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What is the Redfern Statement?
The Redfern Statement is an urgent call for a more just approach to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs.
Published
Updated
By NITV Staff Writer
Image: Indigenous leaders meet with Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion to discuss the Redfern Statement. (Supplied)
What are they calling for?
Commit to resourcing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander led-solutions, by:
- Restoring, over the forward estimates, the $534 million cut from the Indigenous Affairs portfolio in the 2014 Budget to invest in priority areas outlined in this statement; and
- Reforming the Indigenous Advancement Strategy and other Federal funding programs with greater emphasis on service/need mapping (through better engagement) and local Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations as preferred providers.
Commit to better engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples through their representative national peaks, by:
- Funding the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples (Congress) and all relevant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak organisations and forums; and
- Convening regular high level ministerial and departmental meetings and forums with the Congress and the relevant peak organisations and forums.
Recommit to Closing the Gap in this generation, by and in partnership with COAG and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people:
Setting targets and developing evidence-based, prevention and early intervention oriented national strategies which will drive activity and outcomes addressing:
- family violence (with a focus on women and children);
- incarceration and access to justice;
- child safety and wellbeing, and the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care; and increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander access to disability services;
- Secure national funding agreements between the Commonwealth and States and Territories (like the former National Partnership Agreements), which emphasise accountability to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and drive the implementation of national strategies.
Commit to working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders to establish a Department of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs in the future, that:
- Is managed and run by senior Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander public servants;
- Brings together the policy and service delivery components of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs and ensures a central department of expertise.
- Strengthens the engagement for governments and the broader public service with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the management of their own services.
Commit to addressing the unfinished business of reconciliation, by:
- Addressing and implementing the recommendations of the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation, which includes an agreement making framework (treaty) and constitutional reform in consultation with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities.
Who is the statement lead by?
- National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples
- First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN)
- National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS)
- National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (NACCHO)
- National Family Violence Prevention Legal Services (FVPLS) Forum
- SNAICC - National Voice for our Children
- Australian Indigenous Doctor’s Association (AIDA)
- Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM)
- Indigenous Allied Health Australia
- Jaanimili Aboriginal Services & Development Unit – Communities, NSW & ACT
- National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers Association (NATSIHWA)
- National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Physiotherapists
- NGAOARA – Child and Adolescent Wellbeing
- The Healing Foundation
- The Lowitja Institute
- Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO)
- Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health Service
- Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak
What are the overarching supporting policies?
- Close the Gap Steering Committee
- Family Matters Campaign
- National Health Leadership Forum
- The Change the Record Coalition
Who are the other supporters?
- Amnesty International Australia
- ANTaR
- Australian College of Midwives
- Australian College of Nursing
- Australian Council of Social Service
- Australian Healthcare & Hospitals Association
- Australian Medical Association
- Australian Physiotherapy Association
- Berry Street
- Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare
- Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People (VIC) – Andrew Jackomos
- Domestic Violence NSW
- Families Australia
- Federation of Community Legal Centres (VIC)
- Human Rights Law Centre
- Indigenous Eye Health, University of Melbourne
- Law Council of Australia
- Menzies School of Health Research
- National Association of Community Legal Centres
- Oxfam Australia
- PeakCare Queensland Inc.
- Public Health Association of Australia
- Queensland Family and Child Commission
- Reconciliation Australia
- Royal Australian College
of General Practitioners - Save the Children
- Sisters Inside
- Tasmanian Children's Commissioner – Mark Morrissey
- The Fred Hollows Foundation
- The Heart Foundation
- Uniting Communities
- UnitingCare NSW & AC
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