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Secretariat of National 

Aboriginal and Islander 

Child Care 

Annual 

Report 

2012 

www.snaicc.org.au

Secretariat of National 

Aboriginal and Islander 

Child Care 

Annual 

Report 

2012 

www.snaicc.org.au

Contents 

About SNAICC 3 

SNAICC milestones 4–5 

SNAICC National Executive profiles 6–11 

Chairperson’s Message 13–14 

CEO’s Report 15 

Our Children, Our Culture, Our Way coffee table book 17 

A snapshot of published work in 2012 18 

Our work — the four focus areas 19 

Focus Area 1: Child and family wellbeing and community 20–23 

support and development 

2012 National Aboriginal and Islander Children’s Day 24–25 

Focus Area 2: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 26–29 

community-controlled services for children and families 

Creating genuine and respectful partnerships 30–31 

Focus Area 3: Social justice and children’s rights 32–35 

The United Nations casts an eye on Australia’s human 36–37 

rights performance 

Focus Area 4: A strong national peak body for Aboriginal 38–41 

and Torres Strait Islander children and families 

New approaches to children’s learning and interaction 42–43 

A thank-you to our partners and supporters 45 

Membership of external committees 47 

Organisational chart 48 

SNAICC staff (as at 30 September 2012) 49 

SNAICC Governance 50–51 

SNAICC’s Eight Priorities 52–53 

Independent Audit Report 54–55 

Income Statement, 2011–12 56 

Sources of SNAICC income, 2011–12 57 

Balance Sheet, 2011–12 58 

Photo acknowledgements 59 

SNAICC Annual Report 2012 

© SNAICC October 2012 

Printed by PostScript Printing and Publishing, Eltham, Victoria 

2 SNAICC Annual Report 2012

About SNAICC 

The Secretariat of National Aboriginal and 

Islander Child Care (SNAICC) is the national nongovernment 

peak body in Australia representing 

the interests of Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander children and families. 

SNAICC was established in 1981 and has 

received Federal government funding support 

since 1983. 

SNAICC’s role and activities are guided by four 

focus areas that underpin its 2011–16 strategic 

plan. SNAICC’s activities include: 

writing policy and providing advice to 

governments on issues relating to Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander children and families 

participating on various committees, working 

groups and coalitions to advocate on behalf 

of our children and families and member 

organisations 

providing support for community-controlled 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

organisations, including through developing 

and distributing resources and delivering 

training 

fostering partnerships and undertaking joint 

projects with other NGOs and government 

agencies, and 

organising major conferences and events, 

including the annual National Aboriginal and 

Islander Children’s Day. 

SNAICC’s full members are all Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander community-based agencies 

including: family support services, foster care 

agencies, Link-Up and family reunification 

services, family group homes, community 

groups and services for young people at risk, 

Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s Services 

(MACS), crèches, long-day-care services, preschools 

and early childhood education services. 

SNAICC has a network of members, and subscriber 

base of almost 3000 organisations and 

individuals with an interest in Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander families and children. 

Our vision 

An Australian society in which our communities 

are empowered to determine their own future, 

where the rights of our children, young people 

and families are protected, our cultural identity 

and achievements are valued and our children 

and families have access to culturally- appropriate 

services. 

Our mission 

To provide a strong voice for Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander children and families through a 

national body which represents Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children’s services and 

promotes the rights, needs and aspirations of 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children 

and families. 

SNAICC has a small team of staff based in 

Melbourne (see pages 48–49) and is governed 

by a national executive of Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander people. 

The SNAICC National Executive is drawn from 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communitycontrolled 

children and family services across the 

nation, with representation from every state and 

territory (see profiles on pages 6–11). 

SNAICC Annual Report 2012 3

SNAICC milestones 

1981 

SNAICC Conference Statement of Purpose 

formulates 

1981 to the present Development of SNAICC 

policy papers, statements, action plans and 

priorities to guide the development of policies 

and programs by government and the nongovernment 

sector securing positive outcomes 

for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

children and families 

1983 

Commonwealth Department of Social Security 

offers SNAICC recurrent funding, to be held by 

the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency 

1988 

Inaugural National Aboriginal and Islander 

Children’s Day (NAICD) — a major event 

celebrated by communities across Australia on 

4 August each year 

1990 

Report on Aboriginal Child Poverty, a 

partnership between SNAICC and the 

Brotherhood of St Laurence, identifies poverty 

as a key factor in child abuse and neglect 

1991 

SNAICC the first national organisation to call 

for a national inquiry into Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander children forcibly removed from 

their families 

Production of Through Black Eyes — Family 

Violence Resource Handbook 

1996 

Plan of Action for Prevention of Child Abuse and 

Neglect in Aboriginal Communities 

The only national body to have continuing 

representation of children’s interests on 

federal government advisory and working 

bodies from 1996 onwards 

1997 

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

Child Survival conference (Melbourne) 

HREOC National Inquiry Into the Removal of 

Aboriginal Children Report recommends the 

Aboriginal Child Placement Principle be 

legislated in every state and territory 

1998 

Represents the rights and needs of Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander children to the UN 

Working Group on Indigenous Populations 

(also in 2000) 

Aboriginal Community Controlled Early 

Childhood Services (MACS) become full SNAICC 

members 

2002 

Through Young Black Eyes Handbook published 

(updates 2005 and 2007) 

2003 

Convenes Our Future Generations: The National 

Indigenous Child Welfare and Development 

Seminar with the Commonwealth, the 


Commission (ATSIC) and the Victorian 

Government 

Research and publication of State of Denial — 

the Neglect and Abuse of Indigenous Children in 

the Northern Territory 

2005 

SNAICC Resource Service funded to develop 

and distribute many high-quality resources to 

support services working with Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children and families 

(refunded 2008, 2011 and 2012) 

SNAICC becomes joint signatory to establish 

Indigenous Sub-Group of the Non-Government 

Organisations Group for the Convention on the 

Rights of the Child 


2007 

Holds Third National Conference of Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander children and services 

(Adelaide) 

2008 

The Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies 

(ACWA) and the NSW peak body AbSec endorse 

the SNAICC Service Development, Cultural 

Respect and Service Access Policy (2007) 

SNAICC celebrates 25 th anniversary of Federal 

recurrent funding 

Consolidation and growth of the SNAICC 

Resource Service 

2009 

35 new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

Children and Family Centres announced in 

the Federal Budget (later increased to 38 new 

centres) 

2010 

SNAICC secures funding from Department of 

Health and Ageing to deliver training and 

produce culturally-appropriate resources 

under the KidsMatter Early Childhood initiative 

SNAICC presides as Convenor of the Indigenous 

Sub-Group of the Non-Government 

Organisations Group for the Convention of the 

Rights of the Child 

In 2012, SNAICC celebrated the 25th anniversary of National Aboriginal and Islander 

Children’s Day (NAICD). At left is the poster promoting the first NAICD in 1988; the 

2012 poster is above, featuring children from Hope Vale, Queensland. 

Hosts Fourth National Conference of 


and services (Alice Springs, NT) 

SNAICC’s work over many years and intensive 

engagement this year contributes to securing 

NT and Federal Government commitments 

to re-build the NT child protection system 

— offering leadership to our communities 

with NGO and government partnerships and 

support 

SNAICC launches its 2011–16 Strategic Plan 

2011 

SNAICC granted Deductible Gift Recipient 

(DGR) status, allowing the agency to seek 

philanthropic funding and donations 

2012 

Celebrates 25 th anniversary of National 

Aboriginal and Islander Children’s Day 

Wins Highly Commended Award at the 2012 

Indigenous Governance Awards organised by 

Reconciliation Australia and BHP Billiton 

Attends Eleventh Session of United Nations 

Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues in 

New York, and meeting of UN Committee for 

the Rights of the Child in Geneva 


SNAICC National Executive 

Chairperson 

Dawn Wallam 

Chief Executive Officer, Yorganop Association Inc. 

West Perth, Western Australia 

Dawn Wallam is a Wadandi woman of the Noongar Nation who for over 40 years 

has been committed to improving the wellbeing of Aboriginal children through 

both paid and voluntary community work. Dawn has been CEO of Yorganop 

since 1997, managing the agency’s Child Placement Service, the RTO and the 

Indigenous Professional Services Unit. Dawn has been proactive in representing 

Aboriginal children’s issues at all levels including local, state, national and 

international forums. She is a staunch supporter of the Aboriginal Child Placement 

Principle and was a founding signatory in 2005 of the Sub Group on 

Indigenous Children to the United Nations Working Group on the Rights of the 

Child. Dawn has served on the SNAICC National Executive since 1998; she was 

elected Chairperson in May 2011. 

