A commitment to Aboriginal youth welfare has been released to provide a blueprint for the development of policies that affect Indigenous young people.
Minister for Health and Mental Health, Roger Cook said the commitment was a comprehensive response to the Coroner’s inquest and learnings from the Message Stick Report into Aboriginal youth suicide.
“The strategy provides a blueprint to guide the development of policies and initiatives that affect Aboriginal people,” Mr Cook said.
He said the commitment included a $266.7 million funding package to empower and support young Aboriginal Western Australians, and a range of initiatives focusing on health and mental health, empowering Aboriginal youth and providing additional community services.
“The funding package will support the strategy through measures that focus on community and youth empowerment, support for remote communities, youth wellbeing, justice, education, and cultural connection,” Mr Cook said.
Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Ben Wyatt said the initiatives would complement the forthcoming Aboriginal Empowerment Strategy, currently published as a discussion paper seeking community feedback.
“The strategy’s key principle will be that the Government must make room for solutions to emerge from meaningful collaboration and partnership with Aboriginal people,” Mr Wyatt said.
“We now have a strong framework to continue to implement initiatives to improve the lives of young Aboriginal people.”
The 33-page Commitment to Aboriginal Youth Welfare can be accessed at this PS News link and the Aboriginal Empowerment Strategy discussion paper at this link.
