Danna Vale (Hughes, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Bill 2005 replaces the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976. It will improve governance and capacity in the Indigenous corporate sector, and it is presented in this House together with two related bills covering consequential, transitional and other measures relating to Indigenous affairs. While the bills align with modern corporate governance standards and Corporations Law, they maintain a special statute of incorporation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples that takes into account the special risks and requirements of the Indigenous corporate sector.

Since its enactment, the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act 1976 has become the most significant vehicle for the incorporation of a broad range of Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander associations. There are currently close to 3,000 associations incorporated under part IV of the act. These corporations have also come to play a central role in the delivery of government services at Commonwealth, state and territory levels. The Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act has been the source of much comment and criticism, particularly over the last 10 years.

Since the last amendment of the act in 1992, there have been several significant reviews of the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act. Two bills to amend the act were proposed in 1994 and 1995, and were discussed in parliament, but they lapsed and were not reintroduced. The various reviews of the act have raised important issues of law reform, including many not addressed by the 1994 and 1995 bills. In February 2001, the registrar commissioned the most recent review of the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act. The final report of the review was presented in December 2002. The major finding of the review was that the special incorporation needs of Indigenous people should be met through a statute of incorporation tailored to the specific incorporation needs of Indigenous people.

The review recommended a thorough reform of the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act by enactment of a new act. The review recommended that the new act provide Indigenous people with key facilities of a modern incorporation statute such as the Corporations Act. The review also recommended that the new act provide special forms of regulatory assistance to support contemporary standards of good corporate governance. The review found that the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act was out of date and suffered from a large number of technical shortcomings to the point that the act itself had become a source of disadvantage for Indigenous people. This is most likely because in the period since the enactment of the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act in 1976 there have been significant changes in the circumstances of Indigenous people in Australia and in the uses which Indigenous people make of corporations.

Government policy in the area of Indigenous affairs has also changed dramatically. Government funding and service provision patterns have changed, often creating the need for more corporations tailored to the needs of Indigenous people. In the past decade, greater emphasis has been placed upon the need for greater accountability of Indigenous corporations for public moneys. In the period since 1976 there have also been substantial changes in the legal environment for corporate regulation and in the recognition and enforcement of Indigenous legal rights.

The state companies codes upon which the Aboriginal Councils and Associations Act was based have been amended numerous times. The contemporary Corporations Act now reflects a regulatory philosophy which better facilitates the objectives of persons using corporations as a vehicle for commercial enterprise.

Looking at the bill, it implements the key recommendation of the review by retaining a special incorporation statute to meet the needs of Indigenous people. The bill introduces a strong but flexible legislative framework that maximises alignment with the Corporations Act where practicable but provides sufficient flexibility for corporations to accommodate specific cultural practices and reflect the particular needs and circumstances of individual groups. In acknowledgement of the fact that most corporations are located in remote, and indeed very remote, areas and may provide essential services or hold land, the bill also offers safeguards through the registrar’s unique regulatory powers.

This is one of many reforms that are required if we are to make significant inroads into reducing Indigenous disadvantage. The abolition of ATSIC was only the beginning. The changes being brought to the Indigenous affairs landscape are the most significant in decades. This government has established a national Indigenous council as the peak advisory body to the government on Indigenous affairs, with membership including experts in areas such as law, education, health, sport and business.

The government has established 30 Indigenous coordination centres as multi-agency units, including staff from most of the key agencies now responsible for Indigenous programs. This gives Indigenous communities a one-stop shop for dealing with the Australian government and, in some cases, state and local governments. The government has established the Ministerial Taskforce on Indigenous Affairs supported by a secretaries group to drive and oversee the reforms in Indigenous affairs and to set national priorities.

The government has worked more closely with state and territory governments to reduce overlap and duplication and to clarify responsibilities. Bilateral agreements are also being negotiated with each state and territory and have been finalised with the Northern Territory, Queensland and New South Wales. The government has moved to improve data and accountability. The government commissioned the Productivity Commission report into Indigenous disadvantage and over the longer term will measure progress. The Secretaries Group on Indigenous Affairs produces an annual report on progress.

