Minutes of the ordinary Council meeting - 25 September 2012

Department of Health and Ageing Indigenous Chronic Disease Fund for the Move
East Live Well program – Aboriginal focus.
To me the conference, together with the meeting in Kempsey, emphasised the
urgent necessity for cooperation, communication and consultation with the
Aboriginal community within the Macleay Valley.
.……………..
J H BOWELL
General Manager’s Additional Information
In relation to point 3, the consultancy for the South Kempsey plan is complete and
no further relationship between the consultants exists in relation to South
Kempsey.
In relation to point 5, Council has currently resolved to recognise DALMA as the
peak Aboriginal body and has been working with that group, comprising
representation from all of the major Aboriginal organisations to develop an
Aboriginal Reconciliation Action Plan. Establishment of a committee will require
additional resources above what has currently been allowed for. Each meeting is
likely to require 4 to 12 hours of staff resources if only one staff is required. There
is considerable variability as the role of the committee is not clear in the report and,
as such, the level of reporting that will be required to be put to the committee is
unknown. It is considered likely that two staff would be required at the meeting. If
the group meets quarterly this means reallocation of between $1,300 to $5,100
from existing services or actions in the Delivery Plan.
In relation to point 7, the existing Delivery Plan does not split the majority of
Council services between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal communities. Any report
will be subjective as there is no good basis for how you can determine the level of
service provision (for example, use of roads, parks, or even libraries) used by either
group. Council would need to try and capture data to show the level of usage of the
many services, which would be a very costly exercise, before it could provide
accurate information on the level of services provided to the Aboriginal part of our
community. Services specifically aimed at the Aboriginal community are already
separately set out in the Delivery Plan under Goal 2 and any report of those
programs would simply be copying the existing information.
Point 7 also alludes to the development of a separate Aboriginal Community Plan.
No funding has been allocated to such a project and if this is to be a new project
there will be significant resources required to complete such a project. Council
would need to consider the projects that it will not be undertaking if it wishes to
fund this additional project.
In relation to point 9, the Delivery Plan already has a list of projects to be achieved
under the heading of “Strengthen Reconciliation with the Aboriginal Community”
and also includes actions under the development of art and culture for the
Aboriginal community and supporting and promoting culture. Council would need to
identify which projects it wishes to defer to reallocate funds. A number of those
projects are grant funded, which means the Councillors may need to identify other
projects to defer.
Also, in relation to point 9, Council now has the South Kempsey plan, which has
highlighted a number of projects that would support the Aboriginal Community.
Kempsey Shire Council FULL TEXT Minutes Ordinary Meeting 25 September 2012 Page 57