ABC Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan 2016-18 Second Report against the Plan, January-December 2017 February 2018 Contents Introduction .....................................................................................................1 Key Highlights-ABC Content ............................................................2 Key Highlights-ABC Employees and Suppliers ..................8 Progress against RAP deliverables .........................................10 Recommendations ...................................................................................17 Cover photo: 2017 RAP Radio Baker Boy (credit: Dan Soderstrom). Emerging Top End musician Baker Boy AKA Danzel Baker, with his exciting blend of Yolgnu Matha language and culture and contemporary hip hop beats, was the standout act from triple j Unearthed in 2017. Here he is performing at triple j Unearthed’s Live At The Steps, a free all-ages gig in partnership with The Push and the Parliament of Victoria as part of Melbourne Music Week. Introduction This is the second annual report against the ABC Stretch Indigenous Australians. The highlights also include opportunities Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) 2016-18. It covers the period for and achievements in increasing employment and from 1 January to 31 December 2017. The Plan is a Stretch RAP procurement opportunities for Indigenous Australians. under Reconciliation Australia’s RISE (Reflect, Innovate, Stretch, Elevate) framework and commits the ABC to meeting targets The second section provides an update on ABC progress against that build on its successes in its first (2009–12) and second the Plan and deliverables in the four RAP areas. These areas (2013–15) RAPs. include: respect, relationships, opportunities for employees and suppliers and opportunities for content. The Corporation has responded well to the challenge of a Stretch RAP for the second year of the Plan’s implementation. All actions The last section provides recommendations on focus areas for outlined in the Plan are monitored for progress by the Bonner 2018 as the Plan ends. Committee, the ABC’s primary advisory body on issues relating to Indigenous employees, content and communities, to ensure that the Corporation is on track to meet the deliverables at the end of the Plan in 2018. This report is divided into three sections. The first section provides some key highlights from ABC content and demonstrates the ABC’s commitment to Indigenous storytelling and to the production of content that is about or created by Heywire winner Molly Hunt, Wyndham, Western Australia ABC Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan: Report 2 Feb 2018 1 Key Highlights - ABC Content 2017 marked several significant Indigenous historical, political, The interactive website features 45 curated narrative and cultural anniversaries, including 50 years since the 1967 accounts from members of various Aboriginal and Torres referendum and 25 years since the historic Mabo decision. Strait Islander communities, each highlighting their Between May and August 2017, the ABC focused on these unique, tumultuous struggle for equal legislative rights. milestones with specially created content across all platforms for Reconciliation Week, NAIDOC Week and the Garma Festival. A dedicated online space was created to house content offerings for Reconciliation and NAIDOC Weeks. This space, called “Our Focus” hosted 58 pieces of multimedia content. All Radio networks ran promotions announcing their support for Reconciliation Week, as well as specific promotions for the Right Wrongs website. The Right Wrongs project was a landmark ABC content offering that garnered 162,000-page views and 73,800 visits, with 22% of the visitors new to the ABC. Right Wrongs won an award in the ‘Best Online’ category at the UN Association of Australia Media Awards in October 2017. It was also highly commended in the Indigenous category and has since been showcased across Australia and in Los Angeles, Washington DC, Paris and Ottawa. Reconciliation Week: 27 May to 3 June 2017 A highlight of Our Focus: Reconciliation Week was the long-form digital feature, Right Wrongs, launched in May 2017 and led by ABC Regional. This project marked the 50th anniversary of the 1967 referendum to change how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were referred to in the Constitution. It tells the story of the referendum and its impact over the past 50 years through a mix of archival and contemporary stories, photos and videos. The ABC collaborated with Indigenous employees and representatives from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies (AIATSIS) and the National and State Libraries Australasia to access their archives. Right Wrongs provides a compelling look at