Communique – December 2023
The Elected Body met for their December meeting on Wednesday 6 December at Boomanulla Oval.
We acknowledge that 2023 has been a difficult year on many fronts for people in our community. The lead up to, and results of the Referendum have had far reaching impacts on all of us. We are continuing to support post-Referendum healing work alongside the ACT Reconciliation Council and the Office for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs. We encourage our mob to reach out to each other to support each other during this time. The Elected Body will continue to work with government to ensure services are accessible and available for the community.
We had a presentation from the Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme team. We encourage members of the community to come forward for information if this is part of your family’s experience.
The Territories Stolen Generations Redress Scheme is for stolen generations survivors who were removed from the territories (NT, ACT and Jervis Bay). The scheme offers financial redress and the opportunity for a Personal Acknowledgement for eligible survivors and also, if requested, a personal acknowledgement by government officer either written, oral and with options for hearing that acknowledgement in group and with support people.
The Scheme has a dedicated team to help people interacting with the Scheme. They can be contacted via phone on 1800 566 111 during business hours.
The Elected Body is preparing its report on the 2023 Hearings and developing recommendations to address issues raised through this process. Once finalised this will be available for all community members.
We also discussed our preferred pathway in transitioning Boomanulla Oval back to community control. There needed to be significant works done to bring the oval back to full function after the years of closure. We have gained long term commitments to ensure the infrastructure and grounds work required from the ACT Government will be maintained into the future and not a burden to any organisation taking on the management of the oval. The new demountable building is available for hire, and we are working on improvements to the current booking system for community use. These discussions will be shared with the community in an upcoming consultation session where we will seek your feedback on the activities you want to see run out at the site as well as how we get it back under community management.
We are preparing for the final seven months of our term with the second set of hearings and several community consultations planned. The dates for these will be released shortly and advertised early next year.
We wish everyone a safe and happy break and school holidays and look forward to coming together in the new year.
