OUR COMMUNITY
OUR COMMITMENT TO COMMUNITY
As a small First Nations business we actively seek out opportunities to support community through our work and by supporting our staff in giving back to their local community. We recently donated staff time to the Northern Rivers flood response and used our connections to link First Nations communities with relevant Government agencies. We also provide planning and advocacy support to First Nations communities. In the medium to long term we are dreaming up an approach to reciprocity to create structure around how we honour our commitment to Country, community and culture.
PROMOTING PLANNING AMONGST FIRST NATIONS COMMUNITIES
Planning and the built environment shape Country. Planning regulations control everything that happens on Country, from land use to the approval of everything from highways, suburbs, mines, swimming pools and household renovations. For First Nations communities, working in partnership with planners can have amazing outcomes for Country, community and culture. In the past our mob have struggled to elevate our rights in this complex system, now there are pathways for our mob to share knowledge of our cultural framework and learn to elevate the needs of values of our mob in this system. Through our project work with clients, we see our role as a bridge between the two knowledge systems. We actively build the capacity of the communities we work with to understand planning and how they can influence outcomes.
CAREER IN THE BUILT ENVIRONMENT
There is an increasing need and opportunity for more of our people working in this industry to create pathways for First Nations people. Two way knowledge sharing is critical to address the power imbalance that currently exists in the planning and built environment industry. Support and opportunities for First Nations people to have meaningful employment across all areas of this sector will bridge the knowledge gap created by the different cultural frameworks.
If you are interested in exploring a career in the built environment, please contact our team to have a yarn.
PIA ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY VIDEOS
We developed the following videos for the Planning Institute of Australia to be shared as Acknowledgement of Country videos for the online Planning Congress 2021. They capture our passion for embedding First Nations knowledge in planning and the built environment.
