NSW Government
Movement and Place

Key themes and guiding principles

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The Movement and Place Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Engagement Framework outlines six guiding principles underpinned by the values of Culture, Confidence, Competence, and Commitment. This document will build upon the six guiding principles.

The framework supports Movement and Place practitioners on the journey to establishing meaningful and sustainable relationships through ongoing engagement with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders, including but not limited to the Local Aboriginal Land Council. The following principles underpin the Movement and Place Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Engagement Framework to create culturally appropriate and proficient engagement practices.

Guiding principles

The Movement and Place Engagement framework outlines six guiding principles for developing crosscultural competence, confidence, and commitment to promote best practice engagement with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Stakeholders:

  1. Knowledge and awareness.
  2. Communication.
  3. Partnership and Collaboration.
  4. Meaningful engagement.
  5. Evaluation.
  6. Sustaining Connection.

Strategic planning

It is vital to engage with stakeholders strategically to align with inclusive practices, mitigate challenges, and reduce cost over the life-cycle of a project.

It is important to incorporate and understand:

  1. The cultural practices and protocols of the local community and the Country you are working on.
  2. Collaborate and seek guidance from an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Subject Matter Expert or identified practitioner who will understand community engagement and the appropriate cultural practices, protocols that need to be followed to gain community input and build long-term connections. The Subject Matter Expert or identified practitioner will also act as a Cultural Broker to support and guide Movement and Place practitioners in culturally safe engagement practices.
  3. The Work Health and Safety assessment for stakeholder engagement needs to address the risk of
    1. Consultation fatigue, which is experienced by Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander community members and organisations when government agencies do not strategically plan the consultation and align projects.
    2. Culturally unsafe practices that negatively impact Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders and Movement and Place practitioners.
  4. Future focused strategic planning engagement will not be only project focused, it should aim for ongoing connections or partnerships with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders.

Knowledge and awareness

Building knowledge and awareness on culturally appropriate action is essential for Movement and Place practitioners. Assess individual cultural understanding and organisational culture, with active participation among the project team to develop their cultural knowledge, confidence, competence, and commitment towards suitable Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Stakeholder Engagement.

Build knowledge and awareness on culturally appropriate action is essential for engagement and relationships that are built on trust, which are continuous and extend beyond the project cycle.

Ensure that the project team meet with the local Aboriginal community and that the relationship is not established only through an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander consultant, an Aboriginal/and or Torres Strait Islander Movement and Place practitioner or Subject Matter expert should be part of the project team.

Strategies

Planning at the beginning of the projects is key.

  1. Include Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholder engagement in the business plan.
  2. Incorporate Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander engagement at the earliest stage of the project, and throughout the stages of the project’s development to ensure there are multiple points of engagement.
  3. Research what Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Country the project will impact upon, and who the local Traditional Custodians are. Inform/remind the project team that it is important to Acknowledge Country and the Traditional Custodians when meeting: this is a sign of respect.
  4. Educate the project team, attend professional development training relevant to Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander engagement. This includes partnering with Aboriginal owned and run professional services to help guide the project team as required.
  5. The project team attend educational sessions with local Aboriginal community follows the Connecting with Country framework of visiting Country and walking the site with community.

Spotlight

Each community is different and will have diverse stakeholders. Inclusive practice requires that all community stakeholders be recognised, engaged with, and have an appropriate opportunity to provide input, this includes Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders including the Local Aboriginal Land Councils.

Communication

Communication is the capability to apply both verbal and non-verbal communication skills to build rapport, trust and respect when sharing information with stakeholders. Communicating effectively is required to consult and develop relationships with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders.

Spotlight

Formal and informal communication should be applied for the context of the engagement. Examples of formal communication would include attending an organisation meeting and developing a formal contract. Informal communication would include building rapport with the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholder during and outside of projects.

Strategies

  1. Phone the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholder and set up a meeting.
  2. Clearly explain the reason for the engagement.
  3. Do not use jargon.
  4. Adapt appropriate communication style for engagement. Ask the stakeholder what the best way is to communicate throughout the project and/or partnership. It is important to understand and respect Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders’ communication preferences.
  5. During the engagement you may need to leave the room for culturally sensitive matters to be discussed about the project and/or you may need to make a follow up meeting to receive further input from the stakeholders.

Hierarchy of Engagement

Aim to engage with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders through their preferred communication modality and recognise that in person meetings are essential to building relationships.

Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Stakeholders’ Hierarchy of Engagement incorporates cultural communication protocols and tailors to the stakeholder. For genuine engagement, transparency and trust will be developed from the initial meeting, and an agreement undertaken with the stakeholder on the appropriate way to communicate.

