First Knowledges, Future Systems: learning from First Nations digital leadership

Our first Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) created valuable opportunities to listen to and learn from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. It also helped embed reconciliation more deeply across our people, culture and ways of working across the DTA.

As we prepare for our next RAP, these lessons are helping shape where we focus our efforts and how we take our commitments forward. 

Learning from First Nations digital leadership

During NAIDOC Week, DTA partnered with the Productivity Commission to host First Knowledges, Future Systems, a webinar exploring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership in digital systems, data and artificial intelligence (AI).

Moderated by Productivity Commissioner Selwyn Button, the webinar brought together:

• Dr Joel Liddle Perrurle, Indigemoji co-founder and community-authored digital language as system design
• Professor Angie Abdilla – Indigenous AI protocols and Country-centred design for digital governance (ANU School of Cybernetics, Old Ways, New) 
• Kass Boladeras – Building community led digital capability and systems on Country (Winyama and Yarnda Foundation) 

The webinar unpacked how First Nations knowledge, culture and community leadership can inform the way we design digital systems and services.

Language provides one example of this in practice. Dr Perrurle’s work on Indigemoji, a community-created set of digital stickers representing Eastern and Central Arrernte and Kaytetye language, culture and everyday life, shows how digital tools can create space for Indigenous languages. It enables communities another way to bring language and traditional knowledge into digital spaces on their own terms.

“Elders want to see things like language and traditional knowledge, not just surviving, but thriving. And I think doing projects like Indigemoji or having more language presence in the landscape … that’s the way of us saying, well, the world’s going in a certain direction and we’re coming along too.” – Dr Perrurle

As more of our lives move online, representation in digital spaces matters. Designing with communities can create space for language and knowledge to remain part of a changing digital landscape, rather than asking people to fit into systems that were never designed with them in mind.  

For government, this highlights the value of involving communities throughout design and delivery. Genuine co-design can strengthen shared ownership and reveal needs and impacts that might otherwise be overlooked.

A people-centred approach also requires us to look beneath the technology itself. Drawing on First Nations approaches grounded in reciprocity, relationships and connection to Country, Professor Abdilla explored how the systems we create are influenced by the people, knowledge and values behind them.

“We have to, first of all, understand the types of systems that we are bringing into our world, our social systems, our society, our communities, our workplaces. And what are our values? What are the things that we value and that we want to see reflected in those systems?” – Professor Abdilla

This insight encourages us to look beyond what a technology can do and consider what informs the way it works. Bringing different knowledge systems and perspectives into that thinking can challenge assumptions and help identify impacts that might otherwise be overlooked. As governments adopt technologies such as AI, this can support more informed and responsible decisions about how they are used. 

Kass extended this discussion by focusing on the role communities should play in shaping their own digital futures. She challenged approaches to digital inclusion that expect communities to adopt technology designed for them. Instead, she emphasised the knowledge and decision-making authority communities already hold.

“We've been able to establish that high value digital capability can still happen on Country. It can be built there and it can be maintained there. And we don't have to give up Country and culture just to be in the tech industry.” - Kass Boladeras

Her message aligns with Priority Reform One of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, which focuses on formal partnerships and shared decision-making. It calls on governments to work in genuine partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and share decision-making authority.

In practice, this means moving beyond access and consultation to ensure communities have a genuine and visible role in setting priorities, shaping decisions and building capability on Country.  

Together, these perspectives offer a broader way to think about inclusive digital government. They highlight the value of digital transformation that reflects the people it serves and gives communities a genuine role in the design and delivery of the systems they use. 

Turning learning into opportunity 

The themes raised during the webinar reinforce that reconciliation is not only about learning from First Nations perspectives but translating that learning into tangible action. 

At the DTA, that includes creating more pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to help shape the future of digital government. 

In early 2026, our People and Culture team ran an Affirmative Measures recruitment trial to increase First Nations representation and test how effectively this approach could be at attracting First Nations talent to the Australian Public Service.

The DTA advertised 9 opportunities and received 20 applications from eligible Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates. The trial resulted in one successful appointment and provided valuable insights into what worked and where we can improve. 

We will review the trial through our next RAP and use the findings to refine our approach to affirmative measures recruitment. Additionally, we are exploring internships and cadetships as additional entry pathways for First Nations early career talent.

Recruitment is only one part of creating stronger pathways. We must also create the conditions that enable employees to develop, progress and thrive throughout their careers. 

We are also drawing on insights from our small agency forum to help strengthen cultural safety, inclusion and a greater sense of belonging across the DTA.

Strengthening leadership for reconciliation

Building on our reconciliation commitments requires leadership, accountability and sustained focus across the agency. Alongside our focus on employment pathways, DTA is strengthening executive leadership for reconciliation.

Our Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Lucy Poole, has been appointed DTA’s Senior Executive Reconciliation Sponsor, providing dedicated executive leadership to champion reconciliation across the agency.

“I feel very privileged to take on this role. Reconciliation is something we all have a part in, and I’m looking forward to working with colleagues across the DTA as we listen, learn and take practical action,” highlights Lucy Poole, Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Strategy, Policy and Performance at the DTA. 

“Reconciliation must shape not only our commitments, but how we work. The DTA has a role in advancing the Closing the Gap Priority Reforms, particularly Priority Reform Three, by building a culturally safe organisation that embeds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives in our decisions and day-to-day work.”

Priority Reform Three focuses on transforming mainstream government organisation. For DTA, that means considering how our ways of working can continue to evolve and where we can make the greatest practical impact.

Ms Poole will work alongside our Director of AI Policy and Diversity and Inclusion Champion, Tom Marwick, to support the development of our next RAP and progress reconciliation across DTA.

Together, they will help carry the insights and lessons into the next cycle and ensure they continue to support reconciliation initiatives across the agency.

Looking ahead

Our first RAP established important foundations for DTA’s reconciliation journey. Our next gives us an opportunity to build on that progress and turn what we have learned into further action.

An agency-wide survey is also helping inform our work on the next RAP. Staff highlighted cultural safety and inclusion, expanded cultural learning and engagement, and stronger alignment between the DTA’s work and the Closing the Gap Priority Reforms as key priorities for focus.

Collectively, the webinar insights, survey findings and lessons from our first RAP will help us develop a clearer program of action across our workforce, leadership and day-to-day work.

We thank Dr Perrule, Professor Abdilla and Kass for sharing their knowledge and insights, Productivity Commissioner Selwyn Button for moderating the webinar, and our colleagues at the Productivity Commission who worked with DTA to bring the event together.

As we move into our next cycle, the DTA remains committed to listening to and learning from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, creating meaningful opportunities and embedding reconciliation across our agency.

Join the Digital Profession to watch the full First Knowledges, Future Systems webinar and access regular learning opportunities across government here: First Knowledges, Future Systems: learning from First Nations digital leadership | Digital Profession