Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan August 2020–2022

The Reserve Bank of Australia's vision is for meaningful engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our role as Australia's central bank, recognising and respecting the contribution of Australia's First Nations peoples to our social and economic progress. Building upon our 2018/2019 Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan, we will achieve this vision and empower all Australians through diversity and inclusion in all areas of our day-to-day work.

• Download the 2020–2022 Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan 5.2MB

Acknowledgement of Country

The Reserve Bank of Australia acknowledges the Traditional Owners of the land and pays its respects to their Elders, both past and present.

The Head Office of the Reserve Bank of Australia is located in Sydney, Gadigal Country, with representative offices in Melbourne (Kulin), Canberra (Ngunnawal), Perth (Whadjuk), Brisbane (Turrbal) and Adelaide (Kaurna). We have facilities in outer Melbourne (Gunung-Willam-Balluk people of the Kulin Nation) and a business recovery centre northwest of the Sydney CBD (Darug). We also have staff representatives in offices located in London, New York and Beijing.

Our Vision for Reconciliation

The Reserve Bank of Australia's vision is for meaningful engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our role as Australia's central bank, recognising and respecting the contribution of Australia's First Nations peoples to our social and economic progress. We will achieve this vision and empower all Australians through diversity and inclusion in all areas of our day-to-day work.

Cover: Peter Dunkley, Untitled portrait of Lowena Mununggurritj (2019), Mural painted from portrait photographs taken by Leicolhn McKellar, Dawurr Boarding Facility, Nhulunbuy, East Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, 3 July 2019.

Foreword

I am pleased to introduce the Reserve Bank's ‘Innovate’ Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). Our first RAP, launched in 2018, reflected on the Bank's existing relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and set out actions to increase awareness and respect for First Nations cultures within our organisation. Today, we launch the Innovate RAP, which builds on those actions and focuses on opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our role as Australia's central bank.

This focus on opportunities is important. Last year I visited Yirrkala in Northeast Arnhem Land, following in the footsteps of the Reserve Bank's first Governor, Dr HC ‘Nugget’ Coombs. Dr Coombs developed a deep connection with the Yolngu people of the region and championed reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples during his long and distinguished career serving the Australian public and, following that, in his retirement. Two members of the Reserve Bank Board and Dr Coombs' granddaughter, Susan Moylan-Coombs, herself a Woolwonga and Gurindji woman from the Northern Territory, travelled with me.

We were privileged during the visit to have discussions with many leaders of the Yolngu people, to pay our respects to their Elders, and experience a number of the community's commercial and cultural endeavours. We were able to see first-hand the tremendous successes of these endeavours and how this community has worked hard to capitalise on opportunities as they emerged. Like many remote communities, they continue to face numerous challenges but they are also best placed to deal with them given the right opportunities and information.

As Australia's central bank, the Reserve Bank seeks to create employment and business opportunities through the implementation of monetary policy. To this, we can add education and liaison to increase awareness of economic and financial matters so that Indigenous communities are in the best position to make informed financial decisions. There is also much we ourselves have to learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and their long-standing care for community and Country. To this end, we will look for opportunities to increase employment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within the Reserve Bank. As an organisation whose values include serving the Australian public, we understand that we are more effective in our work with an inclusive workforce that considers a range of views and experiences, and values the contribution of our First Nations people. There is work to do on this. Currently, less than one per cent of Reserve Bank staff identify as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.

The Reserve Bank supports reconciliation with our First Nations peoples. We support it because it is the right thing to do, because it enriches our organisation and our community, and because our charter responsibilities are to all Australians. We acknowledge the contribution of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to society, the economy, and the environment. By implementing the activities outlined in the Innovate RAP, we aim to create opportunities for First Nations people and, alongside our current programs to raise cultural awareness, help further reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous peoples.

Philip Lowe
Governor, Reserve Bank of Australia

Our Business

The Reserve Bank of Australia is the nation's central bank, deriving its functions and powers from the Reserve Bank Act 1959. It determines and implements monetary policy, fosters financial stability, undertakes a range of activities in financial markets and banking, issues Australia's banknotes and has policy, supervisory and operational roles in Australia's payments system. As well as being a policy-making body, the Bank provides selected banking and registry services to a range of Australian government agencies and to a number of overseas central banks and official institutions. It also manages Australia's gold and foreign exchange reserves. Our core organisational values are the promotion of the public interest, integrity, excellence, intelligent inquiry and respect. Consistent with our enabling Act, we aim to carry out our role and apply these values in such a way as to contribute to the economic prosperity and welfare of the people of Australia.

