“Sorry Business” is an important period of mourning and cultural practice for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. It is a period of cultural mourning and practice related to occasions of loss, grief, anxiety and death. Periods of cultural mourning and Sorry Business are not only defined by death. Sorry Business is applicable to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ relationships with people and with Country. Most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have cultural obligations to be involved in Sorry Business relating to the death, loss, removal, or imprisonment of immediate family members as well as extended family and people with kinship or community ties.
Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures engage in cultural mourning related to the loss of cultural connection to land, Country and Native Title. Ceremonies and mourning periods can vary depending upon community customs, which take place or continue long after the loss or death. It is important to note that the mourning process can be different for each Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person.
Sorry Business practice may include, but is not limited to the below practices relating to an occasion of cultural mourning:
- a) Attending events that are significant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples
- b) Attending Ceremonies and performing ceremonial duties;
- c) Coordination of funeral services and community events;
- d) Kinship care responsibilities
- e) Other cultural responsibilities, duties or obligations
Full-time and part-time employees who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people may apply to take up to 3 days paid Sorry Business leave for each occasion of cultural mourning where they are required to engage in specific cultural and ceremonial practices.
Employees may be asked to provide supporting evidence of the need to take Sorry Business
leave which may include a death or funeral notice or a signed statutory declaration.