Systems

• Prioritise culture
• Transfer power and resources to communities

• All groups within DPC considered self-determination as part of their assessment of budget bids in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 budget processes, as well as proposals for funding that fell outside formal budget processes.
• Initiatives included analyst budget training (delivered at the group level), providing policy officers with a resource to assist in analysing self-determination in budget proposals, and direct liaison with FPSR on bids.
• DPC’s budget bids must state if and how Aboriginal community representatives have been consulted on defining the problem that funding seeks to address, which ensures Aboriginal voices are central when developing bids.

• Continue to ensure self-determination informs everyday policy thinking and interactions with other departments by:
• Ensuring all groups within DPC consider self-determination as part of their assessment of budget bids in 2022-23.
• Promoting individual and whole of branch staff participation in training to embed self-determination in policy development.
• Identifying opportunities to integrate self-determination in election-year related processes, such as incoming government briefings, election commitment tracking, and broader economic recovery/budget narrative formulation.
• Strengthening collaboration with FPSR, for example by facilitating regular meetings to discuss policy/program linkages and supporting cross-group secondment opportunities.

In progress

• Prioritise culture
• Transfer power and resources to communities

• DPC’s Social Procurement Strategy supports initiatives to directly procure from Victoria’s social enterprise and Aboriginal business sectors. It also influences other suppliers to embed a range of social outcomes into their business with DPC.
• Corporate Services can grant an exemption from standard procurement processes where Aboriginal knowledge and expertise is required or if an Aboriginal business that has the required capability is identified. This process is assessed on a case-by-case basis and has been applied to a number of initiatives over the past year, including:
• Right People for Country Program film series with supplier: Singing Bowl Media
• Barring Djinang VET/TAFE Graduate Program with supplier: Indigenous Employment Partners Ltd
• Installation of IT equipment for the delivery of the VPS Suburban Hubs with supplier: Orana Commercial Relocations
• Design, development, and printing of the VGAAR and associated Aboriginal Data Dashboard, with suppliers: Little Rocket, Towcha Technology and IndigiPrint.
• DPC’s social procurement achievements from 1 July 2020 to 30 June 2021 included 32 Victorian Aboriginal businesses engaged and $519,818 of actual expenditure. This meant over two per cent of DPC’s procurement of goods and services came from Aboriginal businesses, exceeding the one per cent target set through Tharamba Bugheen: Victorian Aboriginal Business Strategy 2017-21.
• A social procurement spend dashboard, updated monthly, enables frequent monitoring of progress towards meeting the Aboriginal procurement target.

• Commence review of DPC’s Social Procurement Strategy and work with FPSR on initiatives that can be included in the next version.
• Increase Social Procurement awareness across DPC, including through: reviewing the current Social Procurement Intranet page and identifying ways of more prominently highlighting opportunities for Victorian Aboriginal businesses; and expanding the current Social Benefit Enterprise spreadsheet with known Aboriginal suppliers.
• Encourage more direct spending with Aboriginal businesses, including working closely with Kinaway to: increase the knowledge of government purchasing arrangements; assist Aboriginal businesses to apply for applicable State Purchasing Contracts; share networking opportunities; including with broader DPC buyers, and consult when undertaking a market engagement outside the State Purchasing Contract arrangements.

• Prioritise culture
• Transfer power and resources to communities
• Address trauma and support healing
• Address racism and promote cultural safety

• Self-determination has been declared a right for the first time in Victoria in s 22 of the Treaty Process Act. As a result, the State (including DPC’s Office of the General Counsel (OGC)) must consider self-determination as part of the treaty process.
• OGC has already applied this right when giving advice about the funding agreement with the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and treaty readiness agreements.
• OGC also applied this right in preparing legal advice and legal documentation for establishing and responding to the Yoorrook Justice Commission and management of the Framlingham Trust.

• Ensure that self-determination considerations, where relevant and appropriate, form part OGC’s instructions from branches within DPC. Where possible and appropriate, OGC will make those considerations when providing legal advice and preparing legal documents.
• Arrange for lawyers in OGC assisting FPSR in the treaty and truth processes to be trained in the treaty and truth processes. Work towards this training to be undertaken more broadly within OGC.

• Prioritise culture
• Transfer power and resources to communities
• Address trauma and support healing
• Address racism and promote cultural safety

• Self-determination has been declared a right for the first time in Victoria in s 22 of the Treaty Process Act. As a result, the State (including DPC’s Office of the General Counsel (OGC)) must consider self-determination as part of the treaty process.
• OGC has already applied this right when giving advice about the funding agreement with the First Peoples’ Assembly of Victoria and treaty readiness agreements.
• OGC also applied this right in preparing legal advice and legal documentation for establishing and responding to the Yoorrook Justice Commission and management of the Framlingham Trust.

