Mission Australia launches third Reconciliation Action Plan and supports Uluru Statement

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Mission Australia launches third Reconciliation Action Plan and supports Uluru Statement

In February 2022, Mission Australia launched its third Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) to guide the charity’s work towards Reconciliation throughout 2022 and 2023. For the first time in Mission Australia’s 160 year history, Reconciliation is enshrined in the organisation’s 2020-25 Strategy as an operating principle, and from this flows further action. 

Endorsed by Reconciliation Australia, the Reconciliation Action Plan is an important public acknowledgement of Mission Australia’s commitment to Reconciliation. The strategy guides how the community services and community housing organisation intends to contribute to Reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous people across Australia.

The plan outlines a roadmap of actions Mission Australia has committed to fulfilling over the next two years, including:

• Refreshing Mission Australia’s employment strategy, ensuring it is culturally appropriate, led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and includes improved policies to recruit and support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees;
• Greater support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses through procurement activities;
• Working collaboratively with local communities to provide improved and culturally appropriate services and support to local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across housing and community services;
• Endorsing the Uluru Statement from the Heart and provide opportunities for employees to learn more about the Uluru Statement including through information sessions and internal communications;
• Establishing and maintaining an effective RAP Knowledge Group of employees who identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander for networking and consultation on key issues;
• Celebrating National Reconciliation Week and NAIDOC Week through national and local efforts.

The plan follows Reconciliation Australia’s well-established themes of relationships, respect and opportunities, which aligns with Mission Australia’s values of respect, compassion, integrity, perseverance and celebration. Everyone at Mission Australia is responsible for implementing this plan alongside the organisation’s dedicated RAP Coordinator, and supported by a RAP Reference Group, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Knowledge Group and local RAP Champions across the organisation.

Mission Australia’s vision for Reconciliation is that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of this country will be restored to a place of equity, dignity and respect. Mission Australia aspires to the healing of our national soul and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures to be fully valued, with broken relationships restored and social inequalities eradicated.

To achieve substantial and sustainable change towards Reconciliation, Mission Australia believes that solutions must be led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and people.

Mission Australia supports the Uluru Statement from the Heart as it offers Australia a way forward.

The Uluru Statement represents a historic consensus of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders in seeking constitutional change to recognise First Australians through a Voice to Parliament. Mission Australia believes that a Voice to Parliament enshrined in and protected by the Constitution is vital to ensuring Reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous Australians. Mission Australia supports the recommendations that Indigenous leadership have co-designed and called for.

The Voice to Parliament will empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have a say on the laws and policies that impact them. It will be a permanent institution that will provide advice to the Parliament and Government on important issues.

The Uluru Statement is a historic opportunity to reimagine our nation. It is our chance to come together to deliver real change for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people so they can take their rightful place in our nation.

The Uluru Statement is an invitation from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to “walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future”.