Deputy Chairperson — 

Early Childhood 

Geraldine Atkinson 

Chairperson, Lulla’s Children and Family Centre 

Shepparton, Victoria 

Geraldine Atkinson is a Bangerang/Wiradjuri woman who has devoted her career 

to expanding the possibilities available to Koori people through education. 

For over 30 years Geraldine has been a major presence in the Koori and wider 

Victorian community. She is President of the Victorian Aboriginal Education 

Association Incorporated (VAEAI), a position she has held since 1999. Geraldine 

represents VAEAI on a number of national and state committees while maintaining 

her involvement at the local level. Chairperson of Lulla’s Children and Family 

Centre at Shepparton, Geraldine has made a significant impact in the area of early 

childhood. Geraldine’s direct experience of what works in community combined 

with her extensive policy knowledge has given her the ability to act as a link 

between government and community — which she describes as her principal role. 

Geraldine has served on the SNAICC National Executive since 1999. 

Deputy Chairperson — 

Child Welfare 

Sharron Williams 

CEO, Aboriginal Family Support Services Inc. (AFSS) 

Adelaide, South Australia 

Sharron Williams is a Narungga/Kaurna woman. Since 1997 Sharron has 

been the CEO of AFSS, the peak Aboriginal social welfare organisation in SA. 

Sharron’s experience has included 15 years with Correctional Services in 

strategic and policy development positions, including as the first Indigenous 

Public Relations Officer within SA Correctional Services. Sharron has served on 

the SNAICC national executive since 1999 and was elected Deputy Chairperson 

— Child Welfare in May 2011. 


Treasurer 

Garry Matthews 

Chief Executive Officer, Coffs Harbour Aboriginal 

Family Community Care Centre Inc. (Abcare) 

Coffs Harbour, New South Wales 

From the Eora nation of NSW, Garry Matthews has been CEO of Coffs Harbour 

Aboriginal Family Community Care Centre since 1994. Garry has served on the 

board of AbSec (NSW Aboriginal State Secretariat) since its foundation in 2000; 

is the secretary of the Coffs Harbour Community Care Options; is involved in the 

local Aboriginal Interagency Committee; and the Coffs Harbour Elders Committee. 

Garry has a background in accounting and business management. Garry has 

served on the SNAICC National Executive since 1999, and was Deputy Chairperson 

— Child Welfare from 2009 until May 2011, when he was elected Treasurer. 

Secretary 

Desley Thompson 

Chief Executive Officer, Cape York/Gulf Remote 

Area Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Child Care 

Advisory Association Inc. (RAATSICC) 

Cairns, Queensland 

Desley Thompson is a proud Mamu woman from Far North Queensland and is the 

Chief Executive Officer of RAATSICC based in Cairns. RAATSICC is a non-government 

organisation that has two offices: one in Cairns and the other in Mt Isa. 

RAATSICC works with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to ensure 

the children, youth and families of Cape York and Gulf Communities plus 

Yarrabah, Mossman and Palm Island have access to quality social services. Desley 

has more than 23 years’ experience working with Cape York Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander communities and has been an active member of the SNAICC 

National Executive for the past eight years. Desley has been involved in a number 

of statewide groups and is currently on the Australian Government’s National 

Children and Family Roundtable selected by the Minister. 

Bill Pritchard 

Chief Executive Officer, Aboriginal Child, Family and 

Community Care State Secretariat NSW (AbSec) 

Marrickville, New South Wales 

Bill Pritchard is a Wiradjuri man from the central west of NSW, although he grew 

up in Darug and Gundungarra country in the Blue Mountains near Sydney. Since 

2007, Bill has been the Chief Executive Officer of AbSec, the NSW peak body for 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. He has an extensive 

history in the NSW public sector, including as an Aboriginal caseworker for the 

then Department of Community Services and, later, as an Aboriginal Investigator 

for the Department of Fair Trading, and as the Senior Aboriginal Programs Officer 

for the ‘Community Justice Centres’ Aboriginal mediation project with the NSW 

Government’s Attorney-General’s and Justice department. He has also previously 

been Vice President of NCOSS (Council of Social Service of NSW) and treasurer on 

the board of Link-Up NSW. Bill joined the SNAICC National Executive in May 2011. 



Lisa Coulson 

Director, Tasmanian Aboriginal Child Care Association (TACCA) 

Invermay, Tasmania 

Lisa Coulson is a member of the Tasmanian Aboriginal palawa community. Lisa 

has been the Director of the long-day-care Tasmanian Aboriginal Child Care 

Association (TACCA) since 1993 and Manager of the TACCA FaHCSIA funded 

Indigenous Parenting Service. She is also the Launceston Regional Manager 

of the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre. Lisa has a Diploma of Community Services 

— Child Care and an Advanced Diploma of Management. Lisa has been a SNAICC 

National Executive Member since November 2001. She was the SNAICC 2010 

Conference Working Group Convenor. 

Elvie Sandow 

Chairperson, Gundoo Day Care Centre 

Cherbourg, Queensland 

Elvie Sandow is from Cherbourg in Queensland and has lived there all her life. 

Elvie is the mother of three children and has two grandchildren. She has served 

as the Chairperson of Gundoo Day Care Centre for the last 15 years and is also 

the Chairperson of Youth and Community Combined Action (YACCA), a juvenile 

crime prevention initiative. Between 2000 and 2004 Elvie was a councillor for the 

local Aboriginal Shire Council. She was also the Secretary for Cherbourg Junior 

Rugby League for 10 years. Elvie currently works as Payroll Officer for Cherbourg 

Aboriginal Shire Council, where she has worked for the past 19 years. 

Reuben Ardler 

General Manager, Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council 

(includes the Gudjagahmiamia (MACS) Learning Centre) 

Wreck Bay, New South Wales 

Reuben Ardler is a Wodi Wodi man from the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community, 

located in the Jervis Bay Territory (formally part of the ACT) on the NSW coast 

approximately 200km south of Sydney. Reuben has worked in a number of senior 

roles with the Wreck Bay Aboriginal Community Council since 1996 and is 

currently the Manager responsible for day to day Council operations including the 

provision of childcare centre being the Gudjahgahmiamia MACS Early Learning 

Centre. Prior to joining WBACC, Reuben worked for many years as a public servant 

for the Commonwealth, including at the former Aboriginal Development 

Commission and the Department of Employment, Education and Training. He has 

also been a member of various boards, including the Wreck Bay Aboriginal 

Community Council Board and Jervis Bay Primary School Board. Reuben has 

been the ACT/JBT Early Childhood representative on the National Executive since 

November 2010. 


Roslynne Webb 

Coordinator, Noogaleek Children Centre (MACS) 

and Winnanggay Preschool 

Berkeley, New South Wales 

Roslynne Webb’s grandmother’s family (Campbells) are from the Yuin Nation, Wallaga 

Lake, in southern NSW, and her grandfather’s family (Henrys) from Walcha. 

Roslynne started at Noogaleek in 1989 as an assistant, then returned in 2002 as 

Coordinator, after working as a SUPS Worker for Illawarra Children’s Cultural 

Resource Unit and with Illawarra Area Health Service as the Otitis Media 

Coodinator. She is on the National Quality Framework Industry Reference Group. 

Roslynne has a Diploma in Children’s Services and completed a Bachelor of 

Teaching — Early Childhood in 2011. Roslynne joined the SNAICC National 

Executive in 2009. 

Josie Crawshaw 

Chief Executive Officer 

Stronger Aboriginal Families, Together (SAF,T) 

Darwin, Northern Territory 

Darwin-born Josie Crawshaw is the inaugural CEO of SAF,T (pronounced “safety”), 

the new peak body for Aboriginal children, youth and families in the NT. Josie is 

a Gurindji woman and a member of a large extended local family with sporting, 

business and political links. Josie’s mother, the late Nawala (Daisy) Ruddick, 

was taken from her family at Limbunyah Station, 750km south-west of Darwin, 

to the Kahlin Compound, along with hundreds of other children now known as 

the Stolen Generations. This family history has fuelled Josie’s pursuit of equality 

and social justice for Aboriginal peoples at the local, national and international 

level including serving as ATSIC Commissioner for the Top End, chairperson 

and founding member of the Top End Aboriginal Coalition and working on the 

development of the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. She has 

been a keynote speaker on Aboriginal rights at Forums in New Zealand, Kenya, 

Fiji, Indonesia, Norway and Japan. Josie joined the SNAICC National Executive in 

August 2012. 

