Aboriginal outcomes - Planning, Housing and Infrastructure
Our commitment to Aboriginal procurement
The department's Aboriginal Participation Strategy (APS) (PDF, 4 KB) (PDF 4.37MB) is designed to maximise the number of contracts awarded to Aboriginal businesses.
The NSW Government’s Aboriginal Procurement Policy (APP) encourages agencies to direct 1% of their addressable spend and 3% of goods and services contracts to Aboriginal business. Aboriginal Strategy, Policy and Engagement (ASPE) developed the APS in partnership with the procurement team and the NSW Indigenous Chamber of Commerce to exceed these targets and make Aboriginal procurement more meaningful, considered and fit for purpose.
The strategy aims to increase internal cultural capability and support the prosperity of Aboriginal-owned businesses through meaningful procurement, while ensuring value for money.
Closing the Gap
The National Agreement on Closing the Gap is a commitment across federal, state and territory governments to work collaboratively with Indigenous partners, transforming the way governments provide services to Indigenous communities. Its aim is to improve outcomes and close the gap between the socio-economic outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The agreement covers 2020 to 2030.
The agreement is between all Australian governments, including the Australian Local Government Association, and the National Coalition of Aboriginal Peak Organisations (CAPO). It commits all governments to:
- a transformation partnership model
- the refreshed Closing the Gap outcomes or targets
- the 4 national priority reforms
The department will deliver outcomes 9 and 15 from the agreement:
- Target 9a: By 2031, increase the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in appropriately sized (not overcrowded) housing to 88 per cent.
- Target 9b: The additional target relating to community infrastructure has been endorsed nationally. Additional details of this target in NSW are being finalised.
- Target 15a: By 2030, a 15 per cent increase in Australia’s landmass subject to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s legal rights or interests.
- Target 15b: By 2030, a 15 per cent increase in areas covered by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’s legal rights or interests in the sea.
Healthy Country
The Healthy Country initiative delivers a comprehensive range of programs and projects that take a 'whole of Country' landscape approach. They are grounded in a commitment to align with land management practices with Aboriginal community notions of, and aspirations, for healthy Country.
Through community partnerships, we focus on protecting the rights Aboriginal people have in relation to all aspects of their heritage, knowledge and cultural expressions. Policies and resources have been developed to support the use of Aboriginal cultural knowledge in projects, business or activities across the department.
The Healthy Country initiative includes:
- Cultural Fire Management
- Dual Naming and Languages
- Working on and Caring for Country
- Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (PDF 1.09MB)
Working on and Caring for Country
This initiative seeks to develop a NSW Aboriginal land and water management program that empowers Aboriginal communities to lead caring for Country.
This initiative now forms part of the Healthy Country initiative, that looks at opportunities to increase support and funding to promote growth and sustainability in the industry. The Working on and Caring for Country Strategic Framework will also build on existing successes in a holistic way.
Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property
Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property (ICIP) includes objects or materials, artwork and iconography. It also has intangible elements –the knowledge and cultural practice incorporated within the objects. This cultural heritage is living and evolving. It is handed down from generation to generation and is inextricably connected to Country.
ICIP, and the roles and responsibilities to look after culture and pass it on, come from Country. They come from the particular Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander group, or their lands or waters. Many generations may contribute to the development of ICIP. In this way, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage is communally owned.
Through the department’s work on Country and our engagement with Aboriginal people and communities across NSW, we inevitably engage with ICIP. This will happen across the areas of work that are particularly relevant for Aboriginal communities. This includes when we:
- make decisions about land or water, including when these affect culturally significant sites
- engage the services of Aboriginal people including as consultants, performers, guest speakers or for a Welcome to Country
- commission artworks from Aboriginal artists that incorporate cultural knowledge
- contract Aboriginal people to make or feature in films or recordings that document an Aboriginal community’s priorities for Country, their cultural heritage, or cultural knowledge
- consult with and record Aboriginal people and communities sharing cultural knowledge in community forums, workshops, or other events
- incorporate the personal stories, perspectives, experiences, priorities, culture of Aboriginal people and communities into projects, case studies or reports
- fund organisations, such as incorporated Aboriginal organisations, and unincorporated Aboriginal groups, to deliver projects that include their traditions, cultural knowledge and beliefs
- collaborate with Aboriginal people and communities on co-design projects such as written reports, incorporating their cultural knowledge, beliefs and cultures
- collect data, facts or information about Aboriginal people, knowledge, culture, or Country
- use language in projects such as naming places, sites, rooms, or other locations.
Join our Aboriginal workforce
Wherever you are in NSW, you’re always on Country. We acknowledge and respect Aboriginal people’s rights, obligations and roles as Traditional Custodians of the land, sea and waterways.
Working at the department, we provide support from mentors and networks including great training and development opportunities developed by and for Aboriginal staff to help you achieve goals and your career pathways.