Page 1168 - Week 04 - Tuesday, 2 April 2019
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MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Ms Orr for her question and acknowledge her interest in closing the gap and achieving equitable outcomes for the ACT’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community.
Last week I represented the ACT government at the inaugural Joint Council on Closing the Gap. The joint council was established under a partnership agreement which brings together commonwealth, state and territory governments, the Local Government Association and the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations to fundamentally change how governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in closing the gap. The Chief Minister was the first state or territory leader to sign the partnership agreement on Friday, 22 March.
The Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Peak Organisations, known as the coalition of peaks, has more than 40 members: a combination of national and state and territory-based, community-controlled or representative organisations. Under the agreement, for the first time, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and organisations, through the coalition of peaks, will be sitting alongside commonwealth, state and territory ministers co-designing the new closing the gap framework and ensuring that it is implemented effectively.
We know that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have the answers, and the ACT government has expressed concern throughout the closing the gap refresh process that their voices were not being adequately heard. We have welcomed the coalition of peaks’ advocacy to turn that around and we are very pleased to have signed the partnership agreement.
I particularly want to acknowledge the leadership and tenacity of Pat Turner, the CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation and now the convenor of the coalition of peaks, in driving this groundbreaking partnership model.
MS ORR: Minister, why is this partnership important to the ACT?
MS STEPHEN-SMITH: I thank Ms Orr for her supplementary question. The joint council is a demonstration of self-determination in action. Here in the ACT we are also absolutely committed to self-determination.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body is a powerful voice for self-determination in our community. It is great to see that this has been recognised nationally through the elected body’s membership of the coalition of peaks. Katrina Fanning, chair of the elected body, has also been elected by her peers as one of the 12 representatives of the coalition of peaks on the joint council.
While the most recent closing the gap report showed that the ACT was the only jurisdiction on track to meet three of the seven targets, we know that there is much more to do to address the unacceptable gap in life outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and non-Indigenous Australians.
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