❓ The Minister for Aboriginal Affairs details the McGowan government's $281.5 million investment in Aboriginal wellbeing, focusing on ACCOs, truth-telling, Closing the Gap priorities, and various community programs.
AnsweredQoN 307Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
CLOSING THE GAP
307. Ms D.G. D'ANNA to the Minister for Aboriginal
Affairs:
I refer to the McGowan government's
ongoing work to meet the Closing the Gap targets. Can the minister advise the
house how the McGowan Labor government is delivering initiatives to support the
wellbeing of Aboriginal people, and can the minister advise the house what
investments this government is making to improve Aboriginal people's
social and economic opportunities?
307. Ms D.G. D'ANNA to the Minister for Aboriginal
Affairs:
I refer to the McGowan government's
ongoing work to meet the Closing the Gap targets. Can the minister advise the
house how the McGowan Labor government is delivering initiatives to support the
wellbeing of Aboriginal people, and can the minister advise the house what
investments this government is making to improve Aboriginal people's
social and economic opportunities?
AnswerView source ↗
I congratulate the member for
Kimberley for being such an outstanding and positive member of Parliament,
unlike what we see on the other side, and also for her continued advocacy for
the wellbeing of Aboriginal people in Western Australia and the community
generally.
It is a great question because I am
really pleased that the McGowan government announced in the 2023–24
budget last week a $281.5 million increase to support the wellbeing of
Aboriginal people in Western Australia. This commitment will strengthen the
services that support the empowerment and wellbeing of Aboriginal people. What
is really exciting is that 70 per cent of the services provided to Aboriginal
people from this commitment will come from
Aboriginal organisations. That is something that we are really proud of. We are
trying to develop the Aboriginal community–controlled
organisations sector, also known as ACCOs, to help with the self-determination
of Aboriginal people. To that effect,
we have allocated $6 million to establish WA's ACCO peak body to
continue to support the Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia.
This is part of our commitment to ensure that we have a culturally responsive
way to invest in the wellbeing and delivery of services to Aboriginal people
and to empower Aboriginal communities by increasing employment opportunities.
We have also provided $27.5 million for the walking together
through the Wadjemup project. This funding will be used for the development of the truth-telling ceremony strategy and
repairs to the Quod building upgrades to the burial ground. We are really excited by that reconciliation reparation
process. We are also looking at other measures to close the gap through the Closing the gap implementation plan and targeting priority reform. One of the difficulties is that there are
17 or 18 criteria under the Closing the gap implementation plan and we
are trying to see how we can prioritise
those to ensure that we look at the most important criteria first. We will also
invest $31.1 million over the next four years for the continuation of
the Aboriginal community connectors program, $18.3 million to match the
commonwealth funding to support the construction of a new south west Aboriginal
health hub in Bunbury and also $5.8 million to support 10 additional full-time
equivalent Aboriginal mental health workers.
There is more. The funding includes
$11.7 million to support the extension to the trial period for the highly
successful Target 120 program, which obviously is not just for Aboriginal
people, but that is a large cohort of the at-risk youth in the criminal justice
system. We are forming partnerships with Aboriginal people. This government is
very, very keen to form partnerships with Aboriginal people and Aboriginal
communities. We have allocated $11.8 million for the Kimberley juvenile justice
strategy. An immediate response from this will be the pilot for the safe place
initiative in Broome. We are engaging in sharing in decision-making, and this
will see a $2.2 million investment in the
Connecting to Country program that involves capped grants of $25 000 to
Aboriginal organisations across the state to strengthen the connections
between Aboriginal people, their communities, country and culture.
The member's advocacy and
the DNA of the Labor Party is to do what we can to ensure that the wellbeing of Aboriginal people is improved. That is the
$281.5 million investment in the budget announced last week. Of course ,
we are also investing considerable amounts of money for the operation of the
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, which commences on 1 July.
Kimberley for being such an outstanding and positive member of Parliament,
unlike what we see on the other side, and also for her continued advocacy for
the wellbeing of Aboriginal people in Western Australia and the community
generally.
It is a great question because I am
really pleased that the McGowan government announced in the 2023–24
budget last week a $281.5 million increase to support the wellbeing of
Aboriginal people in Western Australia. This commitment will strengthen the
services that support the empowerment and wellbeing of Aboriginal people. What
is really exciting is that 70 per cent of the services provided to Aboriginal
people from this commitment will come from
Aboriginal organisations. That is something that we are really proud of. We are
trying to develop the Aboriginal community–controlled
organisations sector, also known as ACCOs, to help with the self-determination
of Aboriginal people. To that effect,
we have allocated $6 million to establish WA's ACCO peak body to
continue to support the Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia.
This is part of our commitment to ensure that we have a culturally responsive
way to invest in the wellbeing and delivery of services to Aboriginal people
and to empower Aboriginal communities by increasing employment opportunities.
We have also provided $27.5 million for the walking together
through the Wadjemup project. This funding will be used for the development of the truth-telling ceremony strategy and
repairs to the Quod building upgrades to the burial ground. We are really excited by that reconciliation reparation
process. We are also looking at other measures to close the gap through the Closing the gap implementation plan and targeting priority reform. One of the difficulties is that there are
17 or 18 criteria under the Closing the gap implementation plan and we
are trying to see how we can prioritise
those to ensure that we look at the most important criteria first. We will also
invest $31.1 million over the next four years for the continuation of
the Aboriginal community connectors program, $18.3 million to match the
commonwealth funding to support the construction of a new south west Aboriginal
health hub in Bunbury and also $5.8 million to support 10 additional full-time
equivalent Aboriginal mental health workers.
There is more. The funding includes
$11.7 million to support the extension to the trial period for the highly
successful Target 120 program, which obviously is not just for Aboriginal
people, but that is a large cohort of the at-risk youth in the criminal justice
system. We are forming partnerships with Aboriginal people. This government is
very, very keen to form partnerships with Aboriginal people and Aboriginal
communities. We have allocated $11.8 million for the Kimberley juvenile justice
strategy. An immediate response from this will be the pilot for the safe place
initiative in Broome. We are engaging in sharing in decision-making, and this
will see a $2.2 million investment in the
Connecting to Country program that involves capped grants of $25 000 to
Aboriginal organisations across the state to strengthen the connections
between Aboriginal people, their communities, country and culture.
The member's advocacy and
the DNA of the Labor Party is to do what we can to ensure that the wellbeing of Aboriginal people is improved. That is the
$281.5 million investment in the budget announced last week. Of course ,
we are also investing considerable amounts of money for the operation of the
Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act, which commences on 1 July.
Explore WA Government Data
Search the full archive in the free dashboard, or query programmatically via API.
Explore more
Government Gazette
Appointments, regulatory notices, planning changes.
Hansard
Debates, questions, speeches and sentiment.
Tabled Papers
Reports and documents tabled in Parliament.
Committees
Committee profiles and recent reports.
Regulations
Subsidiary legislation with filters and summaries.
Bills
Proposed laws and parliamentary progress.
Acts
Current WA legislation and summaries.
Explanatory Memoranda
Bills with EMs (text/PDF) available.
Members
MP profiles, party breakdown and rankings.
Pollie Rankings
Data-driven rankings across 19 categories.
Amendment Chains
Track how schemes and regulations evolve over time.