Aidn-wa partners with cciwa to Launch Defence Indigenous Employment Dialogue
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28 December, 2015 AIDN-WA Partners with CCIWA to Launch Defence Indigenous Employment Dialogue by Brad Griffin AIDN-WA Correspondent For the first time in WA the ADF and Defence Industry were given a chance to address the challenge of Indigenous economic disenfranchisement through the inaugural launch of the Defence Indigenous Employment Dialogue. Held on October 15 the Australian Industry and Defence Network of WA (AIDN-WA) in partnership with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry-WA (CCIWA), the event presented five speakers from the military and industry, who spoke about the strategies they have utilised with to Indigenous engagement and employment. The speakers included Colonel Ian Cumming and Colonel Matthew Quinn both of who were from the Australian Army, Neil Birtchell from Transfield Services, and Kylie Agale from CCI. The event was attended by 51 guests attended the inaugural event, representing a range of companies in the defence sector and other industries seeking to learn from the experience of the Defence Sector. In her opening address CCIWA Chief Executive Deidre Willmott commenced proceedings by acknowledging the traditional owners of the land, before progressing to an outline of the opportunities available for the Defence Sector to improve the State’s low Indigenous workforce participation rate. Ms Willmott also highlighted the V-Tech initiative of CCIWA, which provides aid to businesses in the employment of Indigenous people. “We believe the West Australian business community has a vital role to play in making a difference in closing the gap, and improving the quality of opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” she noted. AIDN-WA President and event Chair, Serge DeSilva-Ranasinghe was the next speaker, highlighting the positive steps that have been made recently in the employment and retention of Indigenous servicemen and women in all three arms of the Australian Defence Force. Based on existing trends and projections, Mr DeSilva-Ranasinghe indicated that this trend is likely to continue into the future, and encouraged the WA Defence Sector examine more opportunities in training and employing Indigenous people. "I also encourage WA's Defence Sector to grasp the key lessons that are germane to this event, and consider the benefits of workforce diversity, particularly with engaging and employing Indigenous Australians." He further elaborated: "I am therefore hopeful that the precedent set by this event, and the resulting discussion it shall engender will provide constructive insights and practical ideas." The first guest keynote speaker was Colonel Ian Cumming whose main topic focused on the Commonwealth’s new Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP), and the Defence Departments use of it, which was passed in July 2015. The IPP stipulated that the Commonwealth Departments must , in specified circumstances, first look for an Indigenous company to fill procurement orders before other companies are considered. The IPP has fashioned the use of the 'Indigenous business exemption model', meaning that the ADF can go to “an Indigenous business that is at least 50% owned by an Indigenous person, group, nation, or organization and with a maximum number of employees of 250 and ask them to make us an offer”. Colonel Cumming said that the IPP has two projects already underway in the Sydney Basin, and two more in preparation in Adelaide. He stressed that Indigenous businesses that make the offer to win the contract because they’re the right people for the job. “What we enabled through this policy was an open door, or a leg up", he said. When it’s before me as a tender offer, we considered it like any other business/builder. They want to be treated like everybody else.” Once it is apparent that an Indigenous business is not able to fill the contract, the tender is then offered to other companies. Colonel Cumming indicated that the IPP “is about closing the gap. It’s about giving Indigenous people the opportunity to work in real, long-term, sustainable employment: for the benefit of the whole of the country.” The second keynote speaker was Lieutenant Colonel Matthew Quinn, the Commanding Officer of the Australian Army’s 19th Chief Engineer Works, who spoke about the unique Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Program (AACAP). Lieutenant Colonel Quinn outlined the ‘three pillars’ of AACAP, “construction, training and health”, and stated its objective which is “to improve environmental health and living conditions to remote Indigenous communities, and support Indigenous employment by providing training opportunities to community members during the construction phase.” Lieutenant Colonel Quinn emphasized the importance of community engagement before, during, and after each AACAP project. The AACAP makes contact with the community 18 months prior to their arrival to consult on what services are most needed, and continues the dialogue throughout and after