Reconciliation Action Plan

Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan 2024-2026

The draft ANU Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan 2024-2026 (RAP) was submitted to Reconciliation Australia at the end of 2023 and in the first part of 2024 ANU received confirmation that Reconciliation Australia had conditionally endorsed it. The RAP was further discussed with the RAP Committee at its first meeting of 2024 and was confirmed for presentation to ANU Council in June 2024. Once the RAP has been endorsed by Council, a final version will be created and presented back to Reconciliation Australia for formal endorsement. The final RAP document is anticipated to be ready for release mid-2024.

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The past two centuries of dispossession and racism have profoundly impacted all aspects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life, including access to institutions like ANU. This is the legacy that ANU recognises, acknowledges and accepts. Current generations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples bear their histories into institutions like ANU, which benefit enormously from the opportunity to learn from them.

This Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) is testament to the University's conviction that it must contribute to righting the wrongs of the past. It recognises that the future has to be founded on relationships of mutual respect and meaningful partnership between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians - a future where cultures, connection to Country, and world views are treated with respect. ANU takes up its obligation to acknowledge, understand and contribute to rectifying deep historical wrongs very seriously and very willingly.

The University's vision for reconciliation is to be a place that facilitates learning that respects cultures and diversity: a place where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people come together to engage with their chosen discipline, contextualised by an understanding of our shared history. ANU will make an important contribution to reconciliation by furthering learning, research, services and public knowledge in relation to Indigenous issues.

ANU will make a significant contribution to improving higher education and employment outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and enable them to realise their potential and aspirations. Our partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples will provide the University with the opportunity to listen and learn about their past, their current circumstances and their vision for the future. ANU is where their cultures are both respected and celebrated.