First Nations Community Engagement and COVID-19 preparedness

First Nations community engagement: Industry guide phase I

Project Overview: The First Nations Community Engagement: Industry Guide Phase I was developed from discussions held with industry leaders involved with the Office of Indigenous Engagement, CQUniversity, and First Nations community members and leaders. This Guide draws on our own and our partners’ community engagement principles and practices. The purpose of the Guide is to enhance engagement practices for industry and First Nations communities. We provide a brief history of First Nations community engagement practices to provide context; a resource for organisations, which they can use to assess their current First Nations community engagement approaches; a framework to support industry in engaging with First Nations communities in mutually beneficial and respectful ways; and examples of good practice and learning experiences through case studies.

Launched in 2022, the Guide has improved First Nations community engagement for industry, organisations, and not for profit sectors benefiting both First Nations communities and sectors as its focus, with micro-credential training courses and toolkits being developed to improve multisectoral cultural capability.

BHP Partners Symposium: First Nations Community Engagement Event Report 2021

Project Team: Dr Carolyn Daniels, Ms Madeline Stewart, Professor Adrian Miller

Project Funding Support: BHP’s Community Development Project

Project Partners: CQUniversity; BHP; Clontarf Foundation; Greening Australia; AIME; Queensland Music Festival (QMF); Bush Blitz; Queensland Museum Network; Books in Homes; Great Barrier Reef Foundation; Polly Farmer Foundation.

Understanding First Nations communities’ preparedness, concerns and strategies for addressing COVID-19

Project Overview: Australian First Nations communities, including remote communities, are particularly vulnerable to the risks posed by the current COVID-19 pandemic. Pandemic event management falls under national and state all-hazard disaster management arrangements. In most jurisdictions, local governments are responsible for managing events through their Local Disaster Management Groups (LDMG), supported by district and state level groups. This study sought to investigate the capacity of regional and remote local governments of Australian First Nations Communities to develop and deploy pandemic disaster management strategies and plans. The study investigated the preparedness, responses, concerns, and capabilities of communities at the forefront of the pandemic disaster. Findings reported here may assist with future planning for disaster management and risk reduction that incorporates community voices and Indigenous Knowledges and Practices in future regional and remote pandemic policy development and implementation.

Project Leads: Professor Adrian Miller and Dr Kylie Radel

Project Team: Dr Jan Robertson; Dr Carolyn Daniels

Collaborators: Professor Jenni Judd, Associate Professor Peter Massey, Miss Kristy Crooks

Project Funding Support: the Australian Partnership for Preparedness Research on Infectious Disease Emergencies (APPRISE) Centre for Research Excellence; the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC); the BHP Vital Resources Fund.