Palms are sweaty, knees weak, truth is heavy,

There’s rubbish out there already, tokenistic and trendy.

Not nervous, below the surface we’re supported and ready

To write a RAP that makes our purpose real and steady.

Snap back to reality – open – we’re no Eminem.

You read that to Eminem's Lose Yourself, right?

He was talking about performance anxiety in music. We're talking about the kind that comes with starting our own Reconciliation Action Plan — or RAP.

What is a RAP?

It's a structured approach organisations can use to advance reconciliation with Australia’s First Nations peoples, based on relationships, respect, and opportunities.

Developed and managed by Reconciliation Australia, there are four different RAPs to suit different business sizes and stages in their reconciliation journey:

Reflect (entry level)
Innovate (more strategic)
Stretch (deeper and more frequent initiatives)
Elevate (structured governance model and formal public commitment)

There’s a registration fee (ours was around $380), and it varies depending on your business size and the type of RAP you choose. Reflect takes 12–18 months to complete and focuses on listening, learning, and building cultural awareness and connections.

Note to self – date of commencement: 29 May 2025.

Why invest in RAP development?

For us, it’s simple — we don’t want our Acknowledgement of Country to be tokenistic. We want to make a difference.

We spoke with Adrian Cheatham from Reconciliation Australia in our Commical episode called The RAP Effect. Among many insights, he revealed that over 3,000 organisations have committed to a Reconciliation Action Plan. The impact? It’s not just theoretical — it's tangible:

76,953 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are employed by RAP organisations
$3.68 billion has been spent with Indigenous-owned businesses
574 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now hold leadership positions in RAP organisations

As total newbies, the support, templates, and detailed frameworks that RAPs provide really appealed to us. We wanted to move from good intentions into action — but we wanted to do it in a culturally safe way.

Chasing Albert's journey

So far, our journey has been all about storytelling — through our podcast, Commical, and this blog.

We interviewed Rhys Paddick, a modern custodian, on how to ditch our anxiety and get started with connecting with country in a meaningful way. In another episode of Commical, he taught us how to write an authentic Acknowledgement of Country, and even reviewed my attempts.

Turns out we weren’t the only ones he inspired. His Acknowledgement of Country episode is still our best-performing.

To be honest, it was Rhys who gave us the real confidence to be authentic and transparent and we wouldn't have even started this journey if it weren't for him. Thank you, Rhys!

We’ll keep telling stories — but now they’ll be ours, and they’ll be all about the action we’re taking. Hopefully it might inspire some of our clients and partners to take some action too.

Interested in developing one of your own?

Reconciliation Australia holds regular informative webinars for anyone interested in starting a RAP. It's a great way to understand the process and whether it’s something you can (or want to) commit to.

👉 You can sign up here: Reconciliation Australia RAP Webinar Registration