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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 2002 Week 4 Hansard (11 April) . . Page.. 1029 ..

MR STANHOPE (continuing):

The outcomes of the meeting were that the council reviewed the progress of a national action plan for salinity and water quality. It emphasised its ongoing commitment to working with communities to undertake an integrated approach to natural resource management on a reasonable scale.

It agreed to accelerate the implementation of the NAP, firstly, by the signing of the intergovernmental agreement by all parties; secondly, concluding the remaining bilateral agreements by the end of June 2002, including progress on foundation funding and priority projects, and, thirdly, making substantial progress on regional plans, in all jurisdictions, by the end of 2002.

The council noted that substantial progress is being made on national water reforms, and re-affirmed the importance of water property rights issues, in dealing with the nation's salinity and water-quality problems.

The ACT is working with the Commonwealth and New South Wales to reduce the impacts of salinity, and to improve water quality. The ACT is currently negotiating with the Commonwealth concerning the bilateral agreement. This will be done in the context of the Murrumbidgee River catchment priority region.

In November 2000, COAG endorsed, and agreed on, a framework to advance reconciliation with three priority areas-leadership, reviewing programs to better meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and economic independence. Subsequently, ministerial councils were asked to develop action plans and report back to COAG.

To date, only four councils have fulfilled their obligations in this regard. Those are the Ministerial Council of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs-MCATSIA-housing ministers, community services ministers, and the Ministerial Council on Employment, Education, Training and Youth Affairs.

The Ministerial Council on Education, Employment, Training and Youth Affairs already undertakes regular Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs performance monitoring, and has agreed to publish strategies to improve outcomes for Aboriginal people.

One of the outcomes of the meeting was that the council reaffirmed its continuing commitment to advance reconciliation, and address the social and economic disadvantages experienced by many indigenous Australians. It considered a report on the progress in implementing the reconciliation framework, noting that all governments have made progress in addressing the COAG priorities of leadership, reviewing and re-engineering programs to assist indigenous families, and promoting indigenous economic independence.

The council noted that progress under the reconciliation framework will continue to be reviewed, and requested that the next progress report on government and ministerial council outcomes be provided to the council no later than the end of 2003.

It noted that ministerial councils continue to progress the development of action plans and performance-reporting strategies, but that progress has been slower than expected.

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