Safe, practical AI for the work your staff already do. Built on Thursday Island for business owners, community organisations, PBCs and government staff anywhere in northern Australia, from the Kimberley to the Cape.
One full day, 8:30am to 4pm. Seven practical sessions, up to 12 people. Catering can be included.
Badu Island, Torres Strait. Emver Partners drone capture.
Most people we talk to aren't asking how to do more with AI. They're asking whether it's safe. Whether their data ends up somewhere it shouldn't. Whether cultural knowledge gets pulled into a tool nobody here controls. Whether the answer is even right.
Those are fair questions, and the day is built around them. You don't have to like AI to use it well. You do need to know where the edges are.
Personal details, client records and anything confidential to your organisation. Where the line sits and why.
Keeping language, stories and Indigenous cultural and intellectual property out of public AI tools unless the right people have said yes.
What the free and paid versions of common tools do with what you type, in plain English.
AI sounds confident and is often wrong. How to test what it gives back before it goes in a report or an email.
Some work should stay human, including sensitive community matters and decisions that need a person's judgement.
Leaving with a plain-language AI use guide your organisation can adopt or adapt.
This is the flagship program of Northern Academy, a division of Emver Partners. It was built in the Torres Strait and Cape York, where Emver is based and works most days, for people working anywhere across the north. It wasn't adapted from a city program, and it isn't run by people who fly in for a single workshop.
Every program starts with the same question: what does this community need, and what would make the skill stick after we leave? The answer shapes the examples, the pace and the support afterwards.
Emver Partners is based on Thursday Island, with an office in Cairns, and works regularly across Cape York. We know the organisations and what is on everyone’s plate, so every scenario in the day comes from real work in the north.
The day isn’t about the technology. It’s about people reaching for a tool they couldn’t use before and getting something done with it, without putting their data or their community at risk.
It is the entry point to the Academy: a full-day program where people produce real work, learn the safe-use habits and can keep going with an optional support pathway afterwards.
Every session produces something real, and participants leave with skills they can use from the next working day.
Prerequisite: all participants must arrive with a free AI app installed and an account ready. Without it, you cannot participate.
No passive observation. Tool in hand from session one.
Every scenario comes from real work in the Torres Strait and Cape York.
Every session produces something you can actually use. No worksheets.
7.5 CPD hours, suitable for professional development acquittal.
Morning tea and lunch can be provided on the day, so no one needs to leave the room.
Every person gets individual facilitator attention throughout the day.
All tools used are free. You can keep using them from the next day.
Take-home card to build the habit beyond the day itself.
Local, state and Commonwealth staff. The APS AI Plan sets foundational AI literacy as an expectation across the public service.
Grant writing, governance documents, board papers and community communication.
Transport, fishing, tourism, logistics and trades. Save hours every week.
Documentation, policy translation, lesson planning and complex correspondence.
Seven focused sessions and a team finale across a full day. The day is paced deliberately: foundation, application, then a fun team challenge to close. 8:30am to 4:00pm. Catering can be included.
Session times and content are indicative and may change to suit your group, location and needs.
Informal arrival. Setup checks. Nobody starts without a working tool in their hands.
Plain language grounding in what AI is, how it works, and what it cannot do. No jargon.
Configure your tool. Three techniques for more reliable results. Every participant leaves with a working personal setup before any session begins.
Your first real AI interaction. You see what strong and weak prompting looks like using your own experience, not a textbook example.
Provided.
The foundation session of the day. Removes one of the biggest barriers to professional communication in the Torres Strait. Runs early deliberately.
Practical handling of difficult formal correspondence. Includes a focused module on identifying common digital risks the region is regularly targeted with.
Take the difficult correspondence you have been putting off. Walk out with a draft.
The pre-lunch session most participants name as the moment AI changed for them. Brings real strategic thinking support within reach.
Provided.
End-to-end meeting handling. Reduces a multi-hour task to minutes.
Dense official language to plain English, then plain English back into a formal submission.
Bringing the day together into the rules participants will follow when they use AI in their own work, built on the RACE Framework.
Privacy, cultural knowledge, what never goes into an AI tool and the personal checklist each participant builds for their own work.
The fun way to finish. Teams put the day's skills to work in a fast, friendly competition. The winning team takes a prize. No scorekeeping through the day, just a strong close that locks the learning in.
30 Day Challenge Card and ongoing support options. Certificates distributed. Facilitator available for one-on-ones.
Every program ends on a team challenge. Participants split into teams and put the day's skills to work in a fast, friendly competition, with a prize for the winning team. It is the easiest part to enjoy and the part people remember. There is no scoring through the day, the finale is the fun.
