CQUniversity Australia has recently been announced as the winner of the 2020 Defence Reserve Employer Support Award under the not-for-profit organisation category. The awards were announced at a virtual event by the Minister for Veteran Affairs and Defence Personnel Darren Chester.
The awards recognise organisations for their continued support of Australian Defence Force Reservists and the communities they serve across Australia. In the past year, several CQUniversity employees have been deployed with the ADF Reserves in response to the national bushfire crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic.
Lieutenant Colonel Kate Ames, who is currently posted in Military Public Affairs within the Defence Command Support Training Centre, has been serving as a reservist for 23 years and is also the director of CQUniversity’s Learning Design and Innovation team. Ames explained that CQUniversity had offered great support to reservists who were deployed as part of emergency response efforts this year. “Early this year, I was deployed, to support in the national bushfire recovery efforts. The deployment lasted two weeks full-time, meaning I was away from my regular role at the University for a period of time. Having the support of CQUniversity, my manager and my colleagues was critical, and the flexible approach taken to managing my workload during my deployment meant I could focus on the important role I had in the recovery efforts,” said Ames.
Fellow CQUniversity colleague Stephen Stephen Oberg, who nominated the University for the award, has been a reservist for over 30 years and said the University had supported him in the service since he started working at CQU over 20 years ago. “CQU has been a really strong supporter, and over the years has allowed me to attend courses and exercises,” Oberg explained. “It was especially important when they released me for six months to participate in Operation Resolute Border protection.”
Oberg said a number of soldiers in his battalion are also CQUniversity students. “The University takes this service into consideration and grants things like extensions to assignments when military service interferes with study which is fantastic.”
CQUniversity Director of People and Culture Barbara Miller said that CQUniversity places a high value on the communities it serves which is why the University provides support and flexibility to staff who are deployed with the Army Reserve or who are involved in other community organisations. “The past year has presented many challenges and as an employer we have been proud to support our staff members who have been involved in local and national crisis response efforts. We are committed to supporting our staff to give back to communities, whether that is through the Army Reserve, volunteer firefighting services or in community services and healthcare delivery. CQUniversity will continue to support our staff to engage in these ways, by providing them with flexible working arrangements, special leave entitlements and a supportive workplace culture,” said Miller.
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