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A Western Australian university has become the first to offer Indigenous staff a special allowance for providing cultural knowledge to their non-Indigenous colleagues.
Murdoch University, south of Perth, announced on March 27 that First Nations staff will be able to claim up to $8,944 a year for providing Indigenous knowledge and perspectives outside their assigned role.
The payment, called ‘Cultural Workload Allowance’, is compensation for the additional workload carried out by Indigenous staff.
This may include working on Indigenous initiatives during NAIDOC or Reconciliation Week, or simply being asked about Indigenous culture by a co-worker.
First Nations deputy vice-chancellor Chanelle van den Berg said Murdoch University was proud to be the first to award the grant and hoped it would encourage others to offer it too.
First Nations staff at Murdoch University (pictured), south of Perth, will be able to receive just under $9,000 a year for providing cultural knowledge to non-Indigenous staff.
The university revealed that only First Nations staff doing non-mandatory work with Indigenous issues will be able to apply for the grant.
Vice-Chancellor Professor Andrew Deeks said it is an important step towards recognizing often invisible contributions.
“We recognize that all First Nations employees contribute to the cultural responsibilities within the University, and I value and commend that contribution,” he said in a statement.
“This new assignment simply seeks to formalize that recognition and set a precedent for how cultural loading is considered within the workplace, especially in environments where there are few First Nations employees.”
Ms van den Berg said the university’s First Nations staff are “often sought out for cultural guidance and consultation in the course of their work”.
“It is only right that they be recognized and compensated for the important contribution they make,” he said.
He hopes the grant will spark a movement in which other Australian universities and businesses provide similar funding.
“I think it would be great if all of Australia recognized that Aboriginal people work extra hard because they care about making change,” Ms van den Berg said. NITV.
Payment can be made for participating in Indigenous initiatives such as NAIDOC or reconciliation work, or answering questions about Indigenous culture in the workplace.
It is Murdoch University’s latest step towards becoming the first tertiary education option for First Nations people.
The university recently established a School of Indigenous Knowledge led by Associate Professor Bep Uink along with two new senior positions.
Graduates of the school will “learn how to engage with truth, reconciliation, relationship building and positive contributions within Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities”.
Employees who must use an indigenous language as part of their course are also paid for their level of understanding.
Those who have an elementary level of the language and are able to understand simple communication receive a subsidy of $1,862 per year.
Meanwhile, staff who can speak one of the approximately 150 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages ​​for “the ordinary purposes of general business, conversation, reading and writing” receive $3,727 a year.