Page 4085 - Week 12 - Tuesday, 22 October 2019
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What is clear from this co-design process is that our service system response is not culturally safe. It does not promote healing and it does not provide the alternatives to a justice or policing response that the community needs. We listened to stories of how services, while well-meaning, did not understand the complex nature of family violence for Aboriginal families.
Services did not understand that family members want to stay strong, stay together, but want the violence to stop. Staying together as a family, with support to heal, and stopping the violence, is a strong aspiration for the community. It is important to bring men and fathers back into family and community, with supports that validate their role and identity.
These are key messages also mirrored in the first 1,000 days project, Our men, our shields: messages of belonging and hope. In essence, we have heard over and over again that our services do not meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and that this has to change.
Minister Stephen-Smith and I, on behalf of the ACT government, have committed to keep the issues raised in the We don’t shoot our wounded report and reaffirmed in the Change our future. Share what you know report from being lost again. We offer our unequivocal and shared commitment to listen to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. We will continue to work in genuine partnership to assist community healing and create the necessary support for the services.
The government fully supports the intent of the recommendations in the We don’t shoot our wounded and Change our future. Share what you know reports. The government commits to working with community, under the leadership of the Domestic Violence Prevention Council’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Reference Group.
Addressing family violence is now a strategic priority of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agreement 2019-28. This agreement was jointly signed by the chair of the elected body, the Chief Minister, the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs and the Head of Service in February 2019. The reference group, the elected body and some of the original contributors to the We don’t shoot our wounded report worked with us to develop an approach for how to respond to these reports.
The reference groups will be leading a community process to set priorities and determine the actions for responding to the recommendations. These community priorities in turn will guide the ongoing reform of existing services and policies and the development of government commitments.
It is likely that some of these commitments may require new resourcing, and this will be considered in future budget processes. The ACT government and each directorate will be accountable for meeting the community’s aspirations, delivering on government commitments and reporting progress back to the community. They will do this by reporting through the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agreement.
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