We acknowledge and respect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as South Australia’s (SA) First Nations peoples, and recognise First Nations peoples as Traditional Owners and occupants of lands and waters in SA.

We recognise:

• the spiritual, social, cultural and economic practices of First Nations peoples come from their connection to traditional lands and waters
• maintaining cultural and heritage beliefs, languages and laws are of ongoing importance to First Nations peoples today
• First Nations peoples have made and continue to make a unique and irreplaceable contribution to SA.

We acknowledge First Nations peoples have endured past injustice and dispossession of their traditional lands and waters and the effects of such injustice and dispossession are still felt today.

I am pleased to present the Attorney-General’s Department third Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). We have an important role in making sure that our laws keep people safe, the rights of individuals are protected and that our laws are administered fairly. Our RAP outlines the actions we will take to promote reconciliation and deliver justice services to the community.

Through our RAP, we will ensure the Attorney-General’s Department and the statutory offices and boards and committees in the Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General and Industrial Relations portfolios are culturally sensitive and safe places to work for our First Nations employees, and our staff embrace a culture of respect. We will celebrate First Nations cultures and promote equality and cultural diversity.

We are committed to engaging with First Nations peoples, communities and organisations to inform our work. Our aim is that all services delivered are accessible and culturally inclusive.

This RAP is a progression from the Attorney-General’s Department previous Innovate RAP. It will guide our policies and programs and strengthen our commitment to the reconciliation process, including using our sphere of influence to drive reconciliation.

Caroline Mealor
Chief Executive
Attorney-General’s Department

Reconciliation Australia commends the Attorney-General’s Department of South Australia on the formal endorsement of its third Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).

Since 2006, RAPs have provided a framework for organisations to leverage their structures and diverse spheres of influence to support the national reconciliation movement.

With close to 3 million people now either working or studying in an organisation with a RAP, the program’s potential for impact is greater than ever. The SA Attorney-General’s Department continues to be part of a strong network of more than 2,200 corporate, government, and not-for-profit organisations that have taken goodwill and transformed it into action.

The four RAP types — Reflect, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate — allow RAP partners to continuously strengthen reconciliation commitments and constantly strive to apply learnings in new ways.

An Innovate RAP is a crucial and rewarding period in an organisation’s reconciliation journey. It is a time to build the strong foundations and relationships that ensure sustainable, thoughtful, and impactful RAP outcomes into the future.

An integral part of building these foundations is reflecting on and cataloguing the successes and challenges of previous RAPs. Learnings gained through effort and innovation are invaluable resources that the Department will continuously draw upon to create RAP commitments rooted in experience and maturity.

These learnings extend to the Attorney-General’s Department using the lens of reconciliation to better understand its core business, sphere of influence, and diverse community of staff and stakeholders.

The RAP program’s emphasis on relationships, respect, and opportunities gives organisations a framework from which to foster connections with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples rooted in mutual collaboration and trust.

This Innovate RAP is an opportunity for the Department to strengthen these relationships, gain crucial experience, and nurture connections that will become the lifeblood of its future RAP commitments. By enabling and empowering staff to contribute to this process, the Attorney-General’s Department will ensure shared and cooperative success in the long-term.

Gaining experience and reflecting on pertinent learnings will ensure the sustainability of the Department’s future RAPs and reconciliation initiatives, providing meaningful impact toward Australia’s reconciliation journey.

Congratulations to the SA Attorney-General’s Department on your third Innovate RAP and I look forward to following your ongoing reconciliation journey.

Karen Mundine
Chief Executive
Reconciliation Australia

Our vision for reconciliation is to build a safe, fair and inclusive SA for all. We are committed to working with First Nations peoples to ensure justice services are accessible, our laws are administered fairly, and rights are respected.

Across the Attorney-General’s Department, there are 1,300 active staff employed, 3.1% of whom identify as First Nations peoples. The Attorney-General’s Department operates in 22 office locations.

