Leading the way for reconciliation in our industry and places

After more than a decade of continuous work on our reconciliation approach to increasing participation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, we’re excited to announce that our ‘Stretch’ RAP was formally endorsed by Reconciliation Australia (RA) in late 2021.

READ OUR 2021-2024 STRETCH RAP

Guy Templeton, CEO Asia Pacific, says, “At WSP, we design communities that bring people together from all walks of life. Every year, we work on more than a thousand projects across every state and territory of Australia. Each one of these projects sits on a First Nations country.

“We are proud to be the only engineering firm in Australia to have achieved STRETCH RAP status with Reconciliation Australia.

“This is a significant achievement for our firm as we continue to take active steps to increase employment opportunities and participation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. It also demonstrates our decade-long journey and ongoing commitment to build relationships and communities that value Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People’s, histories, cultures, and futures.”

In taking reconciliation one step further, we involve Indigenous communities in the development or creation of infrastructure projects as well as stimulate growth for Indigenous businesses and communities through our Indigenous Specialist Services team.

A recent example we’re proud of, is our work on the Pacific Complete joint venture with Transport for NSW and Laing O’Rourke to help deliver the Woolgoolga to Ballina Pacific Highway Upgrade. We helped achieve strong Aboriginal participation - 1 million hours across 300 Indigenous people. This project won the International Road Federation award for ground engineering in 2021.

In Victoria, we supported the Level Crossing Removal Project’s (LXRP) win of the prestigious 2021 AILA* Victorian Chapter Award of Excellence for Research, Policy and Communications for the LXRP Indigenous Design Guidelines.

Developed in consultation with Aboriginal Affairs Advisers working across the LXRP projects, including WSP’s Allan Murray, Principal Consultant, Aboriginal Affairs, the LXRP Indigenous Design Guidelines were created as a tool to further empower Traditional Owners, Aboriginal designers and delivery partners on future projects to generate meaningful opportunities for Traditional Owners to forever share their cultural value and stories with the wider community.

Allan says, “I am very proud of the hard work we’ve put into respectfully engaging Traditional Owners on LXRP projects, and it’s great to see the LXRP Indigenous Design Guidelines being recognised.

“The judges described the LXRP’s Indigenous Design Guidelines as an exemplary guiding document for collaboration and engagement with Aboriginal Culture and knowledge in the built environment.”

*Australian Institute of Landscape Architects

In the Northern Territory, WSP’s Scott Robertson, Team Leader – Program Delivery Central NT, has been committed to helping local communities and worked diligently for key client stakeholders at the Commonwealth Department of Health over the last few years developing infrastructure essential for the care of Indigenous Australians.

We’re thrilled to see that the Federal Government recently announced its commitment to providing an additional $254.4 million towards infrastructure to better support Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations do their critical work on their terms. Read more.

A genuine commitment

Karen Mundine, CEO, Reconciliation Australia, says, “On behalf of Reconciliation Australia, I congratulate WSP on its continued commitment to reconciliation, as it implements its sixth Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP).

“WSP is continuing its focus on genuine, two-way relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations in this Stretch RAP, committing to 10 formal partnerships and as well as engaging with clients to identify opportunities to mutually support RAP Initiatives.

“These projects, among others, show WSP’s dedication to taking brave steps to create substantive change and benefits for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

“On behalf of Reconciliation Australia, I commend WSP on this Stretch RAP and look forward to following its ongoing reconciliation journey.”

To stay abreast of our latest news, publications, videos and posts, please follow us on LinkedIn.