With NAIDOC 2025 fast approaching, CPB Contractors is preparing to celebrate the theme of The Next Generation: Strength, Vision and Legacy on our projects and in our offices and plant yards around Australia.
Sharon Gray, Group Manager, Diversity, Indigenous and Social Inclusion and proud Kamilaroi woman, says CPB Contractors’ work extends beyond celebrating NAIDOC with our own people, to using the depth and breadth of our work to support Indigenous communities.
“Engaging, collaborative community and stakeholder engagement is a big commitment across our projects. We design our delivery approach with each community’s needs front of mind so we can maximise opportunities and long-term benefits. We invest significantly in social initiatives that support Indigenous communities, including providing participation opportunities in employment, training and enterprises.”
Here are some ways in which CPB Contractors is creating brighter futures:
- We were the first corporate organisation to sign the CareerTrackers ‘10x10 Program’, a ten-year commitment providing annual internships for ten Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university students.
- We're a founding member of Supply Nation, Australia's largest national directory of verified Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses; and work with Supply National to build relationships and increase our spending with Indigenous suppliers.
- Our annual partnership with the Clontarf Foundation helps to improve young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men’s education, discipline, life skills, self-esteem, and employment prospects and introduces students to the diverse career opportunities available in construction.
- In 2024, CPB Contractors spent over $130 million with Indigenous suppliers, with over 700 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses listed in our database, making it easy to employ those best suited to the construction opportunities available.
“There is always more to do, and as we celebrate this year’s forward-looking theme, we are focused on continuing to stretch ourselves to make a real difference,” says Sharon.
For more information, view CPB Contractors’ Reconciliation Australia-endorsed Stretch Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP), outlining actions and deliverables we’re embedding to continue our journey of reconciliation.