Choose Us, We're Different

Our Vision

We envision a future where First Peoples are safe, supported, and thriving in workplaces that respect culture and potential. Our purpose is to dismantle the barriers to long-term employment and replace them with structures of care, opportunity, and cultural strength.

Our Purpose.

To end Indigenous disadvantage by rebuilding the systems around our people through cultural strength, bold leadership, and community-led design.

The Challenge

Despite their resilience and capabilities, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples face significant employment disparities. As of 2021, only 56% of First Nations individuals aged 25–64 were employed, compared to higher rates among non-Indigenous Australians . This gap is even more pronounced among youth; in 2016, the employment rate for First Nations males aged 15–24 was 23% lower than their non-Indigenous counterparts .

Retention remains a pressing issue. In the Australian Public Service, the average tenure for First Nations employees was 4.7 years, compared to 6.2 years for non-Indigenous employees . These statistics highlight systemic barriers that hinder sustained employment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Our Approach

At Buneen Employment, we recognise that addressing these challenges requires more than just placing individuals in jobs. It demands a systemic change that tackles the root causes of employment disparities.

Our focus is on entry-level positions, providing First Peoples with accessible opportunities to enter the workforce. However, we go beyond placement. We implement a systems change model that:

  • Supports Individuals: Offering culturally safe environments, mentorship, and continuous support to ensure job seekers not only gain employment but thrive in their roles.

  • Educates Employers: Working with organisations to build cultural competence, ensuring workplaces are inclusive and supportive of First Nations employees.

  • Challenges Narratives: Actively confronting and changing the negative stereotypes and narratives that have long affected Aboriginal employment opportunities.

By addressing both the individual and systemic factors, we aim to create lasting change that benefits job seekers, employers, and the broader community.

Our Methodology

At Buneen Employment, we believe that real employment outcomes don’t come from filling roles they come from transforming the systems that shape those roles.

That’s why we use the SAFE Method — a culturally grounded framework created by our founder, Shawn Andrews. SAFE stands for:

  • Self — Building personal safety, identity, confidence, and wellbeing.

  • Agency — Supporting individuals to speak up, take action, and lead their journey.

  • Family — Recognising that family, kinship, and intergenerational healing shape long-term success.

  • Community — Strengthening connection to culture, mob, and community support.

  • Organisation — Transforming workplaces to be culturally safe, inclusive, and accountable.

We don’t believe in quick fixes. We create long-term, sustainable pathways by ensuring everyone feels safe — from the jobseeker to the hiring manager.

This method underpins everything we do:
→ How we prepare people for work
→ How we coach employers to retain First Peoples staff
→ How we shift mindsets away from deficit and toward strength

SAFE is more than a model — it’s a movement. It’s how we build a future where First Peoples thrive in workplaces that respect and reflect them

What We Are Building

At Buneen Employment, we’re not just placing people into jobs we’re building a new future for Aboriginal employment.

A future where:

  • First Peoples are supported from their first job interview to their first promotion

  • Workplaces understand what cultural safety really means — and practice it daily

  • Young people in care have clear, supported pathways into meaningful work

  • Employers stop seeing recruitment as a risk, and start seeing it as a relationship

We are building a national employment service designed specifically for entry-level Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander jobseekers, grounded in the lived experience of our community and powered by the SAFE Method.

Here’s what that looks like:

  • A supported jobseeker pipeline from care systems, schools, and communities (Check out our charity Dreaming Futures)

  • Culturally trained employers and managers ready to receive and retain mob

  • Ongoing coaching and support services — for both individuals and workplaces

  • Training programs that shift mindset, dismantle deficit narratives, and rebuild confidence

  • A team of First Peoples staff who lead, mentor, and walk alongside others

We are starting local, building strong foundations, and scaling with integrity — and in 2026, we’ll begin growing our workforce and establishing a national footprint.

Our Founders

Leading with lived experience, purpose, and strength.

Buneen Employment was founded by Shawn Andrews and Gail Lister, two leaders deeply committed to creating a future where First Peoples are safe, supported, and thriving in work and life.

Shawn Andrews, MBA Exec (AGSM), Bsor (Monash)

Shawn Andrews is a proud Mununjali and Migunberri man, known nationally for his leadership in Indigenous employment, cultural safety, and systems change. As the founder of the Buneen Group and the creator of the SAFE Method, Shawn has spent decades walking alongside government, community, and corporate partners to reshape how First Peoples are seen, heard, and supported in the workplace.

His work is grounded in deep cultural knowledge and lived experience — and driven by a clear belief: First Peoples deserve more than survival. They deserve success, on their own terms.

Shawn’s vision is not about fixing people — it’s about fixing the systems around them. Through Buneen Employment, he is helping build a new future where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander jobseekers are supported, celebrated, and safe from day one.

→ Learn more at shawn-andrews.com

Gail Lister, MBA Hr (MBS)

A proud Wiradjuri woman, Gail is a seasoned human resources executive with a Master’s degree in HR and an MBA from Melbourne University. With a career spanning government and private sectors, Gail brings strategic HR knowledge, cultural insight, and a passion for supporting young Aboriginal people into long-term careers.

Gail’s leadership ensures that every part of Buneen Employment — from recruitment to retention — is built with integrity, care, and results in mind.