Leona Smith 

Director, Kaurna Plains Early Childhood Centre (MACS), 

Elizabeth, South Australia 

Leona Smith is a Narrunga woman from the Point Pearce community on South 

Australia’s York Peninsula. Leona has worked at Kaurna Plains Early Childhood 

Centre since first working as a relief staff in 1990, through to nursery team 

leader, and becoming director in 1999. She did a Certificate in Management and 

Organisational Leadership Skills, a Diploma in Child Care and a Bachelor of Early 

Childhood. Leona served on the SNAICC Executive in 2002–03, and returned in 

2010 as the SA Early Childhood delegate. 



Kerry Crawford 

Executive Manager of Early Intervention and Family Services 

Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) 

Brunswick, Victoria 

Kerry Crawford is the Executive Manager of Early Intervention and Family 

Services, Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA). Kerry has worked in 

the child protection and out-of-home care sector, both in the government and 

non-government since 1997, providing specialist advice and guidance on Aboriginal 

policy, operations, projects, programs and initiatives; developing positive 

working relationships with both Aboriginal and non Aboriginal agencies, and; 

development and implementation of Strategic Business Plans. Kerry joined the 

SNAICC National Executive in November 2011. 

Rose Bamblett 

Victorian Aboriginal Education Association (VAEAI) 

Early Childhood Specialist Representative via Lulla’s 

Children and Family Centre (MACS) 


Rose Bamblett is a Wiradjuri woman with ties to the Bangerang and Yorta Yorta. 

For the past 30 years Aunty Rose has been dedicated to providing culturallysensitive 

early childhood support services for Koori families. Rose was part of 

a Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) committee that was pivotal in 

establishing the Lidje Child Care Centre in Shepparton, where she worked from 

1979 to 1996 as an early childhood worker and coordinator. Rose was on the 

SNAICC founding committee in 1981 and has held the position of Early Childhood 

Specialist Representative for VAEAI since the early 1980s. 

Dorothy (Dot) Bagshaw 

Director, Gurlongga Njininj Assoc. Inc. (MACS) 

Perth, Western Australia 

Dot Bagshaw is a Nyoongar woman from Kojonup, WA. She has been Director of 

Gurlongga Njininj Child Care Centre (MACS) since 2001. Dot has been involved with 

NAIDOC in Perth for over 30 years and numerous Aboriginal organisations and 

was a Burswood WA Senior of the Year finalist 2010. Dot has served on the SNAICC 

National Executive since 2000 as the WA Early Childhood representative. 


Natalie Lewis 


Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP) 

Brisbane, Queensland 

Of the Kamilaroi Nation in Northern New South Wales, Natalie Lewis is the 

current Chief Executive Officer of the Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander Child Protection Peak. Natalie also serves on the Board of Directors for 

the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Human Services Coalition. Natalie has 

an educational background in psychology and is currently studying law at the 

Queensland University of Technology. Her professional experience has been 

acquired in Queensland and in the United States in the areas of youth justice and 

more recently child protection, providing direct service and program and policy 

development over the past 16 years. Natalie was co-opted to the SNAICC National 

Executive in August 2012. 

Also served on the National Executive 

Alison Wunungmurra 

Early Childhood Program, Regional and Remote 

Aboriginal Children and Services Support Unit 

Batchelor/Darwin, Northern Territory 

Alison Wunungmurra is a Yolgnu woman from north-east Arnhem Land. Alison 

has worked with children and families for over a decade. She lectures in 

children’s services and undertakes project work for Batchelor Institute for 

Indigenous Tertiary Education (BITTE). Alison has a Certificate III and IV in 

Children’s Services and is studying the Bachelor of Education (Early Childhood). 

Alison replaced Kim Whitburn on the National Executive as the NT Early Childhood 

representative in May 2010. She resigned in May 2012. 


“Every day there’s 

something here for the kids 

to do with their cultural 

identity and their families 

— for example, family 

trees and family photos 

of everyone. Recently we 

talked about how different 

we all are but how we’re all 

the same. And the kids were 

like ‘wow we’re all Koori 

but we’ve all got different 

coloured hands’...” 

Miranda Borlini 

Director, Lulla’s Children 

and Family Centre 



Chairperson’s 

Message 

SNAICC’s role as a national voice advocating for 

the rights and needs of Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander children came to the fore in 2012 

— at the state, national and international levels. 

The underlying principles of our advocacy work 

— whether on child protection or early childhood 

education — were that meaningful consultation 

with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 

and organisations and giving them more control 

over their affairs should be respected for what 

they are: non-negotiable human rights 

obligations. 

SNAICC, among many other voices, expressed its 

opposition to the Stronger Futures legislation for 

Northern Territory Aboriginal communities — 

and at the heart of this opposition were concerns 

around consultation and participation. 

At the state-territory level, a major issue 

continues to be the alarmingly high and ever 

increasing number of our children in out-of-home 

care. Once placed in alternative care, too many 

of our children are losing connection with their 

families and culture. 

The human and financial costs of the current 

situation are immense and will impact on 

children, their families and communities and the 

wider society for the generations to come. 

We welcome the current major and critical 

reforms to child protection systems in the states 

and territories — systems that have continually 

failed to serve the best interests of Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander children. SNAICC has 

been actively involved with child reforms in the 

NT and we await to see the long-term results there 

and other jurisdictions with great hope. 

And SNAICC is pleased that the next three-year 

phase of the national plan to protect Australia’s 

children will have a specific focus on our 

children’s needs. 

The national plan from the Council of Australian 

Governments is a good blueprint for progress, 

although SNAICC believes some of the measures 

don’t reflect the urgency of the situation and the 

need to do things differently to achieve 

sustainable outcomes. 

SNAICC contends that tackling the underlying 

factors of disadvantage and giving more responsibility 

for child protection issues and activities to 

our community-controlled agencies are the keys 

to sustainable improvements. 

More work is also needed to strengthen compliance 

requirements under the Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle 

in the various state and territory jurisdictions, as 

well as providing more support for carers. 

At the national level, SNAICC lobbied hard for the 

creation of a national Deputy Commissioner for 

Children dedicated to advocate on the distinct 

needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

children. 

The Australian Government announced it will 

establish a national commissioner by the end of 

2012. Disappointingly, the legislation does not 

include a deputy commissioner. SNAICC nevertheless 

views this as a major step forward and is 

keen to ensure the national commissioner has a 

clear mandate, specific functions and adequate 

resources to engage on the issues facing our 

children. 

Continued on page 14 


Chairperson’s Message 

Continued from page 13 

This year, SNAICC continued to promote that the 

best early childhood and care services for our 

children are provided by our communitycontrolled 

organisations, such as Multifunctional 

Aboriginal Children’s Services. Despite their 

proven worth, many of our children and family 

services remain neglected in terms of funding and 

support — to our great frustration and 

disappointment. 

The importance of investing in the critical early 

years cannot be overstated — nor the importance 

of fostering our children’s cultural identity in 

their early childhood education and care. This is 

a clear and consistent message from our organisations 

in the sector, which is undergoing major 

reform at the national level to improve service 

standards. 

SNAICC kept a close eye on, and provided support 

for, the progress of 38 new Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander Children and Family Centres across 

Australia. The centres will play a critical role in 

providing integrated and culturally-appropriate 

family support services. Community ownership 

of the centres will be fundamental in achieving 

these outcomes. 

SNAICC’s focus on the centres is closely 

connected to our work on increasing Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander access and engagement 

with children and family services. This work 

highlights two important areas for development: 

the creation of genuine partnerships between 

community-controlled and mainstream services — 

that move beyond mere rhetoric — and the cultural 

competence of services. 

At the international level, SNAICC participated in 

UN forums that put a global spotlight on Australia’s 

treatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

peoples, including children. The findings revealed 

the urgent need for governments to do much more 

to fufil their human rights obligations. 

In October, SNAICC gained national acclaim when it 

received the Highly Commended Award at the 2012 

Indigenous Governance Awards run by Reconciliation 

Australia. 

The prestigious award is due recognition of SNAICC’s 

efforts to continually improve its procedures so 

that the principles and priorities of its National 

Executive are executed effectively to support our 

children, families and organisations. 

I congratulate my fellow National Executive 

members and SNAICC staff on the award — and 

for a job well done in 2012. 

