NAIDOC Week is dedicated to celebrating the rich history, diverse culture and achievements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This year’s theme, Heal Country, recognises that we must all work together to preserve and protect First Nations people and land.
Victoria’s Big Build is playing a meaningful role in providing business and employment opportunities for Aboriginal Victorians, with an Aboriginal employment target of 2.5% of total hours worked, making sure we have diversity in our employment.
The employment target helps provide opportunities for employment and retraining of Aboriginal people, helping to grow businesses and support communities.
Whether it’s through employment programs, the training we run for our staff internally, the goods we buy or the services we use – we’ve committed to making progress towards our targets with specialised procurement programs.
Monero Constructions
Monero Constructions is an Indigenous owned and led civil construction company specialising in formwork, steel and concrete structures.
They’ve worked on several Big Build projects, including Level Crossing Removal Project, Major Road Projects Victoria, Rail Projects Victoria and West Gate Tunnel Project.
Monero Constructions' mission is to strengthen the Indigenous community through full time employment and continual mentoring in valued trades and business practices.
Specialised procurement programs
Many of our initiatives are unique, but they all have the same goal, to have Aboriginal inclusion plans that help develop strong relationships to improve our workplace culture and understanding.
Some of our initiatives include:
- Utilising cultural consultants who train our staff, run cultural workshops and initiate projects with Welcome to Country ceremonies.
- As part of the Mordialloc Freeway works, we purchased protective clothing, work boots and bottled water for crews from a local Aboriginal company. The work boots are custom made and have a unique pattern on the soles and laces that reflect the sacred Pilbara landscape in the north of Western Australia.
- Partnering with Aboriginal owned and controlled business to support companies that donate funds to both Indigenous Literacy Foundation and the Yaru Foundation, which provides clean drinking water to remote Aboriginal communities in Australia.
- Utilising Aboriginal employment services to hire apprentices and recruit skilled workers. Metro Tunnel’s Rail Infrastructure Alliance has provided close to 40 employment opportunities for Aboriginal people as well as 50 other roles for priority jobseekers who have traditionally faced barriers to employment.