APONT submission to Stronger Futures PDF
Preview APONT submission to Stronger Futures
Response to Stronger Futures Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the Northern Territory August 2011 Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT – Response to Stronger Futures Contents 1 Executive Summary........................................................................................................................3 1.1 Rebuilding Trust......................................................................................................................3 1.2 Priority Areas..........................................................................................................................4 1.2.1 School attendance and educational achievement.........................................................4 1.2.2 Economic development and employment......................................................................5 1.2.3 Tackling alcohol abuse....................................................................................................5 1.2.4 Community safety..........................................................................................................6 1.2.5 Health.............................................................................................................................6 1.2.6 Food security..................................................................................................................6 1.2.7 Housing and land tenure................................................................................................6 1.2.8 Governance....................................................................................................................7 1.2.9 Role of the social security system...................................................................................8 1.2.10 Outstations, homelands and smaller communities........................................................8 1.2.11 Inter-‐agency collaboration and coordination.................................................................9 2 Introduction..................................................................................................................................10 2.1 Beyond ‘Intervention’...........................................................................................................10 3 Rebuilding trust and resetting the relationship............................................................................11 4 Consultation and partnership.......................................................................................................12 5 Commonwealth priority areas for action.....................................................................................14 5.1 School attendance and educational achievement...............................................................14 5.2 Economic development and employment...........................................................................17 5.3 Tackling alcohol abuse..........................................................................................................20 5.4 Community safety................................................................................................................24 5.5 Health...................................................................................................................................26 5.6 Food security........................................................................................................................28 5.7 Housing and tenure..............................................................................................................31 5.8 Governance..........................................................................................................................39 6 Unaddressed priority areas..........................................................................................................41 6.1 Role of the social security system in developing stronger futures.......................................41 6.2 Outstations, Homelands and Small Communities................................................................44 6.3 Inter-‐agency collaboration and coordination.......................................................................45 2 Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT – Response to Stronger Futures 1 Executive Summary This submission identifies ways in which the Government can make good its commitment to a new way of working in partnership with Aboriginal people, leaders and communities to address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage. A vital first step in building stronger futures is recognising that ‘intervention’ as an approach to policy-‐making is fundamentally flawed. This is clear from the Closing the Gap Clearing House report, What works to overcome Indigenous disadvantage. The report found that what doesn’t work includes ‘one size fits all’ approaches and a lack of collaboration with communities. What it found does work is community involvement and engagement; adequate resourcing and planned and comprehensive responses; respect for language and culture; working together; development of social capital; recognising underlying social determinants; commitment to doing projects with, not for, Aboriginal people; creative collaboration; and understanding that issues are complex and contextual. 