Dawn Wallam 

SNAICC Chairperson 


CEO’s 

Report 

Another year has flown past and what a great year 

it has been! At a time of government budget cuts 

and growing uncertainty, SNAICC has stayed on 

course, gradually building on our work — at both 

the National Executive and administrative levels. 

We consolidated our internal systems and governance 

processes, strengthened our policy positions, 

produced and distributed more resources, 

increased our training, media and fundraising 

activities, and defined more clearly our relationship 

with government. 

Over the past 12 months the National Executive 

and staff teams enjoyed great stability. We had a 

number of additional co-opted members join the 

NE and have benefited from the work of a record 

number of students, interns, volunteers and 

others working pro bono. 

A highlight in 2012 was celebrating the 25th 

anniversary of National Aboriginal and Islander 

Children’s Day. To mark the special milestone, 

SNAICC produced a coffee table book titled Our 

Children, Our Culture, Our Way. Its photos and 

stories serve as a testament to Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children and families. The 

book also highlights SNAICC’s long commitment 

to working with communities to improve the 

wellbeing of our children and families. 

SNAICC continued to advocate for our membership 

at many committees, from NGOs to government 

and through the media, Indigenous and 

mainstream. Our key messages remain the right 

of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to 

design, develop and deliver services to their own 

local communities and the fundamental right to 

receive the resources necessary to do so. 

The National Framework for Protecting Australia’s 

Children completed its first three-year period and 

in August 2012 announced the next three-year 

plan. SNAICC has been active in both processes, 

with the support of the Coalition of Organisations 

Concerned with the Safety and Wellbeing of 

Australia’s Children (the Coalition). 

SNAICC worked in partnership with numerous 

other organisations to further our policy 

directions (too many to do justice to here, see 

page 45 for the list). I warmly acknowledge all 

the support and assistance we have received from 

many mainstream organisations and people. 

We continued our involvement in the Northern 

Territory, in particular in ensuring the best 

possible roll out of the recommendations made by 

the Board of Inquiry into Child Protection. 

In 2012, SNAICC attended the United Nations 

Permanent Forum on Indigenous Peoples in New 

York, and the review of Australia by the Committee 

on the Rights of the Child in Geneva. This work 

is supported through SNAICC’s partnership with 

Save the Children. Both events, particularly the 

latter, are important platforms for a better understanding 

of Australia’s international obligations 

under the UN system and as a means of holding 

our governments accountable. 

SNAICC continued its work at the international 

level by working to give voice to Indigenous 

children’s issues through our convenorship of the 

Indigenous Sub-Group of the Non-Government 

Organisations Group for the CRC. The lack of 

resources controlled by Indigenous peoples 

everywhere makes meaningful engagement very 

difficult. However, we will keep trying. 

Looking ahead, 2013 is shaping as a huge year for 

SNAICC — our 30th year of operation. SNAICC’s 

national conference next June is attracting plenty 

of interest. It should be a great event, offering a 

lot of learning, contacts and direction. 

I look forward to the challenges and opportunities 

ahead as we — SNAICC staff and the National 

Executive — continue to advocate strongly for the 

rights, needs and aspirations of Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children and families. 

Frank Hytten 

SNAICC CEO 


“The kids in WELA are a step 

ahead of the rest. School 

becomes easy for them, 

their reading levels are high, 

their behaviour is good, they 

know what to do and they 

do it. They interact well with 

other kids. They are more 

independent. The kids share. 

They are more confident.” 

Estelle Hunter 

Chairperson, Wyndham Early 

Learning Activity (WELA) 

Wyndham, WA 


In 2012, SNAICC published a hard-cover coffee 

table book to celebrate the 25th anniversary of 

National Aboriginal and Islander Children’s Day 

(NAICD). 

The full-colour 144-page book — titled Our 

Children, Our Culture, Our Way — features 

photographs and stories contributed by 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families 

from across Australia. 

The book showcases positive images of 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family 

life, as well as the work of organisations across 

Australia that support children and families. 

“This wonderful book is a celebration of our 

children and families,” SNAICC Chairperson 

Dawn Wallam said. 

“It pays tribute to all our parents, families and 

organisations that are presented with the enormous 

responsibility and challenges of raising 

healthy, happy, resilient children 

proud and strong in culture. 

“The beautiful images in the book are an 

affirmation that Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander child, family and cultural connections 

are maintained and nurtured every day of the 

year. 

“The photos and stories also celebrate and 

illustrate the rich diversity of Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander cultures and practices 

across Australia, as well as the diverse 

settings in which we live.” 

Early in 2012, SNAICC invited families and 

organisations to contribute photos and stories 

for the book. We received over 350 photos and 

had the big job of compiling as many as we 

could into the book. 

SNAICC sends a warm thank-you to all the 

families and organisations that contributed to 

Our Children, Our Culture, Our Way. The book is 

available for purchase from SNAICC. 


A snapshot of published work in 2012 

Key policy documents 

A National Children’s Commissioner — 

Submission on Australian Government 

Discussion Paper (December 2011) 

Overview of the Victorian Charter of Human 

Rights — SNAICC Briefing Paper 

(December 2011) 

Inquiry into the Stronger Futures in the Northern 

Territory Bill — Submission to the Senate 

Community Affairs Legislation Committee 

(February 2012) 

Integrated Service Delivery for Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander Children and Families — 

Literature Review (March 2012) 

Submission to the Attorney-General’s 

Department: Australia’s Draft National Human 

Rights Action Plan (March 2012) 

Opening Doors Through Partnerships — SNAICC 

Report (April 2012) 

Intensive Family-Based Support Services for 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children 

and Families — Background Paper by Professor 

Clare Tilbury of Griffith University (April 2012) 

Improved Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander Children and Families in Early 

Childhood and Care Services: Learning from 

Good Practice — Report (April 2012) 

National Framework for the Protection of 

Australia’s Children 2009 to 2020 — Discussion 

Paper (April 2012) 

Submission in Relation to General Assembly 

Resolution A/RES/66/141 on the Rights of 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children in 

Australia (April 2012) 

Submission to the Senate Inquiry into the 

Australian Human Rights Commission 

Amendment (National Children’s Commissioner 

Bill 2012 (June 2012) 

Learning From Good Practice: Implementing the 

Early Years Learning Framework for Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander Children — Report 

(June 2012) and Profiles (September 2012) 

18 SNAICC Annual Report 2012 

Cultural Competence in Early Childhood 

Education and Care Services — SNAICC 

Consultations Overview (June 2012) 

Coming Together: The journey towards 

effective integrated services for Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children and families — 

Discussion Paper (June 2012) 

Children Growing the Declaration Strong: 

Advancing the Rights of Indigenous Children — 

Discussion Paper (July 2012) 

Review of the Budget Based Funding Program — 

SNAICC Submission (September 2012) 

Resource publications 

Growing up our way: Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander Child Rearing Practices Matrix 

LearningGames: Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander Activities for Early Learners 

Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) Good 

Practice Fact Sheets 

Caring for our Children and Families: Profiling 

the set up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander Children and Family Centres 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Rights 

Report Card (in collaboration with National 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal 

Services) 

SNAICC’s Guide to Applying for Deductible Gift 

Recipient Status (and Surviving!) 

National Aboriginal and Islander Children’s 

Day (NAICD) 2012 poster and activity book 

Respecting and Valuing Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander Peoples and Cultures: HIPPY 

Australia’s Cultural Awareness Handbook 

Other major publications 

Our Children, Our Culture, Our Way coffee 

table book for 25th anniversary of National 

Aboriginal and Islander Children’s Day 

Three editions of SNAICC News newsletter 

(January 2012, May 2012 and August 2012) 

For more information on all of SNAICC’s published 

work go to www.snaicc.org.au

Our work — the 

four focus areas 

The 2011–16 SNAICC Strategic Plan is 

based around four focus areas which 

define our work to improve the lives of 


children: 

Focus area 1: Child and family 

wellbeing and community support and 

development 

Focus area 2: Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander community-controlled 

services for children and families 

Focus area 3: Social justice and 

children’s rights 

Focus area 4: A strong national peak 

body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait 


SNAICC’s activities are also guided by 

Eight Priorities (detailed on pages 52– 

53), which it pursues in partnership 

with stakeholders. 

This report highlights SNAICC’s 

activities under each of the focus 

areas, covering the period from 

October 2011 to September 2012. 


