Reconciliation Action Plan 2025-27

APRA’s vision for reconciliation is an Australia where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have equal access to the full range of life opportunities, with particular emphasis on ensuring their financial interests are protected in a way that respects their unique cultures.

We will support this vision by enriching and deepening our cultural awareness and understanding of First Nations peoples’ experiences by connecting with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations - with a particular focus on their experiences of the Australian financial system. 

Embracing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures is an important enabler of APRA’s broader I&D strategy which strives to maintain and grow an inclusive workplace where everyone belongs, is valued and respected.

Our RAP Artwork

Artwork symbolism

Our vision and purpose

APRA is Australia’s prudential regulator and responsible for ensuring that Australians’ financial interests are protected. We promote the safety and stability of the financial system, while balancing competition and efficiency considerations. 
Our regulatory tools include our powers to set, supervise and enforce standards and, if necessary, ensure the resolution of entities in an orderly manner. 
Our people enliven our purpose, through their dedication and commitment to our work and our values. 
APRA’s 2024–25 Corporate Plan remains guided by APRA’s vision of a financial system that is “protected today, prepared for tomorrow”. The strategic objectives in our corporate plan focus on delivering three key outcomes:

• safe and resilient regulated entities
• a stable financial system
• a financial system enabling good community outcomes

APRA recognises that we can deliver better outcomes for the Australian community if we harness the insights and experiences that come from the full diversity of our people.

Our spheres of influence 

These spheres of influence are aligned with APRA’s approach to delivering it’s I&D strategy. For the first time, this enables certain RAP actions to be directly owned and delivered by relevant functional areas, with support from APRA’s RAP Working Group where needed. In addition to embedding RAP activities further into APRA’s operational and support functions, this contributes to building a more diverse and inclusive working environment at APRA

Footnotes:

¹ RBA Council of Financial Regulators – Council of Financial Regulators (cfr.gov.au), April 2025.

Strong foundations 

APRA launched its first RAP in 2017 formalising its commitment to reconciliation. Key achievements from APRA’s Innovate RAP 2020-2022 and continued work include:

• Broad engagement by APRA employees in National Reconciliation Week (NRW) and NAIDOC week events. Every year, APRA acknowledges and celebrates NRW and NAIDOC week. We raise awareness of their significance and encourage employees to participate in events about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures. For NRW, APRA collaborates with peer agencies and invites external speakers from diverse professions such as law, financial counselling and journalism to share personal experiences and reflections. During NAIDOC week, APRA celebrates the history and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples with a range of talks, displays, visits and information sessions.
• Developing strategies to increasingly attract and retain Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees: APRA participates in the Indigenous Graduate Pathway (IGP) Program. APRA has also developed a cultural learning strategy for all employees. While optional, it outlines enhanced expectations and learning opportunities for APRA leaders and managers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees. As part of this, APRA holds regular discussion group meetings to share reflections on the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) core cultural learning modules. These are hosted by employees who have participated in the Jawun Indigenous Secondment Program.
• Supporting improved economic and social outcomes via Indigenous-owned businesses: APRA is committed to complying with the Indigenous Procurement Policy and considers Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses in procurement opportunities. During our first Innovate RAP, the value of APRA’s contracts with Indigenous-owned businesses consistently exceeded the Australian Government’s Indigenous Procurement Policy targets. In 2024, APRA signed contracts with Indigenous-owned businesses valued at more than $5 million including in IT, catering, office supplies and facilities. Further, APRA has partnered with the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) to provide training and advice in areas relevant to APRA’s expertise – enforcement, governance and risk management. This initiative has supported building capability and capacity on boards of Indigenous-owned businesses and within ORIC itself.
• Participation in the Jawun Indigenous Secondment Program: After a hiatus due to COVID, in 2023-24 APRA reengaged with the Jawun Program sending two employees on 12-week secondments. The secondments were to: (1) Ceduna, South Australia to support organisational capability in change management and business delivery at the Far West Communities Partnership; and (2) to the NSW Central Coast joining the Barang Regional Alliance to support them and the Ngiyang Wayama Data Network in developing a regional data strategy. Throughout their secondments, the two employees shared their experiences, stories and learnings from living and working in Indigenous communities with fellow APRA employees. On the secondees’ return, leaders and staff members from the Far West Communities Partnership and the Barang Regional Alliance visited APRA to share more about their work and communities at a special employee event.
• Accessible and visible resources demonstrating respect for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures: APRA incorporates Acknowledgement of Country protocols into meetings, events, presentations and corporate publications. Welcome to Country protocols are also delivered at appropriate events. Indigenous flags and AIATSIS maps showing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups are displayed in all APRA’s offices, and First Nations artworks have been purchased for the Sydney and Melbourne offices. The opening of APRA’s relocated Melbourne office in 2024 followed engagement with the local land council to incorporate the Woi-wurrung language in the office design, including meeting rooms names and an acknowledgement of country plaque. During this project, APRA engaged Indigenous consultancy Gilimbaa to create an artwork. The resulting ‘Together, Connected to Culture’ artwork has been incorporated into APRA’s physical office spaces and branding more generally. APRA has also built an Indigenous Resource Library, investing in books and other resources either by First Nations authors or about relevant First Nations cultures, histories, knowledge, and rights. These are showcased at internal events including NRW and NAIDOC week celebrations.
• Establishing a RAP network with partner agencies and collaborating on events and initiatives: APRA is currently the lead agency for the cross-agency RAP working group. This working group collaborates with related government agencies to share information on their progress and initiatives supporting implementation of their respective RAPs. Agencies include the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), Australian Taxation Office (ATO), Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) and Treasury. In addition to sharing practical learnings and resources, these agencies collaborate on events – notably opening their internal events for NRW and NAIDOC week to each other’s employees. On the 30 May 2024 APRA and ASIC jointly hosted an event called ‘Understanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Safety, aligned to the NRW theme of ‘Now more than ever’.
   

