Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islanders at BASF Australia & New Zealand
Our Reconciliation Action Plan
In 2022 BASF launched our inaugural Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) - Reflect. A RAP is a strategic plan that guides our relationships with, as well as respect and opportunities for First Nations people as well as our governance as an organisation.
BASF acknowledge First Nations people as the traditional custodians of the Country throughout Australia. We hope that through the implementation of our RAP we will contribute to the national journey of reconciliation. Click here to read our RAP including the specific deliverables we have committed to achieving by May 2023.
From our perspective, the implementation of our RAP should achieve several things:
- Create substantive change towards reconciliation;
- Provide learning and engagement opportunities for BASF colleagues to deepen their understanding and appreciation of First Nations’ history and culture;
- Encourage our sphere of influence including our customers, friends and family, to engage in a discussion of reconciliation;
- Provide valuable development opportunities for colleagues passionate about First Nations’ affairs
Our RAP working group is an evolution of our First Nations Peoples working group which was part of our Diversity + Inclusion Council in 2021.
Current Partnerships and Activities
In 2019 BASF partnered with Science Gallery Melbourne to support their Mediator programme – the science Master and PhD students who guide visitors through the exhibits. The Gallery is a new addition to the Museums & Collections department at the University of Melbourne. Although non-Indigenous operated, the Gallery has a strong link to First Nations arts and science and has committed to including First Nations voices in each of its exhibitions. Exhibits such as Disposable and Emu Sky have demonstrated how First Nations knowledge systems and science created the first societies with agriculture and aquaculture as well as celestial navigation. These exhibits have been an invaluable learning tool for BASF to understand and more importantly to value different ways of knowing, and different methods of expressing knowledge. BASF colleagues will be able to take this new-found understanding to influence their broader understanding of First Nations history and culture in this country, and to identify culturally appropriate ways to advance the topic of reconciliation in their personal and professional lives.
In 2020 we also supported DeadlyScience, a First Nations STEM education organisation led by Kamilaroi man and 2020 NSW Young Australian of the Year, Corey Tutt. BASF was able to supply over 450 science education books to primary school aged children in remote communities throughout Australia. We are looking forward to deepening our connection with Science Gallery both as it relates to our values of science education and innovation as well as First Nations self-determination.
Lastly, BASF is proud of the impact of our initiative Kids’ Lab where we support primary school children to become scientists for the day. This has been a hugely popular event for staff engagement over the years. In 2021 we took this event rural for the first time with great success. Hosted by Curtin University’s WA School of Mines, we were able to welcome 30 students from the Kalgoorlie-Boulder area to participate in engaging science experiments for a day. We are excited by the possibility to continue running Kids’ Lab in regional and rural Australia and to increase access to and interest in a career in educational, academic or industrial science for more young people, many of whom are First Nations children. Throughout the implementation of our RAP, we are excited to identify opportunities to partner with First Nations organisations and communities and to extend the positive impact of Kids’ Lab.
BASF's Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group Artwork
BASF commissioned this piece by Ngarrindjeri artist Jordan Lovegrove in 2021 as an initiative of RAP working group (part of our D + I Council). The central blue circles represent BASF as a central meeting place surrounded by the arches of people meeting there. BASF is connected to the outer circles in the six BASF colours by a dotted white line representing learning and reconciliation. The outer circles are BASF’s sphere of influence including the communities at our sites, our friends and family, and our customers – surrounded by green, blue, yellow and red, representing the diversity of First Nations Country that we operate on.