Seven practical sessions built around real tasks businesses, organisations and government staff across northern Australia face every week. Open each session to see what participants walk away with.
Session times and content are indicative and may change to suit your group, location and needs.
Before any session begins, participants configure their tool, learn the techniques that make it reliable, and complete a personal setup that improves every interaction that follows, on the day and after the program ends. Most people skip this step entirely. It is the reason their results are inconsistent.
Your first real AI conversation. This session uses a familiar local subject so participants can immediately judge the quality of what they are getting back. No technical knowledge is required. By the end, you understand the single most important variable in using AI well.
You will also see, in context, what happens when AI is asked something it cannot actually know. That moment matters again later in the day.
This is the foundation session of the day. It removes one of the biggest barriers to professional communication across remote northern Australia, in both directions. Your voice and intent, your message, packaged for the audience it needs to reach.
This session runs early in the day for a reason. People who discover this capability in the first hour bring a different level of confidence to everything that follows.
Most people have received formal letters they did not fully understand and either ignored them, worried about them or paid someone to explain them. This session changes that for any legal, financial or government correspondence, on your own device.
This session also includes a focused module on identifying the kinds of digital risks remote communities are regularly targeted with.
Everyone has at least one email they have been putting off. A difficult complaint. A funding follow-up. A message that requires careful wording and you have not had the time or the words to get it right. In this session, you handle it.
This is the session most participants name as the moment AI changed for them, because it works as a thinking partner rather than a writing tool. Bring an idea you have been turning over: a business, a grant, a community program, a problem that has been sitting unresolved. Leave with a plan.
For many people in the room, this is the first time they have had access to this kind of structured thinking support without hiring a consultant.
End-to-end meeting handling, from preparation through to the formal record. The time most organisations spend on meeting administration drops from hours to minutes.
Take any dense policy, funding guideline, lease or health protocol and make it accessible to anyone. Then reverse it, turning your plain language version into the formal submission a government agency requires.
Most people get weak results from AI for one reason: nobody has shown them how to brief a tool that knows nothing about them, their work or their place. Every session in this program runs on the same method, the RACE Framework. RACE is a simple four-step method Northern Academy uses to teach people how to brief AI tools so the answers fit your place, your job and your rules. It turns a vague question into a clear brief, so the tool gives you something you can actually use.
Four steps, learned in full on the day and applied to your own work in the room. They work in any tool long after the program ends, so you leave with a method instead of guessing at what to type.
Taught in full during the program.
Every participant leaves with a physical card that sits on the desk and turns the day into a habit.
The card is structured across four weeks. Early tasks build the reflex of reaching for AI before doing something the hard way. By week four, participants are embedding it into their working routine.
Every task connects directly back to the day. The card is a structured nudge to keep doing what worked.
Here is what published Australian research says about AI for the three groups this program serves.
saved per public servant in the Australian Government’s own 2024 trial of Microsoft 365 Copilot. 70% improved speed, 61% improved quality.
Microsoft / Mandala, Unlocking the Productivity Dividend of Digital Government, 2025.not-for-profits already supported on their AI journey by the Infoxchange Digital Transformation Hub, covering training, governance and AI certifications.
Australian Government, National AI Plan 2025: Spread the Benefits.projected addition to the Australian economy from SME AI adoption. Businesses at intermediate AI maturity report an average 61% gain in operational efficiency.
Deloitte / Amazon, The AI Edge Report; NAIC 2025.Each option is priced per participant, ex GST, and shown as a from price. The same rate applies to individual enrolments and group bookings.
Full-day in-person training
Full day, catering can be included. Certificate of completion.
| Full-day facilitated training | Included |
| Morning tea and lunch | Included |
| Certificate of completion | Included |
| Materials and resources | Included |
30-Day Support can be added later, from $495 + GST per person.
Ongoing support and application
Structured support after the program. Can be purchased at any time.
| Dedicated email support | Included |
| Weekly challenge email | Included |
| Weekly 30-min Teams session | Included |
| 30-day structured pathway | Included |
Training + 30-day support
Everything in the 1-Day Program plus full 30-Day Support.
| All 1-Day Program inclusions | Included |
| All 30-Day Support inclusions | Included |
Prices are a starting point. Your final quote depends on whether a venue needs to be hired, catering, the number of people and the number of sessions. Discounts are available when you book more than one session.
The program runs as a business cohort, a dedicated session for your team of 10 to 12. Larger enterprise rollouts across multiple cohorts attract a discount. Group delivery includes value not available in open sessions.
Every scenario adapted to your organisation's context, sector and region.
Real challenges your team faces, producing outputs you can actually use.
Participants build together. Documents and plans your whole team walks away with.
