First Nations Advisory Unit
Acknowledgement of Traditional Custodians
The Department of Justice and Attorney-General recognises and acknowledges Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of Queensland and as the Traditional Custodians of Queensland’s precious land and waters. We pay our respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise and celebrate the unique and continuing position of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia’s history, culture and future, and acknowledge their ongoing strength, resilience and wisdom. We are working to translate this recognition into fair, safe and inclusive practices, policies and services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
The First Nations Advisory Unit (FNAU) in the Department of Justice and Attorney-General (DJAG) aims to uplift the cultural maturity of our department by strengthening our relationship with First Nations peoples, both in our workforce and for the Queensland community.
In 2023 DJAG established the Path to Treaty Unit, however due to an organisational restructure in 2024 the unit became FNAU. Within the new structure, our unit was reassessed and rebranded to fulfil the new service catalogue for DJAG and its portfolio.
Our priorities
Mother Lore
We commissioned the ‘Mother Lore’ design to ensure our services resonate with First Nations peoples. It is an embodiment of strength, resilience and guardianship and was developed from Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal artworks that resulted from consultation with the First Nations community and DJAG’s First Nations staff members.
Find out more about the Mother Lore design.
Reframing the relationship plan 2024–25
The Reframing the relationship plan 2024–25 (the plan) is our commitment to strengthening our relationship with First Nations peoples. The plan is a cultural architecture framework that weaves self-determining principles into our practice across DJAG’s business areas and portfolio services, seamlessly integrating and building the cultural maturity.
Cultural architecture
The FNAU is responsible for weaving together the First Nations fabric of DJAG through the delivery of First Nations training and cultural immersion opportunities, celebrating First Nations days of significance, and acknowledgment of Traditional Custodians in the work we do.
Fundamental to the cultural architecture is to provide opportunities to our First Nations staff. The Journey Together First Nations Mentoring Program is being piloted in 2024, with a view to embedding it into the professional development opportunities offered by DJAG.
The FNAU also provides a cultural engagement service by being the conduit between Traditional Owner groups across Queensland and DJAG business areas to help these business areas grow their cultural maturity.
Path to Treaty readiness
The Path to Treaty is a shared journey to benefit all Queenslanders. It offers a unique opportunity to build a new relationship with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, sharing in more than 65,000 years of rich history and culture.
Since the announcement of Path to Treaty, DJAG has made representation to the Government Treaty Readiness Committee (GTRC), which consists of members at Deputy Director-General (DDG) level and above. Since July 2023, FNAU has played a support role to the DDG and led DJAG’s Treaty Readiness across the 3 core working groups:
- Administrative Histories
- Administrative Release (Co-Chair)
- Trauma Informed Practice.
Find out more about the Path to Treaty and Queensland’s Path to Treaty, including Queensland’s progress and who’s involved in the process.
Monday 1 July 2024 marked the start of the Truth-telling and Healing Inquiry’s search for truth across Queensland—truth will allow Queenslanders to heal and move forward together, with respect. The Inquiry acts independently and will listen and hear the voices of those who haven’t been heard before in history as the Inquiry searches for and shares Queensland’s history.
With the commencement of the Inquiry, the above working groups have transitioned into a Central Inquiry Response Team headed by the Department of Treaty, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Communities and the Arts. FNAU is the Response Lead for DJAG and will work with various units across DJAG to collate and respond to information requests.
Find out more about the Inquiry, including its members and terms of reference.
First Nations policy and legislation advice
FNAU works with various business areas across DJAG to respond to and inform legislation that is generated through executive services.
Our unit provides a cultural lens service to business areas in the DJAG portfolio when developing policy and practice documents.
We are also developing a range of DJAG First Nations policy documents, such as Acknowledgment of Traditional Custodians, cultural loading and content warnings.
Contact
If you would like to learn more about the work of the First Nations Advisory Unit, you can contact us by email FNAU@justice.qld.gov.au.