People

• Prioritise culture
• Address racism and promote cultural safety

• In 2020, DPC staff provided responses to baseline survey measuring collective knowledge and understanding of treaty and wider self-determination reforms.
• 35 staff responded to the survey. Results indicated that while nearly all respondents had an understanding of self-determination, one third were unaware of the VPS’ commitment to self-determination, and almost half did not believe self-determination related to their day-to-day work.

• Develop a strategy to further raise awareness of DPC’s commitment to self-determination as well as better engagement with all areas of DPC to communicate how self-determination relates to their daily work.
• Deliver a follow-up survey to track progress and learning across the department

• Prioritise culture
• Address racism and promote cultural safety

• Cultural awareness training enables DPC staff to reflect on their understanding of cultural safety and self-determination and build confidence in the way staff can and should apply and embed these concepts in the workplace.
• From July 2020 – November 2021, 68 DPC staff participated in Aboriginal Cultural Awareness and Cultural Safety training.
• DPC Board of Management participated in a Cultural Safety and Self-Determination session, facilitated by Aboriginal owned and operated business, ABSTARR consulting, in November 2021. This followed a pilot session being undertaken by 15 staff in Economic Policy and State Productivity (EPSP) Group in August 2021.

• Procure new cultural safety training that aligns with Victoria’s self-determination reform agenda.

• Prioritise culture
• Address racism and promote cultural safety

• Significant effort has been made to build DPC staff awareness of self-determination over the last 18 months. Key examples reported by groups across DPC included:
• Building staff confidence to embed self-determination thinking into workstreams as well as advice prepared for executives and ministers.
• Embedding self-determination within budget analysis and advice to decision-makers regarding budget and non-budget processes.
• Inviting FPSR to engage early in policy reforms or projects that have a self-determination or treaty linkage (for example, Yarra Strategic Plan and Alpine resorts transition), and inviting FPSR to liaise on briefings that interact with the SDRF and the VAAF.
• Representatives from FPSR attending branch meetings across DPC to discuss government's self-determination agenda and treaty negotiation process.
• Raising awareness of self-determination and the SDRF across the department through opportunities such as the All Staff Forum, which included a dedicated focus on treaty and self-determination in 2021.

All groups

Ongoing

• Prioritise culture
• Address racism and promote cultural safety

• The ASN is a space for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander identifying staff within DPC and the Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) to connect, support and yarn. The ASN’s achievements include:

• Fortnightly meetings, which allow staff to engage with their colleagues and connect in small groups.

• Advertising internal (and external) job opportunities through the ASN MS Teams channel.

• Supporting the VPSC to develop a document on self-determination in the workplace and to progress commitments relating to cultural safety in the workplace (see Case Study 2.1.2).

• Continue to support regular meetings of the ASN in 2022, encouraging new staff participation in the ASN, and consider the potential for future events such as an Aboriginal Staff Gathering.

• Prioritise culture
• Address racism and promote cultural safety

• DPC has commenced development of a DPC Aboriginal Workforce Strategy, in close consultation with the ASN and FPSR executives.
• Development of the Strategy was delayed due to COVID-19, team resourcing issues and competing priorities.

• Finalise development of DPC’s Aboriginal Workforce Strategy, in partnership with the ASN, ensuring that Aboriginal staff experiences from

IRV

Delayed

• Prioritise culture

• A revised Cultural and Ceremonial Leave policy was due to be completed by early October 2021 but was delayed when resources were diverted to COVID-19 response work.
• IRV has prepared a draft Cultural and Ceremonial Leave policy which is currently with the Community and Public Sector Union for consultation and feedback. The new policy will give effect to clause 60 of the VPS Enterprise Agreement, which provides VPS employees with Cultural and Ceremonial Leave.

• Facilitate finalisation of the VPS Cultural and Ceremonial Leave Policy.

• Prioritise culture
• Address racism and promote cultural safety

• Implementation of DPC’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy 2019-2021 will continue in 2022.
• A review of DPC's Diversity and Inclusion Strategy has been delayed due to COVID-19, team resourcing issues and competing priorities.

This action is reinforced through development of the Aboriginal Workforce Strategy

• Ensure that continual implementation of DPC’s Diversity and Inclusion Strategy prioritises Aboriginal expertise and the recommendations from the ASN’s report on self-determination in the workplace to ensure this work has a positive impact on Aboriginal staff at DPC.
• Review DPC's Diversity and Inclusion Strategy by mid-2022, engaging key stakeholders to ensure the reviewed strategy incorporates actions to enable self-determination and Aboriginal expertise.
• Address relevant review outcomes in DPC’s Aboriginal Workforce Strategy, where appropriate.

