Interview with Our Senior Advisor Aboriginal Engagement

During the year we welcomed Dennis Kickett to Main Roads. Dennis has traditional ties to the people from the Ballardong and Whadjuk language groups. He brings to Main Roads extensive experience around Aboriginal engagement having worked in Government and private industry, mainly in the resources sector.

Dennis said that since joining, a big focus for him has been on developing and building effective relationships internally and externally with our local Aboriginal businesses and suppliers.

He said that his role provides a focus on developing an effective strategy to enable Main Roads practitioners to embed broader diversity outcomes and real opportunities through our projects and partnerships with our major contractors.

The approach being taken is broken into different components focusing on how we want to work and engage with local Aboriginal people throughout the state. Dennis said the fact is that we have highly skilled Aboriginal people ready, developing their own businesses, and wanting to work with us and our large contractors. 

He said that as he talks to different people around the state its clear that we have a long history of employing local Aboriginal people and he feels that this can be built upon further through opening the doors for the next generation. The aim is that through the continued work of Main Roads it will enable the next generation to be a part of Australia’s mainstream business economy.

Dennis believes that it is important to have the courage to challenge mindsets in a healthy way, and to work together as one to achieve genuinely sustainable outcomes that will make a difference. We are not exactly at the beginning of the journey and we can certainly build on what we have. There is still much more to do and he will try to work with everyone to facilitate and guide that process.

Dennis said that he believes there is a very strong commitment to succeed and to make a difference and for those people that want to be a part of that, he will do what he can to get the right outcome.