Future NSW planning to have greater Indigenous input

A discussion paper on how to better incorporate Aboriginal cultural elements into future planning decisions in NSW was released this week.

Department of Planning, Industry and Environment Secretary Jim Betts said the Designing with Country Discussion Paper provides an opportunity to share ideas on how to better incorporate Aboriginal cultural elements into future planning decisions.

“The land we live on, build on and raise families on is Aboriginal land, cared for over thousands of years by our First Peoples,” Mr Betts said.

“Modern Australia can learn much from this connection and we have an opportunity to incorporate Aboriginal knowledge of Country into our planning and design systems.

“We are inviting Aboriginal community members, recognised cultural knowledge holders, design, and planning industry experts to provide feedback and guidance to address the challenge of how we can ‘design with Country’.”

The discussion paper is the first step in the Connecting with Country program, and will be used to develop a set of cultural principles and a framework to guide the development of infrastructure projects in the future.