Insurance experts on industry’s progress on DE&I for Indigenous Australians

Willsford said some organisations and companies have already implemented Indigenous Australians’ programs. However, at a broader level, they still face many challenges.

“There are some challenges in terms of thinking about the makeup of our community and making sure that our industry reflects that makeup, and Indigenous Australians are an important part of that,” Willsford told IB TV. “For a number of organisations, they have advanced and well-advanced reconciliation action plans, and I think that is more than symbolic. I think they are now actually embedded enough that they are becoming part of that natural conversation within the organisations. There’s also a fantastic organisation called Supply Nation, and that organisation validates Indigenous businesses.

“So, [there are] a couple of ways of thinking about this – what is the makeup of your employee cohort? There’s also a broader opportunity to engage Indigenous businesses and actually elevate Indigenous Australians through those supply chains.”

Meanwhile, Nguyen told IB TV that AXA XL recognised gaps in DE&I initiatives for Indigenous Australians, so it focused on creating a structure to close these gaps.

“For us, it’s important to have some structure in place to be able to address these issues. Through our business resource group, we have a group called Rise, which [aims to develop] colleagues from historically underrepresented racial and ethnic groups. So, it’s an area that has support from leadership, not just here in Australia, but at a global level as well,” Nguyen said.

Find out more about the Australian insurance industry’s progress on DE&I programs by watching the IB TV episode “Is the insurance industry really progressing on diversity, equity and inclusion?” You can also read about the Australian insurance companies with the best DE&I programs this year by checking out the latest IB 5-Star Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DE&I) report.