Supporting the community in the wake of cuts and setbacks to a range of important local services will be at the top of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body’s agenda when a new board is elected next month.
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Fourteen people have nominated for the democratically elected group’s third term, which provides a link between the indigenous community in Canberra and the ACT government.
Nominations closed on June 2 and polling will begin on July 5, coinciding with the start of NAIDOC Week celebrations in the ACT.
Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs director Robyn Forester expected the body’s third three-year term to be the most significant yet.
The seven-person elected body was established in 2008 to advise local government on a range of policy issues with the aim of improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the territory.
“I think it was the third term ... which really saw the growing up of the Legislative Assembly and I think that will be the same thing for our elected body,” she said.
“We know there’s changes happening from a Commonwealth perspective that are going to affect a lot of services in the ACT. [The elected body members will] be the ones hearing the day-to-day conversations in the community about service cuts or the strains coming on services because of changes in how the services are funded.”
Developing a whole of government agreement between the ACT government, the elected body and the broader community would continue to be at the forefront of the board’s work.
“It’s important we have this connection and these conversations happening with the community,” Ms Forester said.
This year’s candidates represented a broad cross-section of the indigenous community. However, one of the biggest challenges was attracting more young people to the board.
“There’s a real variety of people – we’ve got a pretty good gender balance between men and women [and] a reasonably broad age range [but] we’re a little bit disappointed we didn’t get some more younger candidates, below 25,” Ms Forester said.
“We need people with a broad range of experiences who also understand how government and the political processes operate as well.”
But the current focus is now on attracting more people to vote.
Ms Forester said voting was not compulsory but the office aimed to attract 1000 or more votes this year.
The 2008 debut poll attracted about 200 votes followed by less than 200 in 2011.
Booths will be set up at a number of NAIDOC week events, while eligible residents can also cast a postal vote or arrange transport to their nearest polling booth via the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community bus.
“The buzz around the community is they’re expecting big things from this elected body but they’re also expecting a good voter turnout as well,’’ Ms Forester said.
2014 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Elected Body candidates:
- Jo Donovan
- Tony McCulloch
- Richie Allan
- Rod Little
- Jo Chivers
- Tjanara Goreng Goreng
- Lynnice Letty Keen
- Delephene Fraser
- Fred Monaghan
- Ross Fowler
- Diane Collins
- Steven Brown
- Maurice Walker
- Darryl Miller
- Meet the candidates session and free dinner will be held on Thursday, June 19, from 5pm. RSVP 6205 2551.
- For more information visit www.elections.act.gov.au