The idea that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people should have a say in decisions that significantly affect our lives is not a radical one.
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It is a simple principle of democracy.
This idea spurred the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and I, like most Aboriginal people, was deeply saddened when one of its core tenants - a Voice to Parliament - was voted down one year ago.
But the same idea - a powerful vision of self-determination - underpins another national approach to change the way governments work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families and communities.
Most people have heard of Closing the Gap. In 2008, the Commonwealth government adopted a community-led campaign to close the gap in life expectancy for our people.
The 2008 Closing the Gap national strategy - agreed to by federal, state and territory governments - set targets to improve life outcomes of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
To close gaps in life expectancy, in health outcomes, in education, and many more.
Numbers on a page which show that an Aboriginal child born today is still expected to live almost 10 years less than a non-Indigenous child who shares the same birthday. Ten years after governments set these targets, very little had changed.
As someone who had spent decades working in public policy and pushing for better outcomes for my people, this was saddening, but not surprising.
For the first decade of Closing the Gap, governments thought they knew what was best for us. Too often they made decisions, set targets, made policies, designed programs and allocated funding without including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representatives in the decision-making process.
In 2018, 14 leading Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations said this had to end. To close the gap, governments - federal, state and territory - had to commit to change and work together with us and the community-controlled sector to deliver what is needed for our communities.
Thanks to our advocacy, the Morrison government agreed, and in 2020, for the first time, Australia had an intergovernmental agreement that had been built around what Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people said was, and still is, important to improve our lives.
The fundamental shift came in getting governments to agree how to achieve change - to acknowledge they do not have all the answers, and that in many cases they are the ones causing harm.
Through the National Agreement on Closing the Gap signed in 2020, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people right across Australia have been very clear:
- Our communities and organisations are to be equal partners with governments and share in the decisions on policies and programs that impact on us;
- Our organisations are to be properly supported to deliver the services we need;
- Government service delivery agencies are to do much better by and for our people; and
- We need better and shared data at the regional level to inform shared decision making at the community level.
It sounds like a simple proposition, but it is a radical change to the way governments have worked since Federation.
The Coalition of Peaks, as we are known, has grown to represent more than 80 peak bodies, representing more than 800 organisations controlled by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. We gain authority from our extensive membership base of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations, with generations of action to advance the interests of, and deliver services to, our people.
It is important to recognise that the Coalition of Peaks is not the Voice envisaged in the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
We are the Aboriginal health services looking after remote communities that mainstream services do not reach. We are the early childhood services which, because of our community connections and cultural understanding, have increased enrolment rates such that almost all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the nation are now attending pre-school.
We are seeing real change because of the national agreement. Just the other week it was announced that more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care will now be supported by organisations with links to their communities and culture.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are more than 10 times likely to be in care, but mainstream children's services often lack the connections to place them with kin. It is hard to overestimate how important this change will be to vulnerable young ones experiencing trauma and upheaval.
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This is the kind of change that is possible. Now, it is time for the rubber to hit the road and for governments to make good on their promises, in full. I am sorry to say that this is not happening fast enough.
The National Agreement on Closing the Gap is not a substitute for a constitutionally enshrined Voice, or any other elements of the Uluru Statement from the Heart. The goal, however, is the same - for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to have power and agency over their lives.
A first-of-its-kind national agreement is in place. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations big and small, from all over the country, are at the table and sharing decisions with government on policies and programs impacting our people.
If governments are looking for "what's next", it starts with keeping the promises for reform made in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
- Patricia Turner is a Gudanji-Arrernte woman and lead convenor of the Coalition of Peaks, which represents Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations.