Focus 

area 

1 

Child and family wellbeing and 

community support and development 

Major activities in 2012 

SNAICC advocated for a proactive, strengthsbased 

three-year action plan focused on 


children in implementing the next phase 

of the National Framework for Protecting 

Australia’s Children 2009–20. 

SNAICC submitted two discussion papers to 

FaHCSIA to inform the development of the 

three-year plan, one detailing research priorities 

and the second outlining priority proposals 


children. 

SNAICC lobbied extensively for a strong plan 

and was pleased to see the Action Plan for 

2012–15 (released in August 2012) have a significant 

focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander children, who are supported through 

a separate goal and targeted actions under 

each other goal of the plan. 

With a more comprehensive and holistic 

approach, the action plan also has a new 

emphasis on the need to support local 

capacity, local solutions and Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander participation and leadership. 

The plan’s key aims, which SNAICC strongly 

advocated for, include: enhanced application 

of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

Child Placement Principle; minimum quality 

benchmarks for each national standard for 

out-of-home care; partnerships between 

Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander organisations 

and mainstream providers; and a community 

development approach to child protection 

in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

communities. 

SNAICC is preparing a proposal for key actions 

and processes to implement these broad aims 

over the next three years. 

SNAICC sits on the National Framework Implementation 

Working Group (NFIWG), which will 

continue to work to advise, co-ordinate and 

support the efforts of the sector (governments 

across the nation and NGOs) on the framework. 

SNAICC also co-chairs the Closing the 

Gap sub-group of the NFIWG and convenes the 

NGO Closing the Gap Working Group, as well as 

contributing to the work of other NFWIG subgroups. 

SNAICC is very pleased to be at the table and 

working with governments and NGOs from 

all jurisdictions on very important children’s 

issues, but with such a wide range of politics, 

progress is difficult. However, some changes 

have happened and more are being negotiated. 

This work will continue into 2013 and beyond. 

To strengthen the focus on prevention 

strategies, SNAICC commissioned a 

background paper on intensive familybased 

support services for Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children (May 2012). 

SNAICC then undertook consultations with 

intensive family support services on their 

roles and importance, and the critical factors 

that support outcomes for our children and 

families. The results of these consultations 

were developed into an article published in the 

Developing Practice journal (October 2012). 

The article contends that under effective and 

culturally-appropriate models, intensive family 

support services have high impact, reducing 

the need for tertiary child protection intervention 

in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

communities and improving family and 

community wellbeing. 

SNAICC continued work on the critical 

issue of cultural proficiency in early 

childhood education and care (ECEC) 

services. An overview paper was developed 

on consultations SNAICC conducted with 


A focus of SNAICC’s work in 2012 was researching how the Early Years Learning Framework will impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander children and family services such as the Undoonoo Child Care Centre (pictured above) at Woorabinda, Queensland. 

nine diverse early childhood services — both 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and 

mainstream. The consultations explored 

services’ understandings of cultural 

competence, their incorporation of aspects 

of culturally competent policies, systems and 

practices within their service and any barriers 

they experienced in implementing culturally 

competent early childhood education and care. 

Based on these consultations, the overview 

paper proposed a series of recommendations 

for policy development to both enable and 

ensure cultural competence in ECEC service 

provision for Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander children. 

SNAICC believes that the key to improving 

cultural competence is a strong and clear 

definition within the National Quality Standard 

(NQS), on which services can then be 

assessed. SNAICC continues to advocate for 

this with Federal ministers and other elected 

representatives, as well as advocating for 

the inclusion of BBF services within the NQS 

over time and to support services to achieve 

compliance wherever they are located. In this 

regard, SNAICC is also strongly advocating for 

NQS assessors to include Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander identified positions and to receive 

comprehensive and high-quality cultural 

competence training. 

Positive transition to school is fundamental 

for the longer term development of Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander children. SNAICC 

believes that support for transition to school 

for our children is a priority issue that requires 

greater attention. In 2012, SNAICC conducted 

initial research to identify the critical issues 

and the various types of support required to 

improve transition outcomes. SNAICC will 

commence consultations to develop effective 

support to improve ECEC educators’ skills, 

knowledge and expertise in supporting 

transition to school for our children and 

families. 

Resource services 

SNAICC again supported local activities across 

Australia on 4 August for National Aboriginal 

and Islander Children’s Day (NAICD) — 

which in 2012 celebrated its 25th anniversary 

— as well as organising the NAICD national 

launch in Melbourne. 

SNAICC produced two kits to help communities 

celebrate the day: a ‘children’s pack’ which 

included pencils, stickers, wrist-bands and 


tattoos and a ‘grown-ups pack’ which included 

posters, balloons, and the 2012 Activity Book 

for educators to use with Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander children. 

The 2012 NAICD poster featured Guungu 

Yimithirr children at Hope Vale, Queensland, 

enjoying their time at the beach. The photo, 

taken by photographer Kathi Gibson- 

Steffensen of the Dhubbi Warra Nation, 

captured the essence of this year’s NAICD 

theme Our Children, Our Culture, Our Way. 

The theme highlighted the importance of 

cultural nurturing and identity in raising 

healthy, confident and happy children; and 

that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

child, family and cultural connections are 

maintained and nurtured every day of the 

year. 

To mark the 25-year milestone, SNAICC 

published a hard-cover coffee table book 

— titled Our Children, Our Culture, Our Way — 

featuring photographs and stories sent in by 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families, 

communities and organisations across 

Australia (for more information on the book, 

see page 17). 

SNAICC held the national launch at the Bubup 

Wilam for Early Learning Aboriginal Children 

and Family Centre, at Thomastown, in 

Melbourne’s north (see pages 24–11). Bubup 

Wilam officially opened in June 2012 and is 

one of 38 new Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander children and family centres that will 

be established across Australia by 2014. 

In late 2011, SNAICC published a new online 

child rearing resource, Growing up our way: 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child 

Rearing Practices Matrix. 

The matrix was developed following a two-year 

research project by SNAICC of the literature 

on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child 

rearing practices, values and beliefs. 

Growing up our way provides detailed insights 

into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child 

rearing practices — collected from the relevant 

literature, through independent research and 

interviews with members of Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander communities. 

The matrix is for all who are interested in 

preserving, promoting, valuing and respecting 

the diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander child rearing practices. The target 

audiences include community members 

and organisations, families, practitioners, 

researchers and policy officers. 

The resource also aims to increase the cultural 

awareness — and culturally-appropriate 

work practices — of those working with, and 

supporting, Aboriginal and Torres Strait 


Such has been the interest from communities 

that SNAICC in July 2012 published a hard 

copy edition of the matrix to make it more 

accessible. 

In 2012, SNAICC developed a new resource 

looking at promising healing practices for 


and families. 

Healing in Practice documents programs that 

enhance Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

children and families capacity for healing, to 

assist services that are looking to establish a 

new healing service or program, or strengthen 

an existing one. 

Healing in Practice is intended to be practical 

and informative. It illustrates that effective 

and sustainable programs for Aboriginal and 


always draw upon the local communities’ 

strengths and require community leadership, 

community ownership and community 

knowledge. 

Among the programs showcased are Berry 

Street’s Take Two Program in Victoria, the 

Healthy Family Circle Program in NSW and the 

Yorgum Aboriginal Family Counselling Service 

in WA. 

At the core of each of these programs is a 

focus on strengthening children’s connections 

to Aboriginal people and culture. Programs 

profiled in the resource are detailed under four 

primary principles listed by the Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation as 

essential for successful healing. 


SNAICC completed its project adapting the 

LearningGames® in partnership with 

the Parenting Research Centre for use by 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and 

mainstream early childhood services. 

Using the Abecedarian approach developed 

by US Professor Dr Joseph Sparling, the games 

are simple activities designed to stimulate the 

development and learning of children from 

birth to 60 months. 

In 2012, SNAICC completed the licensing 

agreement with Teaching Strategies, allowing 

SNAICC to adapt six LearningGames for early 

learners. SNAICC worked with MyTime groups 

in Hume (Victoria) and Perth (WA) to select 

the most appropriate game and adapt them to 

ensure they are culturally appropriate. 

SNAICC appreciates the important role 

caregivers have in protecting, caring and 

nurturing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

children. To support carers and strengthen 

their capacity to provide culturally appropriate 

care, SNAICC is developing an online carer 

resource to support their needs and those of 

the children in their care. 

The interactive, multimedia online resource 

utilises a variety of tools to engage carers in 

practical and culturally appropriate ways. 

