will conduct advocacy to combat exploitation at work, and address systemic issues impacting women, including wage theft, sexual harassment, and precarious working conditions. In this multifaceted role, you will design and implement reform campaigns to change laws, legal practice, and processes by formal submissions, lobbying and stakeholder engagement, responsive advocacy, and collaborative campaigning.

ABOUT US

Women's Legal Service NSW (WLS NSW) advocates for an end to gender-based violence and for gender equality in Australia. As a state-wide specialist women’s legal service, we assist women and non-binary people across NSW to obtain legal advice and representation from our trauma informed, holistic legal practice to address women’s safety and economic security.

We use our experience gained from working with over one hundred thousand women and our expertise in a feminist analysis of social issues and the law to determine where we can make the most meaningful and impactful interventions that make positive change structurally and systemically. We have invested in the development of our specialist expertise to advocate for structural changes in legislation and policy through law reform and through the provision of education and training to our colleagues in the legal profession, the community services sector, and the community.

We advise and represent women in a range of practice areas including discrimination, employment, sexual harassment, family law, domestic/family and sexual violence, and compensation and victims support for victims of crime.

WORKPLACE OF CHOICE

WLS NSW promotes gender equality through creating a workplace of choice for women that is:

• Safe. We have clear and effective policies on sexism, discrimination, harassment, bullying and abuse.
• Diverse. We acknowledge, encourage and respect diversity and lived experience.
• Culturally safe. We acknowledge and respond to the need for cultural safety for First Nations staff.
• Flexible. We acknowledge and support flexible work arrangements accommodating caring responsibilities, disability or health issues and study commitments.
• Professional Debriefing. We work in a trauma informed practice that acknowledges the vicarious trauma associated with our work and provide debriefing on an as needed basis whilst also having a requirement for regular external professional debriefing supervision.
• Career Growth and Development. We facilitate career advancement by offering opportunities to expand knowledge in legal practice, leadership, and strategic organisational development, equipping professionals for success in evolving roles.

WLS NSW seeks to close the gender pay gap by providing job and economic security with an Enterprise Agreement that pays above Award and provides generous leave provisions. You have the option to salary package which can add up to $15,900 in tax-free pay annually.

Salary range 2024-2025

Law Reform and Advocacy Senior Officer Grade 5 $96,794.51 - $117,251.58 p.a plus salary packaging

Law Reform and Advocacy Senior Officer Grade 6 $121,248.22-$134,690.93 p.a plus salary packaging

Being a woman is a Genuine Occupational Qualification for the purposes of WLS service provision (Section 31 Anti-Discrimination Act 1977 (NSW)).

The position is based in our office at Lidcombe. The role will require travel across Greater Sydney as well as to rural, regional, and remote NSW and nationally.

SELECTION CRITERIA

Essential:

• Eligible to hold a Working With Children Check.
• Tertiary qualifications in the areas of law, social work, human rights, politics case management or psychology or relevant experience campaigning, advocacy, policy reform, and/or community organising.
• Demonstrated understanding of, and commitment to, social justice issues for women, particularly First Nations women, and women in deep and persistent disadvantage (social, economic and cultural disadvantage) and lack of access to legal services.
• Demonstrated ability to identify issues in laws and policies, create evidence-based proposals for reform, and to develop advocacy and campaign strategies to implement these proposals.
• Demonstrated high level written communication skills with the ability to produce clear, concise, and compelling content such as policy briefs and submissions, budget submissions, campaign messaging, press releases, articles and other materials that target key decision-makers and audiences.
• Demonstrated high level oral skills with the ability to represent the interests of the Working Women’s Centre in stakeholder meetings, strategic networks and public forums.
• Ability to further policy goals by facilitating collaboration and communication among stakeholders, such as community leaders, unions, policymakers and partner organisations.
• Demonstrated ability to maintain accurate data and work in an electronic environment including the use of word processing, email and web browsing tools and the capacity to acquire a working knowledge of the WLS working knowledge of the WLS case management system.
• Strong strategic media and social media skills to further engagement with advocacy aims.
• Ability to travel across Greater Sydney and to rural, regional and remote NSW and interstate in Australia.

Desirable:

• Understanding of the challenges faced by women in employment. Understanding of the law and legal processes in areas of work relevant to the work of the Working Women’s Centre (workplace rights, underpaid entitlements, dismissals, discrimination and sexual harassment).
• Understanding of cross-cultural issues faced by women including domestic and family violence and sexual violence and abuse.
• Experience organising and promoting events to further strategic advocacy aims, engaging key stakeholders.

Additional Criteria for Senior Officer:

• Extensive experience in designing strategic systemic advocacy campaigns and implementing complex and effective law and policy reform initiatives.
• Demonstrated ability in managing projects and volunteers / students to undertake advocacy activities
• Capacity to undertake a mentoring role and supervision of less experienced staff.

A Position Description and Guide for Applicants is attached.

Selection criteria are in the position description and must be addressed for your application to be considered.