1.1 Rebuilding Trust A further initial step the Government can take is to work to rebuild trust with Aboriginal people following the damage that was done by the Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER). There are a number of immediate steps that can help to re-‐build trust: • Fully reinstate the permit system under the Aboriginal Land Rights Act (ALRA) to once more provide communities on Aboriginal land with control over who can and cannot enter their communities. • Sections 90 and 91 of the Northern Territory National Emergency Response Act (‘the NTNER Act’), which seek to exclude matters of custom and culture from sentencing and bail decisions, should be immediately repealed. • Funding for legal services in Aboriginal communities must be maintained. • The Prohibited Material restrictions should be repealed. • The Prescribed Area Signs should be immediately removed. • The extraordinary law enforcement powers of the Australian Crime Commission should be withdrawn. Partnership requires effective communication and consultation at all stages of policy formulation, development and implementation. The Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the Northern Territory1 (APO NT) is therefore concerned that the consultations involved in Stronger Futures are not seen as an adequate precursor to another round of intervention or policy decisions without the further input and consent of those affected. 1 The Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the Northern Territory is a working group comprised of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance, the Central Australian Aboriginal Legal Aid Service, the Central Land Council, the Northern Land Council, and the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency. 3 Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT – Response to Stronger Futures APO NT is also very concerned about the quality of the consultations observed in the Stronger Futures process for similar reasons to those noted in relation to the Future Directions consultations of 2009. A genuinely new approach to consultation and partnership is required. Based on previous performance, the role of Government Business Managers (GBMs) in leading such an approach and fostering partnerships between communities and government is questionable. APO NT supports recommended changes to the name and role of GBMs to a community development purpose,2 and the development of agreed guidelines on how GBMs work collaboratively with Aboriginal agencies. Noting the incorporation of the NTER measures into the COAG Closing the Gap structure of National Partnership Agreements (NPAs) framed by the National Indigenous Reform Agreement (NIRA), it remains a major flaw that this overarching Aboriginal policy framework lacks any Aboriginal input. APO NT believes that the COAG agreements must be re-‐visited to include effective Aboriginal participation, input and consent which is so crucial to developing the partnership needed. 1.2 Priority Areas APO NT has identified the way forward in relation to the eight priority areas included in Stronger Futures, and three additional priority areas identified by APO NT. 1.2.1 School attendance and educational achievement • Full consideration of the early childhood education and schooling findings of the Closing the Gap Clearinghouse report, What works to overcome Indigenous disadvantage. • Positive rather than negative messaging around parental responsibility and school attendance. • Ensuring schools have effective mechanisms for parental/family/community engagement and input and translation of this input into the operation of schools. • Flexible curricula that include Aboriginal languages, cultures and history. • More Aboriginal staff in schools. • Training in cross-‐cultural communication and engagement skills, cultural awareness and Aboriginal languages, cultures and histories for teachers. • Additional investment in remote Aboriginal schools, including from the Australian Government, to redress historic under-‐investment and provide equitable resourcing of schools. • All Homeland Learning Centres should be recognised as proper schools and resourced as such. • Governments must develop a comprehensive plan for the provision of education to remote Aboriginal communities, including clear criteria for the ongoing provision and resourcing of schools. • Governments should ensure comparable funding allocations to schools, including between government and non-‐government schools. 2 Recommended by the NTER Review Panel in 2008. 4 Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT – Response to Stronger Futures • Consideration should be given to ongoing multiple areas of disadvantage faced by families, particularly in housing, in calibrating initiatives to engage parents and children in schooling. 1.2.2 Economic development and employment • The need to reform the remote working arrangements, including Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP), is clear, but this process needs to be gradual and nuanced to avoid unintended negative economic and social outcomes. • Recognition that development progress will be highly dependent on a community-‐based participatory approach and on the need to plan for development to ensure that regional differences in both need and aspiration are recognised. • Recognition of the emerging evidence that state agencies lack capacity to deliver at remote communities, including in the area of training, employment services and jobs generation and the development of appropriate policies to counteract this. • A shift away from punitive measures in light of evidence that ‘negative reinforcement’ (punitive measures) is highly ineffective in changing behaviour and can result in ‘learned helplessness’ and other adverse consequences. • The focus of CDEP needs to change to real ‘job creation’ through financial support to commercial enterprise development, social enterprise development and in the paid provision of services. • There is a need to continue to support programs that encourage local Aboriginal enterprise and land management initiatives, and deliver on-‐ground, hands on training that is responsive to local needs and levels of formal education. 