their deployment. Also vital to their mission is the cross-cultural awareness training that occurs beforehand, as well as the physical training, sports and healthy eating education” that is part of each AACAP project. Each deployment lasts for 4-6 months and includes around 150 soldiers. AACAP provides vital services including water, housing, electricity and health, and has the subsidiary benefit of intensive training for Australian soldiers before they deploy overseas. Since 1997, AACAP has visited Western Australia, the Northern Territory, Queensland and South Australia, and will visit New South Wales for the first time in 2017. The third speaker was Neil Birtchell, the General Manager for Business Community Investment from Transfield Services, the second-largest supplier to the Department of Defence. Mr Birtchell spoke about how Transfield became one of the largest employers of Indigenous people in the Defence Sector, the challenges the company has faced, and the lessons learned. Key to Transfield’s success was the implementation of Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs). Their first two RAPs saw Indigenous employment go from an inconsequential figure to 4.5% of the workforce, with an aim to reach 6.5% by 2018 with the implementation of the third RAP. Mr Birtchell discussed all of the steps taken by Transfield to work closely with Indigenous members of the community. These included the creation of an Indigenous Advisory Board and Indigenous Youth Council to discuss how to recruit and retain Indigenous workers; and to collaborate with Social Compass and Career Trackers to assess the perceptions of their Indigenous employees. Furthermore, Transfield has established ‘Cultural Learning Pathways’, so “wherever you sit in the organization, you will be exposed to Indigenous culture.” He concluded that the reward of providing Indigenous employment opportunities is worth it, as the "biggest challenges to closing the gap are education and employment.” The final speaker, Ms Kylie Agale, Apprentice Advisor with Woodside at CCI discussed Aboriginal employment through the lens of Covey’s Seven Habits of Highly Effective People. Ms Agale stated that to become aware of who the key stakeholders are in each community. Her main pillar emphasised building effective communication processes, and “valuing the differences of all stakeholders.” Finally, she examined the last step – ‘sharpening the saw’, where she emphasised as the need to “reevaluate and celebrate” your small successes. She commented on the important role that SME enterprises can play, encouraging them to “invest in Aboriginal youth with school-based traineeships and apprenticeships.” The morning’s speakers all had the common theme of the importance of actively and meaningfully engaging with Indigenous communities and their leaders. The Army, through the IPP and AACAP has provided Indigenous Australians with the opportunity to train and gain experience through Defence projects while Transfield Services has provided a salient example to corporate Australia of how to engage with, and employ, Indigenous Australians. Commenting on the precedent set by the event retrospectively, CCIWA Chief Executive, Ms Deidre Wilmott, affirmed: “The AIDN-WA event hosted by CCI was a powerful and constructive event that highlighted the commitment across business and government to be build relationships and create opportunities with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community". She added, "This event was not about charity or hand-outs, it was about finding ways to meaningfully engage with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community to encourage talented people to make genuine contributions to Australia's Defence Sector. CCI was proud to be a partner of AIDN-WA and work towards creating a more inclusive, respectful and productive community.” Also, key Defence Industry companies that were present espoused their strong support for the event. For example, Mike Deeks, General Manager - Defence, Civmec, said: “I was delighted to attend the recent Defence Indigenous Employment Dialogue. This was a most informative and engaging session where senior representatives from the Australian Defence Force and industry explained the underpinning regulations behind Defence’s commitment to indigenous employment and training, but also how it works in practice with a case study provided by Transfield, who are a major Defence contractor", he said. "As a representative of Civmec Construction and Engineering Pty Ltd, who are developing a Reconciliation Action Plan, and who are in a Joint Venture with the Indigenous-owned David Liddiard Group, this event was invaluable to me as a means of benchmarking our progress and confirming the positive social impact these initiatives can have,” said Mr Deeks. The success of the event has given impetus for AIDN-WA to examine the prospect of conducting a follow up event in 2016. Photographs of the event can be viewed by clicking on the following link: http://www.aidn-wa.org.au/photos/album/66387 ****
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