Domain 3 - Victorian Government Investment and Action

The Victorian Government is committed to building a strong and competitive economy that provides opportunity, choice and prosperity for Aboriginal Victorians.

Industry, Trade and Investment

Social Procurement Framework

The Victorian Government’s Social Procurement Framework (SPF) sets out a scalable and consistent whole-of-government approach to social procurement, applied when government departments and agencies purchase goods, services and construction.

The SPF aims to ensure value-for-money considerations in procurement are not solely focused on price but also on opportunities to deliver social and sustainable outcomes that benefit the Victorian community.

One of the objectives of the SPF is ’Opportunities for Victorian Aboriginal people’. This objective seeks two outcomes:

• Purchasing from Victorian Aboriginal businesses
• Employment of Victorian Aboriginal people by suppliers to the Victorian Government.

Victorian Government procurement professionals play a significant role in creating social value and opportunities for Victorian Aboriginal people through the adoption of targeted procurement strategies.

A key partner in supporting the delivery of the SPF objective ‘Opportunities for Victorian Aboriginal people’ is the Kinaway Chamber of Commerce. Kinaway certifies Victorian Aboriginal businesses. Kinaway also provides culturally informed business support to Victorian Government buyers and advice to Victorian Aboriginal businesses to improve visibility, strengthen relationships and create opportunities for Victorian Aboriginal businesses.

Government buyers have access to social procurement e-training via the Procurement Knowledge Hub, and updated SPF guidance to support them in applying meaningful targets and SPF commitments in procurement processes and contracts.

Appointment of a dedicated Aboriginal Industry Adviser with the Industry Capability Network Victoria

The Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions has funded the appointment of a dedicated Aboriginal Industry Advisor with the Industry Capability Network (ICN) Victoria during 2024-25. The role is dedicated to advancing opportunities for Aboriginal businesses to participate in Local Jobs First projects and developing a supply chain directory with Victorian Aboriginal businesses across all sectors in the economy. The Local Jobs First Policy, legislated through the Local Jobs First Act 2003, ensures that small and medium-sized enterprises in Victoria, including Aboriginal owned and operated businesses, are given a full and fair opportunity to compete for both large and small government contracts. Local Jobs First, through the Major Projects Skills Guarantee, also provides opportunities to Victorian apprentices, trainees and cadets to work on high-value government construction projects; this includes opportunities for Aboriginal apprentices, trainees and cadets. With the dedicated resource, ICN can undertake more targeted engagement with Aboriginal businesses to ensure they are aware of, and able to access, the significant industry and employment opportunities created through Local Jobs First.

International Trade

In February 2024, Global Victoria partnered with the Aboriginal Economic Development (AED) group in the Department of Jobs, Skills, Industry and Regions to deliver an Aboriginal Food and Beverage Trade Mission to Aotearoa New Zealand. The five participating businesses met with key industry figures to develop connections and export readiness and gain market intelligence. Global Victoria also provided advisory support to further initiatives under the AED Events and International Trade Program and worked to increase the participation rate of Aboriginal Businesses in existing Global Victoria programs. These initiatives support the Business and Wealth Creation streams of the Yuma Yirramboi Strategy. AED and Global Victoria have a Partnership Agreement in place to articulate how the two areas work collectively to support First Nations business to be involved in trade initiatives. The agreement also supports robust and consistent program delivery, with appropriate governance and clear roles and responsibilities. AED and Global Victoria continued to participate in the cross-jurisdictional First Nations Working Group, which was established under the Ministerial Council on Trade and Investment and includes representatives from all states and territories. This included coordinating Victoria's input to the National Statement on First Nations Trade and Investment, which is expected to be finalised in 2025.

Business Victoria's Small Business Bus Visits - Indigenous Business Month Expos

Business Victoria's Small Business Bus supports planning, starting or growing small businesses. It helps business owners to develop business ideas and capabilities. The Small Business Bus is equipped with expert advisers to provide general business assistance. In 2024, Business Victoria partnered with Ngarrimili and Kinaway Chamber of Commerce to support Aboriginal businesses in Victoria during Indigenous Business Month 2024 through the Small Business Bus being onsite for Kinaway: Deadly in Gippsland First Nations Business Expo on 25 October 2024 and Mildura Indigenous Business Expo on 29 October 2024.