Reflections from previous RAPs

Our 2025 RAP builds on the strong foundations of awareness and support for reconciliation at APRA. In developing this RAP, we reflected on areas where further focus and progress is needed, drawing on findings from our participation in Reconciliation Australia’s RAP Barometer survey in 2022 and 2024.

Key reflections taken into consideration in developing the actions and deliverables in this latest RAP include:

• Evidence of employees’ strong appetite to get directly involved in reconciliation – The RAP Barometer and other surveys provided the feedback that APRA employees would like more opportunities to volunteer and interact with First Nations individuals and communities. Consequently, there is greater emphasis on employee and external engagement opportunities in this RAP.
• Challenges in attracting and retaining First Nations peoples to work at APRA – In addition to continuing and deepening our commitment to the existing Indigenous Graduate Pathway, there is a greater focus in this RAP on expanding partnerships to develop the pipeline of Indigenous talent. This will be further supported by APRA’s I&D strategy’s broader focus on improving inclusion and diversity in recruitment.
• Scale of resources required to deliver on our commitments in the RAP, especially on a national basis – The budget for this RAP is substantially more than the previous Innovate RAP, for two reasons. First, across APRA’s five offices, our employees’ desire to participate in RAP activities has increased. Second, we have a clearer idea of what is required to deliver some actions carried over from the previous RAP, which were exploratory only.
• Further progress needed to build structured and sustained relationships with First Nations stakeholders, groups and councils – During 2020 to 2022, COVID created barriers to engaging with local organisations in person. The voluntary nature of the RAP Working Group during a challenging time for Australia’s financial system, impacting APRA employees, made finding capacity to build relationships challenging.
• Value of collaboration across partner agencies and what can be achieved when we work together – Partnering with other government agencies on RAP deliverables has shown that collectively we can achieve more that acting alone. This is particularly relevant as we further explore APRA’s role in specifically protecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ financial interests.

As RAP Executive Sponsors on the APRA Executive Committee, we are delighted to share APRA’s second Innovate RAP. This RAP is an important step in APRA’s reconciliation journey as it will embed reconciliation further into business operations. 

This RAP was developed by our internal RAP working group and endorsed by APRA’s Executive Committee. Our RAP Working Group comprises representatives from all APRA divisions, including People & Culture, Facilities and Procurement. Two Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees sit on the working group. This helps ensure we incorporate First Nations’ perspectives into our approach to reconciliation.   

Our latest RAP is a stepping-stone on the journey towards APRA’s vision for reconciliation. Our vision supported us to continue deepening our understanding of First Nations peoples and cultures, and ensuring APRA is an inclusive workplace where everyone belongs, is valued and is respected. It also requires us to take a more structured approach to external stakeholder engagement, including with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations. 

APRA will therefore, across all the actions in this RAP, prioritise its efforts on making tangible progress in four key focus areas:
 

• Creating an environment that increasingly attracts, retains and develops Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees: In addition to feeding into the broader review of recruitment processes under the I&D strategy, APRA will form specific partnerships and seek out specific channels to help attract Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees. Key to retaining talent will be ensuring a culturally safe and inclusive workplace. Our cultural learning strategy is targeted at improving the cultural safety of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees.
• Broadening the impact of the RAP across APRA’s offices and forming local cultural connections: NRW and NAIDOC week events will be held in all APRA offices and there will be a focus on promoting engagement and event opportunities in all our office locations.  As part of the 2024 Melbourne office relocation project, APRA engaged with the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung Peoples, the Traditional Owners of the Melbourne CBD to incorporate local culture knowledge into the new office. The RAPWG will continue to champion forming connection with local land councils and community representatives to explore opportunities for our Sydney, Adelaide, Brisbane and Canberra offices.
• Developing opportunities for more APRA employees to engage personally with First Nations peoples and cultures: In addition to continuing to participate in the Jawun Secondment Program, APRA is also forming partnerships and creating volunteering and other opportunities for employees to have more direct and personal experience with First Nations peoples and cultures. This includes volunteering with the Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC), alongside other ad-hoc volunteering opportunities and events.
• Exploring APRA’s specific role to promote reconciliation within our community: As part of making progress towards APRA’s vision for reconciliation, we will work with our peer agencies and other stakeholders to identify areas where APRA is uniquely placed to promote and support reconciliation – for example, in its function as the central statistical agency for the financial sector. Engagement with industry and partnering with agencies like ASIC, RBA and Treasury to scope and design specific initiatives in this space will be a key priority. 
  
   

Executive Sponsors of the Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group

Jane Magill - Executive Director, General Insurance and Banking 

Sean Carmody - Executive Director, Policy and Advice

Inclusion and Diversity at APRA: