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Alan Tudge was the first employee from BCG
to participate in a Jawun secondment in 2001,
working for Noel Pearson’s Cape York Institute,
an experience he described as ‘life-changing’.
Fourteen years later, he is the federal member for
the seat of Aston and Assistant Minister to the
Prime Minister. He described the enduring legacy of
his Jawun secondment on his career in the
public
sector
: ‘My experience from Cape York during the
early years of the Cape York Institute, where I was
deputy director, is indispensable for me when
I work to develop policy not only for Indigenous
people but for the wider community.’ Alan also
writes on Indigenous affairs in
The Australian
,
seeking to raise public awareness of Indigenous
issues, and bring attention to the challenges, the
gains and the inspiring leaders in the sector.
Alan said the ripple effect from the secondment
program is far-reaching and can be indirect:
I am proud to have played a small role in the
establishment of Teach for Australia, which recruits
outstanding graduates and trains them to be
teachers in schools where students’ needs are
greatest. TFA mostly works with non-Indigenous
schools in the southern states, but it grew from
Jawun secondees’ work with Noel Pearson.
43
Ben Rimmer is another former BCG secondee
whose experience in Cape York in 2002, as a
development adviser to Cape York Partnership,
informed his later roles in various government
portfolios. Now CEO of the City of Melbourne,
Ben said the skills, experience and capability
that exist within the public and private sectors
is informed by hundreds of secondees who have
worked in Indigenous organisations through a
Jawun secondment. He continues to draw from
his learnings in the Cape:
Working in an Indigenous business in a remote
community is a very different experience than
most people in government are used to. As
public service leaders, we always have the
challenge and responsibility of changing the
way the public service delivers in order to meet
the changing expectations of the day. Some of
the most valuable things I learned in Cape York
were actually about communication and about
impact, and that is something that has informed
the way I’ve approached my work, particularly in
developing public policy. The ability to look at
an issue and think about it in a systematic way—
to ask, for example, ‘What is different
about economic development in the Cape?’—
and pick the right vehicle for the right issue
is incredibly important.
While not all secondees go on to become policy
makers, many in the public service contribute to
the ripple effect through their roles. The Australian
Public Service Commission evaluation conducted in
2014 found that when APS secondees returned to
work they drew on ‘insights from the secondment
to inform agency-specific program management
and policy development’. One APS secondee in the
evaluation reflected: ‘The secondment expanded
my knowledge of Indigenous communities to
enable better delivery of the ABSTUDY program.’
In the
private sector
, executives are uniquely
placed to influence their organisations around
inclusion practices and Indigenous affairs, as
well as influencing their executive networks.
Noel Pearson has referred to these circles as ‘the
sectors of power and opportunity’ and maintains
that Indigenous development goals ‘will never
be realised without expanding our networks into
these sectors’.
44
More than 100 executives attend
an Executive Visit each year. The majority of them
gain a deeper awareness of Indigenous Australia
and are profoundly affected by their experiences,
and go on to influence, inspire and energise the
rest of their organisation around
building inclusive
cultures
and contributing to
sustainability
.
Michael Rose, Chief Executive Partner at Allens,
has been involved with Jawun since the firm
became a secondment partner in 2007. Through
regional engagement with Jawun he later became
interested in Empowered Communities and was
invited to sit on its Advisory Board. In recent years,
as Chairman of the Indigenous Engagement Task
Force of the Business Council of Australia, Michael
has been instrumental in engaging senior business
leaders in supporting Indigenous employment
and economic development among Indigenous
Australians. He sees the opportunities people
have to experience life through an Indigenous lens
on a Jawun secondment or Executive Visit as a
deeply personal way to engage them in addressing
Indigenous disadvantage in Australia:
56 JAWUN
2015 LEARNINGS AND INSIGHTS