We have ensured a more strategic approach. There is now one coordinated single Indigenous budget submission rather than individual departments putting forward separate proposals in an uncoordinated way. The government has reformed the Community Development Employment Program to ensure that more people move into real and permanent jobs. In addition, the most important reforms to the Northern Territory Aboriginal land rights legislation will be introduced this year. The government is reforming the native title system to make it even more workable. Aboriginal legal services have been put out to competitive tender and more outcome effective services are now operating in most states. This is only the beginning of a reform process that will deliver dramatically improved outcomes for Indigenous Australians.

Recently I had the privilege of visiting Indigenous organisations through my work on the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, which is chaired by Mr Barry Wakelin, the member for Grey. Last July I was fortunate enough to participate in a committee visit to the Northern Territory and to the north of Western Australia for public committee hearings to learn first hand of many success stories enjoyed by several Indigenous corporations and other organisations in that region which employ and train Indigenous young people.

The committee visited Maningrida, the Wunan Foundation in Kununurra, the Argyle Mine, Home Valley station and tourist facility, Voyages El Questro Wilderness Park resort and went on to Broome to visit the Roebuck Plains Station and the Nirrumbuk Aboriginal Corporation. We met and heard evidence from Indigenous and non-Indigenous employers and corporation managers who trained, employed or assisted Indigenous people to find employment. All these organisations were very well managed and had achieved measurable success in training young Indigenous people.

Initially we flew into the remote community of Maningrida and were met by Mr Ian Munro, the CEO of the Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation, which was established in l974 and incorporated in 1979. Their annual report for 2004-05 records that, over the past 31 years, this vibrant corporation has been responsible for a growing portfolio of services and support for over 800 members living on 32 outstations in an area of approximately 10,000 square kilometres.

This corporation also operates a Community Development Employment Program, commonly referred to as a CDEP, which employs around 590 participants and a salaried staff of 55. The policies of this corporation are decided by the consensus of an elected body of outstation representatives at meetings that are open to all residents. These policies are then carried out by the CEO and the management team in conjunction with senior staff in each program area.

While the initial focus of the Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation was the support of outstation people living in the bush, its portfolio of services has expanded to provide housing, training, human services, a road party project, a building program, a mechanical workshop, a fuel supply, the tucker run and, importantly, the provision of the necessary administration to keep it all happening. Always on the watch for new business opportunities, in the last financial year the corporation established a crabbing operation, a hairdresser in the Women’s Centre, the Good Food Kitchen in the Maningrida community and a retail outlet for the Maningrida Arts and Culture Centre in the main tourist precinct in Darwin.

Training is also an important focus of this corporation. In only its third year of operation, the corporation training facility coordinates and delivers training to CDEP participants and salaried staff. Under contract with the Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, one highlight of this program was the successful completion of two STEP projects, the business and sustainable harvests projects, which showed outstanding results. A total of 26 CDEP participants gained qualifications in Certificate II Business, certificates I and II Horticulture, and certificates I and II Resource Management.

The committee learnt that the success of the training programs was a source of pride for the corporation. Twenty of the participants had been retained in employment after the completion of their training. All are on a CDEP-plus basis, working a minimum of six hours per day on a regular basis and thus making a significant contribution to local productivity. Some have been promoted to supervisor and some work crews are now able, through their additional skills, to earn the income required to provide more than half their wages. The committee learnt that one of the many CDEP courses was the chainsaw and advanced tree felling course. The skills gained from this course proved a vital resource for the people of the Maningrida community after the ravages of Cyclone Monica earlier this year. Such skills allowed this very remote community to be totally self-reliant and self-sufficient in clearing up after the cyclone, and this clearly illustrates just how important and effective a well managed CDEP training program can be for these remote communities.

