20 May 2014 

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Dr John Gardiner-Garden
Social Policy Section

This Quick Guide provides links to:

• the Council of Australian Government (COAG) key agreements under ‘Closing the Gap’
• a listing of Australian Government departments with responsibility for Indigenous affairs and their key programmes
• statistics and funding
• a map of ‘Aboriginal Australia’
• directories of Indigenous organisations and businesses
• key organisations outside Government departments
• state, territory and local government websites and
• overseas websites.

Note: administrative arrangements announced on 18 September 2013 have altered departmental responsibility for Indigenous affairs. Therefore, links to Australian Government websites listed below may change as new arrangements take effect.

Council of Australian Governments’ Closing the Gap

• COAG Reform Council Indigenous Reform Agenda is implemented though a National Indigenous Reform Agreement which set out six Closing the Gap targets and seven National Partnerships:
  • National Partnership on Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes
  • National Partnership on Remote Indigenous Housing
  • Closing the Gap: National Partnership Agreement on Indigenous Early Childhood Development
  • National Partnership on Indigenous Economic Participation
  • National Partnership Agreement on Remote Service Delivery
  • Closing the Gap: National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Public Internet Access
  • Closing the Gap in the Northern Territory National Partnership Agreement

Publications tracking progress include:

• the Prime Minister’s annual report (Closing the Gap: Prime Minister’s Report, 2014)
• the Productivity Commission’s biennial report (Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2011) and
• the COAG Reform Council’s report on progress (Indigenous Reform 2011-12: Comparing performance across Australia) and Oxfam’s Campaign Steering Committee  report, Close the Gap: progress and priorities 2014.

Australian Government Departments and some of their programs

As noted above, at the time of writing program responsibilities were in flux. Primary responsibility for Indigenous affairs now rests with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Below are links to some programs. For others see indigenous.gov.au

Prime Minister and Cabinet

Transferring from the Attorney General’s Department

• Community Night Patrols
• Indigenous Law and Justice (includes Legal Assistance and Family violence prevention)
• Community Legal Services Programme and Aboriginal Interpreter Service

Transferring from the Department of Communications

• Indigenous Communications Programme
• Indigenous Broadcasting Programme

Transferring from the Department of Education

• Indigenous Education (Targeted Assistance) Act 2000
• Building an Indigenous Workforce
• Literacy and numeracy for underachieving Indigenous students
• Indigenous Education Ambassadors Programme
• Indigenous Support Units (ISU)
• Indigenous Youth Leadership Programme
• Indigenous Youth Mobility Programme
• National Indigenous English and Numeracy Strategy – Transitional Project Assistance
• Parental and Community Engagement Programme
• Sporting Chance Programme
• Supplementary Recurrent Assistance
• Indigenous Remote Service Delivery Traineeships-Schools
• Community Development Employment Program (CDEP) – Jobs in Education
• Indigenous Ranger Cadetship Pilot
• Improving School Enrolment and Attendance through Welfare Reform Measure (SEAM)

Transferring from the Department of Employment

• CDEP Work Experience Subsidy
• Indigenous Employment Programme (IEP)
• Indigenous Cadetship Support (ICS)
• Indigenous Wage Subsidy (IWS)
• Indigenous Youth Careers Pathways Programme
• Remote Jobs and Communities Programme
• Indigenous Opportunities Policy

Transferring from the Department of Environment

• Working on Country (Indigenous Rangers)
• Indigenous Protected Areas
• Indigenous Carbon Farming Fund
• Indigenous Heritage Programme

Transferring from the Department of Health

• Mobile Outreach Service Plus
• Social and Emotional Wellbeing
• Substance Misuse Service Delivery Grants Fund
• Indigenous Sport and Active Recreation Programme

Transferring from the Department of Industry

• Indigenous Support Programme
• Away from Base- for approved ‘mixed mode’ courses
• Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ITAS) for Tertiary Tuition
• Indigenous Tutorial Assistance Scheme (ITAS) for Vocational Education and Training
• Supplementary Recurrent Assistance for non-government Vocation Education and Training Sectors

Transferring from the Department of Social Services

• Communities for Children, Indigenous Family Safety Programme and Stronger Communities for Children
• Indigenous Community Links
• Indigenous Community Volunteers
• Remote Indigenous Housing Programme
• Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Programme
• Centre for Appropriate Technology
• Indigenous Mothers Accommodation Fund
• Remote Indigenous Energy Programme
• Remote Pools 2010
• Indigenous Home Ownership
• Land Rights Programme
• Native Title Programme
• Indigenous Capability and Development Programme
• Reconciliation Australia
• Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory

Attorney-General's Department (includes Ministry for the Arts)

• Indigenous culture, languages and visual art programmes

Department of Education

• Indigenous Schooling  

Department of Employment

• Employment Services Procurement Information
• Indigenous Australian Government Development Program

Department of Health

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health
• National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Equality Council

Department of Human Services

• Indigenous Australians

Department of Social Services

• Indigenous Coordination Centres and Regional Operations Centres
• Remote Jobs and Communities Programme
• Indigenous housing
• National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Alliance

Statistics and funding

• Australian Bureau of Statistics Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander statistics and feature articles
• Australian Medical Association—Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Report Cards.
• Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet Summary of Australian Indigenous Health
• Australian Institute of Health and Welfare’s Indigenous Australians pages.
• Human Rights Commission Statistical Overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia
• Parliamentary Library Commonwealth Indigenous-specific expenditure 1968–2012.
• Productivity Commission reports: Indigenous Expenditure Report; Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage; Government Services: Indigenous Compendium and National Agreement Performance Reporting.

Map

• Enlargeable forms of the 1994 David Horton ‘Aboriginal Australia’ map are at Indigenous Languages and Map of Aboriginal Australia

Directories of organisations and businesses

• The Aboriginal corporation search facility at Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations
• The online Indigenous Business and Community Services Directory Black Pages
• The Australian Government Directory Indigenous Services
• The gateway to relevant Australian Government information at indigenous.gov.au.

Key organisations outside Government departments

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner—Australian Human Rights Commission
• National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples
• Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies
• Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at the Australian National University
• Indigenous Business Australia including the Indigenous Home Ownership program
• Indigenous Land Corporation
• National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
• National Native Title Tribunal
• Native Title Corporations—Prescribed Bodies Corporate representing native title holders.
• Native Title Representative Bodies and Service Providers—those representing people seeking native title.
• National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Worker Association
• Reconciliation Australia and the campaign Recognise
• Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care
• House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs
• Torres Strait Regional Authority

State, territory and local government websites

• Australian Capital Territory: Office of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs
• New South Wales: Office of Communities—Aboriginal Affairs
• Northern Territory: all departments but see especially Department of Community Services
• Queensland: Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and Multicultural Affairs
• South Australia: Department of Premier and Cabinet, Aboriginal Affairs and Reconciliation Division
• Tasmania: Office of Aboriginal Affairs
• Victoria: Aboriginal Affairs Victoria
• Western Australia: Department of Aboriginal Affairs
• Australian Local Government Association - Indigenous Issues 

Overseas websites

International

• Center for World Indigenous Studies
• Ethnologue: Languages of the World
• International Aboriginal Law and Legislation
• International Work Group for Indigenous Affairs

Specific countries

• Canada—Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development
• United States—Bureau of Indian Affairs
• United States—Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development
• New Zealand—Te Puni Kokiri - Ministry of Maori Development

© Commonwealth of Australia

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