Aboriginal Affairs Victoria
The Victorian Government Indigenous Affairs Report
July 2005 – June 2006
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Foreword
I am pleased to present the Victorian Government Indigenous Affairs Report: July 2005–June 2006.
This report provides a snapshot of the Victorian Government’s journey with Indigenous Victorians on the pathway to Reconciliation, highlighting key achievements over the past year and foreshadowing activity into the coming year.
Since coming to Government in 1999, the Bracks Government has demonstrated a sustained commitment to achieving Reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Victorians. Underlying this commitment is a vision for a reconciled Victoria. It is a Victoria where the culture and tradition of Victoria’s First Peoples is acknowledged, respected and valued and where Indigenous Victorians have a fair share of the prosperity enjoyed by all.
We have matched our words with action. We have more than doubled investment in improving the quality of life of Indigenous people. The biggest investments in Indigenous Affairs in our state’s history have been provided through the blue print of the Victorian Government’s social policy program outlined in A Fairer Victoria and the 2005-06 and 2006-07 State Budgets.
The 2005-06 State Budget included an investment of $45.7M that flowed into activity in the current year of this report. Important partnerships have been formed to improve access to health promotion and chronic disease prevention services for Indigenous Victorians.
Over the past year we announced key tourism projects for Indigenous Victorians in the south-west as part of a budget funded program to promote sustainable tourism ventures.
We maintained our effort to reform the way Government works with Indigenous communities through the establishment of the Victorian Secretaries’ Group to provide whole of government leadership and direction in Indigenous Affairs. We continued to work with Indigenous communities to streamline funding arrangements.
We further committed an additional $75M in the 2006-07 State Budget which we will report on next year.
The Government’s commitment to acknowledge and protect Victoria’s Indigenous cultural heritage was boosted with an investment to implement major reforms that will achieve more effective management of cultural heritage under new Victorian cultural heritage legislation.
We built on earlier effort to achieve political restitution for Indigenous Victorians and strengthen communities by funding the establishment of a new Indigenous community engagement and representative structure.
The Victorian Government acknowledges there is much to do along the path to Reconciliation. We will continue to strengthen our partnerships and maintain a sustained focus on achieving a Reconciled Victoria where there is equality of opportunity and outcomes for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Victorians alike.
GAVIN JENNINGS MLC
Minister for Aboriginal Affairs
Contents
Building a new partnership with Indigenous Victorians 5
Victorian Indigenous Affairs Framework 5
Improving the Lives of Indigenous Victorians 7
Victorian Indigenous communities 11
Measuring performance 13
Our achievements 13
Partnerships 14
Land and culture 17
Economic development and participation 24
Family and community health and well being 30
Improved justice outcomes 37
Indigenous Affairs in Victoria 41
Glossary 46
A note on the text
Throughout this report, the term “Indigenous” is used to refer to both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Use of the terms “Aboriginal”, Koori” and “Koorie” is retained in the names of programs and initiatives, and, unless noted otherwise, is inclusive of both Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Building a new partnership with Indigenous Victorians
The Victorian Government is strongly committed to breaking the cycle of Indigenous disadvantage and addressing the impact of dispossession in partnership with Indigenous Victorians. The Victorian Indigenous Affairs Framework (VIAF) and its revision Improving the lives of Indigenous Victorians outlines the Victorian Government’s whole-of-government approach to Indigenous Affairs, and provides a framework which guides our actions to address Indigenous disadvantage.
Victorian Indigenous Affairs Framework
The Victorian Government developed the VIAF in 2003 to strengthen collaboration and cooperation in addressing the underlying social and economic issues driving the ongoing disadvantage of Indigenous Victorians.
The foundation of the VIAF is the development of a strong and respectful partnership between Government and Indigenous communities for the purpose of improving:
· outcomes for Indigenous people;
· coordination of government programs;
· input and direction by Indigenous communities; and
· approaches to service delivery.
Under the VIAF, the Government has delivered a range of programs in partnership with the Indigenous community organised around the five themes of the VIAF: partnership; land and culture; economic development and participation; family and community health and wellbeing; and improved justice outcomes.
Under the VIAF considerable progress was made in 2005-06 in implementing the Indigenous policy challenges of A Fairer Victoria including in the areas of:
· aligning departmental boundaries;
· lifting the governance skills within Indigenous organisations through intensive training and support; and
· establishing a Departmental Secretaries group with a charter to improve outcomes for Indigenous Victorians.
Under the VIAF the Government announced the largest single investment in Indigenous Affairs in Victorian history as part of the 2006-07 State Budget.
This included:
$12.6M to support implementation of new Cultural Heritage legislation – We will support the implementation of the new Victorian Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act 2006, which transfers responsibility for management and protection of Indigenous cultural heritage from the Commonwealth to the State.
The legislation establishes an Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Council and require new heritage assessment, compliance and enforcement functions to be undertaken by the Victorian Government;
$5.7M over three years for upgrade of community buildings – We will undertake essential capital works on Indigenous community facilities identified in the review of Indigenous community infrastructure announced in A Fairer Victoria in 2005. The funding will ensure that approximately 70 State-funded Indigenous community facilities are refurbished;
$3.7M to establish Koori Youth Alcohol and Drug Healing services – We will build a new residential facility for Koori youth with substance abuse issues, including assistance to reintegrate into community living.
$14.1M for DHS programs, mostly for children – We will provide:
– $3.9M to expand maternity services and provide in-home support
– $5M to expand programs to preserve Aboriginal families and ensure that Aboriginal family members, elders and other community members are involved in decisions around the safety of children in their community.
