Reconciliation Action Plan 2008 - Australian Human Rights Commission

Australian Human Rights Commission

Reconciliation Action Plan

Our vision for reconciliation

The vision of the Australian Human Rights Commission is ‘Human Rights: Everyone, Everywhere, Everyday’.

We aim to lead the promotion and protection of human rights in a variety of ways, including: by making human rights values part of everyday life and language; empowering all people to understand and exercise their human rights; working with others to inspire action and fostering a diverse workplace at the Commission.

Our RAP helps to achieve our vision by committing the whole organisation to doing its work in a way that respects, values, engages and supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and cultures.

Our business

The Australian Human Rights Commission is Australia’s national human rights institution. It is an independent statutory body established under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Act 1986 (Cth).

The Commission’s main responsibilities are:

Public awareness and education about human rights;
Receiving unlawful discrimination and human rights complaints;
Monitoring and reporting on human rights compliance; and
Policy and legislative development to protect and promote human rights.

These responsibilities are carried out by the President, Commissioners and staff of the Commission. There are approximately 100 staff of the Commission.

The Commission’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner also has particular responsibilities to protect and promote the rights of Indigenous Australians, including through annual Social Justice and Native Title Reports.

Our RAP

As a human rights body with responsibility for protecting and promoting the human rights of Indigenous Australians, much of the Commission’s work already promotes reconciliation. That work is not reproduced in the RAP. Rather, the RAP identifies:

Specific reconciliation initiatives that the Commission has developed as part of its RAP; and
How the Commission will perform its core work in a way that promotes reconciliation.

To assist in monitoring, developing and implementing the RAP, the Commission has established a RAP Committee. The Committee is made up of senior staff representing all parts of the Commission and includes an Indigenous staff representative.

The RAP includes specific targets as performance indicators for actions. It also seeks to establish a process for identifying future targets for RAP actions. All actions, including those ‘ongoing’, are subject to the reporting and monitoring framework in part 4. Many actions in this RAP are already being implemented as the first draft was developed in early 2007 and the staff were keen to implement their ideas as soon as possible.

1. Relationships

Action	Responsibility	Timeline	Performance Indicator
1.1 Develop an Indigenous Engagement Toolkit for Commission use, setting out: Facts and figures and a map of Indigenous peoples; A calendar of significant Indigenous events; Notes on terminology and a ‘style guide’; Recognition and ‘Welcome to Country’; Language and communication issues; Indigenous intellectual property; Indigenous media contacts; Links to the Commission and other contact databases for Indigenous organisations; Engaging with Indigenous peoples and the standard of free, prior and informed consent; and Other resources.	Public Affairs and SJU	Completed by February 2009	Indigenous Engagement Toolkit is produced, promoted, updated and used by Commission staff.
1.2 Provide culturally appropriate conciliation services for Indigenous people, including travel to regional and remote areas where appropriate.	CHS	Ongoing* Reported annually	Monitor customer satisfaction surveys in matters involving Indigenous people: report annually.
1.3 Provide culturally appropriate information to Indigenous people about the Commission’s complaint-handling and conciliation services, including to: Indigenous complainants and potential complainants; Indigenous advocacy groups and legal services.	CHS	Ongoing* Reported bi-monthly	Culturally appropriate information provided: monitor through Commission reports (bi-monthly). Monitor number of complaints received by Indigenous people: report to Commission(bi-monthly). Monitor through meetings between CHS, SJU/RDU and Social Justice Commissioner (bi-monthly).
1.4 Establish and maintain webpage providing information relevant to Indigenous communities about the Commission’s complaint-handling and conciliation services.	CHS, Public Affairs	Online by March 2008	Webpage online. Monitor webpage usage: report to Commission.
1.5 Ensure, where appropriate, participation of Indigenous people in all Commission projects.	All Commission	Ongoing* Toolkit in place February 2009	Commission projects include Indigenous participation where appropriate. Indigenous Engagement Toolkit used in all Commission project planning.
1.6 Ensure, where appropriate, that speeches, publications and submissions include: information relevant to Indigenous people; and information about Indigenous people.	All Commission	Ongoing* Reported bi-monthly	Commission work includes information relevant to and about Indigenous people – information included in reports to Commission (bi-monthly).
1.7 Celebrate and commemorate Indigenous events by: Inviting Indigenous speakers to talk to Commission staff; Publishing materials; Participating in Indigenous community events; and Holding events which promote Indigenous human rights.	All Commission/ SJU	Ongoing* Reported bi-monthly	The Commission supports and participates in activities undertaken to celebrate and commemorate Indigenous events, including: Yabun National Sorry Day NAIDOC Week International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. Information included in reports to Commission (bi-monthly).

2. Respect

Action	Responsibility	Timeline	Performance Indicator
2.1 Ensure Indigenous cultural awareness of all staff.	Personnel	Ongoing* September 2009	Cultural awareness component included in staff induction, with all staff invited to attend. All existing staff have undertaken cultural awareness training by September 2009.
2.2 Develop and promote cultural awareness in all staff by supporting attendance and participation in community activities and events relating to Indigenous peoples.	All Commission	Ongoing*	Each staff member supported to attend at least one Indigenous community activity or event per year.
2.3 Respect and uphold Indigenous cultural and intellectual property rights in all artworks and cultural products purchased, displayed or published by the Commission.	All Commission	Ongoing* Toolkit in place February 2009	Indigenous cultural and intellectual property respected and upheld: compliance with Indigenous Engagement Toolkit.
2.4 Acknowledge traditional owners in Commission office space.	SJU/Executive	December 2008	Traditional owners are publicly acknowledged in signage for the Commission’s office.

3. Opportunities

Action	Responsibility	Timeline	Performance Indicator
3.1 Conduct a comprehensive review of the Commission’s Indigenous Employment Strategy in consultation with Indigenous staff and stakeholders to: Provide greater employment opportunities within the Commission for Indigenous people; Assist with retention of Indigenous staff; Support professional development of Indigenous staff through training and leadership programs, cadetships, studies assistance and mentoring programs; Identify retention measures; Incorporate outgoing interviews with a view to continual improvement; Consider what employment targets are appropriate for the Commission, including for trainees, cadetships, internships and work experience.	Personnel	Draft by December 2008 Final version by March 2009	Report on review of Indigenous Employment Strategy provided to Commission. Revised Commission Indigenous Employment Strategy published on intranet and internet Identify employment and professional development targets for 2009 and beyond.
3.2 Implement the Commission’s Indigenous Employment Strategy	All managers	Commenced by April 2009	Indigenous Employment Strategy implemented: report to Commission. Annual targets achieved. Targets for future years identified.
3.3 Provide opportunities for Indigenous students and trainees to gain work experience across the Commission, including through traineeships, cadetships, internships and work experience placements.	All managers	Ongoing* Reported bi-monthly	Number of traineeships, cadetships, internships and work experience placements: report to Commission (bi-monthly).
3.4 Advertise identified staff vacancies in Indigenous media.	Personnel	Current and Ongoing* Reported bi-monthly	All identified positions advertised in Indigenous media: reported to Commission (bi-monthly).
3.5 Encourage Indigenous service providers, including designers, illustrators and caterers to tender for projects (such tenders to be decided consistently with Commonwealth Procurement Guidelines).	All staff involved in service procurement.	Current and Ongoing* Toolkit in place February 2009	Numbers of different Indigenous service providers tendering for Commission projects. Indigenous engagement toolkit used and updated to include new Indigenous service providers.

4. Tracking progress and reporting

Action	Responsibility	Timeline	Performance Indicator
4.1 The Commission RAP Committee will: Meet every 4 months; Assist Managers and staff with the implementation of the RAP; Monitor implementation of the RAP against performance indicators; Review the effectiveness of RAP actions undertaken with a view to improvement; Receive staff feedback on the implementation of the RAP; Provide a report to the Commission at every meeting on the implementation of the RAP; Prepare a report for the Commission Annual Report on the implementation of the RAP; and Consider how the RAP can be developed and make suggestions to the Commission for the improvement of the RAP.	RAP Committee	Ongoing* Meet 3 times annually	RAP Committee meets 3 times per year. Number of RAP Actions implemented. Improvements made to the RAP. Reports completed.
4.2 The Manager of each unit in the Commission will: Ensure that their staff are aware of their obligations under the RAP; Ensure that the RAP actions are met as far as possible in the performance of the work of their section; and Report on RAP actions undertaken by the section to the RAP Committee and in bi-monthly reports to the Commission meeting.	All Managers	Current and Ongoing* Report to Commission every 2 months	RAP actions reported upon to Commission in bi-monthly reports.
4.3 Seek feedback on the RAP from the Commission’s network of Indigenous contacts.	RAP Committee	Feedback sought by March 2009 Action taken on feedback by June 2009	Feedback received and considered. RAP amended to reflect feedback.
4.4 Provide current and future RAPs and annual implementation reports to Reconciliation Australia for publication on their website.	RAP Committee	Annually in September.	RAP provided to Reconciliation Australia Annual RAP implementation report provided to Reconciliation Australia. Future RAPs provided to Reconciliation Australia.

* All ongoing items are subject to regular reporting and monitoring as set out in detail in Part 4 of the RAP.

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