The Western Australian university has established an allowance that provides up to a $8,944 per year to Indigenous employees who are contributing cultural knowledge and perspectives beyond the scope of their role. Binjareb woman and Pro Vice Chancellor of First Nations Chanelle van den Berg at the University says that the Indigenous staff are often having to go above and beyond in their roles within the workplace.
Cultural load is the additional workload borne by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the workplace, where they are either the only Indigenous person or one of a small number of Indigenous people. It can look like being asked to contribute or take lead on work relating to workplace NAIDOC or Reconciliation Week events, being asked for input on workplace policy that relate to Indigenous staff, to even those ad hoc questions about mob asked in the workplace.