Indemnity clauses

Programs, partners and targets

The newly launched Foundation selected This Is A Conversation Starter (TIACS) – a group focused on providing mental health support and counselling to tradies and blue collar workers – and Mission Australia as its inaugural charity partners ahead of Christmas.

“In conjunction with the Coates Foundation launch, we encouraged all employees nationally to consider taking part in Mission Australia’s Christmas Appeal by donating directly to the charity themselves or by creating Christmas hampers that could be distributed across Mission Australia locations throughout the country,” Vitlich said.

Mission Australia CEO James Toomey welcomed the Coates Foundation’s support.

“We’re looking forward to creating an engaging program so Coates teams can contribute to Mission Australia’s work providing support and ensuring people have every opportunity to thrive, right across the country.”

The Coates Foundation provided Mission Australia more than 110 ribboned and labelled Christmas sacks and hampers filled with pantry staples and festive treats for those in need ahead of the holidays.

As part of its Christmas-focussed charity work, the Coates Group also supported the Westmead Children’s Hospital’s annual Christmas toy drive.

In addition to The Foundation backing TIACS and Mission Australia, Coates itself is continuing its existing philanthropic support of the Seven Telethon – as part of the broader Seven Holdings Group, which owns Channel Seven; mental health focussed R U OK?; the Humpty Dumpty Foundation, which donates much needed medical equipment for children in paediatric wards, neonatal units, maternity wards and emergency departments across the nation; and the First Nationsfocussed Clontarf Foundation.

The Clontarf Foundation is a partnership that was launched in 2021 as part of the company’s ‘Reflect’ Reconciliation Action Plan. This plan aims to deliver formal cultural education to more than 90 per cent of the workforce and sets an Indigenous apprentice employment target of 10 per cent by 2025.

In 2021, Coates launched a three-year partnership with the group, supporting 120 First Nations students at Clontarf academies around the nation. Some of these students have even gone on to be employed by the company as apprentices.

Tropical shirt Fridays help the Coates Townsville team start conversations about workplace mental health

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Mental wellness support

At a more local level, the Foundation is working to inspire employees to support their communities.

It comes as the company has recognised the need to support remote and regional communities that do not have adequate access to medical services, in particular specialist mental health services.

In Townsville, Queensland, a Coates team were thinking on how to improve mental health within the workplace – mirroring the work the company does nationally with R U OK? – to foster open and honest conversations on wellness.

They initiated a ‘tropical shirt Friday’, wearing bright TradeMutt shirts with YNWA (You’ll Never Walk Alone) on the front and the Foundation’s partner TIACS’s logo across the back to raise awareness and normalise speaking about mental health and suicide.

Coates CEO Murray Vitlich said, “Our team in Townsville took it upon themselves to tackle the subject of mental wellbeing at work in a way that made an impact, not only among our employees but also for the community and customers they work with.”

“It’s a testament to how our teams are motivated to engage and proactively foster change and leave a positive legacy, both internally and externally to Coates.”

The company added that as communities continue to face uncertainties due to the impacts of COVID-19, it will focus on supporting them with access to the equipment and services they need to stay afloat during the pandemic.