Collaboration – Aboriginal business support

During 2024-25, Small Business Victoria (SBV) worked in close collaboration with AED to support the establishment of two programs to support Aboriginal businesses access resources that will help to sustain or grow their business:

• Aboriginal Business Support Program (Grants between $5K and $10K)
• Aboriginal Business Growth Program (Grants between $10K and $100K)

This collaboration ensured the programs were designed to align with the aspirations of the Aboriginal community, complement other available supports for small business, and maximise the potential benefit and reach of the programs. SBV continued to work with AED on program delivery, including related communications and supporting the assessment of applications consistent with eligibility criteria.

Investment support for Yurringa Energy (Commercial in confidence)

In July 2024, a grant was provided to assist Yurringa Energy, an Aboriginal owned business, to fund the company's establishment as an energy retail business aiming to supply electricity to commercial and industrial markets. Through qualifying the Yurringa Energy’s business plans and immediate commercial opportunities that it was seeking to leverage, Invest Victoria and AED undertook the process of providing a grant jointly funded under the Investment Attraction and Assistance Program, Support Program and the Building Opportunity and Economic Prosperity for Victorian Aboriginal Communities Fund. This will support the creation of seven new full time equivalent jobs and contribute to the State's BP3 wages target, enabling Yurringa Energy to secure new commercial contracts in Victoria and Australia more broadly.

Department of Transport and Planning Pilot Partnership with Kinaway Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce

In November 2022, the Department of Transport and Planning (DTP) entered a 12-month Pilot Partnership with Kinaway Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce (Pilot). This was a key factor in driving the increase in expenditure from Aboriginal businesses. The pilot finished in November 2023, but led to the following notable outcomes:

• $10.8 million contract awarded to BA Road Services for metropolitan road maintenance, which is the largest contract awarded to a First Peoples business by DTP.
• Opportunities for Victorian First Peoples businesses to be engaged in flood recovery.
• Exclusive Kinaway member Request for Quote (RFQ) for a First Peoples Road Safety Literature Review to inform research about First Peoples and Road Safety.
• VicTrack’s standing exemption to improve First Peoples business engagement from the Legal Services State Purchase Contract (SPC).

Evaluation of the Pilot identified several opportunities for further action, including increasing the number of First Peoples businesses that are prequalified to tender for certain works or registered on State Purchase Contracts and ongoing analysis of upcoming opportunities to engage First Peoples businesses. As an outcome of the Pilot, in June 2024 DTP appointed a two-year fixed term First Peoples Business Engagement Coordinator to improve procurement reporting and outcomes.

Willan Program partnership with the North East Link

A partnership between the Willan Program and North East Link is providing 10 weeks of pre-employment training to young First Peoples from backgrounds of unemployment. Upon completion, participants receive a Certificate 2 in Construction Pathways and opportunities to work on the North East Link tunnels. The program was established through collaboration with Aboriginal business and Pathway Plumbing.

Sport and Experience Economy

Aboriginal Sport Participation Grant Program

The Aboriginal Sport Participation Grant (ASGP) program provides a single-entry point for Aboriginal Victorians to access funding that assists in addressing a range of barriers to community sport participation right across the state. The ASPG Program is led and directed by Sports and Recreation Victoria’s Aboriginal Programs Team (APT). The ASPG program administers two rounds per year to the Aboriginal community to increase participation in carnivals and community sport. Since 2020, the ASGP has provided more than 460 grants, totalling more than $716,000 to ACCOs and sporting clubs and associations.

Sport and Recreation Victoria (SRV) Funding Service Agreements

The Aboriginal Programs Team in SRV continue to embed Aboriginal outcomes in SRV funding service agreements, including Community Service Agreements with professional clubs through major infrastructure investments.

Victorian Aboriginal Community Services Association Ltd (VACSAL)

From September 2019, VACSAL are a recognised State Sport and Active Recreation Body (SSARB). VACSAL is a state-wide agency that provides advice to the Victorian Government on a range of community development issues and provides extensive services to the Aboriginal community in both metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria. It is regarded as a key advocate for Victoria’s Aboriginal community, with representation on over 85 local, regional and State reference or advisory bodies. VACSAL works with SRV to coordinate information out to and from the Aboriginal community. This acknowledges the key role VACSAL plays in the sport and active recreation sector and their contribution to creating participation opportunities for Aboriginal Victorians.

As a recognised SSARB, VACSAL are eligible to apply for funding through the Participation and Sector Development area under the Community Sport Participation Programs. VACSAL currently receive funding of $200,000 over 4 years under the Together More Active 2023-27 Program to deliver sporting carnivals to community.

