Indigenous Staff Network
Indigenous staff members packing hampers to assist families in crisis in the inner city community.
The UTS Indigenous Staff Network coordinates this appeal with donations received from all over the university. Hampers were donated to the Mudgin-gal Women's Centre in Redfern to support families in crisis, and toys were given to children at the Wunanbiri Pre-school at Alexandria Park Community School. UTS have a Memorandum of Understanding with the Community School. Many thanks to all who contributed to generously!
The Indigenous Staff Network has been established to support and assist in the retention of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander staff employed under the Wingara Indigenous Employment and Professional Development Strategy 2003-2006, UTS's major indigenous employment initiative.
Indigenous Australians remain the most disadvantaged group in Australia across every social indicator and their unemployment rate in NSW is 23% compared to 7% of the total NSW population.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up approximately 1.4% of staff at UTS. To achieve proportionate employment, the number of Indigenous Australian staff would need to almost double. The NSW Government has set a target of 2% employment for Indigenous people in the NSW public sector.
Indigenous Australian staff are not evenly represented across UTS. They are concentrated in areas that provide Indigenous services or programs, such as Jumbunna, Indigenous House of Learning and the Faculty of Education which together employ over half of all Indigenous staff.
The aim of the Indigenous Staff Network is to support and assist in the retention of Indigenous Australian staff by:
- providing support to all Indigenous Australian staff located throughout the University
- supporting individual career aspirations
- providing a safe and culturally sensitive environment in which members are able to come together for discussions and sharing of knowledge, projects etc
- initiating group activities which support their mental, emotional and physical well-being.
- providing opportunities for members to take part in group professional development activities
For further information about the Indigenous Staff Network, contact the Equity & Diversity Unit.
