How an outback pastoral company is forging a unique pathway to reconciliation and a healthier business.

In the heart of the Outback, a group of pastoral families formed a group as the first and only premium organic meat exporter. OBE Organic was formed in the 1990s and sells boxed beef worldwide. Its product is sourced from around 8 million hectares of organic grazing country.

In the decades since its formation, the company has built a philosophy that encompasses four pillars of sustainability: animals, environment, people and product. Part of that is their responsibility to do right by their First Nations stakeholders in the community, the supply chain and their staff.

'If you don't know where to start, a Reconciliation Action Plan is a good template.'

Managing director Dalene Wray credits her upbringing in the tiny Outback town of Birdsville with making her so passionate about building reconciliation into their business plan. 'We source beef from the pure heart of Australia, where Indigenous people have been living and managing the environment for tens of thousands of years; it makes sense that we would have a relationship with those Indigenous stakeholders,' Dalene says.

Including reconciliation as part of their social licence has benefitted their employees, community and business. Dalene and Amy Brooks of Stockyard Beef share their thoughts on incorporating reconciliation into a business.

When sustainability first became a buzzword, the people behind OBE Organic decided to investigate what that meant to them. Dalene said their journey has evolved over time as they aim to build respect and relationships in their business, the supply chain and the industry.

Dalene Wray with Murnpeowie Station Manager and proud Wankangurru Woman, Joyleen Booth.

By incorporating a formalised plan towards reconciliation, they hoped to support social change through their initiatives, raising awareness of opportunities that can be mutually beneficial for the business and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Australia's lead body for reconciliation, Reconciliation Australia, was established in 2001. It aims to 'build relationships, respect and trust between the wider Australian community and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.' They've developed Reconciliation Action Plans (RAPs), frameworks for businesses used by over 2,700 organisations across the country.

'For us, as we were taking our first steps, the template was just a simple tool that makes sense, so we used that to develop our first Reconciliation Action Plan,' Dalene said. 'If you don't know where to start, it's a good template.'

'It's welcoming, and it's something where people feel accepted.'

Dalene joined forces with Amy Brooks, a Wulli Wulli woman who works for Stockyard Beef, and formed a working group to develop and implement OBE Organic's RAP. The working group is made up of five people, including three OBE Organic team members and two First Nations women. Amy's role at Stockyard Beef involves developing dynamic workforces, building programs around diversity and creating career paths and development programs for team members. She shared those skills and experiences as part of her role in the working group.

'There's a small percentage of Indigenous workers that represent the workforce in Australia, but we're trying to continually develop that workforce. RAPs highlight to Indigenous people and diverse workforces that we're open, and we're progressive, and we're looking to raise our employees' cultural awareness of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and showcase that pride in their culture,' Amy says.

Channel Country - Adria Downs Station

While Dalene says finding and using a RAP to start their journey was invaluable, throughout the chaos of COVID-19, they found the endorsement and accreditation process challenging to maintain. She sees it now as the first step in their journey, a great framework to help show them some of the things that can be incorporated into their business, but not the only thing they can do.

'The first RAP was quite a useful template for us to start our journey,' Dalene says. 'A RAP is perhaps a step in the right direction, but it's definitely not [the be-all and end-all].' 'Indigenous reconciliation can take many forms. It can be a commitment to hire a certain percentage of Indigenous stakeholders, it can be caring for Country, or it can be in every meeting you do an acknowledgment of Country.' Dalene says. 'It's quite nuanced; it's not just "have a RAP and do what the RAP says."'

Following the pillars of reconciliation - Reflect, Innovate, Stretch and Elevate - Dalene uses her influence and position to promote the voices of Traditional Owners and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.

'Sometimes we don't get the very best outcomes we could have because we didn't hear the voice of diverse stakeholders.'

She says there are some relatively simple things she now does as a regular practice, such as always asking journalists who've contacted her whether they've also reached out to a person of colour for their perspective on the issue, especially if it's a story related to reconciliation. By helping put journalists in touch with the appropriate talent, she hopes to increase the diversity of voices heard in the media, elevating voices that are often left out of the conversation.

There are other rooms Dalene feels people of colour are left out of as well, and she makes an effort to invite people from all backgrounds to the type of events only board members are regularly privy to. 'In agriculture, we often have mostly males sitting around the board tables. They got there for a reason, but sometimes we don't get the very best outcomes we could have because we didn't hear the voice of diverse stakeholders.'

'You don't have to spend more money; you don't have to employ more people to get Indigenous reconciliation; you just have to think a bit differently about how we're all better off when we have diverse voices around the table.'

The benefits go both ways, and Dalene believes it's a loss to businesses that miss out on hearing from diverse perspectives. She also believes there's a lack of opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to hear from inspirational keynote speakers or hear industry leaders share their stories when they're not invited to those kinds of events. It's a long-term learning process, and Dalene says understanding cultural differences and making allowances is important to ensure the events are accessible.

