Now is the time for change !

FISH - Foundation for Indigenous Sustainable Health have continued to highlight the issue that for decades a significant amount of government funding has been set aside to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people however the gap has not closed and in some cases has continued to get wider.

FISH - Foundation for Indigenous Sustainable Health have for many years spoken about the 'black economy' where funds set aside by Government for Indigenous issues do not actually get to the people who most need it. Where the decisions on where to expend the funds are not directed by Aboriginal people who have the skills and cultural knowledge to meet the needs of their community to bring long term positive change.

This is the first time we have an Indigenous man in the role of Minister for Indigenous Affairs.......Now let us put shoulder to shoulder to bring change.

In a recent submission to the Productivity Commission the Yothu Yindi Foundation highlighted these same issues being faced in the Northern Territory, as noted in a recent article in The Australian.

The foundation claims things are so out of order in the NT that the system “has turned in upon ­itself such that the low socio-economic conditions of remote Aboriginal Australia have become the means by which the ­system maintains itself”.

“The policy failures and resultant social and economic cost brought about by these failures maintain the disadvantage of ­remote Aboriginal people to the advantage of those tending to it — in other words, the greater the disadvantage, the bigger the payment to treasury.”

“In fact, there is a perverse ­reward for maintaining disadvantage — failure to improve conditions results in increased disadvantage and therefore validates increased payments to programs run and administered by government or non-government agencies,” the foundation writes.

When programs are co-designed by communities and funds are directed to what works then long term positive change is able to be achieved. The work of FISH - Foundation for Indigenous Sustainable Health have proved this time and time again. We need to change funding models so that we listen to communities, work from a co-design model based on the principle of 'by community for community'.

Funding needs to be focussed on teaching people 'how to fish instead of continually handing out fish'. As people are giving a hand up to become self-reliant then the need for ongoing support decreases and therefore the need for a large number of government employed people who service the industry !

Now is the time to bring change. Now is the time to listen to communities and act. Bawoorrooga Community is a great example of this principle in action however government funding currently does not support the initiative. Check out the FISH YouTube Video of Bawoorrooga Community.