Empowered Communities: Empowered Communities: Empowered Peoples Empowered Communities: Empowered Peoples DESIGN REPORT Empowered Peoples DESIGN REPORT Empowered Communities: Empowered Peoples DESIGN REPORT DESIGN REPORT CAPE YORK CENTRAL COAST, NEW SOUTH WALES EAST KIMBERLEY GOULBURN-MURRAY INNER SYDNEY NGAANYATJARRA PITJANTJATJARA YANKUNYTJATJARA LANDS NORTH-EAST ARNHEM LAND WEST KIMBERLEY CAPE YORK CENTRAL COAST, NEW SOUTH WALES EAST KIMBERLEY GOULBURN-MURRAY INNER SYDNEY NGAANYATJARRA PITJANTJATJARA YANKUNYTJATJARA LANDS NORTH-EAST ARNHEM LAND WEST KIMBERLEY © Wunan Foundation Inc. 2015 ISBN 978-0-9942155-1-2 (print) 978-0-9942155-2-9 (online PDF) Creative Commons licence Except where otherwise noted, all material presented in this document is provided under a Creative Commons Attribution– Non-Commercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au). The details of the relevant licence conditions are available on the Creative Commons website (accessible using the links provided) as is the full legal code for the CC BY-NC-ND 3.0 AU licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/au/legalcode). This document should be attributed as: Empowered Communities: Empowered Peoples Design Report Disclaimer Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples should be aware that this report may contain images or names of people who have since passed away. The members of the leadership group and their employees, officers and agents and the members of the Empowered Communities engagement and design teams accept no responsibility for any loss or liability (including reasonable legal costs and expenses) incurred or suffered where such loss or liability was caused by the infringement of intellectual property rights, including the moral rights, of any third person, including as a result of the publishing of materials contributed to this report. The publisher has no responsibility for the persistence or accuracy of URLs for external or third-party websites referred to in this report, and does not guarantee that any content on such websites is, or will remain, accurate or appropriate. Inquiries Inquiries on the licence and any use of this document are welcome by contacting: Engagement Coordinator PO Box A199 Sydney NSW 1235 Email: [email protected] This document is available online at www.empoweredcommunities.org.au. Editing, design and artwork by Wilton Hanford Hanover Printed by Prinstant, Canberra Empowerment There needs to be a fundamental shift away from the traditional social policy framework in which Indigenous affairs has been conducted, to a comprehensive Indigenous Empowerment agenda. It is a long-term reform that requires a new partnership of Indigenous leaders, governments and corporate leaders in order to succeed, with all partners prepared to play their roles in a different way. We seek formal agreement to a 10-year Indigenous Empowerment policy framework. Empowerment, in our meaning, has two aspects. It means Indigenous people empowering ourselves by taking all appropriate and necessary powers and responsibilities for our own lives and futures. It also means Commonwealth, state and territory governments sharing, and in some cases relinquishing, certain powers and responsibilities, and supporting Indigenous people with resources and capability building. The principle of subsidiarity—that authority to decide and act should rest at the closest level possible to the people or organisations the decision or action is designed to serve—is an important element in our concept of Indigenous Empowerment. Together with Indigenous self-determination and the mutual rights and responsibilities shared between Indigenous people and governments, it is at the heart of our Indigenous Empowerment reforms. Our Indigenous Empowerment framework is based on the premise that Indigenous Australians have a right to development, which includes our economic, social and cultural development as families, individuals and communities and as Indigenous peoples. It recognises the primacy of the local nature of peoples and places, and is aimed at the empowerment of the families and individuals connected to those peoples and places. We recommend national and regional institutions only to support an enabling framework for place-based development agendas. There are two parts to our development goal. They are each of equal importance, and are to be pursued concurrently and constantly tested to determine whether we are most productively using available resources and opportunities. First, our goal is to close the gap on the social and economic disadvantage of the Indigenous Australians of the Empowered Communities regions. Second, we aim to enable the cultural recognition and determination of Indigenous Australians of the