Goulburn Mulwaree Council will develop a reconciliation action plan to strengthen its relationship with the aboriginal community.
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It will also incorporate strategies to boost aboriginal work opportunities within the organisation.
Councillors on Tuesday night agreed to form a working party to develop the plan over the next year. It will comprise Deputy Mayor Alf Walker, an indigenous man and deputy chair of the Pejar Aboriginal Land Council and Cr Peter Walker. Council general manager Warwick Bennett or his delegate, two representatives chosen by the Land Council and two members of the community will also sit on the committee. The latter will be appointed following an expression of interest process and councillors’ sign-off.
The initiative emerged after Cr Alf Walker attended the NSW Local Government Aboriginal Network Conference in Tweed Heads in August, 2016. At the time, he said many other councils were embracing reconciliation plans.
He told The Post the plan wasn’t something that could be simply developed overnight.
“It has to be sponsored by Reconciliation Australia, involves a lot of input from staff and a lot of research,” he said.
“The main aim is to make a commitment to promote reconciliation. So while we have Sorry Day and NAIDOC Week and the like, there is nothing formalised in terms of a commitment. The plan ensure that it continues down the track,” he said.
More than that he believed it would go a long way to joining with ‘Closing the Gap’ indicators in terms of access to employment and representation in the workforce. This also extended to health and well being of the the indigenous community.
“I’m very pleased that the council has approved it. Almost all levels of government, banks, community and welfare organisations like Anglicare all have reconciliation action plans,” Cr Walker said.
“Many other organisations like banks have these plans and I think it’s important that council, as a representative body and a large employer, also be a leader.”
Part of the plan calls on the council to raise awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander protocols and to promote internal and external relationships.
General manager Warwick Bennett said the Aboriginal employment strategy could include apprenticeships for indigenous people, giving them preference over others.
He said while the council already had indigenous people on staff, the action plan was taking things “one step further.”