South East Water Partners with Kinaway!
Overview of the Partner’s business
Who we are
South East Water is a metropolitan water corporation operating in Melbourne’s south-east, established by the Victorian Government. We support healthy and liveable communities by delivering water, sewerage and recycled water services to almost 1.8 million people (~30% of Melbourne’s population) every day and every night.
We manage almost $5.4 billion in assets including water and sewerage networks – the pipes, pumping stations, valves and water recycling plants that bring water to our customers and take waste away. We operate on Bunurong, Wurundjeri Woi Wurrung and Gunaikurnai Country. Our service area stretches across more than 270 km of coastline and covers a land area of 3,640 km2 from Port Melbourne to Portsea and approximately 30 km east of Pakenham.
We focus on our customers, communities, people and environment – innovating with purpose and acting with care as we deliver essential water and wastewater services. We’re on track to deliver our emissions reduction pledge of 45% by 2025 and further reduce our reliance on the grid. To respond to risks and plan for the future, we’ve continued to adapt our assets and operations for climate resilience and deliver our climate adaptation plan.
Organisation by numbers
1,794,937 people serviced
774,079 residential customers (92.5% of our total customer base)
62,629 business customers (7.5% of our total customer base)
142 billion litres of drinking water supplied
7 billion litres of recycled water supplied
148 billion litres of wastewater managed
$5.4 billions of dollars in assets
We own, operate and maintain 14,639* kilometres of water pipes; 1,507 kilometres of recycled water pipes; 11,598 kilometres of sewer pipes; 82 water pump stations; 12 recycled water pump stations; 278 sewage pump stations; 14,252 pressure sewer pumps; and 8 water recycling plants.
How has the Partner engaged with the Indigenous sector?
Recognising Aboriginal Values
We continue to learn from Traditional Owners and Aboriginal community to understand how they care for Country and how we can protect our environment and support self-determination.
Registered Aboriginal Parties on whose Country we provide services include Bunurong Land Council Aboriginal Corporation (BLCAC), Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLAWAC), and Wurundjerri Woi Wurrung Aboriginal Heritage Corporation (WWAHC).
Partnerships with Traditional Owners
South East Water has onboarded our first dedicated First Peoples team to foster and strengthen partnerships that support Traditional Owner self-determination over the coming years.
We continue to partner with BLCAC to support their self-determination priorities on Country, including collaboration to develop a regional working group of water bodies on Bunurong Country.
Our Annual Community Grants program awarded a grant to BLCAC’s Strong Country team for their On Country Bunurong Forestry Garden Project. This project also involves Mornington Peninsula Koala Conservation Group and Landcare Victoria. The project will enhance biodiversity and engage community in conservation efforts to support koala habitat conservation in the Westernport Biosphere Reserve. At least 2 workshops are being planned for October 2024, one for local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community and one for the general public to exchange and educate on Bunurong cultural values.
We have welcomed BLCAC support for engagement with Purple House sharing stories and creating pathways for future collaboration. From this connection, the BLCAC has connected the organisation with a community-focused drone health service to potentially support them in health service delivery.
We work with BLCAC to repurpose red gum from Bunurong Country to help strengthen relationships and educate local Aboriginal community on Bunurong cultural values.
We have provided a holding bay at one of our sites to support BLCAC to store repurposed Bunurong cultural values materials. Supporting Aboriginal self-determination.
We regularly engage with 4 gathering places in our service area on matters important to them, led by their priorities to ensure that our engagement approach considered self-determination.
We include Aboriginal and social enterprise spend targets as part of our procurement process and contractual deliverables. This includes targets for social enterprises, which include Victorian Aboriginal businesses, for procurement activities over $20 million. We have simplified our approach to conducting social procurement opportunities analysis for procurement activities less than $20 million. This aims to ensure that, over the coming years, Aboriginal business, social enterprises and small- to medium-size businesses can also participate in driving social procurement outcomes, helping us develop and grow a diverse supplier base.
We achieved a 99% completion rate (907 employees) for our online First Nations Cultural Awareness training and 50 attending in-person sessions. We continue to recognise National Reconciliation and NAIDOC weeks, with cultural and environmental walks and yarns led by representatives from BLCAC. We also help our employees to better understand and engage with Aboriginal-led organisations as part of our journey to care for Country and create a trusted reputation in the broader Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community via ongoing internal engagement activities like Town Halls.
South East Water are also supporting BLCAC's plans to develop a regional working group of water retailers that operate on Bunurong Country.
In summary, South East Water is committed to:
increasing resources, skills and expertise in the organisation
providing advice to the business on legislative requirements applicable to our works under the Aboriginal Heritage Act 2006
building and maintaining effective relationships with Registered Aboriginal Parties and Traditional Owner groups to ensure the best outcomes for customers and community from our capital program, in collaboration with internal stakeholders
facilitating an internal uplift and awareness of cultural heritage management and obligations
creating a culturally safe and inclusive workplace that is committed to innovating current approaches to improve social, economical and environmental outcomes by partnering with Registered Aboriginal Parties and Traditional Owner groups
working towards Reconciliation through the re-establishment of a Reconciliation Action Plan.
Why did the Partner sign up with Kinaway and how does the partner hope to benefit from the partnership with Kinaway?
Kinaway was chosen by South East Water because of its aligned commitments towards meaningful engagement, Reconciliation, Aboriginal self-determination, and water justice.
Our valued partnership with Kinaway is mutually beneficial, as we appreciate the connection and exposure to Kinaway’s diverse and expert professionalism network state-wide.
What is the Partner’s mission or aim in supporting the Indigenous economy? How will Kinaway member businesses benefit from this partnership?
With Kinaway's reputation as a trusted Aboriginal organisation, South East Water will procure services from Kinaway’s Aboriginal Business Directory.
We will also in return provide ongoing support and participation in projects that benefit both organisations, as guided by Kinaway.
By working together, South East Water believes that we can advance Reconciliation and Aboriginal self-determination throughout Victoria together.
Kinaway's network is highly important for our work as we recognise Kinaway’s respectful and meaningful engagement with First Nations Peoples that is supportive of social, spiritual, Cultural, and economic values.
Photo credit (L-R): Glenn Pellegrin, Senior Manager First Peoples team; Tara Fry, Project Lead First Peoples team; and Kylie Armstrong, Aboriginal Community Partnerships Lead, Community, Stakeholder and Engagement team.