We provide justice, legal and legislative and policy services to meet the needs of the community and the SA Government, as well as a broad range of services for business and individuals. Importantly, Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation is a business unit of the Attorney-General’s Department, working with Aboriginal people, communities and organisations to:

• empower Aboriginal people to have a stronger voice in government decision-making
• support the state’s three Aboriginal landholding authorities: the Aboriginal Lands Trust, Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara and Maralinga Tjarutja
• encourage engagement with Aboriginal stakeholders by the government, business and community sectors
• recognise and celebrate the contributions of Aboriginal culture and peoples to South Australian society
• partner with Aboriginal people to protect and preserve Aboriginal heritage
• work with Aboriginal South Australians to ensure that the needs of Aboriginal people and communities are met, including in areas of identified disadvantage, as well as those of strength.

The Attorney-General’s Department also supports the following functions:

• State Records SA
• SA Civil and Administrative Tribunal
• SA Employment Tribunal
• SafeWork SA
• Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions
• Forensic Science SA
• Royal Commission response unit
• State Redress Response units
• Public Trustee
• Office for the Commissioner for Victims’ Rights
• Office of the Public Advocate
• Ombudsman SA
• Office for the Commissioner for Equal Opportunity
• Office of Public Integrity
• Small Business Commissioner
• Consumer and Business Services
• Industrial Relations and Policy
• Office of the Commissioner for Public Sector Employment.

Our work priorities that are particularly relevant to First Nations South Australians include:

• our commitment to increase the number of First Nations staff employed in the Attorney-General’s Department and to provide work experience opportunities to First Nations students
• working with Traditional Owners and land users to determine native title rights
• building future leaders through development programs such as the Aboriginal Power Cup
• ensuring First Nations peoples have access to free and culturally appropriate legal assistance services
• working with the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement to enhance First Nations advocacy on new justice-related policies and legislation
• supporting a fair marketplace through consumer awareness and complaints handling, including by producing education material in First Nations languages
• working to address discrimination.

The following boards and committees within the Attorney-General, Aboriginal Affairs and Industrial relations portfolios contribute to this RAP:

• Aboriginal Lands Trust
• Da Costa Samaritan Fund Trust
• Industrial Relations Consultative Council
• Mining and Quarrying Occupational Health and Safety Committee
• Privacy Committee of SA
• Return to Work Corporation of SA Board
• Return to Work Ministers Advisory Committee
• South Australian Aboriginal Advisory Council
• State Aboriginal Heritage Council
• State Records Council
• Training Centre Review Board.

Our key reconciliation achievements to date include:

• Increasing the number of First Nations people we employ from 1.7% in June 2019, to 2.7% in June 2021, to 2.9% in December 2022, up to 3.1% in December 2023.
• Between July 2021 and June 2023, 120 employees completing face to face cultural awareness training, and 605 employees completing online cultural awareness training.
• Engaging with First Nations stakeholders, including the SA Aboriginal Advisory Council, Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement, Ngaanyatjarra Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council, and the Narungga Nation Aboriginal Corporation.
• Establishing a Custody Notification Service in South Australia, in conjunction with the Australian Government, the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement and SA Police.
• Promoting campaigns to First Nations peoples to keep scams out of their communities (information about current campaigns can be found at www.cbs.sa.gov.au/indigenous-consumers).
• Two staff members participating in the Jawun Secondment Program.
• Waiving fees in Consumer and Business Services for First Nations people who wish to change their legal name to their traditional name.
• Implementing protocols for acknowledging Traditional Owners of places where our meetings are held.
• Launch of the Anti-Racism Strategy 2023-2028 to equip the South Australian Public Sector to fight racism.
• Working with boards and committees within the Attorney-General’s Department, as well as statutory offices, to encourage them to further develop their respective reconciliation efforts.
• Establishing an Aboriginal Reference Group to advise State Records SA, the State Library of South Australia and other archive institutions on the implementation of a response to the Tandanya-Adelaide Declaration.
• Appointing an Aboriginal Access Officer within State Records SA to support the Senior Aboriginal Access Officer to improve First Nations peoples’ access to the State Archive collection.
• Naming three meeting rooms after prominent First Nations people: Irene Watson, SA’s first First Nations lawyer; Gladys Elphick, founding member of the Council of Aboriginal Women of SA; and David Unaipon, who made significant contributions to science and literature and to improvements in the conditions of First Nations people.
• Naming two meeting rooms after passionate advocates for the legal rights of First Nations people: Chris Vass SM, who founded the Aboriginal Sentencing Court, now known as Nunga Court; and Claire Mallinson (former National Director of Amnesty International Australia).
• Naming one meeting room after a court case which gave validity of active, positive measures to protect Aboriginal people: Gerhardy v Brown.
• Updating meeting agenda templates on the Attorney-General’s Department intranet to include an Acknowledgement of Country.
• Displaying First Nations artwork in prominent locations in our buildings.
• Robust RAP governance with an active RAP Champion, regular RAP Working Group meetings and regular presentations by the Aboriginal Engagement Consultant to the Executive Management Group.