– $5.2M to expand services to return children who have been removed from their families, extend the involvement of Aboriginal agencies in the investigation and responses to abuse and assist Aboriginal agencies to support children in longer term placements;
$2.7M over four years for the Academy of Sport, Health and Education (ASHE) at Shepparton – We will broaden the vocational pathways for Indigenous people in Northern Victoria administered by the Academy of Sport, Health and Education in partnership with Rumbalara Football and Netball Club and the University of Melbourne. This will be achieved by offering Certificate IV in Community Recreation, Certificates II and III in Aboriginal Health Work, a series of short course options and a range of specialist sports programs;
$26.1M over four years to extend the Aboriginal Justice Agreement Phase 2 – We will extend the Victorian Aboriginal Justice Agreement, which aims to reduce Indigenous over-representation in the criminal justice system by addressing recidivism risks and strengthening diversion strategies. The funding includes Koori Courts expansion, extension of mentoring, liaison and support programs and capital works to support the Indigenous Residential Diversion program, which will enable Indigenous people to complete their community based orders while learning life skills; and,
$10.8M over four years for the development of new representative and community engagement arrangements for Indigenous Victorians – We will introduce new community engagement arrangements which will build capacity at a local and regional Indigenous community level. At a local level, this will provide an opportunity for each Indigenous community to identify its priorities and develop plans geared to strengthening their community. At the regional level, the arrangement provides a structure through which Government can engage with the Victorian Indigenous community directly and allow a broader range of Indigenous citizens to have input into the existing service forums. These changes follow on from the withdrawal of ATSIC arrangements and will help inform the Premier’s Aboriginal Advisory Council.
Building a new partnership
The Victorian Government acknowledges that achieving equality of opportunity and outcomes for Indigenous Victorians requires further investment and reform to the way Government works with Indigenous communities. We do not underestimate the enormity of this task. We need to build a new partnership with Indigenous Victorians by building on and strengthening the existing VIAF.
To pursue our aim for Indigenous citizens to experience a similar longevity and quality of life to that enjoyed by other Victorians, the VIAF needs to set clearer direction for Government and community. Adapting the strategic framework of the COAG endorsed Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage[1] (OID) reporting framework strengthens the VIAF. The OID framework identifies areas for action that address the underlying drivers of disadvantage that evidence predicts with sustained effort over time will lead to improved outcomes. Improving the policy coherence of the VIAF enables Government to more effectively target investment and effort.
Improving coordination and cooperation across Government and between Government and Indigenous communities strengthens Victoria’s approach in Indigenous Affairs. In 2004 the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, the Hon. Gavin Jennings MLC, asked Indigenous people across Victoria how their voices could be better heard and how Government policy and programs could be more effective in improving the circumstances of Indigenous lives.
The views of Indigenous Victorians and the OID Framework provided the basis for strengthening the VIAF. In October 2006 the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs launched Improving the Lives of Indigenous Victorians, the revised Victorian Indigenous Affairs Framework.
Improving the Lives of Indigenous Victorians
The overarching Government goal in Improving the Lives of Indigenous Victorians is to end a situation in which Indigenous citizens die on average 20 years younger than other Victorian citizens and experience a greater concentration of hardship and trauma over the course of their lives. The goal in Indigenous Affairs is “To raise life expectancy and quality of life for Indigenous Victorians”.
The framework acknowledges that to meet this goal we must rebuild the human, economic and social capital of Indigenous communities. This will require a sustained and long term commitment from Government. Generational change requires creating and strengthening partnerships, and setting in place building blocks for reform and clear indicators of progress.
The Strategic Policy Framework Improving the Lives of Indigenous Victorians describes the relationship between Victorian Strategic Areas for Action that set out to achieve improved outcomes across Priority Outcome Areas and ultimately the overarching goal of the framework. The Strategic Policy Framework is represented in Diagram 1.
Improving the Lives of Indigenous Victorians commits the Government to improve outcomes against a range of specific strategic change indicators. These indicators amount to five, ten and 15 year markers of progress towards achieving equitable outcomes for Indigenous Victorians. They link to measures which form important building blocks in raising life expectancy and quality of life against six clear priorities for action.
These are to:
- Improve maternal health and early childhood health and development;
- Improve literacy and numeracy;
- Improve year 12 completion or equivalent qualification and develop pathways to employment;
- Prevent family violence and improve justice outcome;
- Improve economic development, settle native title claims and address land access issues; and
- Build Indigenous capacity.
These areas for action will guide sustained Government effort over the next decade.
Diagram 1: Improving the Lives of Indigenous Victorians Strategic Policy Framework
Improving the Lives of Indigenous Victorians also sets out a Partnership Coordination and Management Framework and principles of reform. The reform principles outline how we will improve the effectiveness of Government coordination and the way that Government engages and works with Indigenous communities. The Partnership Co-ordination and Management Framework (Diagram 2) is a senior management and Indigenous partnership structure responsible for driving the changes that will achieve the improved performance outcomes for which the VIAF has been developed.
The Partnership Co-ordination and Management Framework creates the authorising environment for community and Government policy leadership.
From the Government perspective this leadership is centred in the Premier and the members of the Ministerial Taskforce on Aboriginal Affairs (Chaired by the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs)[2].
These important Indigenous Affairs policy changes have been reflected throughout this section and will also inform how we report on performance in the future.
Diagram 2: Improving the Lives of Indigenous Victorians Partnership Coordination and Management Framework
Victorian Indigenous communities
Population
The Victorian Indigenous population is estimated by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) in 2001 to be 25,078.[3]
This is approximately 0.54 % of the total Victorian population and 6.1% of the total Australian Indigenous population.