27 January 2021

MOU Signing, Yarpa partners with Lendlease to Create Further Opportunities

On Friday the 18th of December, The NSW Aboriginal Land Council, Yarpa Hub and global developer and investment group, Lendlease, officially signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) via a facilitated online event.

The MOU was an important step for NSWALC, Yarpa Hub and Lendlease in creating further opportunities for Indigenous businesses and jobseekers in NSW.

NSW Aboriginal Land Council CEO, James Christian, spoke during the online event on the importance of the new partnership.

“The first thing that strikes me about this partnership is that there is an alignment of values. It’s an immense opportunity for us to assist a considerable number of Aboriginal people in taking their fair share of the New South Wales economy through, in particular, infrastructure and construction and all the related industry and procurement opportunities that come from that.”

As one of the leading development and investment companies in Australia, Lendlease aims to promote opportunities in career development, sustainable business growth and economic participation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

During the proceedings, head of Supply Chain, Peter Bounsall said, “At the heart of Lendlease there is a commitment to creating places that are not only innovative and sustainable but also acknowledges the first place makers, the first nations people of Australia.”

“With our Indigenous supply chain, they have to become strategic partnerships. We want to bring them into the bigger Lendlease family as key strategic partners that can support our projects and support our developments.”

“In terms of the MOU, I consider it to be an asset to Lendlease. It will definitely help us achieve our commitments to our ‘Raising the Bar’ targets which we take very seriously. Raising the Bar forms a critical part of our overall supply chain strategy. We want to create better social economic outcomes, and work with Indigenous organisations on growth. I’m very excited about this new MOU, it definitely supports the new elevate RAP that we issued in November. This is our third RAP and second elevate RAP which we are very proud of.”

In the new year, Lendlease and Yarpa will come together to discuss how both parties can create unique pathways for Indigenous businesses and jobseekers across Lendlease’s various NSW projects.