The Building Blocks — Action to Close the Gap (Continued)
Closing the Gap: Governance and Leadership
Governance and leadership initiatives are being advanced on a number of fronts. They recognise that Indigenous people and organisations must have the capacity to shape their futures.
Across the country, a new wave of Indigenous leaders is emerging, keen to take responsibility for the future of their communities and foster the personal responsibility that is at the heart of family and community life.
The new national Indigenous representative body, the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, is being established in recognition of the need for Indigenous leadership on the national political stage. The new body will ensure Indigenous people play a central role in research, policy and program development on issues that affect them. It will be an effective mechanism through which Indigenous leaders can harness a diverse range of views to provide strategic advice to government on national matters.
To encourage Indigenous leadership, the Australian Government is conducting leadership development workshops with hundreds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over the coming year.
The Indigenous Leadership Development Program has been providing individual leadership development and capacity building since 2004. Around 1,000 Indigenous men, women and young people are expected to participate in 2010‑11.
Leadership and capacity building is a particular focus of the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Service Delivery, to ensure that communities have the capacity and skills to engage with government in planning for a better future.
Around Australia, 40 Indigenous Engagement Officers are now working in remote communities in the Northern Territory and in Remote Service Delivery priority communities outside the Northern Territory. The Indigenous Engagement Officers are generally recruited from the local community and support Government Business Managers, helping to provide a link between government and community.
The role of Indigenous Engagement Officers is broadly to:
- ensure other government staff understand the circumstances and complexities of the local community
- help to explain government policies and processes to the community
- ensure community members understand what is being asked of them
- encourage and support local people to plan for their future.
Leadership training and support modules for Indigenous Engagement Officers are being developed to help them perform their role effectively. Capacity building training is also being provided to communities and local service delivery organisations through this National Partnership Agreement.
In February this year the Prime Minister opened the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence, in Redfern, Sydney. More than 5,000 young people from around Australia will be given access to sporting, educational and arts facilities, as well as mentoring and training. The centre is being funded by the Indigenous Land Corporation.
If www.budget.gov.au responds slowly or you are having trouble downloading a document, try one of the Budget Website Mirrors
Note: Where possible, Budget documents are available in HTML and for downloading in Portable Document Format(PDF). If you require further information on any of the tables or charts on this website, please contact The Treasury.
