Commonwealth Bank has won the coveted Established Business Award as part of the 2010 Reconciliation Awards for Business at an awards ceremony in Brisbane.
The 2010 Reconciliation Awards for Business winners, made up of seven organisations, have initiatives that are paving the way for reconciliation in Queensland. They have demonstrated their commitment to reconciliation in a range of industries from media production to banking to health care to journalism.
“I congratulate all the winners for their achievements and more importantly, their dedication to reconciliation.” Queensland Premier Anna Bligh said announcing the winners.
“The Reconciliation Awards are a great opportunity to celebrate businesses and community organisations who are working in partnership with Indigenous and non-Indigenous Queenslanders to build solid foundations for the future.”
The Commonwealth Bank was awarded the 2010 Reconciliation Award for Business for in 2009 while updating its Reconciliation Action Plan, CBA launched their Indigenous Banking Team, the first of its kind among any financial institution in Australia. The team provides specialised banking support to Indigenous communities throughout Queensland and is complemented by the Indigenous Customer Assistance Line and Indigenous NetBank Training
program. In addition to these programs, Commonwealth Bank has further strengthened their commitment to training and recruiting Indigenous employees through the implementation of an Indigenous Employment Strategy and Indigenous School Based Trainees program. In 2009, over 50 percent of Queensland trainees secured permanent employment with the bank, with other trainees pursuing further education.
The remaining winners in the 2010 Reconciliation Awards for Business categories are:
Emerging Business Award – Carbon Media Events Pty Ltd
Community Organisation Award – Blue Care
Partnerships Award – Nhulundu Wooribah Indigenous Health Organisation and Gladstone News Weekly
The overall Premier’s Reconciliation Award was awarded to Mt St Michael’s College and Weemala Indigenous Higher Education Unit, Australian Catholic University for their grassroots partnership project that aims to strengthen the relationship between students through things such as “yarning” over lunch.
The 2010 winners share $25,000 in prize money.
Awards Ambassador, Indigenous role model Nadine McDonald-Dowd, also congratulated the winners of the awards.
“It’s so great to see these influential organisations in Queensland leading the way and taking positive steps towards strengthening reconciliation in Queensland,” Ms McDonald-Dowd said.