Developed in line with the National Standards 

for Out-of-Home Care, it will provide general 

information, practical tips and activities for 

the carer and child, as well as links to further 

resources and support. 

In 2012, SNAICC produced a culturally 

appropriate poster which adapts the wording 

in the national standards for all service 

providers of out-of-home care for Aboriginal 

Torres Strait Islander children and young 

people. 

SNAICC was commissioned by Home 

Interaction Program for Parents and 

Youngsters (HIPPY) to produce a manual 

and poster on cultural awareness for HIPPY 

coordinators and home tutors working with 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families. 

In 2012 SNAICC completed the production of 

the manual and poster on behalf of HIPPY. 

SNAICC is working in partnership with the 

Australian Council for Educational Research 

(ACER) on the School Readiness Initiative 


Children. SNAICC is providing expertise based 

on our 8 Priorities for Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander Children and Families for the 

initiative, which will include a television 

series, resources for children and families, and 

teaching and learning resources for educators. 

SNAICC continued to collaborate with and 

support individuals and community 

organisations through publication and 

distribution partnerships, including 

St Luke’s Innovative Resources, Neenann, 

the Family Action Centre (University of 

Newcastle), Warburton Breakfast Minyma, 

Family & Relationship Services Australia 

and Aboriginal Nations. In July SNAICC 

commenced distribution of the Honey Ant 

Readers numeracy and literacy educational 

resources; and in August distribution of four 

of the Iconic Songs series books from One Day 

Hill Publishers Australia. SNAICC continues 

to seek new and exciting resources from the 

community for publication and distribution. 

Training 

In partnership with Family Relationship 

Services Australia, SNAICC continued to offer 

a two-day workshop on cultural competence 

in working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander children and families. The Working 

and Walking Together Workshops are based 

on SNAICC’s popular resource, Working 

and Walking Together: Supporting Family 

Relationship Services to Work with Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander Families and 

Organisations (2010). Workshops were held 

in New South Wales, Queensland and South 

Australia. 

SNAICC formed a partnership with Autism 

Queensland to deliver a pilot workshop 

on Autism for Multifunctional Aboriginal 

Children’s Services (MACS) staff, with the hope 

that these workshops will roll out across the 

country in future. 


National Aboriginal and Islander 

Children’s Day 2012 

The 25th anniversary of National Aboriginal 

and Islander Children’s Day (NAICD) on 

4 August 2012 was marked by many and varied 

celebrations across Australia and SNAICC’s 

national launch in Melbourne. 

NAICD has been held since 1988 to honour and 

celebrate the importance of Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children within family and 

community; and to raise awareness of the issues 

that impact on their lives. 

The NAICD theme for 2012 was Our Children, 

Our Culture, Our Way. Local events across the 

country included a family day at the Aborigines 

Advancement League in Melbourne, organised 

by the Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency 

and a similar event at Parramatta Park in Sydney 

held by the NSW peak body AbSec. 

In Darwin, the NT peak body SAF,T (Stronger 

Aboriginal Families, Together) organised, with 

a number of agencies, a family day at Jingili 

Water Gardens which included a sausage sizzle, 

basket weaving, jumping castles and free health 

checks. 

In Perth, the Department for Child Protection 

held an art competition open to all children in 

care in WA; while at Mt Druitt in NSW, the Yenu 

Allowah Aboriginal Child and Family Centre held 

a photo exhibition highlighting the importance 

of culture and community in raising strong, 

proud children. 

The NAICD national launch was held at Bubup 

Wilam for Early Learning Aboriginal Children and 

Family Centre at Thomastown, in Melbourne’s 

north. 

Guests, including children from the centre, were 

treated to a performance on the didgeridoo by 

Yorta Yorta man Troy Kuhl, traditional dancing 

by the Kinneman Dancing Spirits Troupe and a 

barbecue lunch. Children were presented with 

fun materials, including balloons and stickers, 

produced by SNAICC to celebrate the day. 

SNAICC Chairperson Dawn Wallam said the 

25-year milestone was an apt time to reflect on 

progress in the lives of Aboriginal and Torres 


Ms Wallam said while there had been some 

improvements, our children and young people 

remained the most disadvantaged Australians. 

She said international criticism of Australia’s 

efforts to protect the rights of children should 

be a rallying call for governments to act urgently 

and decisively. 


Images on this page are from the national launch of National 

Aboriginal and Islander Children’s Day. The launch was held at the 

Bubup Wilam for Early Learning Aboriginal Children and Family 

Centre at Thomastown, Victoria.

1 

6 

2 

3 

5 

4 

1. Dulwich Hill Primary School students at the AbSec family day 

at Parramatta Park in western Sydney. 

2.Nudgee High School in Townsville marked the day with rugby 

jerseys specially designed for NAICD. 

3.Children at the Lismore (northern NSW) celebrations 

4.Undoonoo Child Care Centre at Woorabinda (central Qld) had 

a barbecue as part of its festivities. 

5. (From left) Melissa Yost, Selina Holtze, Chantal Munro and 

Amanda Markwell at the Darwin event organised by SAF,T. 

6.Fruit was on the menu at the Brisbane NAICD event. 


Focus 

area 

2 


community-controlled services for 



This year, SNAICC completed research to 

identify elements of genuine “good practice 

partnerships” between Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander community-controlled 

organisations and mainstream service 

providers. SNAICC published a major report 

which explored issues raised by the following 

questions: 

• what do genuine partnerships require at 

different stages of partnership development, 

operation and management 

• what resources and practical support are 

required to enable genuine partnerships 

• what are practical approaches that 

contribute to successful partnerships 

The report profiles the experience of nine 

different partnerships, detailing the principles 

underpinning successful partnerships and the 

practices that are supporting genuine partnership 

development in children and family 

services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander people. 

SNAICC conducted workshops on partnerships 

at the Honouring the Child, Honouring Equity 

Conference at the University of Melbourne in 

November 2011 (which also featured a keynote 

address by SNAICC National Executive member 

Lisa Coulson), and at the Change for Our 

Children AbSec conference in December 2011. 

SNAICC also made a poster presentation at the 

2012 Australian Institute of Family Studies 

(AIFS) Conference and wrote an article 

highlighting good practice published in the 

Autumn 2012 edition of Reflections magazine. 

A major piece of work this year focused on 

increasing understanding of how communitycontrolled 

early childhood education and 

care services can and do deliver better 

outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait 


A background paper by Dr Clare Tilbury of 

Griffith University, Improved Outcomes for Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander Children and 

Families in Early Childhood Education and Care 

Services: Learning from Good Practice (April 

2012) informed a SNAICC research project to 

explore how services are implementing the 

Early Years Learning Framework (EYLF) to 

improve outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres 


The research was based on consultations with 

14 community-controlled ECEC services and 

six Indigenous Professional Support Units 

(IPSUs) across Australia. SNAICC published the 

findings in a report titled Learning from Good 

Practice: Implementing the Early Years Learning 

Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander Children. 

The report highlights that natural alignment 

with existing practice and philosophies has 

assisted many services to successfully engage 

with the framework. 

In particular, the services interviewed 

demonstrated strength and innovative 

approaches in delivering key outcomes such 

as nurturing children’s cultural identity, with 

all services firmly believing that culture must 

underpin all that they do. 

Services also focused strongly on a holistic 

view of wellbeing that incorporates all aspects 

of a child’s development, including the wellbeing 

of the child’s family and community. 

Services looked to form empowering and 

resilient partnerships with families and 

communities, a key EYLF principle. 

The holistic approach has many benefits for 

children, helping to build a stronger community 

and parents who can support their 


development, as well as helping to strengthen 

children’s cultural identity and connection. 

The research also enabled SNAICC to create a 

‘Good Practice Profile’ for each of the services 

interviewed, as well as an accompanying series 

of fact sheets on promoting, exploring and 

celebrating Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander cultures when implementing the 

principles and practices of the Early Years 

Learning Framework. 

The resources are primarily for educators in 

community-controlled services and in mainstream 

services that serve Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander children, but can be used more 

broadly to increase understanding of the importance 

of culture and inclusion within early 

childhood education and care services. 

This year, SNAICC worked hard to inform and 

support the establishment of the 38 new 


Children and Family Centres across 

Australia. 

Funded under the Council of Australian 

Governments’ National Partnership Agreement, 

the centres — five of which are operating and 

the rest expected to do so by 2014 — will play 

a crucial role in delivering effective integrated 

services to our children and families. 

