What is the
Reconciliation Action
Plan?

What is it costing Kwinana ratepayers?

Many Kwinana residents are unaware that the City has operated under a Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) framework and has now elevated the Boola Maara Aboriginal Consultative Committee (BMCC) from an advisory group into a formal consultative committee providing strategic advice to Council.

A RAP is a structured framework designed to guide an organisation’s approach to reconciliation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. In practice, this can influence employment practices, procurement, community engagement, public events, communications, cultural programs and strategic planning.

The key question for residents is not whether reconciliation should occur, but how much it costs, what measurable outcomes it delivers, and whether the community was properly consulted before these arrangements were expanded.

A governance question, not a cultural question

Council reports state that the City has continued to advance reconciliation work in a “meaningful and sustained way.” However, the reports provide very little objective information that allows ratepayers to assess performance.

Missing from the public reporting are clear measures such as:

Total annual expenditure on RAP-related initiatives
Staff hours allocated to implementation
Administrative and governance costs
Consultancy or facilitation costs
Commitments completed versus commitments outstanding
Measurable community outcomes

Without this information, residents are being asked to accept broad claims of success without the financial and performance data normally expected for significant Council programs.

Was the community consulted?

Before the BMCC was endorsed as a formal consultative committee with an expanded governance role, there is no obvious evidence of a community-wide survey asking residents whether they supported this change.

Residents were not publicly asked whether they supported:

The expansion of the BMCC’s role
RAP-related governance arrangements
Increased cultural protocols at Council facilities and events
The allocation of additional resources to reconciliation initiatives

For a program that influences multiple areas of Council activity, the absence of broad public consultation raises legitimate questions about transparency and accountability.

What are the hidden costs?

The direct cost of a RAP is not limited to a single budget line. The broader cost can include:

Committee meetings and administration
Staff positions and officer time
Public art and cultural projects
Training and internal programs
Community engagement activities
Event protocols and ceremonial practices
Strategic planning and reporting requirements
Support for affiliated community initiatives

Each individual item may appear modest, but Council has not presented ratepayers with a consolidated annual figure showing the total cost of implementing and maintaining the reconciliation framework.

ALWM Group believes ratepayers are entitled to know the full financial impact of these programs, not just selected project costs.

Community cohesion and equal treatment

Another concern raised by residents is whether Council policies are creating different expectations for different groups within the community.

Council documents increasingly reference Aboriginal-specific considerations in areas such as:

Employment and leadership development
Community engagement processes
Public communications
Cultural governance
Funding and partnership opportunities

Some residents believe this risks creating division by requiring the broader community to adapt to frameworks developed for a relatively small minority of the population. Others may support those measures as necessary to address historical disadvantage.

The important point is that this is a legitimate public policy debate that should occur openly, with full disclosure of costs, objectives and expected outcomes.

Transparency before expansion

Reconciliation initiatives should be subject to the same standards as any other major Council program:

Clear objectives
Measurable outcomes
Transparent budgeting
Public consultation
Independent scrutiny
Regular reporting to ratepayers

ALWM Group is calling for the City of Kwinana to publish a comprehensive annual statement detailing all RAP-related expenditure, staffing, governance costs and measurable outcomes so residents can make informed judgments about the value and effectiveness of these initiatives.

Accountability is not opposition to reconciliation. It is a basic requirement of good local government.

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