Regional Development Victoria

Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation Business Case and Masterplan

Regional Development Victoria has supported the Winda Mara Aboriginal Corporation (WMAC) to develop a Winda-Mara Aboriginal Corporation Business Case and Masterplan to be investment-ready for a cultural and tourism hub, an art retail space, café, a native nursery and a home for WMAC-Budj Bim-employed rangers.

The planning works, with funding of $40,000 from the Victorian Government’s Enabling Tourism Fund, identified the opportunity to leverage the UNESCO-listed Budj Bim Cultural Landscape to increase tourism activity in the region by creating a cultural and tourism hub.

Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative Aboriginal Community Art Gallery

Regional Development Victoria provided funding to Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative (BADAC) to deliver the BADAC Aboriginal Community Art Gallery. The project was completed in May 2024 and received $200,000 from Regional Development Victoria administered Living Local Regional Grant Program. The grant contributed toward the refurbishment of an existing shopfront building on Mair Street, Ballarat CBD as a BADAC owned and operated Aboriginal art gallery. The project has helped launch a business (the gallery) which enables the sale of high value art created by Aboriginal members of the community, returning a profit to those artists and their community.

Digital Inclusion

Connecting Victoria

Access to high quality telecommunications services is a fundamental requirement to support economic and social participation. The Department of Government Services’ major digital inclusion initiative is the Victorian Government’s more than $500 million Connecting Victoria program which is delivering up to 1,400 mobile and broadband improvements across the State.

Although not targeting Aboriginal Victorians specifically, this investment will benefit anyone living in areas that will receive telecommunications infrastructure upgrades. For example, at the end of the 2023-24 Financial Year, the Connecting Victoria program alongside other Victorian Government telecommunications grants have funded the completion of 103 telecommunications infrastructure projects across Victorian local government areas (LGAs) with the highest proportion of Aboriginal Victorians. These LGAs include Mildura, Swan Hill, Greater Shepparton, East Gippsland and Wodonga. 70 of these projects were completed within the 2023-24 Financial Year. A further 81 additional mobile and broadband projects across these LGAs are planned for completion by June 2026.

Australian Government Regional Telecommunications Review

The Victorian Government submission to the 2024 Regional Telecommunications Review (RTR) was prepared by the Department of Government Services and advocated for a range of Commonwealth telecommunications policy and program changes that would address digital inclusion gaps, including those of Aboriginal Victorians.

For example, Victoria has called for connectivity standards that would provide a clear definition of adequate services that would apply Australia-wide and would benefit underserved regional and remote First Peoples communities.

The Victorian Government is continuing to engage with Commonwealth agencies and will work to address digital inclusion issues at a national level. This includes leveraging opportunities that arise from Commonwealth responses to recommendations from the RTR and First Nations Digital Inclusion Advisory Group (FNDIAG) Road Map.

As part of this activity, the Department of Government Services will be leading a multi-jurisdictional reference group that focuses on connectivity literacy issues, which aligned to RTR and FNDIAG recommendations. The group will report back to Ministers through the Digital Data Ministers Meeting within the next 12 months.

Local Government

Women Leading Locally program

The Women Leading Locally program provided participants with resources and skills to take up leadership opportunities in their communities, including standing in the 2024 local government elections. Program graduates receive a Certificate in Community Leadership and Governance (Local Government).

The program prioritised participation of Aboriginal women and women from diverse backgrounds to increase diversity of people standing for council, including more Aboriginal women as candidates.

59 participants from the first round of the program graduated in August 2023. One of the graduates was an Aboriginal woman.

60 participants from the second (and final) round of the program graduated in August 2024. Four of the participants in this cohort were Aboriginal women.

Graduates of the program are supported through campaign resources, mentoring, and networking opportunities.

Victorian Aboriginal and Local Government Strategy 2021-2026

The Victorian Aboriginal and Local Government Strategy 2021-2026 (VALGS) provides councils across Victoria with practical guides to embed the voices and priorities of Aboriginal communities at a local government level. It includes a clear framework for shared decision-making processes and actions for Aboriginal Victorians working together with local government based on mutual control, shared power and decision-making, fairness, respect and trust.

The VALGS is centred on seven key strategic pillars: culture, respect and trust; awareness and engagement; accountability and direction; governance and participation; economic participation; health and wellbeing; and resourcing and funding. These seven pillars will help councils meet their commitments and progress towards self-determination.

The Department of Government Services continued to promote the implementation of VALGS throughout 2024.

