Page 5054 - Week 13 - Thursday, 29 November 2018
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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Canberrans. With strong families at the heart of the agreement, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community has clearly identified strong families and connected communities as the core of success in all other parts of life.
The new agreement is proposed to be for 10 years, allowing for a forward-thinking, coordinated approach and the ability to measure the impact over a longer period of time. The new agreement will build on the existing agreement and will continue to take a strengths-based approach, centred on strong families. We expect the new agreement will focus on outcomes that can be achieved within the 2019-28 period, be supported by clear action plans for each directorate and include shorter term milestones to support the delivery of objectives and maintain engagement with the community.
Last year we developed the outcomes framework for the 2015-18 agreement. While significant effort went into this across directorates, we have seen in just this second year of reporting that we have some way to go in identifying outcome measures that are both meaningful and measurable. We know that we require hard data to supplement the anecdotal evidence provided by the community and we know we will need to align the agreement outcomes framework, at least to some extent, with the targets and indicators that will be established through the closing the gap refresh.
For the new agreement we have committed to developing an outcomes framework from the outset which will measure the ongoing progress of key reportable actions. All ACT government directorates are currently developing action plans and will be required to report against this framework.
High on the list of priorities coming through the community conversations about the new agreement are the issues of self-determination and treaty. Supporting the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to freely determine their political status and to freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development is one of the key principles of the current agreement, and I have spoken in this place before about the current status of discussions about a treaty for the ACT. The right to self-determination is based on the simple acknowledgement that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are Australia’s first peoples, as was recognised by the historic Mabo judgement. While the principle of self-determination is core to the current agreement, this will be even more clearly articulated in the new agreement.
As we have done with projects such as the Mura Gunya older person’s housing project and the Our Booris, Our Way review process, we will work to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to identify their own solutions, acknowledging that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership is critical to ensuring the long-term emotional and physical wellbeing of families and communities.
While acknowledging the importance of the agreement’s objectives, the ACT government also recognises the need for intense, integrated and coordinated effort across all ACT government directorates to deliver on the priority action areas under the agreement. The ACT public service strategic board’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander subcommittee seeks to improve the effectiveness and accountability of
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