|
Govt to hold 50 Indigenous workshops to help close the gap
Friday, 5 February 2010
9:34:50 AM
NATIONAL, February 5, 2010: The federal government will hold 50 leadership workshops across the country during the next six months to foster stronger relationships with Indigenous people.
Leaders from 29 Aboriginal communities across the nation came to Canberra on Wednesday to discuss progress in closing the gap with Indigenous Affairs Minister Jenny Macklin.
Ms Macklin said one example of a good outcome was when the residents of Halls Creek in Western Australia managed to get liquor banned in their community.
"We're working in each of these 29 communities to develop local implementation plans and that means going through an audit - if you like - the development of baselines to see what services exist, what services don't exist," Ms Macklin told reporters.
The government-held workshops will begin from this month in various locations around the nation including Cairns, Brisbane, Alice Springs, Cobar and Tasmania.
The focus of each of the workshops will vary, but some will aim to provide action plans to close the gap on health, education and employment.
Ms Macklin said to officially close the gap in areas including life expectancy, would take a generation.
However, some timelines in reducing the Indigenous disadvantage were smaller, she said.
"What you'll see in the prime minister's statement next week is progress against those timelines.
"But we know these gaps are very very significant," she said, citing Indigenous housing as a major problem to overcome. - AAP
|