As a Bushfire Mitigation Officer - First Nations, you will be responsible for undertaking bushfire mitigation planning, implementation and evaluation across the District, with a focus on enhancing bushfire hazard mitigation culture and traditional burning support to Traditional Owners, their communities and stakeholders. You will enable use of fire in the landscape; support fire management groups, Volunteer Community Educators, Fire Wardens, brigades, and rangers; and coordinate community education and engagement.

Reporting to the Manager Bushfire Mitigation, the role works closely with Traditional Owners and their communities, as well as other Area and District stakeholder, including external agencies, to develop sustainable partnerships between Community stakeholders.
Identified position

This is an identified position. Under section 25 of the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 (Qld), it is a genuine occupational requirement for the incumbent to be an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person. This recruitment process is only open to applicants who identify as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, people without this attribute will not be considered.

An Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person is one who identifies as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander person and either:

• is of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander descent; or
• is accepted as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander by the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community in which they live.

Mandatory requirements

• All persons applying will be required to provide a letter of provenance to confirm you are of Aboriginality/ or Torres Strait Islander descent.
• Must meet the mandatory requirements and attributes as outlined in the generic RFSQ Rural Officer Two (RFSO2) role description.

Highly desirable requirements

• Knowledge of, or experience working with volunteers and/or within a volunteer organisation.

Primary duties

In addition to the generic RFSO2 role description, the primary duties of the Bushfire Mitigation Officer - First Nations include but are not limited to:

• Utilise Indigenous traditional fire management and/or traditional burning practices to enhance Indigenous governance systems for fire and biodiversity.
• Lead community education in bushfire prevention and preparedness, including collaboration with brigade initiatives and community events, ensuring activities are tailored to Community needs.
• Lead the development, implementation and evaluation of initiatives and partnerships to support Indigenous communities and groups to develop, enhance, maintain, and apply cultural fire knowledge and practices.
• Support the coordination and delivery of bushfire mitigation activities by Traditional Owners, rangers, brigades and partners across the District.
• Support the Manager Bushfire Mitigation in the development of plans and strategies to reduce bushfire risk across the District, with a particular focus on risk in First Nations country. This will include undertaking local risk assessments, and supporting the development and implementation of bushfire risk mitigation plans for Indigenous communities.
• Undertake the role of Fire Warden for an Area/s or District (where vacancies exist and after appropriate training).
• Support the Manager Bushfire Mitigation to manage the Fire Warden network and Permit to Light Fire system across the District, including advice to landowners in relation to legislation affecting vegetation management and education on permit breaches.
• Assist the Manager Bushfire Regulatory Compliance with conducting of fire investigations and issuing enforcement notices for unplanned burns; lead the identification of patterns of non-compliance and suspicious fire activities; and assist with the management of Community complaints in the District.
• Assist and manage the culturally appropriate collection of data on environmental conditions and mitigation activities to support bushfire risk analysis, including leading the completion of fuel hazard assessments in the District.

Support Locality Specific and Area Fire Management Group meetings and other relevant bushfire committees or working groups, as required.

Additional information

• Be able to meet the attributes of the generic RFSO2 role description.
• Rural Officer One (RFSO1) or applicants with equivalent industry experience, appropriate skills, and knowledge, are encouraged to apply.
• Knowledge and/or experience in the development and/or delivery of programs, projects and services that impact on First Nations Peoples and/or liaising directly with First Nations Peoples and communities.
• You will be required to travel and work within the area of responsibility and may also be required to undertake intrastate and interstate travel.
• Applicants will have five weeks leave a year, there is a range of special leave so the employee can attend cultural activities and attend to family related matters.
• Officers appointed to this position will participate in a personal professional development program in conjunction with their supervisor.
• The person will spend a large amount of their time working on country and with people who wish to learn about the land and how to use fire wisely.
• We are looking for someone who has a proven commitment to maintaining skills, connection with the land and can work in a team environment.

This Role Specification Statement (RSS) is linked to the generic role description, that provides the key accountabilities' and capabilities' to be addressed by the applicant. Applicants are strongly encouraged to review this RSS in conjunction with the role description and consider the requirements when preparing their application.This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia License.