The Australia New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) has used NAIDOC Week this week (4-11 July) to recognise the importance of acknowledging Indigenous history and culture in the work of Government.
Chief Executive and Dean of ANZSOG, Ken Smith said this year’s NAIDOC theme, Heal Country! called for greater protection for First Peoples’ lands, waters, sacred sites and cultural heritage.
“NAIDOC Week 2021 invites Australians to embrace First Peoples’ cultural knowledge and understanding of Country as part of Australia’s national heritage,” Professor Smith said.
“ANZSOG recognises the importance of acknowledging Indigenous history and culture, and the importance of incorporating Indigenous knowledge into the work of Government, for the benefit of all Australians and Aotearoa New Zealanders,” he said.
“We are currently on our own journey to include Indigenous ways of knowing and being in our mission to lift the quality of public sector leadership in Australia and Aotearoa-New Zealand.”
Professor Smith said this work included representation of Indigenous people at all levels of the public sector.
The Dean said the steps of ANZSOG’s journey to integrate Indigenous knowledge into the public service were outlined in its First Peoples Strategy, which recognised the School’s commitment to working with communities to promote and prioritise the perspectives and contributions of the First Peoples of Australia and Aotearoa-New Zealand.
“For generations, First Peoples have called for stronger measures to recognise, protect and maintain all aspects of their culture and heritage, and in most cases are still waiting for those protections,” he said.
“Recent years have seen a substantial change in attitudes towards the relationship between Australian Governments and First Peoples.”
Professor Smith said recognition of the need to include First Peoples on an equal basis through a Treaty or a Voice to Parliament was growing.
“We cannot afford to let pass the very real opportunity that now presents itself for reform based on a fundamental change in the relationship Australia has with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” he said.
ANZSOG’s nine-page First Peoples Strategy can be accessed at this PS News link.