The human services program run by the corporation is principally funded by community aged care packages and the Home and Community Care Program. It provides meals on wheels for over 30 clients in Maningrida, a wide range of aged care services, the disability buddy program and a substance misuse program. Under the road party service, the corporation successfully tendered for a contract to undertake major roadworks on the Darwin road last year and contributed significant additional funding to realign the road to eliminate several danger areas.

The corporation’s building program employs a number of contract tradesmen to work with Aboriginal people to construct buildings for the corporation. Buildings constructed in the last financial year included two mud-brick duplexes for staff, a new complex for the Djelk rangers, the road party shed, the Good Food Kitchen, CDEP toilets, the pilot’s flat and a new creche. Extensions were carried out to house the wildlife centre, and there were numerous renovations to existing buildings, including the Women’s Centre. It was pointed out to the committee that, while commercial development and the construction of staff housing is largely unsupported by government and thus imposes significant ongoing demands on the resources of the corporation, its future as an incubator of commerce and regional development heavily relies on such infrastructure, and government support in these areas is vital for sustainable commercial success in the future.

The very successful Tucker Run is an innovation by the corporation which provides a fortnightly mobile service to outstation residents, supplying food and a variety of other goods. Two Toyota Landcruiser utes operate the Tucker Run in the dry. During the wet season, a fortnightly air service operates to those outstations unreachable by road. November 2004 marked the opening of the Bawinanga Good Food Kitchen, which heralded a new focus on healthy food options in Maningrida. With high levels of dietary related illness in the community, healthy hot and cold meals and snacks and drinks need to be readily available. After the completion of the new building for the Good Food Kitchen, staff completed training in safe food handling techniques, and more training is planned for the future.

Other community development projects promoted by the corporation include the Maningrida municipal, the Maningrida nursery, the CDEP Women’s Centre, the Djelk Sea Rangers, the Djelk Women Rangers, the wildlife centre, the crab harvesting program, tourism and the internationally renowned Maningrida Arts and Culture Centre. This highly successful culture centre is professionally managed by French curator Apolline Kohen, who has assisted Maningrida artists to establish an enviable reputation in art circles both in Australia and overseas. Maningrida artists were well represented in the Telstra National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Award, in which they won two of the five art categories. Famous local artist John Bulunbulun received further recognition in December 2004 when he won the prestigious Red Ochre Art Award.

In a major exhibition at the New South Wales Art Gallery between September and December 2004, Maningrida art was such an outstanding success that, as a direct result of this one exhibition, the enhanced profile of its artists both nationally and internationally has ensured a sustained interest from the art collectors and buyers of the world. As a fine measure of international recognition, renowned Maningrida artist John Marwurndjul was one of only eight Indigenous Australian artists especially selected for a major public art commission for the new Musee du Quai Branly in Paris this year. Further, a major retrospective of John’s work appeared in the Musee Jean Tinguely in Basel in Switzerland only last month. Such results and recognition of the fine work of the Maningrida artists are further indications of the good management of this corporation.

The Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation at Maningrida is an excellent example of a well-organised and well-managed Indigenous corporation that provides essential services to its people and initiates activities that create economic development, training and job creation. Its work is invaluable to the people of the Maningrida community. Reading through its recent annual report, one sees that this corporation deals with income in the tens of millions of dollars, almost half of which is in the form of government grants. In his message, the chairman states that ‘the success of these projects will rely on our commitment, vision and effort, supported by increased levels of government support.’

There are many other Indigenous corporations across Australia like the Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation that also provide valuable and essential services to their communities, but there are also many that are, regrettably, not as well managed. Bawinanga is fully accountable to its members and the government and it produces an annual report which, among others things, includes a statement of financial performance. To encourage and to provide guidance as to good practice and procedure in the better management of corporations, these bills will assist in accountability as we work together to end Indigenous disadvantage. I commend these associated bills to the House.

See this speech in context