Page 1147 - Week 03 - Thursday, 22 March 2012
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process is a powerful mechanism to ensure that the community is fully informed of the ACT government’s activities and that the elected body truly advocates on their behalf.
The elected body presents a report on the hearings, including recommendations for improved government services, and the ACT government formally responds. In its recent response to the elected body’s 2011 report, the government made a commitment to produce an annual report on the ACT’s progress in closing the gap. It will include the national reporting streams and show the ACT government’s expenditure and performance as set out in the national Indigenous expenditure report. The first ACT government closing the gap report will be delivered this year. The government has noted that data quality and availability would affect what indicators could be reported on in any given year.
Indeed, in the ACT there remain a number of indicators for which data is not available or where data should be treated with caution due to the small Indigenous population or data quality issues such as administrative data collection practices. However, in the ACT, efforts are being made to overcome these issues. For example, the Health Directorate is implementing a number of initiatives to improve Indigenous data collections, including providing administrative staff with training on “asking the question” to identify Indigenous clients.
Other government initiatives to improve the lives of Indigenous families are gaining momentum, many of them supported by historic Indigenous-specific and mainstream national partnership agreements between the commonwealth and ACT governments under the national Indigenous reform agreement.
For example, the first of 38 child and family centres around Australia was opened in west Belconnen. This centre has a specialised focus on the provision of services for Indigenous families. The centre is working in partnership with the local Indigenous community to identify and develop appropriately targeted programs. These will ensure that Indigenous families are supported to give their children the best start for long, healthy lives.
The ACT government is also exploring opportunities to establish an independent Indigenous-controlled child welfare organisation. It would provide services such as family support, cultural planning and foster care for families involved in statutory services.
In public education, extensive work has continued for some years now to engage with the community and overcome gaps in educational achievement. And we are making progress. Today, in the ACT, more Indigenous students than ever before are enrolled in our schools and are staying to complete year 12. In 2010, the target set for Indigenous student achievement under the national partnership agreement for literacy and numeracy was achieved. Ninety per cent of year 3 students achieved at or above national minimum standards in reading, compared to the national target of 83 per cent.
For Indigenous students under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander education matters strategic plan, the public education system in the ACT will continue to pursue
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