Coates launches “Innovate” Reconciliation Action Plan

In collaboration with Reconciliation Australia, equipment hire and solutions provider Coates has unveiled its second Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) – Innovate RAP.

The Innovate RAP, which commenced last month, focuses on developing and strengthening relationships with First Nations peoples, engaging Coates’ employees and stakeholders in reconciliation, and developing and trialling strategies that empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

Before developing the Innovate RAP, Coates consulted with Reconciliation Australia as well as its key external partners including the NSW Indigenous Chamber of Commerce, Kinaway Chamber of Commerce in Victoria and the Noongar Chamber of Commerce and Industry in Western Australia, the Clontarf Foundation and their own internal RAP committee.

“Reconciliation is a journey for all of us as Australians – as individuals, families, communities, organisations and importantly as a nation,” said Murray Vitlich, CEO at Coates.

“At the heart of this journey are relationships between the broader Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” Vitlich said.

Fostering inclusion, representation and education

The Innovate RAP details a number of initiatives the company will undertake, focusing on three key areas, namely cultural education, increasing employee representation of First Nations people within Coates, and increasing the company’s First Nations supplier pool.

Cultural education will be aimed at improving the cultural competency across the organisation. By 2024, Coates said it aims to have provided formal cultural awareness training to over 90 per cent of the workforce.

Coates will also be targeting a participation rate of 10 per cent of apprentices to identify as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and a 2.5 per cent employee overall participation rate – both by 2025.

To increase its First Nations supplier pool and support new Indigenous enterprises, Coates has committed to achieving business procurement targets of five per cent of non-capital annual spend across three business categories by 2024.

“Our vision for reconciliation is simple: by implementing all of the Innovate RAP key actions, we will build an organisation that advocates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities, and respects traditional lands and Owners,” Vitlich said.

“We will increase Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employee representation to reflect our communities. We will provide more opportunities for First Nations businesses and help those enterprises create meaningful opportunities in the communities where we co-exist,” he said.

“Underpinning it all, we will be an inclusive organisation that embraces people from all walks of life regardless of their backgrounds.”

The Innovate RAP follows on from the success of Coates’ Reflect RAP, unveiled in 2020. Since then, Coates has increased its employee participation rate by over 200 per cent, with 34 employees currently identifying as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.