Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities Engagement Strategy

The Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission (ACNC) recognises the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander controlled charities and the important role they play in the provision of culturally appropriate services addressing the social and economic disadvantage experienced by many Indigenous Australians.

The ACNC is committed to supporting measures to address the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities Engagement Strategy (the Strategy) aims to enhance the ACNC’s engagement with Indigenous communities and organisations by:

Strengthening the ACNC’s organisational capacity through:

building cultural competency within the ACNC staffing community
developing ACNC’s understanding of the demographics of Indigenous charities and the multilayered complexity of the contexts in which they operate
developing culturally appropriate support, education and guidance materials

Working to support Indigenous charities to meet their ACNC Act obligations in partnership with:

other regulators and funding agencies, to reduce red tape and coordinate engagement
Indigenous communities and charities

The ACNC is also developing a Reconciliation Action Plan. The Strategy will form part of that plan.

Who is the strategy for?

This strategy is primarily intended for ACNC staff to understand the agency’s commitment to working well with Indigenous communities and guide related activities.

It also provides a framework for the competencies required for engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander charities and expectations of staff when engaging with Indigenous communities in the course of their duties.

This strategy was developed in consultation with Indigenous community controlled charities, peak bodies and other government agencies working with Indigenous communities.

The strategy will be made available on the ACNC website and achievements against the action plan updated annually.

Engaging Indigenous communities

The Strategy is grounded in the whole of government policy framework, Closing the Gap administered by the Department of Social Services (DSS) that aims to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people¹.

The Closing the Gap strategy has been agreed through the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) and is a commitment by all Australian governments to improving the lives of Indigenous Australians.

COAG recognises that overcoming Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage will require a sustained commitment from all levels of government to work together and with Indigenous people, with major effort directed to seven action areas or ‘building blocks’.

One of these building blocks is Governance and Leadership. As the regulator of charities, the ACNC has a role in supporting a robust, vibrant, independent and innovative not-for-profit sector.

To achieve this object the ACNC works with charities to build on the organisation’s strengths and support them to be well run through the provision of a range of services and materials on good governance.

The services and materials also aim to facilitate charitable organisations to meet their legal obligations under the ACNC Act.

Closing the Gap also emphasises the role of self-determination as a critical element in addressing disadvantage experienced by Indigenous Australians. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities need to be directly involved in the development and implementation of policies and programs to ensure positive and sustained outcomes.

Closing the Gap commits governments to building respectful and collaborative relationships with Indigenous Australians, marked by a strengthening of the capacity of the public service, open dialogue and mutual respect and responsibility.

The ACNC’s engagement with Indigenous controlled charities and individuals is underpinned by our values and by the Closing the Gap core principles for effective engagement.

ACNC Values:

Fairness
Accountability
Independence
Integrity
Respect

‘Closing the Gap’ Core Principles

Respectful
Informed
Ethical
Meaningful
Outcome-focused
Sustainable
Follow up/Feedback

^{1. Closing the Gap, The Indigenous Reform Agenda, 2013, FaHCSIA}

Indigenous Australians and Indigenous controlled charities

Australia’s Indigenous communities experience a number of barriers to engaging with government and mainstream Australia. The barriers are a result of a complex combination of historical, geographical, cultural, socio-political and socio-economic factors and that government services and communications are often not accessible to diverse or remote communities.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are diverse: each community is different, often comprising numerous small scale, locally autonomous and sometimes fragmented organisations, each with unique historical and cultural characteristics. This means engaging with Indigenous communities is always context dependent, a one size fits all approach to engagement is unlikely to work or be sustainable.

The diversity is demonstrated in the 2008 Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey figures.

The Indigenous population represents 2.5 per cent of the total population of Australia (520,350 persons). Just over 68% of Indigenous people live outside major cities. 24% of Indigenous people live in remote or very remote areas, and of those almost 45% spoke an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander language (of which there are 145 spoken²) as their main language at home.

Indigenous controlled charities

The current ACNC data does not identify which charities are Indigenous controlled charities, however we estimate there are 2,000-3,000 Indigenous controlled charities registered with the ACNC spread across Australia.

It is important to be aware of the history of Indigenous controlled charities in understanding the challenges inherent with community self-management.

Organisations developed out of the need to provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities with representation and services that were either inadequately or inappropriately provided by mainstream agencies, or were not accessible through the means available to the wider community.

These organisations continue to play a major role in the delivery of services to Indigenous communities, as both community representative bodies and service providers in the areas of health and aged care, housing, child welfare, medical, employment, legal, education, art and cultural services.

Indigenous Australians may be reluctant to access mainstream services that are less culturally appropriate.

Indigenous controlled charities are often central gathering places for many community members, and provide a safe environment for community members to meet and participate in community decision-making; group or individual activities; as well as utilising their services.

Leadership and structure of Indigenous controlled charities

Indigenous controlled charities are an important part of contemporary Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander society and their sustainability is a central factor in reducing Indigenous disadvantage. It is important that they are supported to enable them to continue this role.

Whilst some Indigenous leaders have a significant knowledge and experience of contemporary western governance practices, many Indigenous Australians who hold positions on boards of management or governing committees of Indigenous controlled charities have had little formal (western) education.

Appropriate support in fulfilling their obligations as a Board or Committee member is therefore essential to ensure office-holders understand and are able to comply with the legal requirements.

The development of appropriate engagement and support mechanisms requires that public servants who engage with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities have an awareness of significant cultural considerations that impact on policy delivery.

Indigenous controlled charities provide a variety of services and range from small charities to very large organisations.

The inability of some Indigenous organisations to achieve their desired outcomes has, been linked to a poor understanding of western governance systems.

As early as 1995 the report “The Financial Viability of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Organisations” identified the key role of sound corporate management in supporting the viability of Indigenous controlled charities and services to communities.³

This sentiment continues to be reflected in current policy with the focus on strengthening leadership among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as a critical component of Closing the Gap including:

support and encourage good practice engagement
make sure Indigenous controlled charities are well run
train leaders and encourage strong leadership in communities
build better relationships with Indigenous communities
support Indigenous strengths and ideas⁴

Management and accountability of Indigenous organisations

The regulatory environment within which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander controlled charities operate is complex as there is a wide range of legal structures used each of which has different regulatory requirements.

Some are incorporated associations or cooperatives regulated by state governments. Others are Commonwealth-regulated under the Corporations Act 2001 or by the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act).

There are also trusts and foundations and some organisations established by statute, such as some land councils, which may have different legal requirements.

A picture emerges in some parts of Australia, particularly in remote areas, of Indigenous leaders of organisations commonly trying to manage organisations in two worlds (that of government and that of traditional law and culture).

English may not be their first language and literacy and educational levels achieved may not enable understanding government requirements in the format in which they are usually presented.

Further, management and accountability of Indigenous controlled charities is multi-layered, complex accountabilities, including:

government regulation of the particular legal structure,
ACNC regulation and reporting,
funding agreement contractual and acquittal requirements
community cultural expectations and
self-determination ideals

which can become intertwined adding a further layer of complexity for Directors and management.

Indigenous groups and communities often have well established governance structures but they are not the same as the western governance model for compliance purposes. This distinction is important.

The common western model of regulation through corporate governance does not address the particular Indigenous challenges raised above.

Culturally appropriate governance models need to be acknowledged to understand the wide range of circumstances in which Indigenous controlled charities operate.

^{2 Commonwealth of Australia, 2005, National Indigenous Languages Survey Report 2005, Canberra.}

^{3 Australian Department of Administrative Services & Walter & Turnbull & Australia. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission. Housing, Infrastructure and Health Branch 1995, Review of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander housing organisations : the financial viability of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander housing organisations : final report, ATSIC, Housing, Infrastructure & Health Branch, Canberra}

^{4 Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2013, Australian Government, Canberra.}

The ACNC and Indigenous controlled charities

The ACNC is unique in regulating all Indigenous controlled charities, whatever legal structure they have. We recognise that some charities, such as trusts, have not been required to report to a regulator previously or have their governing documents and financial reports publicly available.

This is another reason why the ACNC’s regulatory approach must be supportive of charities understanding the new obligations.

The ACNC’s knowledge about its registered charities is limited due to incomplete data and as a new agency it is limited in its experience of working effectively with Indigenous communities.

Strengthening the knowledge and capacity of the ACNC is a key focus of this strategy.

On 3 December 2012 the Australian Taxation Office (ATO) provided the ACNC with a record of approximately 56,000 newly registered charities. The data is not recorded in a way that enables easy identification of which charities are Indigenous controlled charities.

Of those records transferred from the ATO 7,020 had indicated that they had charitable activities related to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander persons.

A preliminary assessment of those records indicates that approximately 625 charities are registered with the Office for the Registration of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) and an estimated 2-3,000 Indigenous controlled charities are registered with a different legal structure.

These charities are widely dispersed across Australia from capital cities and regional centres to very remote communities.

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Communities Engagement Strategy has two key priorities.

One focused on strengthening the ACNC’s organisational capacity and the other aimed at supporting Indigenous controlled charities to meet their ACNC Act obligations.

The actions and measures designed to achieve these priorities are outlined in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities Engagement Strategy Action Plan below.