A policy paper was developed exploring the 

elements of integrated services necessary to 

meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait 


While SNAICC has supported the drive for 

service integration, there has been little Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander perspective 

on integrated service delivery models and the 

extent to which they respond to the needs of 

our children and families. 

Integrated services play an important role in 

ensuring vulnerable families are reached and 

in changing the focus towards early intervention 

to support families and protect children. 

The paper identified and addressed four critical 

areas: 

• an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

community strengths-based approach 

• genuine partnerships with Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander organisations and 

communities 

• targeting services to promote access for, 

and engagement of, Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander children and families, and 

• sustainable service delivery that achieves 

long-term outcomes for Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children, families and 

communities. 

Children play at the Bubup Wilam for Early Learning Aboriginal Children and Family Centre at Thomastown, Victoria. Bubup Wilam is 

one of 38 new Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and family centres that will be set up across Australia by 2014. 


Drawing on the knowledge and experience of 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service 

delivery and integration leaders, the paper 

offers a partnership model for effective 

integrated service delivery for Aboriginal and 


through the new centres. 

Strong themes emerged in the paper around 

relationship building and developing effective 

partnerships, as well as building a foundation 

for local ownership and sustainability. The 

paper provides a basis for ongoing exploration 

of these critical and complex issues, and to 

work with the centres and existing Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander integrated services to 

support quality services for our children, 

families and communities. 

SNAICC developed a new resource, Caring for 

our Children and Families: Profiling the set up of 


and Family Centres. The booklet tracks the 

development of 33 of the 38 centres. It contains 

valuable information on the centres’ establishment, 

including construction, governance 

structures, service provision and workforce 

development. It aims to increase awareness of 

the centres, and the support that these and 

other services require to provide quality, 

accessible and sustainable services to our 

children and families. 

In July 2012, the Australian Government 

announced a review of Budget-Based Funded 

(BBF) services. BBF services have provided 

a fundamental support to children, families 

and communities for decades. Being owned 

and run by communities has meant that 

their understanding of and relationships 

with communities has enabled effective and 

responsive programs that build on community 

and cultural strengths, and attain great 

outcomes for children and families. 

Despite significant challenges in funding, infrastructure 

and workforce development support, 

these services continue to be a bedrock for 


around Australia. This review is a prime opportunity 

to review the current challenges faced 

by the BBF model and to begin the process 

of building a future for Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander ECEC services that is based on 

an equitable, sustainable and effective model. 

SNAICC completed major consultations, 

research and preparation of a submission in 

response to a discussion paper by the Department 

of Education, Employment and Workplace 

Relations (DEEWR) on the Review of the BBF 

Program. 

Consultations took place with diverse 

community-controlled early childhood 

services; early childhood peak bodies (state 

and national); Indigenous Professional 

Support Units; sector experts; and SNAICC 

National Executive members. SNAICC also 

attended a number of the public DEEWR 

consultations and a held a meeting with the 

Federal Minister for Early Childhood and Child 

Care, Kate Ellis. 

The need to improve on the current system and 

address significant gaps in the existing 

program to better support Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander ECEC services is a high 

SNAICC priority and will be a key aspect of work 

throughout the entire review process. SNAICC 

is strongly advocating for strong principles to 

drive the funding program, and that it must be 

assessed on whether it can meet the complex 

needs of our communities. 


In 2012, the SNAICC Resource Service team 

worked on updating a long-time popular 

resource, Through Young Black Eyes: A handbook 

to protect children from the impact of family 

violence and child abuse (TYBE). 

Through Young Black Eyes reflects on the 

issues of family violence and the impacts of 

colonisation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander families and communities, and 

responds by finding ways to strengthen the 

safety and care of our young people. As the 

title suggests, SNAICC has developed a resource 

to reflect on these issues from Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander perspectives. 

Originally published in 1991, with updated 

versions in 2002, 2005, and again in 2007, the 

most recent version of TYBE featured as part 

of a training resource to assist Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander communities to develop 

community safety plans. 


Updating the handbook is part of the revisions 

to the TYBE workshop kit — creating 

additional opportunities to explore ways of 

yarning, thinking and working around the 

safety of our children. 

In developing a new edition of the kit, SNAICC 

responded to encouraging feedback and helpful 

hints received from organisations working 

with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

children and young people. 

SNAICC is also incorporating recent changes 

in legislation and policy, along with the use 

of current research, resources and programs 

regarding child abuse, neglect and family 

violence to improve the TYBE kit. 

SNAICC developed a cultural needs booklet 

which aims to ‘unpack’ what Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander people mean when 

they refer to culture, and cultural needs. 

The resource was developed following some 

concerns from those who work with Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander children of ‘doing 

the wrong thing’ or uncertainty about ‘where 

to start’ when attempting cultural work with 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. 

The booklet portrays different aspects of 

cultural needs and connections that enhance 

a young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

person’s sense of identity and wellbeing. It offers 

reflective practices to assist those involved 

in mainstream child care across Australia to 

understand some of the specific — but by no 

means all — cultural needs of Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children. 

The cultural needs resource is in line with 

Belonging, Being and Becoming: The Early 

Years Learning Framework for Australia (EYLF) 

practice of cultural competence. 

Training 

SNAICC was funded by the Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander Healing Foundation to 

offer 10 free train-the-trainer workshops on 

the best use of the Through Young Black Eyes 

Workshop Kit. Workshop sites were chosen after 

an expression of interest process — workshops 

on SNAICC’s highly-regarded resource will 

commence in November 2012. 

SNAICC partnered with Save the Children 

Australia to offer a free Course in Responding 

to Domestic and Family Violence for up to 10 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander family 

violence workers in October-November 2012. 

This initiative is funded by FaHCSIA. 


A major focus of SNAICC’s work this year 

was identifying the principles of good 

practice partnerships between Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander communitycontrolled 

organisations and mainstream 

organisations. 

In late 2011 SNAICC staff visited the 

Aboriginal-run Wyndham Early Learning 

Activity (WELA) in Western Australia’s East 

Kimberley to learn about the work that 

WELA has been doing in partnership with 

Save the Children. 

Creating genuine and respectful partnerships 

WELA started as a community initiative for young 

mothers and babies at the recreation centre in 

Wyndham. The mums felt that mainstream services 

weren’t meeting their needs and were getting 

together regularly, using whatever resources they 

could to build capacity for themselves and their 

children. 

Save the Children became involved in 2005 through 

the Australian Government program, Communities 

for Children. 

Save the Children partnered with Joorook Ngarni 

Aboriginal Corporation in Wyndham to fund and 

support the development of WELA. 

Since this time WELA has evolved from 

a playgroup to an incorporated and independent 

broader service with activities including: focused 

learning for children with their mums, health and 

nutrition support, transition to school support, a 

breakfast club, a women’s centre and men’s groups. 

WELA Coordinator, Jane Parker, explains that 

WELA’s growth has been made possible through the 

partnership: “If Save the Children had not come 

in, there would not be the family engagement… 

there would not be WELA. They took a chance on 

a fledgling group. This has been a massive change 

for our sustainability and capacity for service 

outcomes.” 

Anthea Whan of Save the Children explains that 

working in partnership with WELA is about helping 

WELA to meet their objectives and not about the 

growth of Save the Children. Anthea says that 

the approach is to take WELA’s lead, build on the 

strengths of the young mums’ group and make clear 

to WELA what Save the Children can do to assist. 

Jane believes that, in partnership with Save the 

Children, WELA has been able to pursue its own 

priorities and respond to the needs of families 

in Wyndham. In the partnership WELA makes 

clear that everything should be relevant to the 

community, the programs must be flexible, WELA 

needs to grow to provide holistic services and local 

leadership is key. 

A focus on building relationships of trust is 

important to make the partnership work. Save 

the Children has established a presence in the 

community, given time to the relationship and been 

patient to wait for the community to express their 

needs. 

WELA recognises that Save the Children value 

their perspective and what they contribute to the 

partnership. They can raise concerns with no fear 

that funding will be withdrawn because of what is 

said. 

The partnership has made a major contribution to 

build capacity for WELA. This has included support 

with the process of incorporation, developing 

policies and procedures and strengthening financial 

management. 

Save the Children has supported WELA to obtain 

other sources of funding and lobbied funding 


Photos: (opposite page) children at the Wyndham community; 

(above) artist Doreen Long with her painting WELA Mob, about 

the project at Wyndham, with WELA staff members. 

bodies on their behalf. They have contributed to 

professional development for staff through training 

and also mutual mentoring roles between staff of 

WELA and Save the Children. 