the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and details first-hand accounts of their stories. ABC Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan: Report 2 Feb 2018 2 Content highlights from National Reconciliation Week National Indigenous Convention Reconciliation Special Q&A ABC Radio and the AM team broadcast from Uluru and Broadcast from Parliament House on ABC and iview on surrounds throughout the week; ABC News provided Monday 29 May. comprehensive coverage of the Convention (Tuesday 23 May to Saturday 27 May). Stan Grant’s Counted Multi-media project Don’t Fence Me In: Remembering Eddie Mabo ABC and ABC News on Friday 26 May. RN’s Awaye! broadcast on Saturday June 3 (also available at RN online and on the ABC Radio app), and produced digital content. The project included never-before-seen footage and images as well as interviews with Eddie Koiki Mabo’s legal team, Bryan Keon-Cohen and Greg McIntyre and Henry and Margaret Reynolds. Speaking Out ABC Local Radio highlights An ABC radio program featuring Tony Birch, Vernon Ah Kee and ABC Radio Sydney broadcast a 2-hour special on the 1967 Linda Burney explored where Australia needs to go in the next referendum anniversary. ABC Radio Melbourne hosted an 50 years - broadcast on RN on Friday 26 May and on ABC Radio outside broadcast at Federation Square in partnership with on Sunday 28 May. the Koorie Heritage Trust, for a conversation with Gail Mabo reflecting on the 25th anniversary of the Mabo Decision. 250 Shades of Black triple j A debate about the push for an Indigenous treaty and ABC Radio Sydney broadcast a 2-hour special on the 1967 constitutional change, on the anniversary of the 1967 referendum. triple j Drive and Unearthed collaborated on a referendum. The debate included activists Michael Mansell, project bringing together two Indigenous artists, Steady and Josie Crawshaw, John Christophersen and Luke Pearson. 250 Emily Wurramara, to produce a new song. Shades of Black was broadcast live from Darwin on ABC News on 28 May. Behind The News Special: Indigenous Connections Content on ABC iview featured a specially curated collection of programs including Mabo and the two-part mini-series The This special featured a group of outback children trying to Secret River. These programs examined the significant events in make it into an Indigenous choir. Broadcast on ABC ME on Australia’s journey to reconciliation, from the 1967 referendum Wednesday 31 May. to the historic Mabo decision and the Apology. Mabo generated 35,000 views and The Secret River, 32,500 views. ABC Regional’s Coffs Harbour content maker, Fiona Poole, developed a language lesson format for Reconciliation Week and beyond. This initiative involved an ABC team member learning a local Indigenous language on air. ABC Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan: Report 2 Feb 2018 3 NAIDOC Week “Our Languages Matter” 2-9 July 2017 Most Aboriginal languages spoken today are endangered, some critically so. The campaign to maintain those still spoken and revive dormant or “sleeping” languages is fought on many fronts. “Our Languages Matter” was the theme for NAIDOC Week this year and the content reflected the ABC’s commitment towards upholding Indigenous linguistic diversity across the country. In the flagship web-based initiative, “Our Languages Matter”, traditional Aboriginal language speakers from across Australia shared with Awaye! presenter Daniel Browning the importance of learning Indigenous languages. The initiative was launched in conjunction with ‘Word Up’, a podcast on the diverse languages of Indigenous Australia, with a new word introduced in each episode. Seven ‘Word Up’ social media posts were created and shared across the week. ‘Word Up’ continues as a weekly radio segment on Awaye! and as a stand-alone podcast. NAIDOC Week also marked the end of the Our Focus campaign that featured the 1967 referendum through the Right Wrongs digital project. Content highlights for NAIDOC Week ABC TV – Q&A, Cleverman, Australian Story ABC Regional language lessons and Indigenous IDs The second series of Cleverman was launched during ABC Regional provided language lessons and coverage NAIDOC Week. Q&A broadcast live from Alice Springs of NAIDOC Week from more than 40 regional locations on 3 July. Australian Story produced an episode, “The and developed the second batch of more than 100 Peacemaker”, that shares the remarkable journey of Indigenous IDs in language for regional radio stations Uncle Ossie Cruse and his fight for Indigenous rights. across the country. ABC ME – New content series ABC Radio Digital pop up Premiere of animated series Little Jay and Big Cuz, plus ABC Radio featured a digital popup station including Bushwhacked, Move it Mobstyle, Logie Award-winning series Indigenous music and language packages, available on Ready For