• Prioritise culture
• Address racism and promote cultural safety

• As at 30 June 2021, 27 DPC staff identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. This included 14 women and 13 men.
• Barring Djinang, the 5-year Aboriginal Employment Strategy for the VPS, has adopted a VPS-wide Aboriginal employment target of 2 per cent.
• DPC exceeded this target in the 2020-21 financial year, with 2.8 per cent of all DPC staff identifying as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander.
• All 27 Aboriginal staff work in FPSR Group. 22 Aboriginal staff work full time, and 5 work part time. 22 Aboriginal staff are employed under ongoing arrangements, and 5 are employed on fixed-term contracts.
• 5 Aboriginal staff are in leadership roles (VPS 6 or above), 11 are in senior roles (VPS 5), and 11 are in VPS 1-4 roles.
• Recruitment and retention outcomes for the July 2020 – June 2021 period included:
• 5 Aboriginal staff recruited into DPC.
• 8 Aboriginal staff exited DPC.

• Encourage active recruitment, support and retention of Aboriginal staff across all areas of DPC, in particular groups outside FPSR.
• Improve data collection mechanisms to ensure workforce data is collected in a culturally safe and responsive manner that reflects Aboriginal staff across the department. This will allow DPC to improve future strategies and action plans that support recruitment, retention and leadership opportunities for Aboriginal staff.
• Utilise insights from the People Matter Survey 2021 DPC results on areas for future action and development, including that:
• 86 per cent of Aboriginal staff reported that being Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander is not a barrier to success in DPC (compared to 68 per cent of non-Aboriginal respondents).
• 64 per cent of Aboriginal staff reported feeling culturally safe at work, compared to 84 per cent of non-Aboriginal respondents.

FPSR, All Groups

Ongoing

• Transfer power and resources to communities

• DPC supported all departments and agencies in understanding the treaty process and ensuring that new policy, legislative and program proposals align with the future outcomes of Victoria's treaty process.
• Regular meetings between DPC and Treaty Coordinators ensured that all departments were updated on the treaty process and that a coordinated approach was taken to future projects that may intersect with treaty.
• FPSR continued to offer secretarial support for the Treaty Inter-Departmental Committee (IDC) (see Case Study 2.1.3).

• Continue and strengthen whole of government treaty engagement in 2022.

DV

Complete

• Prioritise culture

• Transfer power and resources to communities

• The Public Secretary Administration Committee formally approved the whole of government Public Engagement Framework 2021-25 in 2021 (Framework).
• The Framework is informed by the VAAF and includes self-determination as a central policy focus.
• This Framework will assist VPS staff to undertake culturally safe and respectful engagement for all consultation processes.

FPSR

In progress

• Prioritise culture

• Address racism and promote cultural safety

• In October 2021, the first DPC-funded cohort commenced the Preparing for Treaty MicroCertification series (MicroCert series), delivered by the University of Melbourne. The MicroCert series explores the role that treaties have played, and might play, in relations between Indigenous peoples and contemporary settler societies.
• DPC funded 22 VPS staff to undertake the MicroCert series. This prompted other departments to fund their own staff to participate in the series, bringing the cohort to a total of 31 staff.
• This will equip treaty coordinators and relevant VPS staff with the knowledge and confidence to understand treaty and its practical impacts on each staff member's work.

• Continue supporting relevant VPS staff to undertake the MicroCert series in 2022.

FPSR

Complete

• Prioritise culture
• Address racism and promote cultural safety

• FPSR continued to engage all Victorians in the treaty process through public events and the Deadly and Proud campaign - a social awareness campaign that recognised and celebrated the unique status, rights, cultures and history of Aboriginal communities in Victoria, and was pivotal in changing public perceptions around treaty and truth.
• The campaign began in February 2021 and featured 21 Aboriginal storytellers from across the state who shared their stories of pride across the themes of ancient cultures, resilience, community and the historic path to treaty.
• FPSR amplified the campaign’s reach through well-known ambassadors, events, advertising and partnerships.
• The campaign attracted widespread positive news coverage – totalling over 650 pieces. Independent research highlighted increased public engagement with treaty. By 30 June 2021, the campaign’s website had obtained more than 200,000 views and campaign social posts had a total reach of 7,100,000.
• Since finalising the campaign, the Deadly & Proud website continued to attract high levels of online engagement, helping Victorians to listen and learn in relation to the path to treaty and truth-telling.