The Australian Space Agency is hiring a Senior First Nations Engagement Policy Officer, with only Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders eligible to apply.
The role is open to candidates from across Australia, and apart from Indigeneity, Australian citizenship and a baseline security clearance, no minimum education level or specific qualifications are required.
The job advertisement states that the ideal candidate will have “experience in facilitation, engagement, consultation and or policy development,” and be “opportunistic about systemic change”.
According to the job description, the successful applicant “will have a unique opportunity to work at the inter-section (sic) of First Nations science and space science” and work as part of the Agency’s First Nations Engagement Team.
“The First Nations Engagement Team connects Indigenous perspectives and knowledge into the policy development and decision-making processes of the Agency,” the job ad states.
“Our team also supports the Agency and the broader space sector to embrace cultural intelligence in driving a uniquely Australian approach to space.”
The Australian Space Agency, a specialist division of the Department of Industry, Science and Resources, was launched by Liberal Senator Michaelia Cash in 2018 to develop Australia’s commercial space industry.
It received over $2 billion in funding under the Coalition before Labor cut $77 million, making its budget for 2023 $34.2 million to continue core functions and “enhance space activity regulation”.
The Agency has a logo made up of dots representing “Indigenous constellations” and its website claims that Aboriginals are “essentially the world’s oldest astronomers”.