A VALGS Strategic Working Group — made up of representatives from the Victorian Aboriginal community, local government peak bodies, and the Victorian Government — continued to provide strategic advice and guidance on the implementation of VALGS at a statewide level. The VALGS Strategic Working Group sought to understand councils’ efforts and activities in relation to VALGS pillars and to understand barriers to VALGS related activity and efforts. The VALGS Strategic Working Group concluded in July 2024 and its advice will continue to guide the Department of Government Service’s future VALGS implementation work program.

Local Government Act 2020

The Local Government Act 2020 (Vic) explicitly includes Traditional Owners as part of the definition of municipal community to ensure that Traditional Owners and their interests and needs are reflected in the roles of council and councillor, and that councils work and consult with Traditional Owners.

In 2024, the Victorian Government implemented further reforms to stamp-out inappropriate councillor behaviour and improve overall councillor conduct. Under the new Model Councillor Code of Conduct, councillors are required to support the Council when applying the Council's community engagement policy to develop respectful relationships and partnerships with Traditional Owners, ACCOs and the Aboriginal community. These reforms will support traditionally underrepresented cohorts to nominate for council elections by creating a more positive environment.

Employment in the Victorian Public Service

Barring Djinang First Peoples Workforce Development Strategy

In 2024, the Victorian Public Sector Commission (VPSC) refreshed the Barring Djinang First Peoples’ Workforce Development strategy, setting out a new range of initiatives to boost First Peoples employment, and grow Victorian public service leadership capacity, to make the Victorian public sector an employer of choice for First Peoples in Victoria.

Concurrently, the VPSC continued to deliver against the original Barring Djinang strategy, with 51 First Peoples public sector employees participating in employment programs including career development, leadership and internships.

This work is guided by the Barring Djinang Advisory Group, comprised of senior First Peoples executives from across departments, and hosted by the VPSC.

As part of the strategy, VPSC also continued to host a First Peoples staff network Nyanak Lotjpa, a Yorta Yorta word for ‘we all talk’. First Peoples employees can connect with Nyanak Lotjpa on the Innovation Network to find peers, share information and build relationships across government. Nyanak Lotjpa has over 140 members from across the sector.

Barring Djinang contains two initiatives to increase the numbers of First Peoples entering the Victorian public service:

• The continuation of the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Pathway in the Victorian Government Graduate Program (the Pathway), with a renewed focus on the existing entry-level program seeking to recruit more First Peoples tertiary graduates through increased direct, face-to-face engagement with universities and First Peoples university students.
• Aboriginal Vocation Education and Training (VET) Graduate Program Pilot – an updated entry-level program targeting VET graduates leading to ongoing employment in the public sector.

The VPSC coordinates the Pathway in the Graduate program. Departments reported that they value the Pathway as a mechanism for providing a pipeline for First Peoples talent.

While feedback from Pathway participants indicates that they have a positive experience overall, more work can be done to increase the numbers of First Peoples entering the Victorian public service through the Pathway.

Transport and Planning Portfolio First Peoples Cultural Safety Framework

The Transport and Planning Portfolio’s First Peoples Cultural Safety Framework (Framework) and the Department of Transport and Planning’s Cultural Safety Action Plan 2024–2028 were launched by Secretary Paul Younis at the department’s Reconciliation Week event on 30 May 2024. The purpose of the Framework is to advance the cultural safety of First Peoples who work in or engage with the Portfolio, and who use the Transport and Planning Networks. The Action Plan sets out 22 actions that the department will take to implement the Framework.

A key outcome under the Action Plan was the Girraway Ganyi First Peoples Employee Assistance Program (EAP), a 12-month Pilot Program with Girraway Ganyi Consultancy, an Aboriginal owned business in Victoria, to provide culturally appropriate support to First Peoples employees, managers of First Peoples and employees working in First Peoples affairs within the Victorian Government. In 2024, an evaluation of the program showed positive feedback from First Peoples staff and managers. The rate of First Peoples Staff accessing Girraway Ganyi’s EAP services doubled in 2024. As a result, the Girraway Ganyi Pilot Program was extended for an additional 12 months.

Beginning in February 2024, managers and senior leaders engaged in a series of workshops facilitated by Girraway Ganyi, focusing on key themes such as promoting cultural safety, addressing unconscious bias, analysing First Peoples employment statistics in Victoria, understanding historical contexts and their lasting impacts, providing effective workplace support for First Peoples, and implementing strategies to manage an inclusive workforce.