Employment services

The helpdesk is open on 9am-5pm AEDT Monday to Friday for the duration of the application period of each grant round, except for: 

• The last 5 working days before the application period ends, and
• National public holidays.

Please note, the helpdesk opening hours may be different in your local time zone: 

• 9am-5pm AEDT
• 6am- 2pm AWST
• 7:30am-3:30pm ACST
• 8am- 4pm AEST

The helpdesk will respond to emails and phone calls from grant applicants while the grant is open and up to 5 working days before the grant round closes. The helpdesk will: 

• Provide a follow-up service for more complex enquires to ensure correct information is provided
• Direct applicants to information that is outside of scope for the helpdesk for example fair work for awards and minimum wage information such as calculators or websites.
• Provide clarifying advice on the Grant Opportunity Guidelines.

The helpdesk will not:

• Review applications
• Calculate budgets
• Advise applicants on what specifically they should write
• Assist with grant writing.

The NIAA is collecting the following personal information from you. 

• If you call our Helpdesk – your phone number if you are requesting a callback or follow-up phone call and an audio recording of the conversation
• If you email RAEShelpdesk@niaa.gov.au  – your email address (this may also include your name, phone number and employer if you use your work email)

The NIAA is collecting this information:

• to assist with your query on the Remote Australia Employment Service grant opportunity;
• to maintain call logs that will be used for internal reporting purposes;
• to manage and respond to complaints in relation to the RAES grant opportunity; and
• for record-keeping and auditing purposes.

We do not need your personal information (such as your name) to assist with your query. We also do not need your phone number (unless you are requesting a callback or follow-up phone call) and you may call using a private number. If you choose to provide your personal information, then the NIAA will collect this information from you.

The NIAA may disclose your personal information to the Commonwealth Ombudsman to manage a complaint. The NIAA may also disclose deidentified information to the Australian National Audit Office, the Australian Parliament or a parliamentary committee. 

If you do not provide:

• your phone number to receive a callback or follow-up phone call; or
• a valid email

the NIAA will be unable to contact you about your query. 

All phone calls are recorded for record-keeping and auditing purposes. We are required to retain them (as Commonwealth records) for 7 years to meet our record-keeping obligations. 

The NIAA’s Privacy Policy at www.niaa.gov.au/privacy-policy explains how the NIAA handles your personal information, how you can request access to or correct the personal information the NIAA holds about you, who to contact if you have a privacy complaint and how the NIAA handles such complaints. 

To find out more about how we manage personal information you can contact:

Post:
The Privacy Officer
National Indigenous Australians Agency
PO Box 2191
CANBERRA ACT 2600

Phone: 02 6152 3080
Email: privacy@niaa.gov.au

Grant writing support has been included for the RAES grant round to support eligible organisations with their applications.

To be eligible for this support, applicants must meet the criteria below:

• be eligible to receive funding for RAES as outlined in section 4: Eligibility Criteria; and
• employ up to 50 employees.

If you would like to access grant writing support, please complete the EOI form and send to RAESHelpdesk@niaa.gov.au.

For any questions, please call the RAES helpdesk on 1800 939 500.

To note:

• Organisations selected to provide support to eligible RAES applicants can help with the grant application process but can’t prepare the application on an organisation’s behalf.
• Applicants can nominate a preferred provider, however NIAA will allocate work taking into account a variety of factors, and an applicant’s preference may not always be able to be supported.
• Support is capped at 15 hours, unless agreed in writing by NIAA.
• The NIAA does not provide financial or legal advice to applicants or grantees, including as part of these grant writing support services. Applicants or grantees should seek their own independent professional advice on financial and legal matters, including compliance with any legal obligations.
• Participation in the grant writing support does not automatically guarantee an approved application. All applications will be assessed on merit against all RAES applications for the same region.