The Bank has two boards: the Reserve Bank Board, which has responsibility for monetary policy and financial stability and the Bank's policy on other matters excluding payments system policy; and the Payments System Board, which has responsibility for matters relating to payments system policy. Subject to those matters, the Bank is managed by the Governor. The Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act 2013 (PGPA Act) also imposes particular responsibilities on the Governor concerning management of the Bank. Additional Bank governance structures include an Audit Committee and a Remuneration Committee. The primary objectives of the Audit Committee are to assist the Governor and the Board in fulfilling their obligations relating to financial reporting, risk management and fraud control, and regulatory compliance. The Remuneration Committee makes recommendations to the Board on remuneration arrangements for Bank staff, including the Governor and Deputy Governor.

The Head Office of the Reserve Bank of Australia is located in Sydney, Gadigal country, with representative offices in Melbourne (Kulin), Canberra (Ngunnawal), Perth (Whadjuk), Brisbane (Turrbal) and Adelaide (Kaurna).We have facilities in outer Melbourne (Gunung-Willam-Balluk people of the Kulin Nation) and a business recovery centre northwest of the Sydney CBD (Darug). We also have staff representatives in offices located in London, New York and Beijing. As at February 2020, the Bank had 1,378 employees, of which two were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees.

History of our RAP

The Reserve Bank has strong ties to reconciliation through the interests in Aboriginal culture of our first Governor, Dr HC ‘Nugget’ Coombs.

Dr Coombs championed the representation of Aboriginal artwork in the design of the first decimal currency banknotes, and inspired the Reserve Bank's collection of bark paintings, which were acquired by his successor, Sir John Phillips. Following his retirement from the Bank, Dr Coombs actively supported Aboriginal land rights.

Celebrating NAIDOC Week is a long-standing tradition within the Bank. Since 2017, we have also observed National Reconciliation Week, helping to raise employee awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and histories. Cultural awareness activities within our organisation have also included workshops on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural protocols. We have introduced the practice of Acknowledgement of Country and have developed guidelines for Bank staff to use this practice.

The Bank has developed successful partnerships with organisations that provide internship and training opportunities for Indigenous secondary and university students. We are also investigating opportunities to expand our public education programme to more school students, and to engage with and support Indigenous businesses through procurement initiatives.

The staff and management of the Bank recognise that reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other non-Aboriginal Australians is the right thing to do. We understand that as an organisation that works in the public interest, we are more effective, and therefore our community is better served, by having an understanding of cultural differences and a diverse workforce. This means including and working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in our day-to-day activities.

Our reconciliation journey started in 2018 with the Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan. Implementing the Innovate RAP in 2020 is an important next step to develop and consolidate our commitment to achieving these goals of reconciliation.

Our Innovate RAP

The Bank's second RAP is an important step continuing Dr Coombs' legacy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advocacy, and our subsequent efforts to promote the welfare and prosperity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As such, the Bank re-formed its RAP Working Group in 2020. This group includes an Aboriginal consultant, senior sponsor and staff members. The Bank also engages with and seeks counsel from the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community more broadly.

Our RAP is championed by the Bank's Diversity & Inclusion Council and has the strong support of the Bank's executive. It was developed by the working group, in consultation with a range of internal and external stakeholders. The members of the working group also form the Bank's Indigenous Employee Resource Group (ERG), which is responsible for promoting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander inclusion within the organisation.

Our RAP is underpinned by our commitment to reconciliation through engaging and involving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the Bank's work. It is consistent with our objectives of having a diverse and inclusive workplace, and contributing to economic prosperity and welfare of the people of Australia. We intend to continue the work started with our Reflect RAP in three ways:

• Increase awareness and respect – raise awareness among our staff of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures in a way that furthers reconciliation between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other Australians.
• Build relationships – work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by drawing on the Bank's unique position as Australia's central bank and the skill and expertise of its staff.
• Provide opportunities – position the Bank as a respectful employer of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Current Membership of the RAP Working Group

Current membership of the RAP Working Group is:

Assistant Governor, Business Services Group (Executive Sponsor)

Director, Gaimaragal Group

Economist, Economic Analysis – Regional and Industry Analysis

Economist, Economic Analysis – Regional and Industry Analysis

Librarian, Economic Research Department (Chair)

Manager, Institutional Markets

Senior Manager, Information Technology

Senior Manager, Procurement

Senior Web Developer

Susan Moylan-Coombs has advised and assisted us in our reconciliation journey.

Susan is the Director of the Gaimaragal Group, and her ancestry is from the oldest surviving living culture on the planet. She is a Woolwonga Gurindji woman from the Northern Territory and was taken at birth from her parents, who were also removed as part of the government policy of the day; these children are known as the Stolen Generations.

Born Susan Calma, she is related to Professor Tom Calma, the former Human Rights & Equal Opportunities Commission; Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner.

At the age of three years, the eldest son of Dr H.C. “Nugget” Coombs, the first governor of the Reserve Bank, adopted Susan. Raised on the Northern Beaches of Sydney, Gai-mariagal lands, she became Susan Coombs.

