AIATSIS Annual Report 2016-17
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2016–2017 ANNUAL REPORT ABOUT THIS REPORT CONTACT OFFICE This report is made against the ‘Outcomes and The Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait planned performance’ section of the AIATSIS 2016–17 Islander Studies is located in Canberra at the following Portfolio Budget Statement, and the AIATSIS Corporate address: Plan 2016–17—2019–20. 51 Lawson Crescent, Acton ACT 2600 We would welcome your feedback on this year’s annual report. Requests for additional information to be made available to members of parliament and senators Please contact: should be forwarded to: Charley Stanford-Smith Director: People and Assurance The CEO AIATSIS AIATSIS GPO Box 553 GPO Box 553 Canberra ACT 2601 Canberra ACT 2601 Tel: (02) 6246 1123 Tel: (02) 6246 1111 Email: [email protected] Fax: (02) 6261 4285 | Email: [email protected] Writing: Jacqui Malins Editing: Lisa Fuller Published by the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Design and typesetting: Dan Norton Design Torres Strait Islander Studies Printing: Instant Colour Press GPO Box 553, Cover image: Possum Skin Cloak, created by Canberra ACT 2601 Lee Darroch, 2016 for the AIATSIS Collection Tel: (02) 6246 1111 Fax: (02) 6261 4285 www.aiatsis.gov.au © Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies 2017 This work is copyright. Apart from any use permitted under the Copyright Act 1968 (Cth), no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies. Publication data: Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies: Annual Report 2016–17 ISSN 2204-0196 (Print) ISSN 2204-020X (Online) 2016–2017 ANNUAL REPORT AIATSIS ANNUAL REPORT 2016–17 1 2 CONTENTS Chairperson’s statement 4 CEO’s report 6 Vision 9 Legislation and purpose 9 AIATSIS Council members 10 OUR PERFORMANCE 21 AIATSIS Corporate Plan 2016–17 to 2019–20 22 AIATSIS Portfolio Budget Statement 2016–17 23 Strategic Priority 1: Ensuring our collection is safe, accessible, valued and 25 growing. Strategic Priority 2: Providing leadership in Indigenous research, and ethical 41 engagement in research, collections and publishing. Strategic Priority 3: Strengthening institutional and community understanding 53 of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture and heritage. Strategic Priority 4: Promoting and sharing Aboriginal and Torres Strait 67 Islander culture and heritage. Strategic Priority 5: Building strong governance and organisational resilience. 85 Our organisation 91 Ministers 91 AIATSIS Council 91 Organisational structure 93 Governance 94 Financial results and compliance 94 Policy and operational environment 95 FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 97 APPENDICES 123 Appendix A – Research project summaries 124 Appendix B – Governance committees 134 Appendix C – Strategic partnerships 140 Appendix D – Research outputs – publications and presentations 142 Appendix E – Researcher memberships and offices 150 Appendix F - Abbreviations and acronyms 154 Appendix G - Index of compliance 156 3 Chairperson’s statement As the newly appointed Chairperson of the AIATSIS Council, it is a privilege to have the first word in the AIATSIS Annual Report for 2016–17 and to reflect on AIATSIS’ achievements and progress during the year. It was the first full year of AIATSIS’ new statutory functions, introduced through amendments to the Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Act 1989 (the AIATSIS Act) in March 2016. It was a year of significant change in AIATSIS’ leadership, and of important commemorations for Aboriginal and In December 2016 we also said goodbye Torres Strait Islander Australians. to another longstanding leader at AIATSIS. Mr Russell Taylor AM was Principal, In May 2017 Professor Mick Dodson AM and then CEO of AIATSIS for fifteen of retired from the AIATSIS Council, after the past twenty years, and has overseen twenty-seven years as a member and many significant developments in the seventeen years as the Chairperson. organisation. We had a chance to hear During that time Professor Dodson Mr Taylor’s reflections on his career at steered AIATSIS through a changing the inaugural Russell Taylor Oration, a environment, while also continuing to new annual event named in Mr Taylor’s contribute to Aboriginal and Torres Strait honour to celebrate the achievements Islander society as a leader, a lawyer and and contributions of senior Aboriginal a researcher. It is an honour to be his and Torres Strait Islander leaders in the successor as the Chairperson, and I wish Australian Public Service. I wish Mr Taylor Professor Dodson the very best for his life all the best for his retirement. and work. After a period acting in the role, former Four of the nine members of the AIATSIS Deputy CEO Mr Craig Ritchie was Council are elected by the members appointed as the new CEO of AIATSIS. of AIATSIS, and in early 2017 the first I congratulate Mr Ritchie on his election was held under the terms of the appointment and look forward to working amended AIATSIS Act. It was encouraging closely with him in the coming years. to see that the majority of candidates for the four vacancies were Indigenous. The National Reconciliation Week (NRW) is outcome was that Mr Stephen Kinnane, always bookended by the anniversaries Ms Rachel Perkins, Dr Myfany Turpin and of the 1967 Referendum and the historic I were elected. On behalf of Council, I wish Mabo decision, but in 2017 these were the to acknowledge the long and dedicated 50th and 25th anniversaries respectively, service of former Council members making NRW especially significant. Professor Robert Tonkinson, Professor AIATSIS helped to mark these events by John Maynard and Professor Sandy leading national cultural institutions in Toussaint, who stepped down from the Canberra in the development of an NRW Council this year. Trail, a series of events and exhibitions throughout the week. AIATSIS also 4 partnered with the ABC and National and State Libraries Australasia (NSLA) to mount Right Wrongs, a comprehensive online exhibition about the lead-up, events and legacy of the 1967 Referendum. This year the AIATSIS Foundation, under the leadership of Rachel Perkins, launched its first projects. They have been selected with a long view, and the goal of ensuring that the rich knowledge and culture kept in our languages and songlines will be collected, preserved and shared. At a showcase at the Tjapukai Cultural Park in Cairns on the eve of the national NAIDOC awards ceremony, it was energising to see so many supporters and advocates for the preservation, resurgence and sharing of our cultures and heritage gathered in one place. AIATSIS was also proud to facilitate the consultation with Indigenous communities on constitutional recognition in this 50th anniversary year. AIATSIS’ cultural competence, knowledge and understanding of communities across Australia made it an obvious choice to support the Referendum Council in this process. Fourteen meetings, with nearly 1600 attendees, culminated in the release of the Uluru Statement from the Heart representing First Nations’ Australian delegates’ common position. I thank all the Council members, CEOs and AIATSIS employees past and present who contributed to the achievements of 2016–17 and I look forward to the year ahead. Professor Michael McDaniel 5 CEO’s report AIATSIS was originally established to preserve as many components of Australian Indigenous cultures as possible, before they were lost forever. After more than fifty years, this Institute stands as a testament not to the disappearance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people but to the living and vibrant history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. AIATSIS is sharing the story of self-agency, success beyond survival, and tremendous resilience. senior leaders within AIATSIS, including While AIATSIS is part of a transformation a new Chief Operating Officer, a formally in Australian society, we are also appointed Head of Collections, as well undergoing a process of transformation as new executive officers in finance and ourselves. Having been reinvigorated with governance. our new legislation and new resources, AIATSIS is forging ahead in its new Our achievements in preserving the directions, and laying the foundations for collection, and making it discoverable long-term sustainability. and accessible, have exceeded our plans and expectations in nearly every regard. AIATSIS’ amended legislative functions The introduction of new systems such as are clearly reflected in its objectives, the Digital Asset Management System, to support improved outcomes for alongside new employees and processes, Indigenous peoples, and to enable people was expected to involve some disruption to encounter and be transformed by the but the transitions have been managed stories of Aboriginal and Torres Strait well. The impressive results achieved this Islander peoples. year already show how dramatically they 2016–17 has been a year of farewells and will transform how we create, care for and welcomes. With the departure of Professor share this priceless collection. Mick Dodson AM as Chairperson, and AIATSIS is not an ‘owner’, but a custodian Mr Russell Taylor AM as CEO, we said of the collection and the knowledge it goodbye to tremendous wisdom and contains, in partnership with Aboriginal experience. I want to acknowledge their and Torres Strait Islander communities all contribution and legacy, and thank them over Australia. For example, the Preserve, for the advice