Reconciliation Action Plan

Acknowledgement of Country

CVGT Employment acknowledges the land on which our team members live and work. From the diverse lands of the Kulin nations to the wonders of the lands of the Palawa people, to Darug and Wiradjuri land where the sun always shines, and the First Owners of our corporate birthplace, the Dja Dja Wurrung Clans, and to the plains of the Wemba Wemba lands, the rivers of the Yorta Yorta, Wadi Wadi and Waveroo countries, we pay our respects.

The importance of our Reconciliation Action Plan

The Reconciliation Action Plan builds relationships with First Nations people and supports meaningful reconciliation.

Australian workplaces have an important role to play in building a better future between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

Strengthening the relationship between the broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples is important to the communities within which we live and work.

To do this we develop staff training and cultural awareness programs across CVGT Employment that promote an understanding of First Nations culture, values and ways of working. We also work closely with our First Nations communities to open doors – create amazing futures.

Learn more about our Indigenous Employment Support here.

Artwork

Innovate, CVGT Employment Reconciliation Action Plan
August 2024 – August 2026

Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan, 2024-2026 enhances the commitment CVGT Employment have made to the ongoing work we will undertake to ensure our practices, principles and outcomes are supportive of the intent behind our Reconciliation journey.

An Innovate RAP outlines actions for achieving our vision for reconciliation. Innovate RAP commitments allow us, as a collective, to gain a deeper understanding of our sphere of influence and establish the best approaches to advance reconciliation. This document focuses on strengthening relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and piloting strategies for further reconciliation commitments and to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The CVGT Employment Innovate RAP has been developed through extensive consultation both internally and externally and has the combined support of CVGT Employment’s Board and employee community and has now been fully endorsed by Reconciliation Australia.

Download the CVGT Reconciliation Action Plan

Our actions

Our RAP sets out our organisational commitment to reconciliation and contains a number of concrete actions for us to work towards in the coming years. These actions will support our strong involvement with, and commitment to, the provision of employment services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Relationships

CVGT Employment’s organisational values of working together, genuine care, finding a way and community matters, underpin our aspiration to build responsive, relevant, and trusted relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff, participants, communities, and stakeholders.

Respect

CVGT Employment is resolute in its belief that all people deserve to be treated with genuine care, integrity, and respect and this is enshrined in our core values.

Our respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, their cultures, stories and histories is integral and fundamental to a healthy and respectful affiliation.

Opportunities

CVGT Employment recognises and celebrates the respected influence that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities can have when we work toward achieving and maintaining diversity and inclusivity in the workplace.

CVGT Employment upholds and appreciates the specialised experiences, skills, and knowledge, that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people bring to our organisation.

We are committed to a positive and meaningful presence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the life of CVGT Employment.

Governance

CVGT Employment is preparing to measure the impact our work has on the communities we work within. We are committed to working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities to sustain positive outcomes that meets their needs.

We will report on and evaluate our work to gain insight and maintain continuous improvement and impact.

Message from CVGT Employment CEO

It is with great pleasure that I present CVGT Employment’s second Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) that will be our focus over the next 2 to 3 years, 2024 to 2026. I must congratulate our RAP working group that has worked tirelessly to source feedback from across the organisation and the community in the development of this RAP.

CVGT Employment continues its strong commitment to reconciliation with First Nations people, and our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan outlines the actions that will guide the organisation to achieving CVGT Employment’s vision for reconciliation.

Our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan has “implementing change” at its foundations and aims to build on and further develop our relationships with communities through mutual respect and understanding.

This Reconciliation Action Plan relies on our values of doing the right thing, finding a way, genuine care, working together and community wellbeing. These values underpin the work we do, the way we do business, and our Vision; “opening doors – creating amazing futures”.

CVGT Employment is committed to working together with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants to identify and manage the difficulties and challenges being faced every day. We will do this by providing appropriate supports to access career opportunities to our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participants through our employment programs.

Jason Russell
Chief Executive Officer
CVGT Employment

Message from Reconciliation Australia CEO

Reconciliation Australia commends CVGT Australia Limited on the formal endorsement of its inaugural Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).

Commencing an Innovate RAP is a crucial and rewarding period in an organisation’s reconciliation journey. It is a time to build strong foundations and relationships, ensuring sustainable, thoughtful, and impactful RAP outcomes into the future.

Since 2006, RAPs have provided a framework for organisations to leverage their structures and diverse spheres of influence to support the national reconciliation movement.

This Innovate RAP is both an opportunity and an invitation for CVGT Australia Limited to expand its understanding of its core strengths and deepen its relationship with its community, staff, and stakeholders.