Empowered Communities regions so that we can preserve, maintain, renew and adapt our cultural and linguistic heritage and transmit our heritage to future generations. iii Contents Empowerment iii Part 1: Empowered Communities reforms 1 1 Introduction: Moving to Indigenous Empowerment 5 Where we are 5 One-eyed hobby horses 7 The elephant and the mouse 7 Remote, regional and urban communities are different contexts but the key challenges are common 8 Whither we are tending 9 What to do 10 The right policy is Empowerment 11 The right goal is Development 13 The right means is Productivity 13 Getting the reform policy right 14 Getting the leadership behind reform 15 Getting the incentives supporting reform 16 Long-term alignment and compliance 17 Driving delivery 18 2. Reform policy: Getting the empowerment, development and productivity reform policy right 19 What is meant by Empowerment 19 Mutual responsibility 21 Self-determination 21 Subsidiarity 22 What is meant by Development 23 A model for development 24 What is meant by Productivity 25 Reform principles 27 The reform framework 28 National policy agreement and legislation 28 Development agendas and accords 28 First priorities agreements 29 The Empowered Communities regions 30 The opt-in principle 30 The paradigm shift 31 The reform funnel 31 It’s about the long term 32 iv Empowered Communities: Empowered Peoples DESIGN REPORT 3. Reform leadership: Getting Indigenous leadership behind the reform policy and regional and local development agendas 33 Leadership agreement and partnership 33 Getting the partnership right—governments and Indigenous peoples 33 Local to regional 34 Regional to national 35 Indigenous leadership 35 A pervasive Indigenous leadership is required 36 The adaptive challenge of Indigenous leadership 36 Cultural leadership 38 Natural leadership 39 Organisational leadership 39 Educated leadership 39 Supporting and building an Indigenous reform leadership 40 Government as enabler 41 Inside-out, not top-down or bottom-up 42 Three voices to provide the basis of collaboration 43 The Empowered Communities leadership 44 Local and regional governance 45 Regional governance arrangements 46 Backbone organisations 48 A leadership group and cultural authority 48 Regional interface mechanisms 48 Toward a national representative body 49 4. Incentives supporting reform: Aligning incentives and investing in development agendas, not just programs 50 Five systemic funding problems in Indigenous affairs 50 Expenditure growth without outcomes cannot be tolerated 50 A supply-driven approach 52 Industries of dependence 55 Red tape and a plethora of disconnected programs 57 No transparency of funding flowing through government to Indigenous people 58 The reforms needed 59 Addressing shortfalls in the Indigenous Advancement Strategy 59 Investing in Indigenous-led, place-based development agendas 60 Transparency over all regional and local spending 60 Pooled funding to support place-based development agendas 61 Directing funds outside the pool 62 Alignment and collaboration 63 Empowered Communities: Empowered Peoples DESIGN REPORT v Indigenous people, leaders and organisations increasingly driving development 64 Funder, purchaser, provider 65 Vouchers 66 Purchasing and co-purchasing 66 Linking incentives to results for Indigenous people—the ‘race to the top’ 68 Incentivising individuals and families through direct opportunity investments 69 Lessons from welfare reform 70 Providing an alternative to welfare—an Opportunity Support System 72 The right to development 74 Investing in innovation 75 Incentives for governments 76 5. Long-term alignment and compliance: An Indigenous Policy Productivity Council overseeing Indigenous Empowerment 77 The problem of ‘chopping and changing’ 77 National policy 78 The Indigenous Policy Productivity Council 79 Scrutinise policy and programs that significantly impact on Indigenous people 80 Facilitate the negotiation process for development accords (investment agreements) 80 Mediation and expert determinations 81 Productivity Commission inquiries into specific policy questions 82 Publicly report on the regions on an annual basis 83 Governance and organisation of the council 83 A staged approach to legislation 84 Legislation to give effect to the institutional framework of Empowered Communities 84 Other regions opting in to Empowered Communities 84 6. Conclusion: Driving delivery—organisational arrangements, adaptive practice, and monitoring and evaluation 85 Implementation is the key to successful policy 85 Establishing organisational arrangements to ensure delivery 85 Delivery units 85 The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet 86 Empowered Communities regions 87 Institutionalising delivery 87 First priorities