DCJ Strategic Plan

The Department of Communities and Justice (DCJ) Strategic Plan 2026-2031 (PDF, 7 MB) outlines our commitment, five strategic priorities, values and ways of working.

The purpose of this Strategic Plan is to build on and strengthen collaboration across our divisions, services and functions.

DCJ's commitment

DCJ commits to working together for a stronger, safer and fairer NSW. We want to strengthen communities, create a safer society for all to live in, and enable fairer, more accessible and inclusive decision-making. This is a commitment we make to ourselves, to those people and families we serve, and to the communities and organisations that we work with. 

The strategic priorities and the ways of working outlined in the Strategic Plan, and our values, will help to deliver on this commitment. 

The Plan on a Page (PDF, 239.8 KB) provides an overview of these elements.

Our priorities

The five priorities in our Strategic Plan are common to all of our service areas. Together, they will unify our people, systems and assets and contribute to better outcomes for the people, families and communities we serve.

These priorities are:

• Aboriginal families are strong and connected
• Shared clients are supported to thrive
• Customer-informed service improvement
• Future-focused systems and assets
• A flourishing and empowered workforce.

Our values

We live our values every day. They give purpose and meaning to the work we do and the services we deliver. The way we practice these values across all areas of our work shows people what we stand for.

Our values are:

• Service - we put people at the centre of all we do and provide the highest quality services.
• Trust - we value the quality of our relationships and do what we say we will do.
• Accountability - we take responsibility for our decisions and actions.
• Integrity - ethics are at the heart of all we do and we show courage by acting honestly, consistently and impartially.
• Respect - we are inclusive and how we talk with, and about each other, matters.

Our ways of working

The ways of working demonstrate how our priorities and values are put into action together. Each way of working reinforces and is interwoven with the others, creating a tapestry of service, values and workplace culture. Embedding these ways of working will help to deliver on our commitment and our priorities, lift capability, improve our services and deliver great benefits for us, the people we serve and our stakeholders.

Our ways of working are:

• We put culture at the heart of our work
• We build trusted relationships through partnership and collaboration
• We demonstrate accountability as stewards and commissioners
• We are people-focused and family-centred
• We listen to and learn from lived experience
• We use trauma-informed practices
• We use data and evidence to inform our decisions
• We promote knowledge-sharing and innovation.

The artwork provides a visual representation of the elements of the Strategic Plan and some of its key themes.

Our commitment to working together for a stronger, safer and fairer NSW, is represented through the large circle at the centre of the artwork. The two attached circles represent the people, families and communities we serve, and our partners. The connecting lines highlight the importance of collaboration, knowledge sharing and trust to achieve shared outcomes. 

This artwork draws inspiration from the natural environment and the many places where DCJ delivers services across NSW, from the red dirt inland to the yellow sands of the coast. A weaving river flows the length of the artwork, connecting communities across many different Countries. This river also represents the journey DCJ is on as we work together with people, families, communities and partners to continuously improve our services.

About the artist

Charmaine Mumbulla is a Kaurna and Narungga woman from South Australia’s Yorke Peninsula with family ties to the Gumbaynggirr peoples from the NSW Mid-North Coast. Together, she and her partner Jason run Mumbulla Creative. Charmaine is passionate about working on projects that support social justice and work closely with organisations to tell their stories through art.