'You don't have to spend more money; you don't have to employ more people to get Indigenous reconciliation; you just have to think a bit differently.'

Beyond championing diverse voices in the media and at business events, Dalene's found the OBE Organic social media accounts a simple way to share stories as well, providing a reach for groups like the Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation that don't have the same numbers on their own accounts. 'It's their content and their voice, but they're using our platform to reach more people with their story, and that was really exciting,' Dalene says. It's gone both ways, and some of the milestones OBE has celebrated include having Elders deliver talks and workshops for staff and training them in cross-cultural awareness and appreciation.

They also recognised significant dates, themes and events for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and hosted events like screenings of Indigenous films. To read more of OBE Organic's milestones, check out their 2020 report.

Beyond organic; OBE's approach to reconciliation resonates with North American markets.

There's a social licence to incorporate reconciliation as part of a business plan, which operates at a level that's deemed socially acceptable and responsible to employees, stakeholders and the general public. While reconciliation has yet to become a mainstream feature of social licence in the agricultural space, for OBE Organic, it has become a unique selling point in some of their global markets.

Dalene has found some countries that also have a history of colonialism and Indigenous populations recognise the inclusion of higher standards for equality as a desirable trait when choosing a product to buy. 'It's really important that we're engaging with consumers in different markets, so for example, our work in Indigenous reconciliation resonates a lot with our American customers, and Canada is a prospective market for us; they're very interested in what we're doing,' Dalene says.

'It's really important that we're engaging with consumers in different markets.'

While there are market benefits to having these unique selling points, Dalene and Amy say they've also experienced backlash from people who question whether they're using people for profit. 'We have a lot of initiatives, and if you're thought leaders in an industry, and you're trialling new innovations, or if something goes wrong, you'll be sure to find someone who doesn't agree with it, and you're sure to be critiqued,' Amy says.

Tucker time on Adria (Adria Downs Station).

By building relationships with the community, they're also able to join forces to lobby state and federal governments on environmental protections for the Channel Country. At OBE, Dalene says they work towards having good relationships with Traditional Owners in the communities where they source their beef, as well as other relevant stakeholders, like local environmental bodies. They've found working together is a more effective way to lobby state and federal governments on environmental protections for the Channel Country.

'You get to where you need to faster if everyone is in the same boat, which is pastoralists, conservationists and Traditional Owners.' 'The state and federal governments expect businesses to do better in this space, so if you're bidding for grants, or things like that, or when you're engaging with the government on environmental protections, I think it's useful for bureaucrats from state and federal governments to understand that you take your obligation to stakeholders seriously,' Dalene says.

Dalene sees it as a three-pronged approach. By building solid connections with primary producers, Traditional Owners and environmentalists, they can voice their concerns when issues arise.

'You get to where you need to faster if everyone is in the same boat, which is pastoralists, conservationists and Traditional Owners,' she said.

There are benefits for staff, stakeholders, community and the business for those who start on their own reconciliation journey. Dalene says it can start with some small moves, but the best way to get started is to make it a team effort.

'Potentially, there are staff that have an opinion about whether you should have [a RAP] or not or may be Indigenous themselves or haven't told you they are, so go to your team,' Dalene says.

Communicating with other businesses that are further along in their journey can help build confidence in your own actions - but keep in mind that no two journeys will be the same.

Amy has seen reconciliation action for multiple businesses. She says learning from experiences and building cultural awareness, cohesiveness, and trust can make a big difference over time. 'Make sure your Reconciliation Action Plan Committee has Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives within that committee so that you can have that advice and guidance because it's not necessarily the streamlined pathway that you would ideally think that it might be,' she says.

'Be prepared to be able to invest in your employees' cultural awareness and diversity journey and what that might look like for your particular organisation.'

People may also want different things out of the process, and finding out how best to support your staff and community will show the direction. While working for the Woorabinda Pastoral Company, Amy says supporting staff through education was a priority, and they found a way to do that. 'We were funding community to improve their skill sets, so some members would want to stay and work in community, or they would go and start their own businesses, and we'd hire them back as consultants and support them in that way,' Amy says. 'Or we'd want to ensure we had a pathway for them to encourage them to progress in the industry.'

It takes collaboration and communication, working together to find out what people want and then how best to move forward to achieve that. 'There's a lot of collaboration, especially if you're working with some of the different communities and [Traditional Owners], depending on your location within Australia,' Amy says. 'Be prepared to be able to invest in your employees' cultural awareness and diversity journey and what that might look like for your particular organisation.'

For Amy and Dalene, who've both watched OBE Organic's reconciliation action evolve, there's no one right way to start. But making reconciliation a priority in a business can have vast benefits for stakeholders, the broader community, business and society, and both women think it's worth taking that first step.