Jana Stewart (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Victoria is home to a number of phenomenal Aboriginal leaders, and I had a pleasure with meeting a few of them recently. The discussion involved representatives from Aboriginal Housing Victoria, the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service and the Aboriginal Advancement League. The impressive group of women across various sectors highlighted a number of issues, but because of time I'll highlight just a few. First is the disparity in award rates between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal organisations. Wage levels in most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services are notoriously low compared to other providers. This pattern appears across legal, health and aged-care services and leads to high staff turnover and loss of experience and expertise, and we all know how important corporate knowledge is in organisations. These services should not be seen as a training ground for graduates who quickly leave after becoming attractive as experienced professionals to employers who can provide better wages.

Second is the importance of properly valuing and funding cultural training in addition to service delivery. Government's funding practices need to prioritise IP being dispersed by Aboriginal organisations in training their staff to adequately service First Nations clients and fund it accordingly. Finally, they noted the complex and intersectional nature of issues faced by some of the mob who need Aboriginal services. An example that was raised in the discussion was a single mum with a child that's experiencing a disability who cannot prioritise her own social and emotional wellbeing. The government's approach to addressing such needs has evolved considerably, but we need to continue thinking of innovative ways to address such issues going into the future. I want to thank each of these organisations for spending some invaluable time with me, Minister Gallagher and the assistant minister Kearney. Thank you very much.