Item 10.2 - Attachment 1 |
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory
Committee Meeting 27 July 2010 Minutes |
MINUTES OF THE ABORIGINAL
AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER ADVISORY COMMITTEE MEETING HELD IN GROUND FLOOR
MEETING ROOMS 1 AND 2, COUNCIL CHAMBER, PARRAMATTA ON TUESDAY, 27 JULY 2010 AT 6.16
PM.
__________________________________________________________________________
PRESENT
Doug Desjardines in the Chair (until arrival of John Robertson
at 6.20 pm), Bruce Astill, Donna-Lee Astill, Phil Bradley, Shalini Kumari
(arrived 6.19 pm), Lyn Leerson (arrived 6.20 pm), Annie Nielsen, John Robertson
(arrived at 6.20 pm and assumed the Chair), Anne Stonham and Greg Stonham.
IN ATTENDANCE
Grant Davies (Minute Clerk) and
1 ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF TRADITIONAL OWNERS THE DHARUG
PEOPLE
Doug Desjardines made a Welcome to
Country, recognising that the land upon which the meeting was being held is
Dharug and paying respect to Elders past and present.
2 APOLOGIES
An apology was received and accepted for the absence of Councillor Paul Barber, Marcia Donovan, Bruce Gale, Linda
McDonald, Jay Palmer, Phil Russo, David Williams and Doug
Wilson.
3 CONFLICT OF
INTERESTS
Phillip
Bradley declared a conflict of interest in relation to the forwarding of an
invitation to a Greens spokesperson to attend and speak at the LGAN Conference
as he would be running as a Greens candidate at an upcoming election.
4.
CONFIRMATION OF MINUTES
A copy of
the minutes of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee
Meeting held on 22 June 2010 had previously been forwarded to each member.
RECOMMENDATION (Bradley/Desjardines)
That the minutes of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Advisory Committee Meeting held on 22 June 2010 be taken as a true
record of the meeting subject to the following alterations:-
1. Phillip Bradley had also provided
information that
Note
Shalini Kumari (6.19pm), Lyn Leerson (6.20pm) and
John Robertson arrived at the meeting during consideration of this matter. Mr
Robertson assumed the Chair at this time.
5 LGAN 2010 PLANNING
John McInerney stated that organisation of the
conference was on schedule and that he had now received a draft of the
Conference Registration Brochure. Any comments on the brochure were welcomed.
John advised that the brochure contained
information on a number of speakers that have now been confirmed for the
Conference. Follow ups would also be required in relation to certain VIP
attendees and speakers.
He added
that further discussions had been held with the LGAN Executive and the
Executive had now agreed to include Prospect Hill as a site visit. Accordingly,
conference visits would now be made to
Mr Bradley
commented that he had recently visited Prospect Hill and found it a very
spiritual experience.
6 BUSINESS
ARISING
Update
John
McInerney provided the following update on issues raised at recent meetings:-
· The minutes of the meeting held on
22 June 2010 had been adopted by Council on 26 July 2010.
· In response to a question from Mr
Robertson, he advised that Council had previously agreed to the reinstatement
of the Executive Committee as requested by the Committee.
· Jillian Comber had been invited to
attend this meeting of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory
Committee but was unavailable. Ms Comber will, however, attend the August
meeting of the Committee.
· Contact would be made with Ms
Michelle Desailley (currently on leave) with a view to a final copy of the
Burramatta Brochure being provided to all members.
· Mr Robin Bradfield, who had been
acting as facilitator at recent ATSI Meetings, will not be attending future
meetings. Mr Bradfield provided a brief written goodbye in the following
terms:-
“As you now know, I will not be
convening this meeting anymore now that the Executive is back.
This note is just to say goodbye
and to thank you for welcoming me to your committee. It was an absolute
pleasure to meet you all and to work with you. Being with you for the few short
sessions was both inspiring and a positive learning experience for me.
I hope that we have the
opportunity to work together in the future.”
RECOMMMENDATION (A Stonham/Bradley)
That the Committee express its
appreciation for Mr Bradfield’s input and he be wished all the best for the
future.
Unsung Hero
Ms Leerson
advised that her Unsung Hero Award as received on 4 July 2010 had been most
unexpected. Ms Leerson expressed her gratitude to Members not only for the award,
but also for the flowers and Mr Robertson’s kind words on the day.
Anne
Stonham noted that the award was not just from this Committee but from the
wider community.
Mr Bradley
added that the receipt of the award by Ms Leerson and also the award received
by Jacinta Tobin had been reported at the recent Reconciliation for
A round of
acclamation was then given to Ms Leerson.
7. NAIDOC
PLANNING COMMITTEE
A copy of
the Burramatta NAIDOC 2010 Debrief held on 13 July 2010 was circulated to
members. A copy is appended as Attachment
1.
RECOMMENDATION (Desjardines/Neilsen)
That due to the absence of a number of key members,
this issue be deferred for consideration at the next meeting of the Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee.