By investigating and understanding the integral role it plays across its sphere of influence, CVGT Australia Limited will create dynamic reconciliation outcomes, supported by and aligned with its business objectives.

An Innovate RAP is the time to strengthen and develop the connections that form the lifeblood of all RAP commitments. The RAP program’s framework of relationships, respect, and opportunities emphasises not only the importance of fostering consultation and collaboration with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities, but also empowering and enabling staff to contribute to this process, as well.

With close to 3 million people now either working or studying in an organisation with a RAP, the program’s potential for impact is greater than ever. CVGT Australia Limited is part of a strong network of more than 3,000 corporate, government, and not-for-profit organisations that have taken goodwill and intention, and transformed it into action. Implementing an Innovate RAP signals CVGT Australia Limited’s readiness to develop and strengthen relationships, engage staff and stakeholders in reconciliation, and pilot innovative strategies to ensure effective outcomes.

Getting these steps right will ensure the sustainability of future RAPs and reconciliation initiatives and provide meaningful impact toward Australia’s reconciliation journey.

Congratulations CVGT Australia Limited on your Innovate RAP and I look forward to following your ongoing reconciliation journey.

Karen Mundine
Chief Executive Officer
Reconciliation Australia

Uluru Statement from the Heart

We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart:

Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs. This our ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from ‘time immemorial’, and according to science more than 60,000 years ago.

This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or ‘mother nature’, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors. This link is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty. It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown.

How could it be otherwise? That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years? With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia’s nationhood.

Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet. We are not an innately criminal people. Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates. This cannot be because we have no love for them. And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers. They should be our hope for the future.
These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem. This is the torment of our powerlessness.

We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country. When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish. They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.

We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution. Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle. It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.

We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.

In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard. We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country. We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

CVGT Employment position on Voice and Recognition

CVGT Employment is committed to reconciliation and supports the Voice to Parliament.

In doing so, we are guided by our core values of Do the Right Thing, Find a Way, Genuine Care, Better Together and Community Matters.

In August 2021, we made our first formal Statement of Intent affirming our commitment to Reconciliation. We committed to working towards “a united Australia, which respects this land of ours, values the Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islanders heritage and provides justice and equity for all”.

Soon, Australia will be asked to vote to amend our nation’s Constitution to recognise Australia’s First People by establishing a Voice to Parliament. As an organisation that has stated its support of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, we extend our commitment to continue building an understanding of how constitutional change can be seen as an integral tool for reconciliation; how constitutional change will support justice and equity for all; and how change is central to reaching a better future for all Australians.

We celebrate that our democratic processes enable each one of us to make our own decisions regarding issues as important as this. We are committed to supporting our staff to learn more about the Voice; and we expect that everyone will undertake their own research and investigation to inform their own decisions and rely on their individual conscience in doing so.

We reaffirm our Statement of Intent as a genuine response to the invitation, from a critical majority of Indigenous people, to walk together to promote and support a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

There is a vast range of places to find information in regard to the Referendum and some of these are:

Showcasing our First Nations artwork by Clinton Edwards, which captures the spirit and passion of the CVGT Employment team.
L-R: Jason Russell, Clinton Edwards, and Aunty Rhonda Penney.

Reconciliation Statement of Intent

The CVGT Employment Board adopted our Reconciliation Action Plan Statement of Intent in 2020.

CVGT Employment:

Affirms its commitment to Reconciliation and the development of a Reconciliation Action Plan.
Will work towards the vision of “A united Australia, which respects this land of ours, values the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander heritage and provides justice and equity for all.”
Acknowledges and supports the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Recognises Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Australians with unique cultures and spiritual relationships with land and the sea.
Commits to addressing any access and equity issues for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in relation to CVGT’s services.
Supports, encourages and invites Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to engage and participate in areas of planning and development of employment services that contribute to improving their life outcomes.
Strongly supports progressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ right to a say in the decisions that affect their lives.
Recognises this Statement of Intent is the first step in signifying our commitment to understanding the injustices Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have faced and continue to face. We commit to building and fostering relationships with First Nations communities and organisations to strive to address the inequities that exist and we commit to an ongoing process of respectfully seeking advice and guidance on our practice and service delivery to provide a better experience for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients.
Acknowledges and respects the Dja Dja Wurrung people as the Traditional Owners and Custodians of the land on which our corporate office is located and we extend that respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of other nations on which our offices are located. The Board of Directors, Executive and staff pay our respects to their Elders, past and present.

Reconciliation Action Plan