NBN Co announces its three-year commitment to indigenous organisations. Jawun, an innovative not-for-profit organisation, is the lucky organisation the telco is partnering with. The new venture aims to improve the capacity of indigenous leaders, organisations, and communities to realise their own development goals.

Through this, NBNCo will endorse at least 12 employees into indigenous organisations all over Australia, their expertise as their instrument in helping the communities intensify their digital capacities.

Says Sally Kincaid, Chief People & Culture Officer of NBN Co, “I strongly endorse the role of organisations – whether corporates, government enterprises or academic institutions – leaning in to move the reconciliation dial in Australia and that’s what Jawun is all about; bringing those organisations together.”

Kincaid further exclaims, “For NBN Co, our association with Jawun will be a tangible way for our people to live the NBN Co purpose of lifting the digital capability of Australia. By going On Country and working with Indigenous organisations, and then coming back to continue their own reconciliation journey, this relationship also offers our secondees both a personal and professional development opportunity.”

She concludes by saying, “On a personal note, I am fortunate to have been able to have two experiences with Jawun in a previous role. The first was in a remote setting, in Cape York in Far North Queensland, and the second was in an urban setting, in Sydney’s Redfern. These diverse experiences through Jawun mirror our breadth in NBN Co, and that’s so important for an organisation like ours with a truly national footprint.”

Shane Webster, Jawun GM Regions shares her opinion, “What we are seeing now, particularly with COVID-19, is a range of projects and requests from communities with a strong theme around digitisation. It will be great to see what skill sets NBN Co can match with the needs of our First Peoples, and even more exciting to see the results.”

Among the projects to be handled by NBN Co are Collaborating with Artlands 2021, Australia’s biggest regional arts gathering; awareness campaigns; extending its Internship program in partnership with Career Trackers; and developing First Peoples supply chains. A couple of these First People Projects are to be undertaken by NBN  in the remainder of 2021.

Besides, NBN Co will also initiate several connectivity support measures that involve NBN Disaster Satellite Services, additional Road Muster trucks, and additional portable satellite kits. 

NBN Co EM - Indigenous affairs, Che Cockatoo-Collins, says, “Our research has shown that digital inclusion of First Peoples is falling behind that of other Australians and we are committed to working to bridge the gap and improve access to essential health and government services.”

Collins finally says, “This relationship between NBN Co and Jawun, which means friend or family, becomes more valuable because as recently as the end of June, we visited many communities in Cape York and the people there communicated their key priorities are additional information on the role of NBN in providing access to reliable telecommunications which is a need that is echoed On Country around our nation.”