Page 709 - Week 03 - Tuesday, 5 April 2022

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postvention and aftercare services for the ACT and region will have a transformational impact on the way community members can access support.

The government’s commitment of around $15 million to the construction of a purpose-built facility for Gugan Gulwan Youth Aboriginal Corporation will allow this important community-controlled organisation to continue to undertake and expand its critical work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and young people. This work, including the relatively new addition of functional family therapy to Gugan’s suite of programs, changes lives and even saves lives.

These are just some examples, and the government looks forward to what we can achieve during the next stage of the ACT agreement, with second action plans to be developed with the new elected body this year.

In line with the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, we are also committed to working closely with our agreement partners to strengthen future annual impact statements and to embedding the principles of data sovereignty to improve the way we measure and report on impact.

Thank you and congratulations to the officials who have developed this impact statement and the online dashboard. While these things will remain a work in progress, this is a significant achievement, and I am very pleased to have been able to present it to the Assembly today. I present the following papers:

ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Agreement 2019-2028—ACT Impact Statement 2021.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Agreement 2019-2028 and National Agreement on Closing the Gap 2020—ACT Annual Impact Statement 2021—Ministerial statement, 5 April 2022.

I move:

That the Assembly take note of the ministerial statement.

DR PATERSON (Murrumbidgee) (10.39): I thank Minister Stephen-Smith for tabling the first annual impact statement for the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Agreement. The ACT agreement and the National Agreement on Closing the Gap are an important demonstration of partnership between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

There is strong alignment between the priorities identified in the new closing the gap agreement and the focus areas of the ACT Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Agreement. This represents important work that must be done across government agencies, across jurisdictions and across our entire community to address the ongoing harms caused by colonisation and institutional racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The ACT government has established the $20 million Healing and Reconciliation Fund to be administered in partnership with the local Aboriginal and Torres Strait


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