Sharing a story of the remote north-west Queensland community of Doomadgee in Gangalidda and Waanyi country, this is an early stage case study of its place-based partnership under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
Doomadgee’s Gunawuna Jungai is a new community-controlled organisation pursuing community-led development within their own community under a place-based partnership to make a difference for the future. Doomadgee, Tamworth in NSW and the East Kimberley in WA were chosen as the first three locations for place-based partnerships in August 2022 by the Joint Council on Closing the Gap.
This approach to enabling and involving communities in service delivery aims to make a meaningful improvement in closing the gap between the health, social and economic outcomes of indigenous and non-indigenous Australians. In the years since the Closing the Gap framework was established in 2008, progress has been unacceptably slow. Most targets are not on track to be met by 2031. [1] The newly-released 2022 Closing the Gap report unfortunately shows as many targets going backwards as are ‘on track’. This emphasises the need to respond by empowering First Nations communities through NACG frameworks such as place-based partnerships as a critical part of the solution.
Cultural authority, community control and shared-decision making underpin the place-based partnership concept. The idea is a community centred framework under which all relevant parties agree to work together to achieve more effective and efficient outcomes. This concept reflects UN thinking emphasising the importance of First Nations People being equal partners in developing policies and programmes for their own communities. [2]
The Doomadgee challenge – illustrative of many inequalities faced by First Nations People
Doomadgee is a remote town on the Northern banks of the Nicholson River in the Lower Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland. Many residents are Traditional Owners of the lands of this region (the Gangalidda and the Waanyi peoples).
Despite steps taken Australia-wide to close the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous populations, like most remote communities, Doomadgee remains greatly disadvantaged in comparison to the general Australian population.
Regardless of intention, effort, experience and resources, successive governments have failed to meaningfully facilitate positive and lasting health and wellbeing outcomes for the people of Doomadgee. Custodians of Gangalidda and Waanyi lands in and surrounding Doomadgee over thousands of years have developed ancient and enduring cultural values, knowledge and systems that have been passed from generation to generation through both song lines and story lines. Without listening to and respectfully collaborating with First Nations People, it is difficult to understand how best to deliver services for the community.
Beyond Doomadgee, First Nations communities across Australia continue to face profound inequality and grapple with many complex issues with higher social and socio-economic disadvantage compared to non-Indigenous people. [3] For example: four in five diagnoses of Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) are among Indigenous Australians; [4] the Indigenous child mortality rate is twice the rate for non-Indigenous children; [5] non-Indigenous Australians report a median gross personal income 60% higher than Indigenous Australians. [6]
The gap in life expectancy between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians remains high. [7] The target to close the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people by 2031 is not on track. [8]
A major reason progress on closing the gap has been slow, despite various attempts designed by government to achieve change, is the failure to consult (properly or at all) with First Nations community based representatives for the delivery of services into community. [9] A ‘one-size fits all’ approach by government departments (generally operating in siloes) without appropriate community consultation and input has not been effective. In the words of Gangalidda Traditional Owner and Gunawuna Jungai Chairman, Barry Walden ‘it is forced upon, we are never consulted, or not enough, or for long enough.’
This was highlighted by the inquest into the tragic deaths of three Doomadgee women due to RHD (a preventable condition). As Barry Walden notes ‘one of the key issues highlighted in the inquest was the lack of cultural practices in service delivery across the community.’
What is the National Agreement
The timeline below outlines the steps since 2005 which led to the National Agreement.
The National Agreement includes four Priority Reforms to change the way governments work, new government accountability measures, shared monitoring and implementation arrangements, and establishes 17 targets under the 17 socio-economic outcome areas to help bring focus to new areas and help monitor progress in improvements.
The four Priority Reforms are centred around:
- Shared decision making
- Building the community controlled sector
- Systematic and structural change to mainstream government agencies and institutions and the way services are delivered
- Shared access to locally relevant data.
What is a place-based partnership?
Place-based partnerships reflect the simple idea that services are more likely to be successful when developed by and with the community to fit their unique needs and circumstances. [10] By appropriately elevating the role of the First Nations community in decision-making, services or programs delivered to specific geographical locations and population groups are underpinned by cultural authority, respond to direct community needs, aspirations and local priorities, and will be more sustainable. [11]
Structured as a partnership between government and First Nations representatives from the relevant area, [12] key elements of a place-based partnership include:
- An agreement between First Nations Peoples and up to three levels of government (and other parties as agreed)
- A signed formal partnership agreement made accessible to the public
- Shared, representative and transparent decision-making by consensus
- Adequate resourcing provided to support First Nations Peoples to partner with governments. [13]
The National Agreement identifies justice, social and emotional well-being, housing, early childhood care and development and First Nations languages as priority areas. [14] Place-based partnerships will involve consultation with First Nations (in this case Gangalidda and Waanyi) communities to establish and deliver appropriate services in one or more of these areas.
Case Study – Gunawuna Jungai – Doomadgee
The development of a place-based partnership in the Doomadgee community has been the key focus of Gunawuna Jungai, a new community-controlled organisation, the directors and members of which are (and must be) Gangalidda and Waanyi community members in Doomadgee. Gunawuna Jungai aims to give a voice to the Gangalidda and Waanyi Peoples in Doomadgee and will play a lead role in the design and delivery of their health, housing, disability, early childhood, children and youth justice services.
Gunawuna Jungai aims to conduct operations in a manner that is aligned with, and respectful of, the culturally embedded practices of Doomadgee community traditional owners. Doomadgee community members have shaped and designed the governance structure of Gunawuna Jungai to ensure it:
- Reflects cultural authority and specific needs, aspirations and structures of the Doomadgee community
- Is sustainable over the long term
- Is authentically community-controlled.
The Gunawuna Jungai Constitution states: “Under this new model, the voice of the First Nations people of the Doomadgee community (through community control), consistent with traditional cultural practices and informed by its remoteness and the uniqueness of its history, country and culture, will play the lead role in the design and delivery of services to and meeting the needs of the Doomadgee community.”
To date, Gunawuna Jungai has taken important steps in establishing themselves sitting alongside the Doomadgee Shire Council, to lead the place-based partnership in Doomadgee, including:
- Acknowledgement by the Queensland Government and by Joint Council that Doomadgee is the official site for the first Queensland place-based partnership
- Creating a company limited by guarantee with a constitution that was drafted to reflect community control
- Applying for charity status
- Holding the first board meeting and officially launching in August 2022.
The place-based partnership for Doomadgee, with Gunawuna Jungai, marks an important shift towards First Nations self-governance, and allows First Nations Peoples within Doomadgee to be at the forefront of key decision making processes that affect them and their community.
Toni Fraser, Gunawuna Jungai Director; Kieran Smith, Gunawuna Jungai CEO-elect; Barry Walden, Gunawuna Jungai Chairman; Hon. Craig Crawford, Queensland Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships; Troy Fraser, Gunawuna Jungai Director; Dr Katrina Lines, Act for Kids CEO; Berkeley Cox, Partner, King & Wood Mallesons
Massimo Zaini, Act for Kids; Kathy Parton, Deputy Director General, Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships; Gary Betts, Synergy Information Systems; Barry Walden, Gunawuna Jungai Chairman; Kieran Smith, Gunawuna Jungai CEO-elect; Donnella Mills, King & Wood Mallesons; Bruce Visser, Director, Department of Seniors, Disability Services and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Partnerships; Sharron Anderson, King & Wood Mallesons; and Berkeley Cox, King & Wood Mallesons.
What have we learned and what comes next?
We have been privileged to work with community based traditional owners on the establishment of Gunawuna Jungai. We have deep respect for their project and their advocacy for the Doomadgee community. It has provided a unique opportunity for the KWM team to build our understanding of the lived experience, issues on the ground and local culture.
Our takeaways so far on the critical ingredients for a place-based partnership include:
- Cultural authority – having respect for and an understanding of where cultural authority sits within the community.
- Lived experience – gaining input from locally based traditional owners with deep knowledge of country, culture and history, and the challenges that face their own families and community.
- Relationships – creating relationships with all key stakeholders that are built on trust and mutual respect, in order to work as a team in the partnership.
- Support – support and resources from established First Nations controlled groups such as the Coalition of Peaks, who have played an instrumental role in the development of the place-based partnership framework and the partnerships themselves.
- Adequate resourcing – government support is essential to the success of place-based partnerships. The funding rules need to shift to a model consistent with community control. Appropriate (and untied) resourcing and funding will enable key stakeholders to work together to achieve substantially better outcomes consistent with the National Agreement and ultimately lead to a more efficient and effective allocation of government resources.
The road ahead will not be without twists, bumps and turns. However, by drawing on and respecting the National Agreement framework and continuing to lead with community-wide objectives, cultural authority and local knowledge and experience guiding decision making, there is great optimism for the future health and wellbeing of Gangalidda and Waanyi Peoples in Doomadgee.
Helpful resources on place-based partnerships are available on the Coalition of Peaks website.
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