Social Justice Report 2005

Media Release

Thursday, 16 February 2006

Social Justice Commissioner says results mixed in the implementation of new arrangements for Indigenous affairs

Australia"s sole independent watchdog on Indigenous rights and programs said the government"s progress in implementing the new arrangements for Indigenous affairs over the past 12 months has been mixed - with some significant developments in promoting whole-of-government coordination, but some worrying gaps and challenges yet to be adequately addressed.

Tabled in federal Parliament on Tuesday, the Social Justice Report 2005 examines the implementation of the new arrangements for the administration of Indigenous affairs, in a post-ATSIC environment, and considers whether they ensure the effective participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in decision making that affects their daily lives.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma, said that the last two Social Justice Reports have provided a preliminary overview of the new arrangements and set an agenda to put the government on notice through rigorous monitoring and reporting, which this year"s report does.

"Responsibility and accountability for Indigenous policy development and service delivery now lies squarely with the government. For Indigenous people the challenge of the new arrangements is to ensure that they have an appropriate voice in determining community priorities and rigorous accountability mechanisms are established so that successes can be identified and failures addressed," said Mr Calma.

"There have been substantial efforts made in the first 12 months of the new arrangements to identify processes for engaging with Indigenous peoples. Despite this, significant gaps remain in Indigenous representation at local, regional and national levels. Also, no mechanisms have been established to ensure the distinct issues of Torres Strait Islanders on the mainland are addressed."

Commissioner Calma said the first priority must be to establish regional representative bodies which can link to local, as well as state and national levels - Regional Partnership Agreements can provide a solid basis for this to occur.

"The absence of a framework for Indigenous representation at all levels of decision-making undermines and contradicts the aims of the new arrangements, and restricts the ability of Indigenous people to participate in decision-making processes," the Commissioner said.

"My report recommends that the federal Government, in partner ship with state and territory government s, prioriti se the negotiation of regional repre sentative arrangements with Indigenou s peoples. Repre sentative bodie s should be finali sed and operational by 30 June 2006 in all Indigenou s Coordination Centre regions."

An integral component of the new arrangements has been the negotiation of local level agreements within Indigenous communities, known as Shared Responsibility Agreements (SRAs), which are based on mutual obligation principles.

"The SRA process is clearly an evolving one. Presently the SRA process appears to lack some of the key elements necessary to ensure appropriate engagement of Indigenous communities. In particular, there are not transparent frameworks for government accountability, with an absence of sufficient benchmarking or targets in many agreements," Mr Calma said.

The Social Justice Report recommends that the Office of Indigenou s Policy Coordination, in con sultation with the Social Ju stice Commi s sioner, agree to g uidelines to en sure that SRAs comply with human right s standards in relation to the proce s s of their negotiating and their content (see the SRA fact sheet for further details).

Perhaps the most significant development over the past year has been the reform to the Community Development Employment Program (CDEP) scheme. The reform to the CDEP is integral to the whole-of-government approach to delivering services, especially carrying out the details of SRAs (see the CDEP fact sheet for further details).

"Now that the new arrangements have been in place for over 12 months it is critical that steps be taken to ensure that the government"s intended policy and program goals are properly monitored and outcomes appropriately evaluated. The new arrangements require rigorous monitoring and evaluation, especially the collection of performance information and data to support decision-making and to measure inputs and outputs," Mr Calma said.

The Social Justice Report also considers progress in achieving improvements in the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and sets out a human rights framework for achieving health equality within a generation. It also comments on a range of other reform processes impacting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, such as: changes to the Community Development Employment Program scheme; reforms of the federal Act governing Aboriginal associations and councils; as well as reforms to heritage protection, land rights, and native title.

For further information about the Social Justice Report 2005, including chapter summaries, facts sheets and media releases visit: www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/sjreport05/

Media contact: Paul Oliver (02) 9284 9880 or 0408 469 347