  1. In person meetings
  2. Virtual meeting
  3. Phone meeting
  4. Email
  5. Survey

Partnerships and collaboration

Partnerships are built on an ongoing reciprocal relationship. Partnerships are developed and formalised by contractual obligations. This requires an understanding of each parties’ roles and responsibilities, and the objectives and expectations of each individual and organisation.

A collaborative approach occurs when Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholder’s knowledge, skills and perspective are sought out, respected, and included throughout the engagement process and project life cycle. Collaboration can be both formal and informal and the collaborative relationship can extend beyond the terms of the project.

Strategies

  1. Approach Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholder engagement as an opportunity to build meaningful relationships, rather than only being project focused.
  2. Mitigate consultation fatigue by combining multiple projects where possible to streamline the engagement with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders.
  3. Explore innovative engagement opportunities by attending established community and organisational ‘open meetings and community events.
  4. Recognise opportunities for non-project related partnerships with Local Aboriginal Land Councils.
  5. Strategic engagement planning increases collaboration while mitigating consultation fatigue and decreasing cost.

Meaningful engagement

Meaningful engagement requires cultivating sustainable relationships built on trust, respect, reciprocity, transparency, and integrity.

Strategies

  1. Include Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders in the design stages. Early engagement from the start of the project life-cycle through to the evaluation of the project is a best practice approach. This will encourage active participation from stakeholders.
  2. Be honest about constraints and expectations.
  3. If you have no current connection with an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholder allow more time to establish the relationship in the initial stages.
  4. Allow a minimum of three interactions, inclusive of in-person contact. When possible, prioritise meeting in person.
  5. Address challenges with the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Subject Matter Expert or identified practitioner for guidance, supervision, and cultural brokerage.

Sustaining connections

Approach Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholder engagement with the aim of developing a sustainable relationship.

Strategies

  1. Apply culturally safe practices in engagement strategy by including visits to the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholder’s organisation, community, and the Country the project is impacting.
  2. Encourage feedback from Stakeholders. If Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders need to lodge a complaint about their experience of the engagement, provide assistance by advising that a complaint can be made using the following URL: https://www.dpie.nsw.gov.au/contact. If there has been challenging interaction, it needs to be respectfully addressed as soon as possible, working with an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Subject Matter Expert or identified practitioner to resolve the issue.
  3. Plan time to build your relationship with the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders. Sustaining connections involves, reciprocity, and creating culturally safe spaces and practices.
  4. Assess the expectations of the engagement. Is it flexible? Incorporate time for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander cultural protocols including Sorry Business and community meetings. Your engagement process might work for your project timeline, but not for Community.

N.E.W.S Journey of Connection

The aim is to establish connections and build towards sustained partnerships practices with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders.

Apply N.E.W.S Journey of Connection to map out a comprehensive approach to stakeholder engagement. Assess the current relationship with the stakeholders and include in the strategic planning and stakeholder mapping processes.

Spotlight

If there is no connection with Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders, more time is needed for engagement.

Evaluation

Evaluation measures should be embedded into the engagement process for monitoring, accountability, and continuous improvement.

Strategies

  1. Evaluate Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander engagement for each project. Allow stakeholders the opportunity to provide feedback. This is an important step in building skills and capacity, and it will promote continuous improvement practices on how best to communicate with a diverse range of stakeholders.
  2. Obtain stakeholder feedback to understand:
    • What went well in the engagement?
    • What could be improved in future engagement?
  3. Fill out the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander engagement audit. (See Appendix C)
  4. If challenging interactions occurred, connect with the organisational Subject Matter Expert to address, and work through miscommunication and challenges with the stakeholder in a timely way. Identifying, addressing, and resolving difficulties and/or breakdown of a relationship is part of the process of sustaining meaningful relationships with stakeholders. This demonstrates commitment and respect.
  5. Apply qualitative and quantitative evaluation methods. Evaluating practice is part of the continuous improvement processes. It is important to seek out feedback from all stakeholders.
    • Qualitative data – verbal and written feedback from the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders and from Movement and Place practitioners.
    • Quantitative data – monitor if there is an increase in appropriate Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholder engagement and meaningful relationships.

Spotlight

Ask stakeholders open questions What did you like about the engagement practices?

What could be improved during the engagement process?

How was your input respected by the project team?

Resources

Spotlight

Support ongoing engagement by collating resources to learn about Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander stakeholders, the community, Country and culture.

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