Plenary partners with Kinaway
Plenary is a leading independent investor, developer and manager of public infrastructure, specialising in public-private partnerships. In Victoria, it is delivering and managing 11 infrastructure assets worth more than $11 billion. This includes the new Footscray Hospital, Melbourne Convention and Exhibition Centre, and the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre.
Plenary’s holistic approach embraces financing, managing design and construction, and ongoing management and operation of infrastructure assets. Established in Melbourne in 2004, it has grown to comprise more than 150 staff across Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane, and Adelaide.
Plenary has been engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses through its infrastructure projects around Australia for some time, and has been on the formal RAP journey since 2020. It embraces the need to raise awareness in, and understanding of, reconciliation, and the RAP journey formalises its commitment to developing respectful relationships to foster understanding and respect for First Nations history, cultures and communities, and to improve socioeconomic outcomes.
Plenary has engaged a number of Kinaway-registered Victorian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses, and revised procurement guidelines have resulted in increased procurement of products and services from Victorian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses, including training services, education resources, graphic design and catering.
In April 2022, Reconciliation Australia endorsed Plenary’s second RAP, the two-year Innovate RAP, which it is now implementing (view the Plenary Innovate RAP 2022-2024 https://plenarygroup.com/Plenary_Innovate_RAP_2022-2024.pdf)
Plenary prides itself on collaborating with its government and private sector project partners to deliver public infrastructure that benefits communities.
Its vision is for its projects to be a catalyst for improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Torres Strait Islander workplace participation, socioeconomic empowerment and relationship building; something that can be fostered and improved through the Kinaway partnership.
The reconciliation journey Plenary is has allowed it to deepen its understanding of the influence it is able to have through its role in delivering and managing quality public infrastructure. It has resulted in the formation of genuine relationships with a small but growing number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and organisations.
Its projects include workforce development initiatives that provide long-term, sustainable employment pathways and opportunities for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and other relationships benefiting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses.
The partnership with Kinaway will enable Plenary to bring these opportunities to the Kinaway member businesses in a more timely and direct way.
The partnership will assist Plenary to develop respectful relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Victorians that, ultimately, improve socioeconomic outcomes. For example, Plenary leads the Plenary Health consortium delivering the $1.5 billion new Footscray Hospital, the largest single investment in health infrastructure in Victoria.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander participation strategy for the project seeks to maximise participation through the engagement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander jobseekers and businesses. The project is creating 336 jobs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Victorians, 56 of those trainees, and more than $13 million will be spent on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employment, training, supply opportunities and cultural support. At least 1% of the total design and construction procurement of the project will be from Victorian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses.
Plenary sees its partnership with Kinaway as an opportunity to not only achieve these outcomes but exceed them. And by collaborating with local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander suppliers and organisations, create long-term relationships.
Plenary Group - Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan