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Specialist Independent Director

Closing date: 11pm, 31 July 2025

Australian Eastern Standard Time (AEST)

Term: Non-ongoing/contract

Contract terms

Casual

Location: Cairns, North Queensland / Remote

Queensland

Job category: Director

Salary and conditions

$81.00 hourly

Other

Hourly rate paid per sitting. Travel and accommodation provided.

Waanyi Native Title Aboriginal Corporation

Waanyi Native Title Aboriginal Corporation (Waanyi PBC) is a Traditional Owner organisation representing the Waanyi people of north west Queensland, recognising their native title rights and interests.

The Waanyi PBC’s purpose is to provide a sustainable future for Waanyi people by prioritising improvements to the lifestyle and welfare of Waanyi people. On the ground this looks like caring for country, establishing commercial activities and local business, building training and employment opportunities for Waanyi people, protecting and growing funds for the future, and preserving and protecting cultural heritage of Waanyi, including culturally aligned education.

The corporation has approximately 585 members and a management structure of four (4) employees. The Waanyi PBC financial reports for the FY 2024-25 year show $5M in income and $3M in assets.

Over the past 12 months, the Waanyi PBC has taken significant steps to strengthen internal systems and governance and embed community priorities into everyday decision-making. These changes have laid a solid foundation for future growth and proudly, the Board, Staff, Elders and community members have led this work. Driven by values and unity, the Waanyi PBC has a clear pathway to future success and the confidence to move forward with integrity, stability and ambition.

Job description/overview

Board Appointment

To support ongoing strong governance, accountability and leadership, the Waanyi PBC is seeking a Specialist Independent Director (SID) to join the Board.

This is an opportunity to contribute to strategic oversight and governance of the Waanyi PBC and help to shape and guide the corporation’s achievement of goals. The current board is a skills-based board with capable member-directors with some business experience, and a principal function of community representation. As such, the unique role aspects of the non-member SIDs are to contribute expertise and balance to board thinking and discussions and help mitigate risks in executive authority. The board holds two SID positions, with one currently being available.

Ideally a SID brings board experience and capability to the organisation by:

Providing broad business advice and external insights to complement internal perspectives.
Forming independent opinions on strategy, performance and accountability.
Monitoring for and responding to conflicts of interest in board decisions and executive conduct.
Evaluating performance and remuneration of executive leadership more objectively.
Creating comfort that management oversight mechanisms in risk and governance function credibly.
Demonstrating competence, availability and commitment to the role.

Candidate Requirements

The successful candidate holds experience, insight and objectivity to enhance the board and can build a reputation as a trusted advisor from:

Prior board experience with a minimum of 3 years as a director of a Corporations (Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act) or Corporations Act 2001 (Corporations Act) entity.
Expertise, experience and/or interest in Aboriginal matters and communities and an appreciation of cultural context.
A background in finance, legal or business management relevant to the corporation.
Demonstrated preparedness to question, critique, challenge, understand and commit to the highest standards of governance, with a temperament and communication style to engage constructively.
Demonstrated strong understanding of the role of the board and the executive in the strategic and commercial oversight of an organisation.
An ability to work effectively and respectfully with others.
Completion of, or a commitment to complete core governance education with the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD), the Essential Governance Curriculum or similar.
No commitments that would conflict with the commitments of a director of the corporation, and a track record of displaying ethics, accountability and fiduciary responsibility.

Selection and minimum necessary requirements

In selecting the candidate with the right mix of skills and expertise to join the Waanyi PBC board, applications will be assessed for their suitability and capability against the candidate requirements.

Probity checks are also part of this process. As a minimum, applicants must be willing to:

Provide a Director Identification Number
Undertake or provide a current a police check
Apply for and/or hold a current working with children, Blue Card
Sign a confidentiality agreement

Commitment

A key factor guiding the Waanyi PBC in this appointment is that the successful person has sufficient capacity and willingness to dedicate time to the corporation amid other commitments.

The appointment will be for a 2-year term.

You will be asked to commit approximately 12-15 days per year, which includes participation in the Board meetings, community meetings and strategic planning sessions. Meetings are held in a mix of in-person meetings (3x per year, held in Waanyi communities) and online formats, with travel arranged and funded.