1.2.3 Tackling alcohol abuse The most effective alcohol supply restriction measure that should be adopted is to: • Implement a minimum floor price on alcohol across the Northern Territory (NT). Further effective measures in tackling alcohol abuse and harm include: • Repeal the liquor licences held by the ‘animal bars’ in towns such as Alice Springs. • Adopt one day per week where take-‐away alcohol sales are not permitted. • Expand the availability and remote delivery of culturally-‐appropriate treatment, rehabilitation and support services for people with issues with alcohol, including those in prison. • Facilitate education of the impacts and dangers associated with alcohol within schools. • Provide early childhood intervention programs focused on strengthening resilience. • Ensure the proper and independent evaluation of the impact of wet canteens before allowing any expansion of wet canteens in remote areas. • Develop Alcohol Management Plans for all communities and town camps in proper consultation with residents. • Investigate the possibility of providing alcohol-‐free accommodation on town camp leases. 5 Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT – Response to Stronger Futures • Re-‐empower elders and community leaders to have ownership of their community’s law and justice issues. 1.2.4 Community safety Community safety is not simply about more police. Relevant to the Commonwealth Government’s role in Aboriginal communities, the following areas should receive particular attention: • More resources for services that promote community safety. • Mechanisms, such as Law and Justice Groups, should be encouraged, supported and resourced to give communities ownership and leadership over their law and justice issues, and a meaningful way to exercise this leadership in partnership with the key stakeholders of the mainstream justice system. • Better cultural understanding and adoption of community ways of working by police. 1.2.5 Health • Continue the current primary health care reforms under coordination of the NT Aboriginal Health Forum, including regionalising of Health Service Delivery Areas. • Continue the development and support of regional community controlled health services. • Reform MOS Plus to a more decentralised model of service delivery that is better integrated with primary health care and provides increased coverage to remote communities. • Improve the coverage of new AOD services particularly to remote communities. • Fund integrated AOD and mental health services within primary health care. • Target mental health services more effectively to remote communities via Aboriginal community controlled health services. • Reform MSOAP-‐ICD chronic disease outreach services to provide a more bottom-‐up approach and to improve its administrative responsiveness to local needs. • There is an urgent need for dedicated housing for Aboriginal Health Workers and other clinicians to be provided in communities. 1.2.6 Food security • On-‐going monitoring and assessments should be undertaken to ensure licensing standards are maintained by stores. • APO NT continues to support the availability of Outback Stores as a management option for stores, but believes that the decision of communities to introduce or retain Outback Stores must be voluntary. • The Commonwealth and NT Governments should support the resolutions of AMSANT’s Fresh Food Summit 2010. 1.2.7 Housing and land tenure • The Commonwealth Government must finalise negotiations with the Central Land Council (CLC) and Northern Land Council (NLC) regarding the payment of ‘fair rent’ for the five-‐year leases and just terms compensation. 6 Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT – Response to Stronger Futures • The Commonwealth Government must act decisively to re-‐set the relationship with Aboriginal people by working with the NT land councils to transition smoothly out of the five-‐year leases into voluntary section 19 ALRA leasing arrangements over communities. • The Commonwealth Government should revisit its secure tenure policy and work with the land councils to remodel the policy so property rights are recognised and traditional Aboriginal landowners’ decision making processes are respected and play a leading role in community development and community management. • In line with its commitment to voluntary leasing, the Commonwealth Government should now pursue alternative leasing arrangements and should itself apply for leases over its assets on Aboriginal land. • A holistic ‘secure tenure’ policy will require the NT Government to amend the relevant legislation. The CLC's position is that specific legislation to regulate community living areas is needed that allows for leasing on Community Living Areas consistent with the NT and Commonwealth governments' secure tenure policy; and provides for CLAs to be held in perpetuity. • The Commonwealth Government must, consistent with the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing (NPARIH), fund, undertake and make public a rigorous and transparent assessment of housing ‘needs’ in remote Aboriginal communities that will then be used to allocate future housing funding. • The Commonwealth Government must, as a matter of priority, commit to a schedule of new housing to meet the urgent needs of non-‐Remote Service Delivery (RSD) and non-‐Strategic Indigenous Housing and Infrastructure Program (SIHIP) ‘priority communities’ so as to avoid entrenching tiers of disadvantage. • Consistent with the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Service Delivery (NPARSD), governments need to consistently promote a diverse housing sector that includes prioritising local Aboriginal employment. Policies, agreements and funding arrangements should all be drafted to ensure that the housing sector in remote Aboriginal communities can, over the coming decade, diversify beyond public housing. • The Commonwealth Government should fund life skill training programs and a remote tenancy legal advice service. • Territory Housing should conduct meaningful consultations with Aboriginal landowners, Aboriginal community residents and the Land Councils regarding its draft home ownership policy. • The Commonwealth Government should convene a taskforce comprising land councils and lenders interested in issuing loans on Aboriginal land if the right security, in the form of a transferrable lease, could be negotiated. 1.2.8 Governance • There is an urgent need to investigate and invest in community-‐controlled governance models. • Community governance requires appropriate resources, training and oversight to ensure on-‐ going effectiveness. 