Page 481 - Week 02 - Thursday, 11 February 2021
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The hearings report is already creating positive change within the government and presents an opportunity to improve the way that directorates work together. This report demonstrates the value that a statutory representative voice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people brings to ensuring that government is responsive to and accountable to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
It is important that we take the opportunity to listen and act now, while we are still in the early terms of both the ACT agreement and the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. The government’s response to the hearing report reflects our determination to embrace this opportunity.
At the time of the hearings last March, we were just over 12 months into the term of the ACT agreement. There had already been achievements made under the agreement at that time, and I appreciate the Elected Body acknowledging these in the report, including strong enrolment of four-year-olds in early childhood education, increased support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and their families, helpful integrity training for all ACT public school teachers, support for on-country cultural learning and connection, formal recognition of the cultural expertise of traditional custodians, promoting and educating the ACT community about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures through libraries, support for community-led solutions, raising awareness of Ngunnawal cultural values in partnership with the community, and increasing strategic partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community organisations and businesses.
Of course there is more to be done. The report is very clear that we are not doing enough to combine our efforts and work across government to achieve significant, measurable progress on agreed outcomes in the ACT agreement. I accept that, as a government, we need to consider how we can work more effectively across policy, program, and service boundaries.
I acknowledge that we are only going to deliver on the commitments we have made and achieve the targets we have agreed if agencies and individuals across government are working together constructively. In December last year, a group of senior officials was appointed to work collaboratively across government to accelerate progress and achieve tangible outcomes on six important cross-cutting priorities.
Priority areas identified for accelerated effort include reducing experiences of racism and discrimination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within government systems, strengthening culturally appropriate early support for vulnerable families and reducing child concern reports, embedding the requirement for all services to be culturally appropriate and accessible, increasing the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in senior positions across the ACT public service, increasing the number and value of contracts awarded to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander businesses, and supporting the growth of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations.
We have heard a clear message from the Elected Body that we need to report on the impact of the work being done under the agreement and not on activity alone.
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