The Australia and New Zealand School of Government’s (ANZSOG’s) 2023 First Nations Public Administration Conference has focused on the importance of genuine engagement rather than consultation.
Delegates supported a strengths-based approach to policy and programs which recognised First Nations knowledge and culture.
The conference, held in Brisbane earlier in the month (March), was ANZSOG’s largest yet, attracting more than 800 in-person attendees and more than 300 others watching online.
It was divided into four sessions based around the priority reforms of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
These were: formal partnerships and shared decision-making; building the First Nations community-controlled sector; transforming Government organisations, and shared data and access to information.
Chair of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Donnella Mills told the conference that Governments needed to recognise they did not have the answers, and that Indigenous people would “work harder than anyone else to take care of our people”.
She said structural reform was needed to change the way power was distributed.
“If the National Agreement on Closing the Gap isn’t on your desk; if you can’t rattle off the priority reforms, if your Agency hasn’t resourced it — you need to lean in, and quickly. We are now in a new way of operating,” Ms Mills said.
The conference featured more than 20 First Nations speakers who discussed the transformation that was happening in First Nations policy.
They outlined how approaches that included First Nations knowledge, perspectives and values could serve the wider public and First Nations interests — and how Governments needed to change to better serve First Nations communities.
Director-General of the Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships, Chris Sarra said policy needed to be made in partnership, and with recognition that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people knew their own circumstances.
“Problems in communities are not the totality of experience, and the focus needs to shift to the resilience and agility of Aboriginal people and their culture, which should be seen as a gift to Australia,” Dr Sarra said.
