Committees Coordinator - Brisbane / Melbourne / Canberra

The Role

The Committees Coordinator provides high-quality secretariat, policy support and coordination services, including the councils and collaborative networks, and the Members Policy Subcommittee. The role is responsible for the efficient and professional operation of these bodies, including scheduling and logistics, agenda preparation, report and paper writing, minute taking, action tracking, and member communications.

The role works under the leadership of the Director, Policy and sits at the interface between Gayaa Dhuwi’s policy work and its consultation processes with members and community. The Committees Coordinator is expected to understand the policy content of the committees they support, produce substantive policy reports and papers, and ensure that committee outputs are captured and fed back into the organisation’s policy work effectively.

This role requires excellent time management and project planning skills, because the Committees Coordinator is managing multiple committee cycles simultaneously. Each with their own schedules, agendas, membership lists, papers and action registers. The successful candidate will be methodical, proactive, and able to hold complex logistical detail without losing sight of the policy purpose of the work.

Key Responsibilities

• Coordinate all secretariat functions for Gayaa Dhuwi’s councils and collaborative networks and Members Policy Subcommittee, including scheduling, logistics, venue or virtual platform management, and member communications.
• Prepare agendas, meeting papers and background materials for all committee meetings in consultation with the Director, Policy and relevant policy staff.
• Record accurate and timely minutes for all committee meetings, and maintain action registers that are tracked through to completion.
• Manage member sitting fees and related committee administration in accordance with organisational processes.
• Maintain committee registers, membership records and documentation in an organised and current state.
• Prepare substantive policy reports and briefing papers for committee meetings, drawing on Gayaa Dhuwi’s policy positions and relevant evidence.
• Synthesise committee discussions and outputs into clear written summaries, reports and recommendations for the Director, Policy and executive leadership team.
• Support the preparation of national roundtables and policy forums, including coordination of papers, speakers and logistics.
• Ensure committee outputs are documented and fed back into the organisation’s policy development processes.
• Develop and maintain a forward schedule of all committee meetings, reporting deadlines and key milestones across the full committee cycle.
• Plan and sequence committee workloads to ensure adequate preparation time for papers, agendas and logistics.
• Monitor committee workplans and flag upcoming deadlines or risks to the Director, Policy in a timely way.
• Undertake other duties as required.

Selection Criteria

1. Demonstrated ability to work respectfully within an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership organisation, including understanding of cultural protocols, self-determination and the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership.
2. Demonstrated experience in committee secretariat or coordination, including scheduling, agenda preparation, minute taking, action tracking and member communications across multiple concurrent committees.
3. Demonstrated experience preparing policy reports, briefing papers or meeting summaries that synthesise complex information into clear, well-structured written products for a member or senior audience.
4. Demonstrated time management and project planning skills, including the ability to develop and maintain forward schedules, plan workloads across multiple concurrent deadlines, and flag risks proactively.
5. Demonstrated written communication skills and the ability to produce accurate, professional written materials across a range of committee and policy formats.

This Position is open to Brisbane, Melbourne and Canberra based applicants.

About Gayaa Dhuwi

Gayaa Dhuwi is the national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and emotional wellbeing, mental health, and suicide prevention. As a members based, community-controlled organisation, we are governed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experts and peak bodies.

Our vision is the highest attainable standard of social and emotional wellbeing, mental health, and suicide prevention outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Our role is to lead and advocate for systemic change that places the voices, strengths, and needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples at the centre of national policies and reforms.

We work in a fast-paced national policy and reform environment where priorities can shift quickly in response to government processes, parliamentary inquiries, sector developments, member priorities, emerging evidence, and national reform opportunities. As a result, our team needs to be made up of individuals who can understand complex policy and service systems, work respectfully within an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership and organisations, and produce high-quality work across social and emotional wellbeing, mental health, and suicide prevention.

Gayaa Dhuwi’s work is long-term with progress often requiring sustained advocacy, careful relationships, strong evidence and the ability to keep work moving over time. People who thrive at Gayaa Dhuwi are steady, thoughtful, organised, respectful, clear in their communication and able to maintain perspective while working on issues that matter deeply to our peoples and communities.

Eligibility

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are encouraged to apply for this opportunity under section 51 of the Equal Opportunity Act 1984.
• Applicants must be an Australian citizen or have permanent residency status pending the granting of Australian citizenship. All successful applicants for the position will be asked to complete pre-engagement checks including national police check and a working with vulnerable people check.

A position description is attached.