Page 577 - Week 02 - Thursday, 20 February 2020
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
MS STEPHEN-SMITH (Kurrajong—Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Minister for Children, Youth and Families, Minister for Health and Minister for Urban Renewal) (10.29): I move:
That this bill be agreed to in principle.
I am pleased to present the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body Amendment Bill 2020 to the Legislative Assembly. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body has a unique and critical role in the ACT. It is the ACT’s democratically elected first nations voice to the Legislative Assembly and the ACT government.
Members of the elected body are, of course, elected by the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community and have deep connections to the community. It is these connections and members’ own lived experiences that enable the elected body to help drive better policy and services for the ACT’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body is self-determination in action and the ACT government is committed to further strengthening its role in our community. This bill enables the broadcasting of the elected body’s public hearings, imposes time frames on both the elected body and the ACT government in regard to the presentation of reports and responses, and provides for a caretaker period from the commencement of the elected body election. The bill also provides for consequential amendments in anticipation of the Electoral Legislation Amendment Bill 2019.
The bill also responds to the fact that, since the review of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body Act 2008 in 2015, and the passage of the subsequent amendment bill and regulation in 2017, the work of the elected body has expanded.
This bill explicitly recognises the ability for the elected body to provide advice to any minister about the views of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community. It also acknowledges what is essentially a new role for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body: representation and advocacy at the national level.
Through the establishment of the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Bodies—better known as the coalition of peaks—the elected body now represents the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community at a national level. The chair of the elected body, Ms Katrina Fanning, also sits on the Joint Council on Closing the Gap as a representative of the coalition of peaks.
The ACT was the first state or territory to sign up to the partnership agreement on closing the gap that created the joint council and, for the first time ever, gave Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations a seat at the table alongside ministers as we work to refresh the closing the gap framework.
The 10-year partnership agreement provides an ongoing role for the coalition of peaks and the joint council in overseeing the closing the gap framework until 2029. It is
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video