Employment Opportunity

Implementation Officer

Ungani  Project Co- existence

There is currently a 12 month position available for an Implementation Officer in Broome or Derby, to work with KRED Enterprises, Walalakoo Aboriginal Corporation and the Karajarri Yanja Native Title Claim Group. 

The successful applicant will represent the interests of Native Title Groups in relation to the implementation of the Ungani Project Co-Existence Agreement. 

The position has a salary range negotiated on experience, with 9.5% superannuation & additional salary allowances including district allowance, annual airfare where applicable, air-conditioning subsidy, rental assistance where applicable, salary sacrificing options and 5 weeks annual leave. Indigenous applicants encouraged to apply.

For a full job description contact Divina D’Anna on (08) 91 92 8782 or 

divina@kred.org.au.

12 month contract

Street-KRED at the NatIonal Native Title Conference

KRED's team is fresh off the plane from the National Native Title Conference in Port Douglas, QLD. While the photos hint at a week of lounging by an aquamarine swimming pool, we were, in fact, working the floor hard—networking, showcasing KRED Legal, and presenting on benchmark agreement making in the Kimberley. 

Our KRED Legal Directors Wayne Bergmann, Zoe Ramsay and Rob Houston ran a session outlining the principles that underpin KRED Legal and emphasising that in all agreements negotiated for Traditional Owners, we strive to minimise negative impacts, maximise benefits, and do this in a culturally appropriate way.  

KRED Legal’s strengths lie in landmark native title agreements negotiated by our lawyers, our group’s international recognition by the United Nations and  success in facilitating independent Aboriginal economic development.

In the preparation stage of negotiating agreements, where the work relates to a commercial proponent or mining company, KRED Legal aims to secure funding for its services and engagement with Traditional Owners through a resourcing protocol. But often there are other costs to agreements, emotional, cultural and social costs, and long negotiation or litigation can sometimes cause ‘negotiating fatigue’. We act on the instruction of Traditional Owners to mitigate any negative impacts as best we can.

Before embarking on a negotiation, we also take into consideration possible consequences, asking the questions: What are the likely outcomes for a chosen approach? What are the alternatives? What are the possible consequences if a deal is not done? What consequences can you support or sustain?

KRED Legal Director, Zoe Ramsay, says that when it comes to the process and the outcomes of agreements, the KRED Legal team is working hard to raise the bar.

“We take a wholistic approach to putting Traditional Owners in the strongest position possible to have a say over development. We ensure all opportunities for legal pressure are taken up and procedural rights prosecuted in line with an overarching strategy. We use opportunities for political engagement and public pressure—through political meetings or press releases where appropriate, to get the best deal for our clients. If the opposite party has a social license to operate, this is something to be celebrated. If not, they should be kept accountable and rectify the situation” Ms Ramsay says. 

There are minimum standards we negotiate to have included in our agreements, including, ‘no means no’ when it comes to protecting heritage, clear Indigenous employment targets and business development support, fair royalties and milestone payments and environmental provisions that go above and beyond the minimum protection afforded by state and national legislation.  KRED Legal hopes to take the Kimberley benchmarks outside the Kimberley and see institute them instituted nationally.

Ms Ramsay says as part of the commercial term of agreements, allowances need to be made for negotiation, implementation and additional administrative expenses.

“These are not benefits. They should be seen by the opposite party as the cost of doing business on Traditional Lands” Ms Ramsay says. 

So the wrap? If you want to do business in the Kimberley, then you need to sign a really strong agreement with Traditional Owners. And if you want to be represented by KRED Legal, be aware, that according to one audience member, Gregory McIntyre QC, “ . . . Bergmann and crew have street-KRED on commercial agreements for Indigenous groups.”

We’ll take that!

Expressions of interest for cultural awareness facilitators

Are you a Kimberley Traditional Owner who's interested in presenting cultural awareness training? Do you already run cultural awareness packages and would you like us to handball you some extra business? We're in the process of developing a database of cultural awareness facilitators. If you'd like your name included, please send an expression of interest through to madelaine@kred.org.au.

Hot in the pursuit of social justice

Scott Wilson’s redefining the status quo.

Gooniyandi on his mum’s side and Gadjerong on his dad’s side, he’s a deep thinker who's driven by a desire for social justice.  

When he was still at school, he travelled to Papua New Guinea, Vietnam and Cambodia to help other school students. He was a Nulsen Youth Patron and worked to create awareness about people with disabilities. He used to tutor kids with ADHD. 

Then he started uni and took a breather, a sideways step from the tools, from the hands-on social work. His interest in people and in making a social difference didn’t wane—he just started looking at things a different way. In his Bachelor of Arts degree at the University of Western Australia he discovered anthropology. 

“I’d always enjoyed working with people, wondering why we are the way we are. I realised anthropology is connected to everything in the humanities and beyond. It’s connected to economics and modes of production, it’s linked into every kind of study—even engineering.” 

