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Holding ourselves to account – progress under our first Reconciliation Action Plan

In the lead up to National Reconciliation Week, and driven by our commitment to do more and better for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, we are holding ourselves to account and sharing what we have achieved against our first Reconciliation Action Plan.

Published:
Tuesday, 24 May 2016 at 10:00 am

This National Reconciliation Week we are holding ourselves to account and sharing what we have achieved against our first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), driven by our commitment to do more and better for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients.

Our report back provides a snapshot of progress against the first three-year RAP we launched in May 2015 with a view to helping ‘close the gap’ and holding ourselves accountable to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the wider community.

The actions we have taken since launching our RAP are aimed at improving how we behave as an organisation through:

  • our relationships with the people we work with and the clients we help
  • the respect we can promote in our workplace and beyond
  • the opportunities we can maximise to help address issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Key achievements under the first year

While late comers to this process, we are proud to be part of an Australia-wide movement led by Reconciliation Australia and are pleased to have taken some genuine and practical steps forward in this first year of our plan.

Our key achievements this past year include 177 staff participating in cultural awareness training workshops – over three times the number of staff who attended the previous year.

We have also recently welcomed Victoria Legal Aid’s first Associate Director, Aboriginal Services Meena Singh.

Meena will lead the work of Victoria Legal Aid with our external partners in ways we hope will improve justice outcomes for Aboriginal people. Her strategic insights are already being felt and she will lead recruitment of field officers to pilot new ways of working with Aboriginal communities to identify and respond to legal need earlier and more effectively.

Visitors to the Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative in Mooroopna will soon be able to get legal advice there, thanks to a grant they received through our Community Legal Centre Innovation and Transformation Fund for the ‘Embedding Legal Assistance’ partnership with the Goulburn Valley Community Legal Centre.

This first year we have also continued to work closely with Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention Legal Service to support the important work they do.

Significantly, our RAP sets out a way forward for us to respond to justice issues impacting Aboriginal people and we look forward to achieving what we have committed to do in the years ahead.

Read our report card

Read our Reconciliation Action Plan Report Card for more on the progress we have made during the first year.

Listen to Bevan Warner's speech for National Reconciliation Week 2016

Listen to Bevan Warner's speech at Victoria Legal Aid on 6 June 2016 at our 'Unveiling of acknowledgement plaque morning tea' for National Reconciliation Week 2016.

Download the transcript of Bevan Warner's National Reconciliation Week 2016 speech.

Bevan Warner's National Reconciliation Week 2016 speech - transcript
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More information

Find out more about Meena Singh.

Read why the Associate Director position was created in Managing Director Bevan Warner’s LinkedIn post.

Read how veteran mediator Annette Vickery of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service explains how to make a Reconciliation Action Plan core business.

Updated

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