Natural Hazards Research Australia (the Centre) is ensuring that meaningful steps are being taken towards reconciliation with First Nations peoples, researchers and communities, both within the Centre itself and across the natural hazards research sector, through its REFLECT Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).
The REFLECT RAP was published in September 2022, comprising 63 ambitious deliverables across 10 key action areas.
It initially covered the period of July 2022 to July 2023. However, the REFLECT RAP has recently been extended for an additional six months, with approval from the Centre's Reconciliation Working Group and Board, with the 28 remaining deliverables now due in December 2023.
Download the REFLECT RAP here.
"Extending the REFLECT RAP by six months gives the Reconciliation Working Group and Centre staff the extra time, knowledge and skills needed to meaningfully implement reconciliation deliverables across the organisation," said CEO Andrew Gissing.
First Nations members of the Reconciliation Working Group also supported extending the REFLECT RAP.
"This RAP has made great progress in building awareness of reconciliation, so it's a good idea to allocate some extra time to drill down into some of the more complex deliverables," said Oliver Costello, Bundjalung member of the Centre's Board and Reconciliation Working Group, at the April Reconciliation Working Group meeting.
Meanwhile, staff have been progressing different reconciliation activities in collaboration with First Nations groups, including:
- highlighting key First Nations projects in a dedicated social media campaign during Reconciliation Week 2023
- hosting a NAIDOC Week 2023 webinar in July to celebrate First Nations research and community experts working in natural hazards and cultural land management, as well as participating in external NAIDOC Week events
- convening a First Nations workshop with the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance and the Carpentaria Land Council Aboriginal Corporation as part of the Local Government Association of Queensland's Disaster Management Conference in May 2023
- integrating recognition of First Nations knowledge and contributions to research within project plans and processes
- developing a project funding proposal that explores the experiences that First Nations peoples have as staff and volunteers within the natural hazard sector, so that support can be improved
- conducting a review of cultural learning needs within the Centre to identify key gaps in staff's knowledge of First Nations cultures, histories and practices
- meeting with key First Nations experts in the higher education sector to identify and seek to address the barriers and challenges facing First Nations researchers
- sponsoring the inaugural National Indigenous Disaster Resilience Summit in August 2023
- booking an on-Country cultural workshop for staff, to be completed at Coranderrk in October 2023.
Natural Hazards Research Australia’s staff work from Wurundjeri, Yuggera, Turrbal, Burramattagal and Dharawal Countries. We thank and acknowledge the Traditional Custodians of these lands and all the lands where we work, live and walk, and pay our respects to Elders past, present and emerging. We recognise that these lands and waters have always been places of teaching, research and learning, and that sovereignty has not been ceded.