Office of Cate Faehrmann MLC – Parliament of NSW

POSITION DESCRIPTION

POSITION DETAILS

About the role 

NSW Greens MP Cate Faehrmann is looking for expressions of interest to join her small and agile team. You will be someone who is passionate about the environment and has experience working across a broad range of environmental issues in NSW, either in a paid or voluntary capacity. A combination of policy knowledge, with campaigning and advocacy experience, will be strongly considered.

This is not your ordinary job. You’ll play a critical role in responding to the many local and statewide environmental issues raised by constituents and will support the campaigning efforts of key stakeholders including environmental NGOs, Greens members and local groups and other organisations and activists across NSW. You’ll also be across policy developments to ensure Cate’s office continues to be a leader in this space and identify key emerging environmental themes and challenges. You’ll do all of this by ensuring ongoing communication with key stakeholders; organising events, including online and on the ground meetings and forums; drafting correspondence, speeches, policy briefs, media releases and articles, campaign materials and more. 

The successful applicant will be a highly organised individual with strong research and policy development skills; an excellent understanding of NSW environmental issues; experience in digital campaigning and strong interpersonal and networking skills. Being based in, or experienced in, working or volunteering on environmental issues in regional, rural or remote NSW will be an advantage.

About Cate 

Cate lives and works on stolen Aboriginal land. She acknowledges that sovereignty was never ceded and understands that there can be no environmental justice without justice for First Nations people.

Cate campaigns across a number of vital portfolios. Care and compassion is at the heart of everything she does as an unapologetic environmental activist, fierce feminist, wildlife warrior and advocate for social and economic justice. 

Cate is the NSW Greens spokesperson for the Environment, Oceans and Marine Life, Drug Law Reform & Harm Reduction, Rivers & Water Sustainability, Health, Mental Health & Wellbeing, Arts & the Creative Industries, Music & the Night-time Economy, Active Transport, and Hospitality, Liquor & Gambling.

Core responsibilities

• Environmental Policy and Campaigns. You will ensure Cate and her team are across current environmental policy and political issues and help coordinate our public response; you will be the key contact for environmental stakeholders and constituents and will be responsible for ensuring their queries and concerns are responded to in a timely and professional manner; you will be familiar with Greens policy and will work with other members, including Greens Working Groups, to identify any gaps and ensure it is up to date
• Parliamentary Business. You will be required to assist Cate with parliamentary activities including undertaking research, writing speeches, briefs and identifying amendments to relevant government (and private members) legislation and motions. You will also assist Cate in her extensive committee work including as Chair of the Portfolio Committee 7, Planning & Environment Committee and for Budget Estimates
• Community organising. This will include coordinating the efforts of relevant stakeholders in environmental NGOs, Greens local groups and individuals to maximise their political power and amplify their voice. Additionally, it may include ensuring local communities have the necessary skills and resources to campaign at the local level.
• Project Management. You’ll efficiently execute key environmental campaigns, jointly developed with Cate and the team. This will include ensuring key milestones are met by mobilising sufficient resources, including financial, personnel and via community engagement and identifying community campaigns which Cate should be a part of.
• Office Duties as required.
  
  

Selection criteria

• Commitment to Greens’ policies and values. You care about ecological sustainability, social and economic justice, peace, non-violence and disarmament, and grassroots democracy.
• Excellent policy development and research skills. You will need to demonstrate an excellent understanding of environmental policy in NSW, the ability to comprehend and distill complicated information, and an interest in the legislative process to achieve outcomes for the environment
  
• Project management skills. You will be responsible for planning, overseeing and leading projects, working closely with Cate and her team at each stage. You will also need to be comfortable managing several moving project parts simultaneously while working towards tight deadlines.
• Campaign experience. You have experience applying best practice field and/or digital campaigning tactics, preferably in the context of an environmental NGO or political campaigning capacity. 
• Strong relationship skills. The role requires interaction with a range of internal and external stakeholders and as such you will need to be able to quickly build and maintain relationships of trust with people from a diverse range of professions and backgrounds.
• Working independently and collaboratively You have the ability or potential to work within and across teams, and autonomously with minimal direction to manage priorities and achieve our agreed upon outcomes.
• Excellent communication skills. You are a strong communicator and can write simply and powerfully in a way that inspires people to take action.
  
  
• Experience using Nation Builder or similar, InDesign and the Creative Cloud suite, and web content creation would be looked upon favourably but is not a requirement.

Note: your application may still be considered even if you can’t respond to one or two of the selection criteria. What’s most important is your passion, ability and eagerness to learn and your commitment to building a better future.

How to submit an expression of interest

For all enquiries, please Ben Cronly via email at [email protected] or on 0487 247 960, Mon-Fri during business hours. 

To apply, please email a resume and cover letter outlining your relevant experience and responses to the selection criteria to [email protected] and [email protected] with the subject line: EOI: Environmental Policy and Advocacy Officer. Applications should try to address the selection criteria. Please attempt to submit your cover letter and CV in the same file, saved as a PDF, and the name of the file as the applicant’s name and role. 

We will read every expression of interest and if you are successful we will contact you to arrange an interview. Please be honest and thoughtful in your answers, and detail why you would be particularly well suited to the role, clearly addressing each one of the selection criteria with examples and successes from your experience. Please limit your cover letter to no more than 3 pages. 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are strongly encouraged to submit an expression of interest. 

Cate is an equal opportunity employer. If you are interested and qualified you are strongly encouraged to put in an expression of interest – you won’t be discriminated against on the basis of age, race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or disability.