By David Charlesworth, Principal.

Another reporting period has passed for our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) annual reporting to Reconciliation Australia.

The 2022/23 year has been an interesting one as we have had changes to the members of our RAP committee as well as challenges in determining our way forward on our RAP journey.  As a part of our looking back we have the following observations in relation to our RAP journey.

• We have had new members of our staff attend cultural training with Bookabee Australia Pty Ltd – Haydyn does a great job, and it keeps the consistency of message across all our staff members as Haydyn has provided that initial cultural training to us all.

• We have had staff members attend the Kaurna Cultural Centre as the second layer of our cultural training.  This again maintains consistency of message to our staff members and so everyone has the same experiences.

• We have again provided many pro bono hours to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partners, in excess of 2,000 hours has been provided across the year.  This not only allows for the client to get exceptional value for money we also ensure a quality service.

• Our staff members have enjoyed engaging in the internally hosted lunchtime webinars and videos of interest and relevance.

We have also been working on updating cultural policies so that we have consistency of message and ensure we have a culturally safe environment for all.  This is where our RAP committee will focus our time in the months ahead.  We have always been good with our practical progress and messaging; we now need to deliver more in this space for our continued growth.

We have been planning a practice wide cultural day for some time and we look forward to November when we will be holding our next RAP cultural day.  We have partnered with Kornar Winmil Yunti Aboriginal Corporation to provide an opportunity to be immersed in Culture.  This will be hosted offsite and will involve a tour of some of our local Aboriginal sites of interest.

You can view our current Innovate RAP here and read more about our RAP journey here.