• Ensure that self-determination considerations, where relevant and appropriate, form part OGC’s instructions from branches within DPC. Where possible and appropriate, OGC will make those considerations when providing legal advice and preparing legal documents.
• Arrange for lawyers in OGC assisting FPSR in the treaty and truth processes to be trained in the treaty and truth processes. Work towards this training to be undertaken more broadly within OGC.

• Prioritise culture
• Transfer power and resources to communities

• DPC’s release of the Victorian Government’s Place-Based Reform Framework in 2020 provided the VPS with a common platform for adopting place-based and place-focussed approaches when working with communities. This Framework encourages government to engage communities, pay attention to local needs and wants, and leverage the passion and expertise of local people.
• The Framework includes principles to ensure Traditional Owners and Aboriginal Victorians are meaningfully engaged throughout place-based processes and supported to make decisions in accordance with principles of self-determination.

• Continue to play a supporting role on government’s place-based reform work which is now being led by the Department of Jobs, Precincts and Regions, ensuring that self-determination remains central to the implementation of the Framework across government.
• Progress partnership actions under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, including the establishment of policy partnerships and place-based partnerships through the new Closing the Gap Partnership Forum.

Progress

• Prioritise culture
• Transfer power and resources to communities

• The Department of Health led the Aboriginal-specific COVID-19 response during 2021, with FPSR playing a supporting role.
• FPSR led the development of a $23 million whole of government Aboriginal community COVID-19 response budget package. This included funding ACCOs and mainstream services to deliver place-based and culturally safe COVID-19 testing and vaccination services, targeted communications and engagement, health care, accommodation, surge workforce, and emergency relief.
• FPSR led delivery of a $10 million COVID-19 Aboriginal Community Response and Recovery Fund to support community-led responses (see Case Study 2.2.1).

FPSR

In progress

• Address racism and promote cultural safety

• Established in June 2021 and convened by the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples and the Minister for Multicultural Affairs, the Anti-Racism Taskforce provides strategic advice and recommendations to ensure the new Anti-Racism Strategy is developed with a clear and targeted roadmap to reducing racism in Victoria. The Department of Families, Fairness and Housing (DFFH) is coordinating this work.
• FPSR supported DFFH in establishing the Taskforce and provides ongoing policy liaison advice to ensure the experiences and voices of First Peoples are represented. This included securing two Aboriginal-specific positions on the Taskforce, participating in the selection panel to choose Taskforce members and facilitating community engagement and roundtables.

• Continue to support DFFH to ensure that the experiences and voices of First Peoples contribute to the development of anti-racism initiatives.

• Prioritise culture
• Transfer power and resources to communities

• DPC must leverage the breadth and depth of its expertise, strategic awareness and networks to enable self-determination.
• In November 2021, the DPC Board of Management approved the establishment of the Subcommittee to support DPC to progress significant reforms in the Treaty and First Peoples portfolio, and to provide advice on improving internal systems, policies and processes to better enable self-determination.

• Use the Subcommittee to progress areas of work committed through this Report and identify further areas for reform across DPC. The Subcommittee will also be used to ensure all areas of DPC are progressing, and accountable to, their actions under the SDRF.
• The Subcommittee will also consider DPC’s Aboriginal Workforce Strategy, currently being developed by People and Culture.

• Prioritise culture
• Transfer power and resources to communities

• Barriers to participation on government boards may be linked to inequalities relating to Aboriginality, race, religion, ethnicity, disability, age, sexual orientation, visa status and more.
• DPC supported DFFH to develop the Diversity on Victorian Government Boards Guidelines (Guidelines), which offer general advice aimed at increasing diversity on boards, including through advice tailored to specific cohorts that experience barriers to participation.

• Continue to support this critical piece of work to ensure Aboriginal people are represented on both ‘mainstream’ boards and those with specific mandates for First Peoples affairs, given all areas of policy impact First Peoples.

• Address racism and promote cultural safety
• Transfer power and resources to communities

• FPSR participated in an intergovernmental project team to design and deliver a data sharing scoping project as part of the Intergovernmental Agreement on Data Sharing (IGA) between the Commonwealth, State and Territory Governments.
• The IGA commits all jurisdictions to share data related to Closing the Gap where it can be done safely, securely, lawfully and ethically.

• Ensure the Victorian Government is meeting its data sharing obligations and priority data development commitments under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

• Prioritise culture
• Transfer power and resources to communities

• FPSR worked collaboratively with Victorian Traditional Owners to understand how VPS staff can better support strong relationships and engagement between the Victorian Government and Traditional Owners of regions without formal recognition.