What you need to know:

• ACA has launched its first Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan.
• It will seek to educate ACA members, encourage others to develop their own plan and provide employment pathways to the ATSI community.
• ACA RAP Chair Laura Aldington says the lack of ATSI people in advertising is “an injustice we’re excited to take steps towards addressing”.

The advertising industry’s first reconciliation action plan has been launched by Advertising Council Australia, promising to provide employment pathways for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and set a precedent for other ACA members.

The organisation’s inaugural Reflect RAP will be implemented by the ACA’s RAP Committee, which was formed in 2020 after years of conversations with Peter Kirk, a Jerrinja man who has long called for advertisers to “close the gap”.

Laura Aldington, Chair of RAP Committee, said: “This launch is significant because we believe it is a missed opportunity that an industry built on the power of creativity has not yet embraced the oldest, most creative, artistic, storytelling culture on this planet.

“It’s an injustice we’re excited to take steps towards addressing.”

ACA CEO Tony Hale said: “Advertising is an inclusive industry that thrives when multiple perspectives are applied to a problem.

“However it is also, sadly, true that our actions to improve the inequality, living standards, health and society bias against Australia’s First Nations People is severely lacking and lags behind many other industries.”

Key elements of the RAP include:

• Education of ACA’s members and development of cultural programs to equip industry members with the skills to engage with ATSI peoples
• Encouragement of ACA’s members to develop their own RAP
• Providing pathways for the ATSI community to find employment on an equal opportunity basis

More details about ACA's RAP can be found here.