Your whole team leaves with the same approach and standards.
From $695 + GST per person, compared with $1,150 for a comparable one-day corporate AI course, and built for delivery in remote and regional Australia.
| Feature / Criteria | AIM: AI for Teamwork $1,150 pp, GST not stated |
Tourism Tribe: AI Enablement Plan Membership |
AIRE (formerly AI Avenue) Price on application |
This Program From $695 + GST pp |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Price | $1,150 pp, one day (GST not stated) | From $33 for the first month, then membership (rate not published) | Price on application | From $695 + GST pp |
| Delivery | ✓ On campus, virtual or in-house | ✗ Online sessions and courses | ✓ On-site, virtual or Sydney CBD | ✓ In your community or workplace |
| Designed for remote / regional contexts | ✗ Capital-city campuses | △ Tourism focus, delivered online | ✗ Sydney-based | ✓ Built here |
| Customisation for organisations | △ In-house option | △ One-on-one coaching available | ✓ Tiered programs (AI 101 to 301) | ✓ Tailored + local context |
| Sector / community-specific delivery | ✗ General workplace | ✓ Tourism-specific | △ General business | ✓ Tourism + community + govt |
| Suitable for non-technical beginners | △ Prerequisite course required | ✓ Small business friendly | ✓ Entry tier (AI 101) | ✓ Starts from scratch |
| Post-training support | ✗ None listed | ✓ Ongoing membership support | △ Implementation services | ✓ Optional structured 30-day support |
| Travel costs for remote delivery | Yes, likely | ✗ Online only | Yes, likely | ✓ Based in the region |
| Competitor details taken from each provider’s public website in October 2026. Offers and prices change, and none of the three states whether prices include GST. ✓ = yes △ = partly ✗ = no or not listed. | ||||
Now that you have seen the program and the investment, here is what the optional add-on includes. The day opens the door. 30 days keeps it open.
Stuck on something AI cannot solve? Email Emver directly. Real answers from a real person who knows your context.
A new AI task every week tailored to your role and industry. Keeps momentum going and introduces new capabilities.
30 minutes every week with your Emver facilitator. Bring questions, wins and problems. Nothing is too small.
Building any new habit is hard. The program includes deliberate tactics such as milestone celebrations, peer nudges and honest check-ins.
Programs delivered by people who do not know remote northern Australia. Participants disengage when examples are not relevant to their actual work.
Connectivity across remote northern Australia is variable. Online programs that work in metro Australia frequently fail under real local conditions. In-person removes this variable entirely.
Most AI training teaches concepts. This program produces real outputs from the first session. Participants who leave without tangible results rarely continue.
Programs designed for urban corporate audiences assume infrastructure and baseline literacy that simply do not exist at the same level across remote northern Australia.
Most participants revert to old habits within two weeks without structured support. The 30 Day Challenge Card and 30-Day Support Program exist to prevent this.
Community and organisational buy-in requires a facilitator with existing relationships and credibility. Emver is based in the Torres Strait and works regularly across Cairns and Cape York, with experience that applies across all of remote northern Australia.
Builds on Emver’s delivery of the Strait Approach to Business program and other business support work across the region.
Over a decade on Thursday Island, working on projects, businesses and complex issues across the Torres Strait and Cape York.
Designed in the region for the region, using examples people here already recognise.
A locally based consulting business led by a long-term Thursday Island resident, with offices on Thursday Island and in Cairns.
Funding bodies need to report outcomes. Organisations need to justify investment. These are the metrics this program is designed to deliver.
AI capability is no longer optional in Australian workplaces. Government has set the expectations and industry now has a national baseline. This program is built to align with the frameworks your organisation, your funders and your board increasingly ask about.
The Commonwealth blueprint for AI across the public service, built on three pillars of Trust, People and Tools. It makes foundational AI literacy an expectation for staff. This program delivers that capability in person, in the north.
The national rules for safe AI use in government. Agencies name an accountable owner for each use of AI, and people stay accountable for the decisions. The day teaches exactly these habits: verify the output, handle data safely and keep a person in charge.
Australia's national baseline of six essential practices for responsible AI, the standard your partners and funders will increasingly expect. The program builds the safe and capable workforce this guidance calls for.
If you are a Commonwealth agency, AI literacy training is now an expectation rather than a nice to have. If you are a business, a PBC or an NGO, the national guidance sets a baseline your funders and partners will increasingly ask you to meet. AI Foundations for Northern Australia is built to help your team meet these expectations in plain language, in the room, with examples drawn from real work in the north.
Alignment is not endorsement. Emver Partners is independent and is not affiliated with or accredited by these bodies. We design our programs to align with their principles and requirements.
