Ventia respectfully acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country both past and present on whose lands we work and recognise their continuing connection to land, water, sea, sky, and community. We pay our respects to their Elders past and present.

We recognise that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people sustained and cared for this country for 65,000 plus years. We respect local customary needs and practices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their communities. We understand the significance and importance of preserving and protecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and customs.

To the Traditional Custodians, Elders and community members in the communities in which we work, we will respect your lands and Country and walk lightly on it while we are there.

Our vision for reconciliation

As a provider of essential infrastructure services, people are at the heart of our success. Our vision is to be an organisation where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people feel accepted and included and, importantly, feel culturally safe and valued.

We want to create a workplace where non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have their understanding of reconciliation transformed by the experiences they have while employed with or subcontracted by us. By ensuring we drive that culture within our organisation, we recognise that this in turn will support reconciliation externally as the sphere of influence of our employees and subcontractors goes beyond Ventia. They influence and have the potential to transform the people they interact with, the communities in which they work and live, and the future workplaces with which they will engage.

We know that sitting behind these words we need leadership that is culturally proficient, with partnerships based on trust and respect. In addition, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures need to be more than acknowledged, they need to be recognised, understood, highly valued and incorporated into all parts of our business.

Our Reconciliation Action Plan

Our RAP Artwork


Our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) artwork is an outcome of our engagement with Karratha Senior High School in Western Australia who brought together their arts students, Star and Clontarf Foundation students, local Elders and artists from Juluwarlu art group who guided the students to design the beautiful artwork.

Titled “Connections”, the artwork depicts the landscape, the sea, its plentiful bush tucker and bush medicine that has nourished the peoples of this land for over 60,000 years and amongst this on the far right depicts Ventia people working on Country.

Through our Reconciliation Action Plan we aim to create and support equitable outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

We do this through building strong relationships, respecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in all our activities and creating meaningful opportunities guided through consultation to preserve and protect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and customs.

Read our Reconciliation Action Plan

Pillar 1: Building and maintaining strong, sustainable, and respectful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their communities is essential for Ventia in creating more equitable outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. 

We engage with a number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders across our organisation, either in a formal or informal manner, including CareerTrackers, Bandu, Stars Foundation, Clontarf Foundation, Bunjilwarra, Supply Nation, Kinaway Aboriginal Chamber of Commerce and the Northern Territory Indigenous Business Network. 

Pillar 2: Understanding local culture, rights and experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their communities to ensure Ventia can build respectful relationships and foster a shared identify and ensure wrongs of the past are not repeated.

We engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and history by recognising and celebrating culturally significant days and events, such as National Reconciliation Week, NAIDOC Week, and several others. We see these days as an opportunity for us to show what reconciliation, and the broader conversation around engagement with Indigenous communities and individuals really mean to us.

Pillar 3: Providing long-term, sustainable employment, training, education and business opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their communities to ensure that Ventia contributes to closing the gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians.

Through our TRECCA team, established in 2015 to facilitate recruitment, employment and retention of Indigenous peoples throughout our business, we have seen over 800 Indigenous men and women join our business. The team also provide mentoring and support to our Indigenous employees and help them find training opportunities.

Our holistic approach to procurement sees us focus on increasing the volume and value of goods and services that Ventia procures from verified Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses, both through purchase orders and the award of long-term contracts. We wererecognised for our work in sustainable procurement at the Supply Nation 2023 Supplier Diversity Awards.  Read more here.

Pillar 4: Incorporating the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to guide Ventia’s actions and to hold ourselves accountable to all our commitments. 

We hold ourselves accountable to Indigenous knowledge systems through the expertise of the Indigenous Advisory Board (IAB), which is now in its twelfth year of operation. The IAB has 12 members and is independent to Ventia. Its core function is to monitor our overall Indigenous Participation Program and our RAP development and implementation, ensuring that we are on track to meet our commitments.

Each of our regions are represented by a Regional Indigenous Steering Committee (RISC). They are there to operationalise our participation programs on the ground and to support our projects with their engagement initiatives.