Dhawura Ngilan Business and Investor Initiative

The Dhawura Ngilan Business and Investor Initiative brings together First Nations, business and investor communities, and is focused on strengthening Australia’s First People’s heritage laws and standards for the private sector to uphold the human rights of First Peoples​​.

Led by the First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance in partnership with the Global Compact Network Australia (GCNA) and RIAA, this Initiative sees protecting cultural heritage as the responsibility of all Australians, including the finance and business sectors.

The Initiative formed with the intention of aligning peak bodies of responsible business and investment, with the aspirations of First Nations, to provide avenues to improve business’s respect for the cultural heritage of our First Nations Peoples, particularly those businesses that work with Country everyday.

This Initiative gives business and investor communities a positive and constructive way to contribute to the Dhawura Ngilan (Remembering Country) vision, which is Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people working with all Australians to identify, protect, conserve and communicate the unique heritage of Australia for future generations.

It aims to build partnerships and deliver resources that provide guidance to investors and businesses to engage with First Nations Peoples more respectfully. The Initiative will also support heritage protection laws that uphold the human rights of First Peoples to self-determination and free, prior and informed consent.

For more information, visit First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance.

The Guides

The Initiative has translated the Dhawura Ngilan Vision for the private sector context into the following two documents that were launched on 19 March 2024 in Canberra:

• Principles for Businesses and Investors
• Business and Investor Guide

Together the guides:

– Present an opportunity for the private sector to go beyond legislative standards and actively contribute to the Dhawura Ngilan (Remembering Country) Vision.

– Reflect a shared First Nations, business & investor vision for strengthening Australia’s Aboriginal heritage laws and standards for the private sector that uphold the human rights of First Peoples, in line with international agreements and community expectations.

– Signify leading practice in First Nations cultural heritage management by businesses and investors. The business and investor guide provides investors with the information and tools to support the appropriate management of First Nations cultural heritage and the implementation of Free, Prior & Informed Consent.

What is in the guides?

– A set of twenty standards which collectively illustrate the expectations of First Nations peoples for how the private sector will interact with First Nations cultural heritage.

– How to operationalise the Dhawura Ngilan Principles.

– Six sections outlining a series of Key Actions associated with each Dhawura Ngilan Principle for different types of businesses.

– Tailored guidance to assist investors to integrate cultural heritage considerations into decision-making, including during due diligence, assessing disclosures, corporate engagement, and stewardship.

Joint Statement

Australians as a people are enriched by the cultural heritage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This cultural heritage is at the core of our First Nations’ identity, spirituality and well-being. It is also at the core of the identity of modern Australia that can trace its origins well before colonial incursions. It is the shared joy in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural heritage that leads to our collective responsibility to protect and celebrate it.

Dhawura Ngilan (Remembering Country) is a vision that embodies the long-held aspirations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for their heritage. It aims to collectively work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to identify, protect, conserve, present and transmit for future generations the unique heritage of Australia.

The destruction of Juukan Gorge in 2020 by Rio Tinto on the traditional lands of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura (Binigura) peoples marked a turning point in the broader awareness of the value and importance of Country and cultural heritage. For not only First Peoples but for all Australians. As a result, new and unlikely partnerships are coming together. These partnerships aim to reconcile and build a collective understanding of place, that recognises the significance of Country and heritage as foundations for a more resilient, dynamic and connected society.

As a conduit, the Dhawura Ngilan Business and Investor Initiative brings together First Nations, investor and business communities to create a shared vision for strengthening Australia’s Aboriginal heritage laws and standards for the private sector that uphold the human rights of First Peoples, in line with international agreements and community expectations.

Led by the First Nations Heritage Protection Alliance, Responsible Investment Association Australasia, and Global Compact Network Australia, this initiative acknowledges that protecting cultural heritage is the responsibility of all Australians, inclusive of investor and business communities.

The enterprise aims to build partnerships and deliver resources to enable investors and business to engage with First Nations Peoples more respectfully and effectively, and support heritage protection that upholds the human rights of First Peoples to self-determination and free, prior and informed consent (FPIC).