8. GENERAL
BUSINESS AND INFORMATION SHARING
Building Bridges 2010
Annie
Neilsen distributed a copy of the Building Bridges 2010 Brochure (an initiative
of Reconciliation for
Bruce Cole Reserve
Annie
Neilsen advised that a grant had been received from Council to construct an
environmental sculpture at Bruce Cole Reserve and a Committee had been formed
to oversee this issue.
Ms Neilsen
was seeking input into the project from interested Dharug persons in the area.
John McInerney
suggested that the Project Committee may like to submit ideas to or have the
Chair of the Project Committee attend a future meeting of the Advisory Committee.
Greg
Stonham expressed interest in providing assistance and Mr McInerney advised
that his details would be passed on to the relevant Council Officer dealing
with the project.
ParraMac Activities
Phil
Bradley advised that he had attended the Macquarie Feast held as part of the
ParraMac activities. A number of interesting speakers had presented to the
dinner, including Nicholas Cowdrey and Tony McEvoy, on such issues as:-
· The Macquarie period generally
(Tony McEvoy);
· Aboriginal experiences with native
title and the need for a Bill of Rights (Tony McEvoy);
· The need to review the corrective
services system;
· The proportion of Aboriginal
persons and persons with a mental illness or a drug and alcohol problem that
are currently incarcerated in NSW.
· The need to consider the release
of persons held on minor drug offences together with advice on comments made by
the Shadow Attorney General, Greg Smith MP, relating to the untenable cost of
housing prisoners;
· Problems with juvenile detention
(including the inordinate proportion of Aboriginals incarcerated), particularly
incarceration whilst on remand when such offences would not be punishable by a
custodial sentence;
· The need to attend to the human
needs of prisoners and victims.
Doug
Desjardines commented on the 12 week cycle required for a prisoner in
Mr
Desjardines added that former Aboriginal prisoners were being released with a
paper indicating their Aboriginality, such paper being worth only 20 points
when registering with organisations like Centrelink, which was extremely unworkable.
Annie
Neilsen also noted that difference in incarceration rates between NSW and
Victoria and questioned the role that the media in NSW plays in this
discrepancy.
A general
discussion was then held on the possibility of inviting the Attorney General,
Shadow Attorney General and a representative of the Greens to attend the LGAN
Conference to discuss and/or present on Aboriginal incarceration rates and
associated community issues.
John
McInerney commented that he was happy to draft such an invitation; however, the
approval of the LGAN Executive and his manager would be required beforehand.
Mr
Desjardines also suggested that an invitation be forwarded to Police Officer,
Mr Brett Eason (formerly of Macquarie Fields Police Station) to attend the
conference.
RECOMMENDATION (Neilsen/Leerson)
That, subject to the agreement of the LGAN Executive,
invites be submitted to the Attorney General, Shadow Attorney General and a
Greens representative (Aboriginal or Corrective Affairs spokesperson) to attend
the LGAN Conference to speak on Aboriginal incarceration rates and associated
community issues.
Note
Phillip Bradley declared a conflict of interest as he
would be running as a Greens candidate at the upcoming election.
Phillip
Bradley advised that he had recently attended a public meeting pertaining to
proposed upgrades at Lake Parramatta Reserve.
He advised
that certain proposals had been supported whilst concern had been expressed
over others such as on the effect a conference type centre would have on the
natural environment.
Mr Bradley
had raised at the meeting the need for the
Lyn
Leerson commented that the Committee should arrange a working bee at Lake
Parramatta Reserve prior to the conference, perhaps in conjunction with the
Catchment Management Authority.
John McInerney
advised that Council had scheduled appropriate works in the near future but
added that if the Committee decided to hold a working bee, he would pass on
advice to the relevant persons.
Mr Bradley
then advised that a consultant had been appointed and a draft plan of
management had been produced by Council and suggested that members keep an eye
on local papers and local libraries if they wished to view the plan.
LGAN Conference Registration Brochure and other Conference
Issues
Mr
McInerney distributed a draft copy of the LGAN Conference Brochure and sought
comment from members.
Mr Desjardines
noted that the brochure contained no photos of indigenous people and further, a
photograph of the other side of the river should have been used for the walkway
shot. He further suggested that photos from the NAIDOC Flag raising should also
be included.
Mr
Desjardines then asked whether Committee members would be invited to all
Conference events.
Mr
McInerney advised that members could attend any event they desired but requested
that advance notification be provided to enable appropriate catering. He added
that it was likely that members could bring a friend though this was a matter
for the Executive to determine.
Shalini
Kumari added that she could provide names of possible youth speakers if
desired.
Consumer Advocacy Training Workshop in Greater
Lyn
Leerson tabled a brochure from the Cancer Council inviting participation in a
consumer advocacy training workshop to be held in
Ms Leerson
advised that the Cancer Council was keen to make inroads into cancer treatment
for Aboriginals.
RECOMMENDATION (Leerson/Bradley)
That nominations be called at the next meeting of the
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Committee for persons interested
in undertaking the advocacy training and in the meantime, members publicise the
course’s availability as widely as possible.
The
meeting terminated at 7.41 pm.