Page 27 - Australian Defence Magazine Dec-Jan 2023

DECEMBER 2022-JANUARY 2023 | WWW.AUSTRALIANDEFENCE.COM.AU
DEFENCE BUSINESS
INDIGENOUS RECRUITING 27
TODAY, Indigenous Australians make up 3.7 per cent of cur- rently serving Australian Defence Force (ADF) members, but there is a goal to increase that number to 5 per cent by 2025.
To achieve this, Defence has established a number of programs which support Indigenous people on their jour- neys into service, while maintaining and strengthening their connection to culture.
Warrant Officer Class Two (WO2) Dion Eivers, a Team Leader of Specialist Recruiting Team Indigenous within Defence Force Recruiting, spoke at ADM’s Defence Skill- ing Summit in November about the approach taken when engaging an Indigenous community for po-
tential recruits.
“When we go out into Country, we’ll gener-
ally do an Acknowledgement,” he explained. “We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we’ve gathered, pay our respects to elders both past and present, and the contri- bution of the role that they have not only with- in their community but within Defence itself.”
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peo- ples comprise hundreds of groups that have their own distinct set of languages, histories and cultural traditions – and this diversity is an important consideration for WO2 Eivers out into Country.
OPPOSITE PAGE:
An Indigenous
Liaison Officer
at Morialta Falls, South Australia, during the creation of the RAAF Base Edinburgh ‘Welcome to Country’ production
LEFT: Personnel from Arnhem Squadron, NORFORCE parade at Raymangirr in East Arnhem Land, to commemorate the 80th anniversary of the makarrata and the forming of the NTSRU in 1942
couldn’t answer it straight away. But over the years of being in Defence, I’ve finally come to realise that it was a sense of be- longing, a sense of looking after Country and looking after cul- ture. And that’s what’s deeply embedded in most of our Indige- nous recruits that we go for, across Army, Navy and Air Force.”
PATHWAYS TO CLOSING THE GAP
Defence has established various recruitment and training programs to increase Indigenous participation in the ADF to five per cent full-time Indigenous members by 2025.
In a large part, these seek to address the disadvantages faced by young Indigenous people which often create barriers to their meeting stan- dards for entry into the ADF, such as insuf-
“TODAY, INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS MAKE UP 3.7 PER CENT OF CURRENTLY SERVING AUSTRALIAN DEFENCE FORCE (ADF) MEMBERS”
ficient schooling or fitness.
“Most of the areas that I’ve worked in are
very remote and have very limited, say, medical education, services, not like what we’re all used to in the major metro areas,” WO2 Eivers said. “Their schools only go to Year 7, and if the kids want to then progress through and do the rest of their education, they’ve got to go to boarding school. So that’s the massive sort of pressure that’s put onto them from a young age.
“I’ll do a bit of detailed research about the people I’m going to talk to, because each area is a little bit different than the other. So down here in Tasmania, it’s completely different to the way we do it up in the North, and that’s completely different to the way we do it over in the West. Being abe to identify who’s who, really can help you within your recruitment process.
“When I first got asked the question of ‘why did I join De- fence?’, ‘why did I want to be part of the Defence family?’, I
when he goes
“From the age of Year 7 to Year 12 – being away from cul- ture, being away from family, and being in a remote area where they’ve never been before – it doesn’t really give them a good, steady stepping off point for them to succeed.”
One of the first pathways to evolve out of the Defence Reconciliation Action Plan (D-RAP) was the Indigenous Pre-Recruitment course. Still in place today, the course was designed to develop confidence, resilience, and fitness.
“Out of that Indigenous Pre-Recruitment Course was what grew into our next few programs,” WO2 Eivers said. “Out of our three services, we now have pathways for Army
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