1 Jun 2017: Indigenous Accountants Australia attended a National Indigenous Employment forum at Melbourne Town Hall on Wednesday 31 May.

The theme of the forum was cultural safety in the workplace and delegates from industry and employer groups heard from a range of speakers, including Leanne Brooke, Linc Yow Yeh, Abbie Wright and Dennis Batty.

After a welcome to country by Wurundjeri Elder Uncle Perry Wandin, councillor Nicholas Francis Gilley, originally from England, spoke about his upbringing of white privilege and how this revealed in stark contrast the injustice and unfairness in other sectors of the community. Speaking about the need for industry and governments to develop employment programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, he said, “We made it unfair and now we have to share and help create opportunities.”

Abbie Wright, Diversity and Inclusion Manager at Aurecon, an engineering and consulting firm, provided a case study of how her organisation went about creating employment opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Her colleagues Alexis and Lauren outlined the people-centred process the organisation adopted to bridge the gap between Aboriginal culture and corporate culture, to make sure the initiative was meaningful to both candidates and the company.

Lauren & Alexis from Aurecon

Leeanne Brooke, General Manager, The Long Walk, spoke about cultural safety and offered one possible definition as: ‘an environment that is spiritually, socially, and emotionally safe, as well as physically safe for people; where there is no challenge or denial of identity, of who people are and what they need.’

She said that Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander people take a ‘whole-of-life’ approach and that physical, social, emotional and cultural well-being all fit under the Occupational Health & Safety banner. “Cultural safety is good health and safety, and good health and safety is good for business” she concluded.

Leeanne Brooke, General Manager, The Long Walk

Linc Yow Yeh from Australian Catholic University showed a slide of the Cultural Wheel, an intersectional diagram with The Dreaming at its centre, surrounded by a perimeter of the land and a series of spokes that represented the various elements of Aboriginal culture held in place by their connection to the land and The Dreaming.

Linc emphasised that each element is important in an individual’s spiritual well-being, but he also spoke about the resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, highlighting their ability to survive and maintain a strong culture over tens of thousands of years.

He called on organisations to create roles that are attractive to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, to take risks and be prepared to make mistakes, but to persevere. It doesn’t have to happen overnight, he said, because Indigenous people are resilient.

Linc Yow Yeh from ACU

Finally, Dennis Batty from Northern Indigenous Employment (NIE) asked delegates to reflect on and discuss the cultural safety in their own workplace. Delegates participated in activities to measure the cultural awareness and safety of their respective organisations.

NIE is a community initiative in Melbourne’s northern suburbs that connects with businesses through NIE partnerships that aims to increase employment outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. You can learn more at nie-group.com

Dennis Batty from NIE

All of the speakers, including MC Nathan Leitch and Perry Wandin, were generous in sharing their stories and spoke passionately about improving employment prospects for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, but also about making the workplace a safe space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

L to R: Mary Clarke (IAA), Richard Hurst (IAA) & Abel Britton (Indigenous Employment Specialist Accor Hotels)