Reconciliation Action Plan News 

Relationships with the Community– Reconciliation Network

Two members of our Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group, Lachlan Nichols and River Smith (SVC 2017-20), have just returned from Canberra where they represented lutruwita Tasmania as part of the Work Exposure in Government (WEX) program. WEX aims to increase the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working in the Australian Government by bringing selected Year 10, 11 and 12 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students to Canberra and providing them with a practical hands-on experience and exposure to people and information about job opportunities and career pathways in various government sectors. They undertake career development courses, learn practical life skills, and importantly, have the opportunity to share and express their thoughts, ideas and feelings as a young Aboriginal person representing their people and place. 

“The program was about work exposure in government and consists of learning about different government sectors like the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), Defence, Health, Finance, Treasury, and parliamentary services etc. We also visited the Australian Defence Force Academy (ADFA) and the Australian Federal Police (AFP). We went to Parliament House and had breakfast with the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, the Hon. Linda Burney MP and some of her colleagues. We met the Speaker of the House and ran into Adam Goodes who stopped and had a chat with us. We met Thomas Mayor who was on the panel writing the Uluru Statement From the Heart, not to mention all the friends we made from all over the country while celebrating and sharing our culture. We met people from Kalgoorlie in Western Australia, Sydney, Queensland, the Northern Territory and also had the privilege to meet some people from the Tiwi islands and it was so cool to celebrate their virtually untouched culture during our cultural night. We learnt a lot and met many like-minded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from all over the country; it is definitely something the Aboriginal students at SVC should look becoming involved in, especially because they’re having a rural one in nipaluna Hobart next year. That’s pretty much the week in a nutshell, it was awesome!" (Lachlan Nichols, SVC Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group Member).