Indigenous Employee Network

The Indigenous Employee Network (IEN) was formed in November 2016 and membership has grown to over 50 members. An annual IEN forum is hosted in Brisbane each year and allows members to discuss issues of significance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees within the department and the broader community. The collective knowledge and experience of this group is invaluable and advises us on our cultural priorities.

The IEN is continuing to engage with us to work towards positive outcomes and ensure we have a diverse and inclusive workforce.

2019 TMR Indigenous Employee Network Forum (IEN). Group photograph — 2019 TMR IEN group

TMR Indigenous Employee Network Forum (IEN). Frank Waria. — Frank Waria speaking at the 2016 TMR IEN Forum

People sitting at a table — 2017 IEN forum

Frank Waria—HR Advisor (TMR), discussing cultural capability at TMR over the years

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Video transcript

My name is Frank Waria. I'm in HR in Corporate and I work in a group called the Employment Engagement Team and I come under the Employee Experience Team as well.

[How long have you been working for TMR?]

2008, so that's nearly 12-13 years.

[What projects have you worked on?]

Well I've worked on quite a few projects and they all relate to the Indigenous side of things. So I had a lot to do with the first wrap which is the Reconciliation Action Plan, and I had a fair bit to do with the artwork that comes with that, and that's called 'Travelling'. At the moment I do a lot of Indigenous traineeship programs.

[What has been your proudest moment while working for TMR?]

That one would be being involved with Translink and being a part of the NGR trains, we worked with them to do the Indigenous artwork wrap on it - I think there's about five or seven trains with the artwork on it, and that was all part of the launch of the new trains but also the launch of Commonwealth Games

[How does TMR currently support its First Nation employees?]

Well at the moment we've established a working group which is called the IEN, which is the Indigenous Employee Network. So that is the centre piece for our Indigenous staff, so everything goes through there when it comes to support for the Indigenous staff.

So at the moment it's currently about 50-plus Indigenous staff that have identified as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. And we have a few non-Indigenous staff in there as well, they tend to be managers of Indigenous staff, so they've got quite a vested interest in the Indigenous space. It started off probably about 2012 I think, and it started off with about five members and then it just built as we promoted the group and promoted some of the stuff that we were doing in that group.

[What changes have you seen over your time working for TMR in how it supports our First nations Employees?]

One of the big changes I've seen in staff is generally the acceptance and the wanting to do things right. I get quite a number of calls throughout the year from staff who want to do something as simple as doing an Acknowledgement in a meeting or a forum or something, and they'll ask me, you know, "What's the correct way, I want to make sure I do it right?" you know "What's the generic version of something, and what's the more specific version of doing things like that?". It it's just been the awareness that has come up and people have really gotten on board with the whole reconciliation process.

[Where do you see TMR's relationship with First Nations Peoples going in the future?"]

Yeah it can only improve, as long as we're obviously all on the same footpath or heading in the same direction.