Indigenous Program Development

Diversity Australia ( DA) is committed to improving and sustaining employment outcomes for people from diverse backgrounds. We recognise the knowledge, insights and capabilities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with their strength, resilience and cultural competence being highly valued in today’s workforce as we extend the cultural boundaries of employment practices.

Meeting the challenges of the future require a workforce that actively reflects the community that we all serve. Workplaces that embrace a diverse and inclusive environment can unlock new perspectives and ways of solving problems through these workplaces to generate creativity and innovation, and produce more sustainable and effective outcomes for everyone.

If we are to capably respond to the needs of the community, the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the DA must increase in our workforce and Diversity Australia brings an unparalleled experience in creating opportunities for engagement, attraction and retention of indigenous staff for all occupations.

Diversity Australia and its team work with your organisaiton to source and secure employment for more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in all occupations, levels of employment and locations throughout Australia.

Diversity Australia recommends the use of the Affirmative measure – Indigenous employment when recruiting to ensure genuine changes to our workforce occurs.  This is achieved by adopting a sustained cross-Government  / cross Private Sector focus on strengthening cultural competence of all staff to encouraged to development the skills, knowledge and practices they will need to perform their duties in a culturally informed way.

Diversity Australia works with workplaces to ensure they are inclusive by nature and practice with diverse perspectives, including those of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples which should be at the forefront of all our agendas.

TALK WITH US ABOUT YOUR ATTRACTION & DEVELOPMENT PROGRAM NEEDS

Who We Are

Diversity Australia is a specialist community and economic development consultancy firm working with, and for, Aboriginal and Torres-Strait Islander Australians. Diversity Australia works with individuals, communities, industry, government and non-government agencies and organisations at all levels to design, engage and promote effective tools for economic and social developmental change.

In all our work, Diversity Australia places particular importance on:

  • Designing and implementing change with (not for) Aboriginal Australians that  actually works over the long-term;
  • Delivering outstanding value and impact in our products and services;
  • Empowerment and capacity building of Aboriginal Australians; and
  • Assistance with implementation.

The term ‘Indigenous’ in our company name refers to Aboriginal people as well as Torres Strait Islander people. We recognise that some people dislike the term Indigenous and some people dislike the term Aboriginal. We have respect for both these views.  Part of our longer term vision is to provide innovative game-changing strategies and services for other Indigenous cultures around the world, such as New Zealand’s Maori people and North America’s American Indian people. For this reason the term ‘Indigenous’ is more appropriate.

Diversity Australia is the leading advisory group to industry in Australia and Intentionally providing our experience and resources to work with and for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities, government agencies, non-government organisations (NGOs) and corporates that support and work with them.

We advise corporate clients who want to include more Indigenous people and businesses in their workforces and supply chains. Our aim is to enable greater economic participation, employment and wealth creation by boosting Indigenous workforce participation, procurement and supply chain diversity.

Diversity Australia recognises that, given the opportunity, Indigenous people are resilient and capable and will define and negotiate their participation in the economic, social and cultural life of their communities and the nation.    We acknowledge the challenges and disadvantage that Indigenous people continue to face and we take these into consideration so that collaborative and appropriate solutions can be designed and implemented and through our work we seek to draw out solutions that promote Indigenous empowerment to promote wellbeing, prosperity, success and intergenerational wealth creation for all people.

Our guiding business principles that Diversity Australia work within is all about respect for Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander peoples’ cultures and their history.  We ensure that we are informed by Indigenous engagement, leadership and experience and understand the key focus of relationships before transactions occur.  We deliver against a partnership model that is purpose led and responds to Indigenous needs that are commercially sustainable and have a long term outcomes / impact approach over a  short-term win viewpoint.

Our Difference

  • We help clients design tools and strategies that actually work and that clients can manage themselves;
  • We take into account cultural, social, family and other crucial aspects to find a strategy that actually works long-term. Most consulting firms use a standard mainstream approach, which is not reflective of the challenges Aboriginal people and organisations encounter;
  • We are committed to long-term change and long-term economic and social development and assist clients to implement change that actually works;
  • We are absolutely committed and passionate to having a positive impact for Aboriginal (and Torres Strait) Australians;
  • Our directors and our team is made up of Aboriginal people and non-Aboriginal people with shared goals and passions;
  • We understand what works, and what doesn’t work when creating sustainable Aboriginal organisations and projects;
  • We understand what stakeholders want and need, to engage with Aboriginal organisations;
  • We have extensive industry knowledge and access to a wide network of associates and industry experts; and
  • We are completely committed to cultural outcomes but believe it is not our role to advance cultural outcomes as this is entirely the remit of our clients. All our projects and methodology places immense importance on cultural outcomes, under the guidance of the people we work alongside.

Our Approach

To successfully deliver sustainable change to organisations, we adopt a hands‐on approach with a focus on practical long‐term solutions. Through our intensive mentoring and support we assist our clients in building partnerships that address real, rather than perceived needs and consider capacity, cultural security and community barriers.

We seek to engage and enthuse our clients via highly skilled facilitation methods. These methods are based upon a deep understanding of effective engagement techniques. We also build strong, collaborative relationships with our clients and engage support networks around them in their community.

We are committed to the concept of ‘doing ourselves out of a job’. This means that we engage our clients in a capacity building process throughout the project, with the end goal of building the ability to undertake tasks that would normally be outsourced to a consultant.

Corporate Social Responsibility

Diversity Australia is committed to Indigenous empowerment, and that starts with how we do business. Our commitment is to:
  • Engage Aboriginal consultants as staff and associates wherever possible.
  • Provision of 10% of our time on a pro-bono basis to Indigenous organisations that couldn’t otherwise access our services.

Appropriate professional expertise can really make a world of difference and our vision is to raise the bar with continuous improvement for professional people working with, or for, Aboriginal Australians.

Current Active Industry Provider Panel Memberships

  • Indigenous Business Australia (IBA)
  • Indigenous Literacy Foundations
  • Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (Previously Department of Education, Employment and Work place Relations (DEEWR) – Indigenous Employment Program (IEP) Panel member
  • Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (Previously Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) – Participatory Planning, Research and Evaluation Panel member
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