VC RAP video

Vice Chancellor’s Student Graduation Video 2018

TRANSCRIPT

VISUAL: RMIT Vice Chancellor and President Martin Bean sits and addresses camera.

MARTIN BEAN SPEAKS: Wom-in-jeka! As Vice-Chancellor of RMIT, I’m incredibly proud of the progress we’re making on Reconciliation and developing a meaningful relationship with Australia’s First Peoples.

Together we’re creating bonds between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous people that will help make RMIT a better place to study, work and belong.

Our Reconciliation goals come from the obligation all Australians have to the outcomes that arose from the 1992 Mabo High Court decision and closer to home, reconciliation enables the objectives of the RMIT Act 2010.

So in our first Reconciliation Action Plan – or RAP as we call it - we worked hard to set common goals and get serious about creating a shared future together.

This included cultural awareness training for staff to inform how we do our work, undertaking Indigenous-led community research projects, and ensuring Indigenous opportunities and impacts are included in our project and planning process.

As RMIT’s RAP Champion, I’m proud to say we’ve already successfully delivered 85% of our first RAP’s targets and we’re on track to reach the goals we set within plan.

This speaks volumes about our commitment and my thanks go to the dedicated RAP Champions across the University whose passion and dedication has inspired us all.

With Reconcilation at RMIT, we’re going to take a leap ahead in our focus on Indigenous self-determination by strengthening our bonds through institutional values, governance, policy and practice.

And we will deepen our commitment with Australia’s First Peoples and make sure that the whole RMIT community is ready to take on the responsibilities and the heart that a relationship like this requires.

Everyone has a part to play in this transformation and I hope that you are as excited as I am about the possibilities it holds.

I can tell you, the rewards are extraordinary.

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