Jane Pound
Jane Pound is Director - Victoria of Social Ventures Australia (SVA) with responsibilities for corporate and investor support, government relations and venture support. She has 10 years experience in corporate law and corporate advisory roles. Prior to joining SVA, Jane worked for five years in Sydney as a senior corporate lawyer at leading law firm Gilbert + Tobin. She specialised in structuring transactions, mergers and acquisitions, joint ventures, shareholder arrangements and capital raisings.
Before that, she worked for Ernst & Young as a Senior Manager in a corporate advisory role, and as a lawyer for a number of years in Melbourne. During her career, Jane has undertaken pro-bono work representing an asylum seeker and providing advice to not-for-profit organisations on a range of issues.
What a reconciled Australia looks like to me.
I never got to know the young indigenous boy at my primary school. I was never taught the stories of aboriginal Australia. The first time I got to know an indigenous Australian was when I was 23 in Geneva Switzerland.
All Australia needs to ignite our commitment. An aboriginal child today has a life expectancy 17 years less than every other child in Australia, even less than that of a child in Bangladesh. We know that we can close this gap and learn from the responses of other countries including our close neighbour New Zealand.
The Australia in our future could be a place where cultural respect is lived by individuals in the stories we share with our children, in schools where teachers believe that every child is strong and smart and in workplaces and boardrooms where people from all cultural backgrounds and of all abilities have the opportunity to participate. The fact that we declare a "national" skills shortage when 20% of indigenous Australians today are unemployed (over 80% in some areas) is absurd. In fact, in an ageing Australia, when 60% of aboriginal people are under 25, indigenous Australians are a major part of this country's future.
In a time when our planet is fast becoming an environmental mess, Australia could learn a lot from the indigenous custodians who have lived in harmony with the land for over 40,000 years - now that's a sustainable footprint! Imagine if we all stopped to feel the earth beneath the concrete and carpet, and learned the stories about the places where we live. I read last week about a teacher who was frustrated teaching Australian history to Year 9 students, how her students were bored and did not want to feel guilt about the treatment of indigenous Australians. Imagine instead if all primary school children had the chance to learn from indigenous elders, hear the stories of aboriginal Australia, form friendships not prejudices.
There are many positive examples of indigenous success. Why then does the Government impose the most complex legal and governance structures in Australia on indigenous organisations? Government policy alone is not the answer. The solution lies in local community, not in funding more bureaucracy. Over a three year period, Ganbina, a local indigenous employment organisation in Shepparton Victoria supported over 130 indigenous people into jobs in business and industry. This is in a vibrant industrious town only 2½ hours out of Melbourne where skilled labour is short and indigenous unemployment was as high as 80%. Ganbina also now runs an out of school program that has helped increase the retention rate of indigenous students by 10% in only two years. It not only has support from over 60 local businesses, but is a valued contributor in the life and economic future of the region.
Today while we celebrate indigenous Australia - a world-revered art movement, sporting glory, actors, role models and strong leaders there is so much more individually and collectively that we can do. Maybe our flag will change, no doubt our Government will one day soon say sorry and why wouldn't we pay compensation to those who deserve it. In this place we will be unified, we will honour the land and care for its fragile resources. We will all have the same life chances and together we will all be proud.
Jane Pound
