The Victorian Transport Portfolio Aboriginal Cultural Safety Framework

Victorian Department of Transport

Who funded the project

 

Karabena was engaged by the Victorian Department of Transport (the Department) to develop an Aboriginal Cultural Safety Framework (the Framework) for the entire Victorian Transport Portfolio (the Portfolio), consisting of more than 30 separate and variably interconnected agencies.

Karabena undertook the following activities to inform the development of the Framework:

  • A review of existing literature

  • An audit of Portfolio policies made available to us, and the legislative context within which the Framework must sit

  • Co-designed consultation guides with the Department’s Aboriginal Self Determination Review Board

  • Survey of staff across the Portfolio

  • A workshop with Traditional Owners

  • Interviews with First Nations staff of all levels, and non-Indigenous executive staff across the Portfolio

Drawing from the above activities, Karabena delivered the following outputs for the Department’s review and consideration in informing the principles of the Framework:

  • Literature Review report

  • Policy Audit report

  • Consultation Plan

  • A report on survey outcomes

  • A report on the qualitative review of interviews

  • An outline of the Framework

  • The Aboriginal Cultural Safety Framework

Summary

 

The aim of the project was to develop an Aboriginal Cultural Safety Framework for the entire Victorian Transport Portfolio, under the oversight of the Department’s Aboriginal Self Determination and Reform Branch (ASDRB).

The framework seeks to:

  1. Promote the Department’s, and the Transport Portfolio’s, commitment to providing a culturally safe environment for Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people, including employees and community.

  2. Identify purpose, vision, and guiding principles to underpin the framework.

  3. Determine key thematic/focus areas that contribute to the fundamental changes required for the Department and the Transport Portfolio to build on the fundamentals of being a culturally responsive and inclusive department; and

  4. Contribute to supporting the interests and aspirations of Victoria’s Traditional Owners and Aboriginal Victorian communities.

Project Aims

 

To develop the Aboriginal Cultural Safety Framework, the following approach was taken:

  • Co-developed the project methodology with the ASDRB

  • Conducted an audit of relevant policies and practices made available to us from across the Portfolio

  • Delivered an Audit Report to the ASDRB for their consideration of directions for the framework

  • Undertook a survey of staff across the Portfolio

  • Conducted semi-structured interviews with First Nations, non-Indigenous and Executive staff across the Portfolio

  • Facilitated a workshop with Traditional Owner groups

  • Delivered a thematic analysis of consultation outcomes and a draft outline of the framework, including strategic directions for the consideration of the ASDRB

  • Delivered the framework that responded to the project aims, informed by the audit and consultations.

Methodologies

 

In the undertaking of this project, Karabena delivered the following outputs to the Department’s ASDRB:

  • Literature review and policy audit report

  • Thematic analysis of consultation outcomes

  • Cultural Safety Framework

Outputs

 
Peter Imboy