Priority Reform Two

During 2021, SNAICC's CEO Ms Catherine Liddle co-led the development of Early Childhood Care and Development Sector Strengthening Plan with the then Commonwealth Department of Education, Skills and Employment.

Key objectives of the Early Childhood Care and Development Sector Strengthening Plan are to achieve:

• Increased service delivery coverage, capacity, quality, and resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations.

• Development of dedicated, reliable, and consistent funding models for the relevant Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled sectors.

• Increased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander early childhood education and care, child protection, and family support workforces.

• Increased relevant qualifications and skills of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workforce, alongside professional recognition of cultural knowledge, skills, and relationships that are essential to effective service delivery.

• Community-controlled organisations are able to attract, support, and retain adequate workforce capability to match their current and future workforce needs.

In December 2021, Joint Council agreed in-principle to the Early Childhood Care and Development Sector Strengthening Plan.

During 2021, NACCHO CEO Dr Dawn Casey co-led the development Health Sector Strengthening Plan with the Commonwealth Department of Health.

The Health Sector Strengthening Plan sets out 17 transformative sector strengthening actions, including but not limited to:

• Develop a needs-based funding model in partnership with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled health sector.

• Build community-controlled RTO capacity and improve the quality of RTO training within or linked to community-controlled health organisations.

• Fund major and medium-size capital and physical infrastructure including permanent clinic builds and large-scale renovations, mobile clinics, maintenance, repairs, and extensions to ensure facilities meet building codes and accreditation standards.

• Rectify over burden of activity reporting to governments to allow the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled health sector to focus on outcomes while maintaining accountability.

The long-term objective of the Health Sector Strengthening Plan is to build a strong community-controlled sector reflecting the four sector-strengthening elements outlined in the National Agreement.

In recognition of the interconnectedness of both the health and the early childhood care and development sectors, the working groups for both sector strengthening plans met several times to identify cross-sector issues and determine a combined approach.

In December 2021, Joint Council agreed in-principle to the Health Sector Strengthening Plan.

During 2022, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Housing Association Public Officer Mr Tom Slockee co-led the development of the Housing Sector Strengthening Plan with the Commonwealth Department of Social Services.

Key objectives of the Housing Sector Strengthening Plan are:

• Improve housing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to move through the housing continuum and into home ownership.

• Increased service delivery, capacity, quality, and resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations.

• Development of dedicated, reliable, and consistent outcomes-based funding models for the Sector.

• Increased relevant qualifications and skills of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait workforce from a range of professional disciplines, alongside professional recognition of cultural knowledge, skills and relationships that are essential to effective service delivery.

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations, have the capacity to attract, support and retain adequate workforce capability to match their current and future workforce needs.

In August 2022, Joint Council agreed in-principle to the Housing Sector Strengthening Plan.

During 2022, First Peoples Disability Network CEO Mr Damian Griffis co-lead the development of the Disability Sector Strengthening Plan with the Commonwealth Department of Social Services.

The Disability SSP has been developed through a human-centred approach. The various principles, actions, outcomes, measures of success and key performance indicators outlined within the Disability SSP aim to centre First Nations people with disability and the community-controlled sector.

Key objectives of the Disability Sector Strengthening Plan are:

• Strengthen a dedicated First Nations disability workforce for the community-controlled disability sector, that has the capacity and capability to deliver culturally safe, accessible, and inclusive, and disability rights informed services.

• Ensure that the Community-controlled Sector’s capital infrastructure, services and facilities are accessible for all First Nations people with disability.

• Build the capacity of existing and new community-controlled disability services to deliver a full range of culturally safe and inclusive services, centring human rights to achieve much greater social and economic participation of First Nations people with disability.

• Strengthen the governance and inclusive leadership within the community-controlled sector.

• Funding for community-controlled disability sector is available, predictable and supports organisations to be responsive to First Nations people with disability.

• That the First Nations disability community-controlled sector, including peaks and service providers, and the community is supported by the national Peak Body (FPDN).

In August 2022, Joint Council agreed in-principle to the Disability Sector Strengthening Plan.

The development of each sector strengthening plan was supported by working groups consisting of a number of representatives who worked actively to ensure the needs of the sectors, and the voices of the community-controlled organisations within those sectors were considered and captured in the plans.

The plans are a testament to what can be achieved when governments work in genuine partnership with the community-controlled sector. The genuine partnership has resulted in robust plans with tangible and practical actions that will be implemented over the next three years, to help strengthen the community-controlled sector.