Jawun Executive Visit

1 October 2014

In June 2014, Jawun held its annual East Kimberley Executive Visit which included a mix of corporate and government partners, and Indigenous leader from Goulburn Murray, Paul Briggs OAM. We were also honoured to have Fred Chaney AO join us and provide his wealth of experience and insights to Aboriginal challenges.

Wunan’s leadership team presented their programs and spoke of the challenges with government commitment with Living Change and social issues in the community (children at risk, employment, addictions, lack of school attendance) that they are addressing, and used the opportunity to discuss these issues with attendees Fred Chaney, Paul Briggs, and corporate delegates.  Paul Briggs also highlighted the common threads and challenges faced in Goulburn Murray region with employment and social norms that need to change and how Empowered Communities is allowing these challenges and learnings to be shared, successfully.

All attendees were moved by Wunan’s commitment to community and change. It also spurred them to share their experience to their organisations after  the visit as Martin Sheppard did at KPMG:

What I saw absolutely cemented my resolve to continue KPMG’s long-standing support of the Jawun program. Like many people, I’ve seen some of the appalling stats around Indigenous life expectancy, health care, education and so forth. But I have to say, reading it is absolutely nothing like seeing it.”

Marcus Hanlon from NAB also sums up the visit reinforcing NAB’s strong commitment to the Jawun’s program:

“I do not think any of the participants could do anything other than admire the work that the Jawun team do in the region. In addition I am sure we have all come away with a much greater understanding of the importance of the corporate support and the role of the secondees”.

Strong relationships were formed in the executive group between corporate, government and Indigenous partners, through meaningful discussions, and sharing thoughts and insights on making a difference on a practical level.

Topic: Wunan