The theme for National Reconciliation Week this year is “Be Brave, Make Change”. This resonates heavily with us at Ausco, as we have recently had our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan Endorsed by Reconciliation Australia.
Building on the work we have done in our Reflect RAP, our Innovate RAP will involve moving beyond symbolic steps and recognition to take real action to engage with and support Indigenous communities and businesses.
Throughout Reconciliation Week and beyond, we will be encouraging and supporting our teams to reflect on what they can do, and then support employees to enact the suggested changes and initiative, in line with our Reconciliation Action Plan.
We recognise that it is not sufficient to strive for diversity without ensuring that the workplace is set up to support a diverse workforce. Therefore, much of our focus moving forward is on our commitment to not only increase the percentage of First Nations employees in our business, but to ensure that we identify and remove barriers to entry and create working environments that are a welcoming to First Nations employees.
As informed by our Innovate RAP, some of the actions we will be taking in the coming weeks and onward include: