A long time ago the government built our houses.

Cornellius Wudarnkadi Mollinjin.

Thamarur Development Corporation, Wadeye, Northern Territory.

The houses that they built were made without our advice. This meant, they were not built to suit our lifestyle and culture.

We also had less people, now our families have grown, and we are still living in the same houses, overcrowded and sometimes breaking out strong cultural laws. Room to Breathe, is a part of governments Local Decision Making policy.

This will help us work together with the houses we have now. It is us that will help make the decisions because every home has different needs. It is important that we are included in decision making for our future.

Proudly supported by the Northern Territory Government
Thamarrurr Development Corporation

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We have been on a journey to create an Independent Public School. First we had to choose consultants with the right heart to guide us in developing the new governance model with a new constitution and all the important things for us to be a proper board. Karrikarremarbun means coming together to make big decisions this is what the board does.

We took the community with us on this journey we did lots of talking and workshops with the school and community so that everyone understood where we wanted to go. We took turtle steps, this part of our journey took a year.

In the best interests of our students we decided that our board should come from across the community not just from family groups or clans. This was a big change in our thinking and ways. The more the community understood the more people wanted to be involved. 31 parents nominated for the 8 parent positions a record for Northern Territory schools.

People were elected on to the board through a proper process with the Northern Territory Electoral Commission coming out to run a proper ballot. The board wanted to have two senior students on the board so that they could learn board ways and grow strong leaders for our future.

Developing our 5 year Business plan has been one of the strongest ways we have made big decisions about our school and students future. We thought deeply about community and family matters affect our students. We decided on goals and strategies that would best serve the needs of our students.

Waralnang means, I saw in a vision, our Waralnang Business plan is the Board’s vision for our community, school and students future. At Board meetings the Principal and staff report back to us on how our plan is going, we have had to learn many new things travelling this journey like running meetings, liaising in the community, working with parents and we have had lots of training with our consultants a big one has been Money Story.

We have had some challenges like understanding Balanda words, concepts, policy and ways of governing. We keep our own culture strong and often talk in language to make sure we all understand to make the right decisions. The board has been going for 18 months now and we are still going on a two way learning journey.

Like I was saying, Karrimurrngrayekworren means working together we are making everyone strong, our turtle steps are leading towards a strong community school and a greater future for our children.

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Vision - Bo Carne

Local Decision Making will lead to the self-determination of communities in regards to services and programs.

But more broadly than this is an opportunity for community and government partnerships for shared responsibility of service delivery.

Things might include housing, education, economic development or land and sea management, depending on community priorities.

Local Decision Making acknowledges that although government might have the best intentions, we don’t always get it right.

This is about getting the best solutions using a place-based approach, that is, local solutions for local issues.

Road Map / Principles versus Policy - Bo Carne

We’ve also designed a Road Map that incorporates success of existing government programs, and a staged approach where communities might identify a number of government programs.

All government agencies should be following the principles of Local Decision Making in any work they do in communities, which includes:

‘Self-determination’ – community process and timelines,
‘Place-based’ – different design for different places,
‘Flexible’ – timing and funding,
‘Co-design’ – share information to design together, and
‘Community control’ – committed wherever possible.

Implementation - Bo Carne

The Community Control Continuum shows the different levels of community involvement.

‘Inform’ is where government takes the lead in decisions and implementation;

‘Consult’ has some form of community input, but government still leads;

‘Involve’ is a partnership through a community advisory group, but government is still responsible to lead;

‘Collaborate’ then becomes community-led and co-designed, but government might still own the service;

‘Empower’ is when the service is community controlled, but government is still there to support.

Communities will need all the information to help determine how far they might want to progress along the continuum.

John Paterson – Chair APO NT and CEO AMSANT

Aboriginal people have always known what best for their communities and by working with the NT Government’s Local Decision Making Policy collectively they can come up with the best solutions that are suited for their communities.

The Aboriginal Peak Organisations NT which comprises of NLC, CLC, and AMSANT work closely with our communities and constituents to assist them in finding solutions and working through their issues. This is why APO NT works closely with the Northern Territory Government and the Local Decision Making policy to ensure that we all collectively get the best results for communities.

The Northern Territory Local Decision Making Policy is a positive step in the right direction. It allows for communities to negotiate with government to address issues like housing, education, workforce, employment and other important issues that are affecting Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory.

Local Decision Making will be different in each community and region and governments needs to have flexible frameworks to enable communities to address their needs.

Mischa Cartwright, AASP

Hi, I’m Mischa Cartwright, Executive Director, Aboriginal Affairs Strategic Partnerships.

The Northern Territory Government is focused on reshaping how it engages with Aboriginal people and remote communities through the development of the Northern Territory Aboriginal Affairs Strategy.

The Strategy recognises the importance of language, culture and connection to country. It sets about bringing together Government’s Aboriginal Affairs existing priorities, ensuring they align with the aspirations of Aboriginal people and communities now and into the future.

It aims to support community-led decision making focused on Aboriginal families, children and communities through strong leadership, governance and capacity building that enables Aboriginal people to drive local solutions through local decision making.

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