Our Reconciliation Action Plan
Our Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) 2024–27 provides information on our initiatives to support reconciliation under Reconciliation Australia's 3 core pillars – relationships, respect and opportunities.
Our activities under ‘Governance, tracking and reporting’ enable us to relay our successes and lessons learned to our staff, community, government and to Reconciliation AustraliaExternal Link.
Relationships
We recognise the importance of building respectful relationships to better understand and meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. We continue to explore ways to improve existing services and build new relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander partners to support improved economic outcomes. Our aim is to encourage willing participation and increased confidence in the Australian tax, superannuation and registry systems.
We have developed an engagement plan with guiding principles to work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders. This plan is designed to help staff engage in a culturally safe and informed manner, e.g. in their work at community events such as those organised by the First Nations Foundation.
Over the year, we have promoted a range of reconciliation-related topics through public communications, including:
- the launch of our Reconciliation Action Plan 2024–27
- NAIDOC Week
- one-on-one tax and superannuation support, provided during First Nations Foundation’s Financial Wellness Week.
We continue to build relationships across public sector entities through our engagement with cross-agency networks to advance reconciliation, including by co-hosting the Australian Public Services (APS) Reconciliation Sharing Network. We have collaborated with other organisations and shared our experiences to help promote reconciliation initiatives.
National Reconciliation Week
We have continued to build relationships through our celebration of National Reconciliation Week (NRW). We held a national event hosted by Second Commissioner and RAP Champion, Jeremy Hirschhorn and including one of our SES Indigenous Champions, Rowan Fox, as well as Ebony Rowell, senior RAP advisor from Reconciliation Australia. Site-specific events occurred across the organisation.
Respect
We build relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by being aware of, acknowledging and respecting the unique cultures and lived experiences.
We are actively recognising Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture throughout our sites, including through the display of Acknowledgment of Country plaques and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags in all ATO buildings.
Cultural learning and immersion
The ATO launched its Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Capability Approach, comprising 5 levels of cultural learning. As at 30 June 2025, 99.2% of all ATO staff have completed the Indigenous Australian Cultural Awareness (IACA) online training, which was made mandatory last year. Over the year, 286 staff participated in facilitated cultural training.
Throughout the year, 7 ATO staff in total experienced cultural immersion through the Jawun secondment program. Staff participated in 4 Jawun secondments over 6 weeks in Central Australia and the South of Western Australia. Senior leaders participated in 3 Jawun executive visits over 2–4 days in inner Sydney and the South of Western Australia.
Our Commissioner Rob Heferen and Second Commissioner Jeremy Hirschhorn attended the Garma Festival in northeast Arnhem Land in August 2024, highlighting our commitment to listening to, and learning directly from, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. They gleaned valuable insights from the experience and shared their appreciation for the opportunity to be immersed in the culture of the Yolngu people.
NAIDOC Week
We are continuing to build relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples through our celebration of NAIDOC Week with local site events and a national online event hosted by one of our SES Indigenous Champions, Rowan Fox. The event featured keynote speaker Brendan Moyle, Executive Branch Manager for the Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs in the ACT Government.
Opportunities
We support opportunities through our efforts to be an employer of choice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and a leader in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander procurement.
Staff professional development
As at 30 June 2025, we have supported staff professional development, including the following.
- Two staff were supported to complete the 2025 Australian National University (ANU) First Nations Graduate Certificate qualification and 5 graduated from the 2024 offering in December 2024.
- Four staff graduated from the University of New South Wales (UNSW) Executive Indigenous Leadership Program in December. A further 4 staff commenced in May 2025.
- Four staff completed the APS4/5 Institute of Public Administration Australia (IPAA) First Nations Emerging Leaders Program in December 2024. A further 5 staff commenced the program in May 2025.
- Three staff were accepted onto the First Nations EL2 Bulabul Talent Development Program.
- Ninety-one staff participated as mentees in the ATO's Indigenous Mentoring Program.
- Twenty staff participated in the Indigenous Leadership Program pilot for APS4–6 staff.
- Seventeen Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff are receiving funding support for their tertiary education under the ATO's Tuition Assistance Program (TAP) as at 30 June. Over the financial year, 5 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander staff graduated.
Supplier diversity
A new Indigenous Procurement Strategy has been developed for 2024–27. This strategy ensures that ATO procurement policies, procedures and resources comply with Indigenous Procurement Policy (IPP) requirements and highlights the benefits of working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses.
We maintain corporate membership of Supply Nation and have exceeded Treasury Portfolio targets for number and value of contracts with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suppliers.
Community support
Over the year we have attended many events, including:
- First Nations Foundation Financial Wellness Week
- Indigenous Financial Wellness Clinic
- Koori Connect
- Supply Nation Connect
- Indigenous Business Connect
- ID Connect
- Indigenous Business Education series at the Yarpa Hub
- Mildura Indigenous Business Expo.
Staff travelled to East Arnhem Land, Palm Island and Doomadgee, amongst other locations, to assist taxpayers with TFN registration, superannuation, work-related expenses and lodgment. By attending these events, we are able to build stronger relationships and highlight our small business support arrangements. We can connect those starting out, or in the early stages of business, into the business support ecosystem, including providing ATO education and resources, and addressing queries.
As a result of visits to remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in 2024, we identified that a number of people living in remote or isolated areas were entitled to claim the Remote Zone Tax Offset in their tax return but had not claimed it. We carried out a program to realise this benefit for those that had not claimed it. Over 60,000 tax returns have since been amended and we are now focusing on making it easier for entitled taxpayers to claim the offset in their tax returns. We're doing this by developing tailored and targeted education for tax time and working on improving the claiming experience.
The Small Business Reach Out Reset program pilot launched in January 2025 to fundamentally shift our engagement approach with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander small businesses. We commenced a partnering approach with Many Rivers (a non-profit organisation that supports people to start and grow their small business) to extend our reach in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. We delivered multiple sessions in Far North Queensland on starting a small business and record keeping.
Governance
We support and manage accountability for our RAP initiatives by:
- monitoring actions
- tracking progress against the planned deliverables
- communicating our commitment to reconciliation publicly.
Both the Australian Taxation Office corporate plan 2024–25 and the Commissioner of Taxation annual report 2023–24 include references to the ATO's RAP.
We have a reporting and governance framework in place to guide measurement and reporting on a regular basis.
We host regular RAP Working Group (RAPWG) meetings to drive and monitor RAP implementation.
Ongoing focus areas
Formal 2-way partnerships
We are continuing to explore opportunities to establish a formal 2-way partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employee representation
We continue to explore a range of initiatives to increase the representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples within our workforce, including:
- advertising affirmative measure – Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment recruitment processes
- maintaining programs such as our Evergreen entry-level program for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Our overall representation performance has increased moderately from 3.1% to 3.2% when compared to the previous financial year. We are progressing work to achieve the targets established under our RAP for representation at the APS4 level and above. Our progress has been impacted this year by lower recruitment volumes overall. Improving our representation rates is a key focus for the ATO over the life of our current RAP. We are ensuring workforce plans under review include commitments to support greater inclusion and diversity across our workforce.
|
Classification |
Target 2024–25 |
Results Q4 2024–25 |
|---|---|---|
|
APS 4–6 |
4.0% |
3.0% |
|
EL1–2 |
2.5% |
1.1% |
|
SES |
2.0% |
0.4% |