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Message from the Deputy Secretary and Head of AANSW – NSW lead the way in agreement making with First Nations

5-September-2019

Dear all

I am pleased to announce that the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy (CAEPR) at the Australian National University (ANU) has been engaged to collect the evidence over the next three year’s about how agreement making with Aboriginal communities is working in NSW.

Our agency remains committed to the strengthening of the relationship between the NSW Government and with First Peoples through agreement making which is the focus of our evaluation for the next three years.

Under the NSW Government’s OCHRE strategy, there are eight Aboriginal Regional Alliances operating across the state to negotiate formal agreements with the NSW Government to create change at the regional level under an initiative called Local Decision Making.

Leading the evaluation is Chief Investigator Professor Tony Dreise, a Gomeroi man and Director of CAEPR at the Australian National University (ANU).

“CAEPR welcomes this unique opportunity to work with Aboriginal communities and with the NSW Government to build and consolidate an evidence base in this vitally important space. We are keen to learn more and build stronger data with local and regional decision-making bodies. The research is likely to be nationally significant” said Professor Dreise.

In mid-2018, Aboriginal communities delivered the findings from the first stage of the evaluation to the NSW Government in Parliament House. It found that “OCHRE has been remarkably successful”.

I am proud to say that we have rejected short-term trials, top-down approaches and a blinkered focus on gaps and deficits. Instead, we have focused on working closely with our Aboriginal leaders to design, implement and evaluate real solutions from the ground-up.

Information about this evaluation can be found at: https://www.aboriginalaffairs.nsw.gov.au/conversations/ochre

Jason Ardler
Deputy Secretary and
Head of Aboriginal Affairs NSW



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