Speaking points for Prof. Mick Dodson
Director, Reconciliation Australia
HREOC/Productivity Commission Overcoming Disadvantage Workshop
16 September 2005
The Mint, Sydney
Indigenous Governance
Acknowledge traditional owners.
What is governance?
- Governance is essentially about how people organize themselves to make decisions, carry out those decisions and bring the necessary resources to bear to support those decisions and ensuring that mechanisms exist to review and adjust those processes.
- Indigenous people practiced good governance in this country for over 40,000 years - that was dismantled 200 years ago and through assertions of real self determination we are starting to rebuild it.
- For too long we have been forced to reinvent ourselves in a quasi-corporate environment, because that's the only kind of entity the government gives support to, they've got to be incorporated organisations.
- Governance is important because healthy well governed communities aren't just about our capacity to engage and participate in the rest of society but it'll also help us overcome socio economic disadvantage and I think also being able to confidently govern ourselves and engage with the rest of society has a positive effect on the reconciliation process.
- The whole notion of governance is a process that is ever evolving. And the Indigenous governance environment is a broad and increasingly cutting edge one - all you need to do is check out the finalists in the recent Good Indigenous Governance Awards.
[good chance for you to ad-lib for 5 mins about the critical success factors of the finalists here - what works etc.]
- Reconciliation Australia and a range of partners are committed to continuing to dig into what works and what doesn't in the Indigenous Governance environment and to develop the tools necessary to help communities to find the arrangements that work for them.
The Productivity Commission and the Overcoming Disadvantage Report
- The work of the Productivity Commission and the publication of the Overcoming Disadvantage Report will continue to play an important role in the evolving Indigenous governance environment.
- The report is not just important because of the inclusion of case studies that highlight good practice in organisations and communities but will be critical over time to the development of real measures, benchmarks that demonstrate not just the need to invest in good governance arrangements but where real change is being achieved.
- Those measures can't just be about COAG or line agencies deciding what they think success looks like. The work of the Productivity Commission has to start to help focus people on developing Indigenous measures of success.
- How often do we hear the rhetoric from governments about their policy or program reform in this area being led by Indigenous aspirations? Fine sentiment but where's the evidence of the rhetoric being made real.
- A solid evidence base has to be the driver of policy development in Indigenous Affairs rather than the current process of inexperienced bureaucrats providing ad-hoc guesses at what might work.
- A critical part of that evidence has to be well established criteria for success that are decided by Indigenous people
- And those measures have to include a robust, honest assessment of the capacity and role of government and the way it deals with its responsibilities for tackling disadvantage.
- Just as it is dangerous to make assumptions about lack of capacity within Indigenous communities, it is potentially even more dangerous to assume capacity within government agencies to deliver on its promises - particularly in the current uncertain situation.
- Serious systemic capacity-building is required to build leadership and promote change on both sides.
What next?
Reconciliation Australia will continue to work with its current partners to continue our Indigenous Governance Program which has four main components:
- Long term applied research project - already starting to produce interesting results that will assist the productivity in its work;
- Indigenous Governance Awards - first year a success and significant interest in year two;
- Governance tool-kit - a clearing house for and ever increasing pool of resources for communities
- Influencing government policy - slowly but surely
There are a range of other initiatives that we are involved in that will ensure a continuing focus on the critical importance of governance.
Governance can't just be the latest passing fad, it is absolutely fundamental to the future success of our communities.
Reconciliation Australia , and the many other organisations I'm involved in, are keen to work with HREOC and the Productivity Commission to make the Overcoming Disadvantage Report and associated processes as effective as possible.
Last updated 28 September 2005.
