Page 3076 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 23 August 2005
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reconciliation as part of an overall objective to address the disadvantage and needs of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in our community. To that end, we are developing strategic initiatives to ensure that we fulfil our responsibilities to assist the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
In the ACT, we established the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Consultative Council. This council has been a major partner of and leader with the government in building stronger relations with the indigenous community and enhancing indigenous governance structures within the ACT. These partnerships between governments and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community must continue to be developed and harnessed in promoting strong leadership in the reconciliation process.
The ACT government has taken the lead in acknowledging in all public speeches the Ngunnawal people as the traditional custodians of the ACT. Ngunnawal members of the community perform a “welcome to country” at ceremonies, official events and functions as we try to incorporate indigenous Australians’ heritage in all aspects of our work. We are constantly working hard to improve the education, health and welfare of the indigenous community whilst empowering the ACT community to accept the past and acknowledge the atrocities that have occurred, because it is through this process that we will truly be able to move along the path of reconciliation.
When Paul Keating spoke about the leadership in indigenous matters, he summed up the view very well when he said:
If we improve the living conditions in one town they will improve in another. And another. If we raise the standard of health by 20 per cent one year it will be raised more the next. If we open one door, others will follow.
In thinking along these lines, if we are able to improve the welfare of the ACT’s indigenous community members, then we may also be able to improve it in our surrounding regions—Queanbeyan, Goulburn, New South Wales and the wider Australia. If we are able to teach by example and use our leadership roles to educate those who do not yet support the reconciliation process, then we will be able to extend that throughout the country.
It is this type of leadership process that is required to improve the welfare of indigenous people in our community and support the reconciliation process. All governments in this country must take the lead and provide opportunities for reconciliation to develop. In the ACT, the government has announced a further $6 million investment over four years in programs and services specifically for local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. This is in addition to the $7 million in new funding in last year’s budget.
The ACT government has committed itself to working closely with the Ministerial Council on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs to establish a newly elected representative body for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We have established the United Ngunnawal Elders Council, which is another example of the ACT government building partnerships and enhancing the governance structures within the community to work with the traditional people in the ACT.
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