Every participant receives a printable certificate of completion. 7.5 CPD hours, suitable for professional development acquittal.
This is to certify that
has successfully completed
AI Foundations for Northern Australia
Northern Australia. 7.5 CPD hours.
This is professional development for the people who keep an organisation running. If your day involves administration, project coordination, email, reporting or working across a computer, the skills from this program apply from the next morning. The full day counts as 7.5 CPD hours you can log.
Correspondence, documents, scheduling and the daily inbox.
Planning, reporting, submissions and stakeholder updates.
Drafting, summarising and turning messy notes into clear writing.
7.5 CPD hours and a certificate suitable for PD acquittal.
Answers to the most common questions we get from buyers, decision-makers and prospective participants. Don't see your question here? Use the Contact us button on this page.
AI Foundations for Northern Australia is a one-day, face-to-face AI training program from Northern Academy, an Emver Partners division based on Thursday Island and in Cairns. It is built for staff in councils, PBCs, NGOs, community organisations, government, health and education across the Torres Strait, Cape York and northern Australia. It suits mixed literacy and non-technical participants.
Northern Academy, a training division of Emver Partners, runs AI Foundations for Northern Australia for councils, PBCs and community organisations across the Torres Strait and Cape York. Emver Partners has been based on Thursday Island for over a decade and has an office in Cairns. Sessions are facilitated by John Palmer, Managing Director of Emver Partners.
AI Foundations for Northern Australia starts with safe use before anyone types a prompt. Participants learn what never goes into an AI tool, how to keep cultural knowledge and Indigenous cultural and intellectual property out of public tools, who can see what you type, how to check AI answers and when not to use AI. Each organisation leaves with a plain-language AI use guide.
AI Foundations for Northern Australia is delivered face to face in your community or workplace. Emver Partners has worked across the Torres Strait, including Thursday Island, Badu, Mer, Erub, Dauan, Ugar, Saibai, Masig, Poruma, Warraber, Iama, Boigu and St Pauls on Moa Island, and in Cape York communities including Bamaga, Weipa, Lockhart River and Cooktown, as well as Cairns. Travel for group bookings is quoted separately.
AI Foundations for Northern Australia is from $695 + GST per person, including materials and a certificate of completion, and catering can be included. The optional 30-Day Support add-on is from $495 + GST per person, and the Full Program is from $995 + GST per person. Prices are a starting point: your final quote depends on whether a venue needs to be hired, catering, the number of people and the number of sessions, and discounts are available when you book more than one session. Group bookings need at least 10 participants. Travel outside the Torres Strait is quoted separately.
No. Northern Academy is not a Registered Training Organisation and AI Foundations for Northern Australia is not nationally accredited. Each participant receives a printable Certificate of Completion representing 7.5 CPD hours, which suits professional development acquittal with employers and relevant bodies.
Often, yes. Suitable grants and funding programs open regularly through state and federal agencies, and Northern Academy can help you identify current options for AI Foundations for Northern Australia. Use the Contact us button on this page, tell us your organisation type and location, and we will point you to what is open.
No. AI Foundations for Northern Australia is delivered face to face only. Connectivity across remote northern Australia is variable, and in-person delivery lets the facilitator support every participant throughout the day.
RACE is a simple four-step method Northern Academy uses to teach people how to brief AI tools so the answers fit your place, your job and your rules. It is taught in full on the day in every Northern Academy program that works with AI.
Each AI Foundations for Northern Australia session takes a maximum of 12 participants so everyone gets individual attention from the facilitator. The minimum for a group booking is 10 participants, or the equivalent fee for a smaller group.
Participants in AI Foundations for Northern Australia need a free AI app installed, Microsoft Copilot or ChatGPT, with an account ready to use. This is a strict prerequisite. Emver Partners provides setup support before the program day.
Yes. Every AI Foundations for Northern Australia participant receives a 30 Day Challenge Card with 14 structured tasks. The optional 30-Day Support add-on adds email support, a weekly challenge email and a weekly 30-minute Microsoft Teams session with the facilitator.
AI Foundations for Northern Australia suits all roles. Executives, councillors and board directors may prefer The Isolated Leader, a separate one-day Northern Academy program built for senior leaders in remote northern Australia.
No. Northern Academy is a division of Emver Partners, a non-Indigenous firm based on Thursday Island that works alongside Traditional Owner organisations across the Torres Strait and Cape York. Its programs do not replace Traditional Owner-led cultural training.
Use the Contact us button on this page and send the number of participants, your location and a preferred timeframe. Northern Academy usually replies within two business days with a tailored proposal, including travel costs.
Send us a message. We respond to every enquiry within two business days.
Contact us