Now, while he puts the finishing touches on his undergraduate degree, he’s wondering whether to pursue this interest by taking on a Masters in Heritage Studies or Honours in Anthropology.

Either way, he’s committed to locking in the hubs for another few years of study and feels that this way he’ll be in a better position to make positive big-picture social changes.

It hasn’t been an easy journey—Scott says many Aboriginal kids are dogged by low expectations. 

“University is not something that’s usually advertised as a path for us. Schools often set us on a pre-determined path, and university isn’t at the end. We need to break out of this system. You don’t need to do great at school to get started - you have to get started to be great! We put it on ourselves that we’re not good enough. But we are,” Scott says.  

Studying in Perth, so far from home, Country and culture, certainly comes with its own challenges. 

“You have to be strong, not to forget home, or culture, or language, or who you are as an Aboriginal person. Although you have to sacrifice a lot to study, you’ll be better off in the long run. I’m hoping to take all I’ve learnt in Perth and at uni and to integrate it with my own cultural values and traditional knowledge. This is my country and now I have the tools to protect it. We should be able to live on our country without being oppressed by inequality,” Scott says.

KRED Enterprises is proud to award Scott a Nipper Tabagee Scholarships to assist him with his university studies. We believe it’s crucial to support the educational endeavours of our young people—especially when they’re young people like Scott, hot in pursuit of social justice. Our next round of Nipper Tabagee Scholarships will open on the 1st July. Head to www.kred.org.au/scholarships in August and apply online. We hope to hear from you then! Thanks from the KRED team.

KRED Enterprises awards scholarship to budding Broome star

Cheyenne Carter is hooked on a book about gangs, switchblades, & class-driven brawls. S.E Hinton’s 1967 classic novel The Outsiders is on the year 9 curriculum at Iona Presentation College and it also happens to be Cheyenne’s favourite. “It’s teaching me you can’t judge a book by its cover, there’s always a lot more to the story in terms of people,” she says. 

There’s definitely more to the story with Cheyenne—although it’s only her first year studying in Perth, she’s no ordinary Broome boarder. Cheyenne has a passion for the performing arts and a keen desire to improve and excel.  

Last year, she starred in a short film Maap Mordak. She plays an Aboriginal girl who’s teased at school for not being black enough, for being fair-skinned. Every night, she goes home crying to her nanna and her deceased grandfather. The film offers an unexpected and cutting twist at the end.

“It’s not a comedy, it’s quite powerful and sad,” she says. “From doing this project, I  think I want to go into film, I want to try and focus on that area. I really liked it and thought it was really fun.”

She’s further sharpening up her acting skills by studying drama at school. Last term, the focus was mime, and she picked Charlie Chaplin’s ‘The Adventurer’ to analyse in detail. Chaplin plays an escaped convict—he saves a drowning woman and dodges the woman’s husband, who’s eager to see him seized by police. It was described in the New York Times in 1920 as, ‘ . . . some of Chaplin’s most irresistible pantomime.’ Cheyenne used this piece to learn from and inform her own mime.

Performance aside, Cheyenne has found that the shift from Broome to Iona has meant a whole heap of new experiences: sporting, social and academic. She’s had the chance to hang out with girls from all different years at high school, got to play water polo and tennis, and has been taking on extra tutoring support so she can keep on top of all her subjects. 

KRED Enterprises was proud to offer Cheyenne a Nipper Tabagee Scholarship to assist with this transition.

“Having a scholarship has really helped me because the costs are huge. There’s the airfares, school fees, uniforms . . .” she says.

We offer one-off scholarships of up to $2000 to assist our people to pursue their artistic, sporting or educational endeavours. The scholarships are named after Nipper Tabagee, a senior and respected man who worked tirelessly during his life to encourage Aboriginal people to work together to achieve justice on land issues. He was an inspiration to many young people. 

For anyone hoping to apply for a scholarship, Cheyenne has the following advice, “Make sure you’re organised and go for it! I’ve already had so many opportunities since the move.”

So what next then, for Cheyenne?  After she gets through this first chilly winter in Perth, and then the next four years of classes, she has her sights set on Paris.

“I would love to see the Eiffel Tower and the galleries, it’s been my dream since I was a little kid!”

If you have a dream but need one-off financial assistance to help you realise it, follow the links to the ‘Scholarships’ page on this website where you can apply online. Our next round of scholarships closes on the 31ST of May. Due to an overwhelming number of applications, we give preference to people from the native title groups that are members of the Ambooriny Burru Foundation (which owns KRED Enterprises). These groups are: Ngurrara, Bardi Jawi, Nyikina Mangala, Jaru, Yi-martuwarra Ngurrara, Koongie Elvire, Tjurabalan and Karajarri. We hope to hear from you!