Today Susan Moylan-Coombs has extensive experience working with First Nations communities nationally, with specific expertise as a cultural curator, a conduit linking community with business, and an advocate for empowerment, healing and wellbeing through the facilitation of voice and truth telling in our national narrative.

Learnings from our Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan

Since initiating our first RAP, the Bank has concentrated on raising the profile of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples both within our organisation and externally, and determining how we are best placed to promote the welfare and prosperity of Australia's First Nations Peoples under our mandate as a central bank. We quickly determined that the best way to do this was with direct consultation and engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples themselves.

Consequently, along with seeking to bolster the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees by offering dedicated traineeship and internship positions, we also invited nine prominent First Nations Elders, knowledge holders, financial professionals and academics to share their insights into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' economic conditions, practices and cultural heritage. Whether organised workshops, formal panel conversations or informal discussion circles led by Elders, this knowledge sharing outlined the historical and structural causes that prevent many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities from flourishing to their full potential. It also deepened our appreciation for the profound wisdom our First Nations cultures have with respect to caring for community and Country – wisdom that will be important for Australia to draw upon as it confronts the challenges of social and ecological change.

As Australia's central bank, we now see it as one of our responsibilities to draw attention to the economic conditions and insights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, insofar as they pertain to the economic variables relevant to monetary policy – output, employment and price stability. We have begun this journey by increasing the visibility of Aboriginal cultures in Sydney's Martin Place, becoming the first institution on this street to permanently fly the Aboriginal flag. We have also begun developing relationships with the First Nations peoples of Arnhem land and the Sydney areas specifically the Rirratjingu, Gumatj, Yuin, D'harawal, Wiradjuri and Gaimaragal – relationships which we will expand to other communities, and use to inform our research output and public engagement in the coming years.

Relationships

Directly engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses and communities is an important way for the Bank to consider the perspectives of all Australians, as we fulfil our mandate of promoting the welfare and prosperity of the Australian people.

Respect

The Reserve Bank of Australia strives to create a diverse and inclusive workplace, one which has respect at the centre of our interactions with all Bank staff and the public.

Opportunities

The Bank has a continued focus on creating employment and educational opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and graduates, and working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses. We are aiming to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff in the Bank's workforce.

Governance

Cover Artwork

This document features murals that are painted on the walls of the Dawurr Boarding facility at Nhulunbuy High School, East Arnhem Land (1,000 km east of Darwin), on the lands of the Yolngu people. Dawurr means ‘honey bee’ in Yolngu Matha, the Yolngu tongue. The murals were commissioned to celebrate the school's students, who come to the school from communities as far as 500 km away.

The Bank is connected to East Arnhem Land through our first Governor, Nugget Coombs, who was a passionate advocate for Aboriginal rights. Nugget formed a deep connection with the people of Yirrkala, from his time as Governor and during his retirement. His passing was marked by a ceremony in which he was accorded full Aboriginal funeral rites, the first white person to receive such an honour by the Yirrkala people. Part of his ashes are buried at Yirrkala.

Following a Reserve Bank Board Meeting in Darwin in July 2019, Governor Philip Lowe visited Yirrkala to unveil a plaque to formally mark the place of burial. During this trip, the Governor also toured the Dawurr boarding facility, along with other local businesses.

Credits

Artist

Peter Dunkley, a youth worker and visual artist from Yirrkala, painted the works for the school. He describes his works as honest, showing the subject's identity and story without hidden meaning. Peter is passionate about publicly accessible art, and has taught himself the techniques to transfer small images to large murals. He paints his work freehand.

@petersdunkley

Photographer

Leicolhn McKellar, a Budjiti woman from South West Queensland, took the original photos the murals are based on. She is a youth worker and has 10 years' experience working as a photographer, specialising in lifestyle, wedding and commercial photography. Her passion lies in documenting Aboriginal stories through an Aboriginal lens, and thus celebrating the talents and strengths of her subjects.

@leicolhnmckellar_photography
www.leicolhnmckellarphotography.com.au

Subjects

Cover and back page on right: Lowena Mununggurritj, a young Gumatj woman who is kind and compassionate with a keen interest in sports and trying out new things.

Back page left: Shakira Nabegeyo-Cooper is a Year 12 graduate from 2019. She is an artist herself, creating paintings and jewellery, but also likes to use her physical skills as a basketballer.

Back page centre: Savannah Marambu is a boarding student from the Warruwi people and has since returned home. Her smile lights up a room, especially when she is also dancing or singing.

This information was provided by Peter Dunkley, Leicolhn Mackellar and the Dawurr Boarding Facility at Nhulunbuy High School. The artworks have been reproduced with the permission of all parties.

Contact Details

Public enquiries can be made via the RBA Media Office

Phone: +61 2 9551 9720
Email: rbainfo@rba.gov.au