Reconciliation is everyone’s business.
It’s a phrase we’ve heard echoed across boardrooms, community halls, and national campaigns. But what does it really mean for those of us working in the community sector, those tasked with building a more just and equitable society?
As we approach National Reconciliation Week, the call to deepen our understanding, challenge systemic norms, and take meaningful action has never been more urgent.
On Tuesday 27 May, 9:30–11:30am, ACTCOSS and the Gulanga Program will host a free event at Tuggeranong Arts Centre, providing community sector organisations an opportunity to learn how to cultivate cultural safety and actively contribute to reconciliation in the workplace. This event will feature Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, recruitment experts, and frontline workers exploring what genuine cultural safety looks like and how it can be embedded in organisational DNA.
Why Cultural Safety Matters in the Community Sector
Cultural safety goes beyond ticking the diversity box or delivering one-off cultural awareness training. It is about creating environments where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples feel respected, heard, and valued, where their identity is not only recognised but affirmed.
For organisations that exist to serve community, there is a moral and practical imperative to ensure First Nations peoples are safe not only in the services we deliver, but in the spaces we create as employers, colleagues, and collaborators.
Cultural safety is not passive. It is not assumed. It is cultivated through ongoing learning, reflection, and systemic change.
In the workplace, that can look like:
Embedding cultural competency across all levels of staff, including boards and leadership teams. Not just in training certificates, but in actions and behaviours.
Developing First Nations employment strategies that go beyond recruitment to include progression, retention, and cultural load acknowledgment.
Creating culturally safe pathways for leadership, influence, and self-determination within and beyond the workplace.
Recognising and removing systemic barriers and bias in policies, practices, and organisational culture.
When we centre cultural safety, we are not just better employers, we are stronger advocates, more trustworthy service providers, and more capable leaders in reconciliation.
From Awareness to Action: What This Event Will Offer
This year’s Reconciliation Week theme, “Now More Than Ever,” reminds us that reconciliation cannot afford to stall. With a growing awareness of the injustices faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, past and present, comes a greater responsibility to act.
The upcoming ACTCOSS and Gulanga Program event aims to bridge the gap between good intentions and effective action.
Attendees will walk away with:
Practical strategies to foster culturally safe work environments.
Insights into recruitment and retention practices that support First Nations employment.
Real-world examples of addressing institutional racism and cultural load.
Reflections from First Nations leaders who generously share their lived experience.
This isn’t just another panel event, it’s a path toward better workplaces and, ultimately, better outcomes for the communities we serve.
Cultural Safety and the Broader Reconciliation Agenda
Reconciliation is not a moment. It is a movement and one that must be sustained by the decisions we make every day in our workplaces.
To progress reconciliation, organisations must move from performative inclusion to genuine partnership. This means shifting power. It means listening without defensiveness. It means designing systems and structures that centre Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices, not as a favour, but as a fundamental truth of equity.
Workplaces are where we spend most of our adult lives. They are the sites of power, policy, culture, and change. If we cannot build culturally safe workplaces, how can we expect to build a reconciled nation?
The community sector has a unique role to play here. We work at the coalface of disadvantage, healing, and hope. Our work touches the lives of people who are often overlooked by traditional systems. If we get this right, we don’t just shift policy, we change people’s lives.
Addressing Systemic Barriers to First Nations Employment
First Nations peoples continue to face significant structural barriers to employment. These include:
Racism and unconscious bias in recruitment processes.
Lack of culturally safe onboarding and supervision.
Burdens of cultural load, where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff are expected to be the spokesperson, the educator, and the advocate, all on top of their role.
Limited pathways to leadership due to institutional norms that do not reflect or value Indigenous knowledge systems.
The upcoming panel will delve into these challenges with honesty and insight, offering attendees a clearer understanding of how these barriers play out, and how to dismantle them.
We must ask ourselves:
Do our hiring panels include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people?
Do our position descriptions value cultural knowledge as equally as academic qualifications?
Do we provide support structures that allow First Nations staff to thrive, not just survive?
The answers to these questions are not just HR concerns. They are acts of reconciliation.
Aligning Organisational Culture with Reconciliation Goals
Many organisations have Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs). But a RAP without cultural safety is a missed opportunity.
Cultural safety cannot be relegated to one section of a RAP or one person in an Indigenous Engagement role. It must be reflected in how we behave, who we promote, and how we make decisions.
It should shape:
Staff training and development
Policies around cultural leave and experiences
Decision-making processes that include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices from the start, not as an afterthought
This event will provide tangible guidance on how to align your reconciliation goals with the culture you’re cultivating every day.
No matter your role, whether you’re a CEO, frontline worker, board member or volunteer, you have the power to make your workplace safer, stronger, and more just.
Bring a colleague. Better yet, bring your whole team.
Let’s stop talking about reconciliation as a vague ideal, and start embedding it into the way we work, lead, and live.
Event Details (Copy to Share)
🖤💛❤️ National Reconciliation Week Event
Cultivating Cultural Safety and Reconciliation in Community Sector Workplaces
📅 Tuesday 27 May 2025
🕤 9:30am–11:30am
📍 Tuggeranong Arts Centre
✅ Free event hosted by ACTCOSS and the Gulanga Program
🎤 Featuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, recruiters, and community sector workers
🌱 Designed to offer practical tools for creating culturally safe workplaces
👉 No registration required, but RSVP encouraged for catering purposes.
Reconciliation is not a moment of reflection, it is a daily choice.
To show up.
To listen deeply.
To shift power.
To build safer spaces.
This Reconciliation Week, choose to be part of the shift. Choose to cultivate a workplace where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are safe, supported, and celebrated, not just this week, but always.