7 Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT – Response to Stronger Futures • No single model can be applied to all communities. Community-‐based and participatory research is required to develop appropriate models. 1.2.9 Role of the social security system • Repeal compulsory income management that is based on the age and length of time a person has been in receipt of Centrelink benefits. • A voluntary system of income management with an option for case-‐by-‐case trigger-‐based income management is preferred to the current model. It is noted however that triggers for income management should not be continually extended, as currently under consideration, without proper consultation and consideration of likely consequences and discriminatory impacts. • BasicsCards and / or Income Management accounts could be retained as a standalone option that Centrelink customers can choose to utilise in the same was as they do Centrepay. Customers should exercise control over the percentage of income allocated to a BasicsCard or Income Management account. • Community consultation should occur on how financial literacy can best be developed and improved in communities. • Financial literacy and education services to adults and to school students must be developed and improved. • If/while NT income management is retained in its current form, the Government should consider a number of practical changes. 1.2.10 Outstations, homelands and smaller communities • The Commonwealth Government should clearly state that its policies are not aimed at moving Aboriginal people into growth towns or regional centres. • The Commonwealth Government should renegotiate the 2007 Memorandum of Understanding with the NT Government to provide for ongoing Commonwealth Government involvement in the resourcing of outstations, and seek to re-‐negotiate the NIRA and related NPAs to include effective Aboriginal participation, input, and consent. • Support should be provided for innovative housing and shelter options for outstations that foster the capacity for greater self-‐sufficiency. • CDEP should be reformed to provide real ‘job creation’ through financial support to commercial enterprise development, social enterprise development and in the paid provision of services on homelands and outstations. • Support should be provided to local Aboriginal organisations, such as resource agencies, to deliver services to outstations. • Funding should be provided so that Aboriginal people can be trained to deliver repair, maintenance and construction services, rather than relying on outside contractors. 8 Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT – Response to Stronger Futures 1.2.11 Inter-‐agency collaboration and coordination • Improved inter-‐agency collaboration and coordination must be fostered so agencies are aware of, and better communicate to clients, new and existing options. • In the context of social security measures, it must be ensured that Job Services Australia providers, schools, health clinics, crèches, Commonwealth-‐funded financial counsellors, Money Management and Money Business providers and others both understand and communicate all relevant options to their clients. 9 Aboriginal Peak Organisations of the NT – Response to Stronger Futures 2 Introduction APO NT is pleased to make this submission in response to the Commonwealth Government’s Stronger Futures discussion paper (‘the discussion paper’). APO NT welcomes the Government’s stated intention of working in partnership with Aboriginal people, leaders and communities to develop policies that will work to reduce Aboriginal disadvantage. This submission identifies the ways that Government can make good its commitment to a new way of doing business. We identify tangible examples of how approaches that are based on partnership, consultation and community development can work. We also identify practical improvements to existing policy, based on the collective experience of our organisations and the people we represent. The submission aims to be a constructive contribution to the Government’s efforts to get Aboriginal policy back on the right track. It recognises that this is a responsibility that is shared by government and Aboriginal people, their communities and their organisations. 2.1 Beyond ‘Intervention’ A vital first step in building stronger futures is recognising that ‘intervention’ as an approach to policy-‐making is fundamentally flawed. It is vital that when reflecting on the NTER and considering future directions this is not overlooked. The failures of the NTER are not simply the result of having the wrong programs or policy settings. Its fundamental approach was wrong. The findings of the Closing the Gap Clearing House in its report What works to overcome Indigenous disadvantage make this clear. Following extensive evidence-‐based analysis, the Clearing House found that what doesn’t work includes ‘one size fits all’ approaches; a lack of collaboration; external authorities imposing changes and reporting requirements; interventions without local Aboriginal community control and culturally appropriate adaptation; and failure to develop Aboriginal capacity to provide services. All of these were features of the NTER. On the other hand, what the Closing the Gap Clearing House found does work is community involvement and engagement; adequate resourcing and planned and comprehensive responses; respect for language and culture; working together through partnership, networks and shared leadership; development of social capital; recognising underlying social determinants; commitment to doing projects with, not for, Aboriginal people; creative collaboration; and understanding that issues are complex and contextual. Few, if any, of these could be said to be features of the NTER. Any successes that can be identified from the NTER have been achieved despite the methodology of ‘intervention’, not because of it. Creating stronger futures therefore requires more than a 10
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