Submissions open for Wagga City Council Reconciliation Action Plan

The draft RAP will be on public exhibition for 28 days, with resident submissions open until December 21.

This is the council's second RAP, endorsed by Reconciliation Australia and developed by the community and reconciliation groups which consist of First Nations Elders and people and council staff.

Proud Wiradjuri Elder, Aunty Mary Atkinson said she believes the RAP is a positive step forward for our First Nations community and is particularly happy with the focus on employment and retention.

One of the key deliverables is developing and implementing an employment and retention strategy, which will give First Nations people better employment opportunities, including within the council, and more support.

"First, I would like to recognise Aunty Isabel Reid for starting the work and journey of reconciliation," Aunty Mary said.

"It's been a long process about how we can work together and have that mutual respect for each other and how we are being inclusive and it has started from the leadership down which is what I really, really like.

"There's always more room for improvement, but I am particularly excited about the employment and retention strategy. We have lots of talented young ones that are growing up so we have to think about their future."

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Wagga City Council director of community Janice Summerhayes said the strategy will look to employ First Nations people across various roles within the council.

"That can be ranging from dedicated officers, like our designated Aboriginal Development Officer or in human resources or engineering as well as traineeships," she said.

"At the moment we have just appointed a traineeship in an environmental health area [a First Nations Public Health Officer], that's a six-year appointment and supporting that individual through university studies to achieve that person's degree.

"So it's actually a conscious application to moving from just the traditional look of council employing First Nations people in outdoor settings and moving the role away from that- it's also important there are roles in all council disciplines."

Aunty Mary said the appointment of a First Nations Health Officer is an important move.

"We need to be seen to make those sorts of decisions with public health because a lot of our community are in health situations so it's very important that we have an identified position there," Aunty Mary said.

"We can build on that- we don't want these positions either to be tokenism, we want these to be sustainable and for workers to be supported in that."

Aunty Mary is encouraging our First Nations community and the wider community to remain positive as we look for reconciliation.

"It's all about positives- as a community we are sick of the deficits, we have to roll on and be more positive for our young ones," she said.

Wiradjuri/Wiradyuri and First Nations Elder Aunty Cheryl Penrith said the consultation that has occurred in the development of the RAP demonstrates the council's commitment to reconciliation to empower our local First nations community here in Wagga.

Ms Summerhayes said there are going to be a lot more key focuses highlighted in the future.

"We hope that after these two years we can apply for a STRETCH RAP- that will build on this," she said.

"We are still constantly consulting with our community- it's been a continued consultation with the community for the last 12 months for this one."

The RAP includes messages from our local Wiradjuri Elders describing their truth-telling stories and providing deeper insight into Wagga's history.

It also takes strong guidance on how the council reflects the Wiradjuri/Wiradyuri and First Nations community in Wagga.

During consultations in the RAP process, the discussion around the artwork for the document occurred in which council received 22 submissions, 21 of which were from young people.

A family of four young people who submitted as a group were selected. These local Wiradjuri/Wiradyuri young people were aged 9, 11,13 and 15 years old.

They then undertook two weeks of consultative workshops with Council's Aboriginal Community Development Officer and Elders to develop and finalise concepts for Council's RAP.

There are four key areas for the draft RAP which include relationships, respect, opportunities and governance.

Residents can review the document and make a submission at www.connect.wagga.nsw.gov.au/draft-rap.

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