The date of 27 May 2007 marked the 40th anniversary of the referendum which saw more than 90 per cent of eligible Australians vote to acknowledge Indigenous Australians as citizens and to give the Commonwealth Government power to make laws regarding Indigenous people. This event is often referred to as the first stage of the reconciliation movement in Australia.
Reconciliation Action Plans are a key strategy in Reconciliation Australia's National Strategy of Action, the overarching objective of which is closing the 17-year life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people.
The Department of Innovation, Industry, Science and Research (Innovation) has developed a new Reconciliation Action Plan, a copy of which can be downloaded as a PDF from the attached link on this page. The plan outlines our current approach to reconciliation. It includes several actions that Innovation will pursue over the next 12 months to further contribute to the reconciliation process.
The Plan will be reviewed periodically to assess our progress against the actions. All Innovation stakeholders are welcome to provide comment and/or suggest additional actions for inclusion in the RAP. Please forward your feedback to coordination@innovation.gov.au.
Innovation's Reconciliation Action Plan has been endorsed by Reconciliation Australia and registered on their website. The Reconciliation Australia website presents Action Plans from government, industry and community groups. If you would like to learn more about the reconciliation process, please visit their website: www.reconciliation.org.au.