Organising or participating in the following reconciliation events:

• Reconciliation SA’s NRW Breakfast
• Quiz nights
• First Nations film viewings
• Tours of First Nations collections (eg State Archives, SA Museum, Art Gallery of SA) ○ First Nations cultural performances
• Morning teas.

Additionally, we have established a number of key partnerships, which we have and are committed to strengthening. These include:

• Port Adelaide Football Club Power Community Ltd to deliver the Aboriginal Power Cup and other programs aimed at promoting increased awareness of First Nations cultures.
• Tauondi College to identify First Nations candidates for our trainee placements.
• The Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement to provide legal services to First Nations peoples and advocate to the Government on behalf of First Nations justice issues.
• Nunkuwarrin Yunti to provide free copying of State Records for members of the Stolen Generations as part of the Link-Up SA Program.
• A formal Partnership Agreement between the South Australian Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation Network (SAACCON) and the South Australian Government, committing the government to equal participation and shared decision making.

We are developing another RAP to further strengthen our cultural competency as an organisation, to ensure our First Nations employees feel culturally safe and have opportunities to develop their careers, and to further solidify our relationships and partnerships with our external First Nations stakeholders.

This RAP builds on and incorporates key learnings from the department’s Innovate RAP July 2014 – June 2017 and Innovate RAP July 2019 – June 2021. These include:

• Our reconciliation initiatives must be embedded into our core business to ensure longevity, buy in and responsibility for reconciliation sits with all employees and business units.
• We will support employee understanding of how their role relates to reconciliation both as employees and a member of the community.
• A key part of embedding reconciliation in core business is communicating to our staff about our reconciliation achievements and other important reconciliation information.

The areas of focus in this RAP are:

• Building strong relationships and collaborative partnerships with First Nations peoples and organisations.
• Respecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the First Peoples of SA and recognising their achievements and contributions to the community and to our work.
• Providing opportunities for First Nations peoples through employment, procurement and funding specific programs.

This RAP was developed by the RAP Working Group through engagement with Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation, other business units within the Attorney-General’s Department and the Executive Management Group. Consultation was undertaken with the boards and committees in the Attorney-General portfolio as well as statutory offices.

The RAP is championed by the Executive Director, Policy and Community who ensures reconciliation is a key consideration in agency business, and who also chairs the RAP Working Group. The RAP Working Group comprises First Nations and non-First Nations staff, with each member bringing a unique perspective and skill set. All First Nations staff are also invited to attend RAP Working Group meetings. Core membership of the RAP Working Group includes the following people, two of whom are First Nations employees:

• Executive Director, Policy and Community
• Aboriginal Engagement Consultant
• Manager, Workforce Development, Human Resources
• Senior Media and Communications Officer, Strategic Communications
• Senior Policy Officer, Justice Strategy and Funding.

We will be accountable by reporting both internally and publicly on our RAP achievements, challenges and learnings. This will be driven by the RAP Working Group. While actions and deliverables are named as the responsibility of individuals, all staff have an important role to play in contributing to the success of the RAP. All areas of the department will be asked to report on their reconciliation activity across all aspects of the RAP.