WELA has helped to build the cultural competency 

of Save the Children and connect them with the 

local community. There have been challenges in 

the relationship, but WELA believes that over time 

Save the Children have improved their approach, 

developed an appropriate team and built strong 

relationships. 

Efforts by Save the Children to develop the cultural 

awareness of staff and the employment of local 

Aboriginal staff by Save the Children have been 

vital to the partnership. 

Jane explains that one of the most important 

successes of WELA and their partnership with 

Save the Children has been the empowerment of 

community members: “I have only Aboriginal staff 

at the moment and that is because they are good. 

They are part of the success of WELA, their personal 

growth as community women. The building of their 

skills and confidence is enormous.” 

WELA Chairperson, Estelle Hunter, describes the 

success of WELA for the children: “The kids in 

WELA are a step ahead of the rest. School becomes 

easy for them, their reading levels are high, their 

behaviour is good, they know what to do and they 

do it. They interact well with other kids. They are 

more independent. The kids share. They are more 

confident.” 

Principles for working 

in partnership 

Save the Children identified key 

principles that underpin partnership work 

with WELA: 

• It is not about the image or growth of 

Save the Children, it is about support 

for WELA to fulfill their objectives. 

• Ideally we wouldn’t be here in 20 or 50 

years, so it is important for us to build 

capacity locally. 

• It is taking their lead on it. The 

program was dictated by what they 

thought would work within the 

community. 

• The partnership builds on the 

strengths of the young Mums group 

that was already operating. 

• We suggest possibilities and they identify 

priorities. Through our actions we 

demonstrate what we can do for them. 

WELA identified key principles that 

underpin partnership work with Save the 

Children: 

• Everything we do with Save the 

Children should be relevant to the 

community. 

• The aim is to respond to what the 

community wants: WELA must have 

the flexibility to adapt programs to 

emerging community needs. 

• The focus is providing the service and 

we do not want to become ‘an office or 

a bureaucracy’. 

• WELA needs to grow in order to 

provide a holistic service to the 

community which addresses all the 

needs of children and families. 

• Developing strong community 

leaders is key, including employment 

and training of local people and 

having a local board of management. 

• Cultural awareness of Save the 

Children staff is critical to effective 

relationships. 


Focus 

area 

3 

Social justice and children’s rights 


This year, SNAICC sought to raise awareness 

of the urgent needs of Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children and youth, 

and to gain support for a national Deputy 

Commissioner for Aboriginal Torres Strait 

Islander Children. As an alternative, SNAICC 

advocated, and continues to advocate, for 

a strong and clear legislative mandate for a 

National Children’s Commissioner to focus on 


and youth. 

In September 2011, SNAICC participated in the 

roundtable hosted by the Australian Human 

Rights Commission on a National Children’s 

Commissioner to work towards common NGO 

positions. SNAICC contributed to the NGO 

Sector Position Paper that emerged from this 

process. 

SNAICC also prepared its own submission (in 

December 2011) focusing on the rationale for 

a Deputy Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

Children’s Commissioner in response to the 

Australian Government’s Discussion Paper. 

SNAICC held a number of meetings with the 

Attorney General’s Department and FaHCSIA 

to discuss the proposal for a deputy commissioner 

and further met with various senators 

and ministers. SNAICC took the opportunity to 

make a further written and oral submission on 

the National Children’s Commissioner Bill in 

June 2012. The issue was also included in submissions 

on the Draft National Human Rights 

Action Plan and the National Framework for 

the Protection of Australia’s Children. 

In April 2012, the Australian Government 

announced it would create a National 

Children’s Commissioner by the end of the 

year. While additional support was gained for a 

Deputy Commissioner — including from the UN 

Committee on the Rights of the Child, the Child 

Rights Taskforce, the National Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the 

National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples 

— the draft legislation did not include a provision 

to create such a position. 

Efforts have now turned to supporting an 

Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander candidate 

for the national commissioner role and 

developing a strong agenda and working 

methods to support Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander children and youth. 

In early 2012, SNAICC joined a wide section 

of the community in expressing serious 

doubts about the Stronger Futures package 

of bills for Aboriginal communities in the 

Northern Territory to extend the Australian 

Government’s intervention for 10 years. 

In a submission to the Senate Community 

Affairs Legislation Committee (in February 

2012), SNAICC recommended that the 

legislation be completely redeveloped in 

accordance with international human rights 

laws to which Australia is bound. 

SNAICC argued the proposed bills did not 

provide a coordinated response to the factors 

that were cited as the rationale for the 2007 

Northern Territory Emergency Response 

(NTER). These were serious and complex issues 

around child protection, and underlying 

problems of alcoholism, violence, poverty and 

generational trauma. 

SNAICC contended that, as with the initial and 

amended response of the NTER, the proposed 

Stronger Futures package is a far cry from the 

holistic, integrated measures recommended 

in the 2007 Children are Sacred report which 

instigated the Australian Government’s 

intervention. 

SNAICC lobbied the Federal Minister for 

Indigenous Affairs on Stronger Futures 


Against the Stronger Futures legislation: Dhanggal Gurruwiwi from Yirrkala, George Gaymarani Pascoe (Milingimbi), Rosalie 

Kunoth-Monks OAM (Utopia), Betty Pike, a Nyoonga woman from SW Australia, Miriam Rose Ungunmerr-Baumann AM (Nauiyu), 

Djapirri Mununggirritj (Yirrkala), Rev Dr. Djiniyini Gondarra OAM (Galiwin’ku) and Harry Jakamarra Nelson (Yuendumu). 

and issued a media release to express its 

solidarity with the Yolnuw Makarr Dhuni 

(Yolngu Nations Assembly) — which represents 

Aboriginal people in Western, Central and 

East Arnhem Land and is fiercely opposed 

to the legislation. SNAICC also compiled an 

overview for its website on the opposition to 

the bills, including comments from Yolnuw 

Makarr Dhuni, human rights agencies, the 

National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples, 

the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

Social Justice Commissioner and former Prime 

Minister Malcolm Fraser. 

The Stronger Futures legislation was passed by 

the Senate in June 2012. 

SNAICC submitted a briefing paper to the 

Department of Families, Housing, Community 

Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA) on 

its proposed new family support program, 

Caring for Our Mob. SNAICC is keen to assist 

the development of the new model to translate 

intention to do things differently into real 

practice on the ground. 

SNAICC has been very committed to the 

reform of the child protection system in 

the Northern Territory. SNAICC had been 

engaged with services in the NT before the 

announcement of the Board of Inquiry into 

Child Protection in the Northern Territory in 

2009 and continued our involvement after the 

announcement, working with local agencies to 

develop a response and lobby for the changes 

the sector believed would improve the system. 

When the then NT Government accepted all the 

recommendations of the inquiry, including 

that an independent body be set up to monitor 

and review progress with the implementation 

of the recommendations, SNAICC was invited 

to participate as a part of that committee. 

SNAICC accepted the role on condition that we 

remained able to effectively support and thus 

be informed by the sector in the NT. Over the 

past two years, the committee has worked to 

seek direct input from the ground on progress, 

and to inform the department and report to 

the minister on our findings. 

We have seen progress made — slow at first, 

then gradually gaining momentum. The task 

will take quite a long time to get 

entrenched as a part of a much healthier 

culture and way of doing business. 

At the time of publication, the new NT Government 

announced it would disband the 

Monitoring and Review Committee, among 

other changes. SNAICC believes its abolition 

will break the continuity and momentum of the 

recent child protection reforms, leading to a 


loss of confidence —particularly 

in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

communities. It will mean the recommended 

and necessary bipartisan approach has yet 

again failed to take hold. 

In 2012, SNAICC invested significantly in 

better understanding and engaging with 

targeted international Indigenous human 

rights bodies. This included participation in 

the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous 

Issues (UNPFII) in New York and the UN 

Committee on the Rights of the Child in 

Geneva. 

The Eleventh Session of the UNPFII (from 

7 to 18 May) was attended by four SNAICC 

representatives as part of the Australian 

delegation in New York: Deputy Chairperson 

Geraldine Atkinson, CEO Frank Hytten, Policy 

and Research Manager Emma Sydenham, and 

SNAICC Resource Service Manager Melissa 

Brickell. 

SNAICC activities at the UNPFII included 

hosting a side event on Indigenous children, 

making a statement on Indigenous children 

and youth to the forum and hosting a series 

of meetings, including with UNICEF and 

the Special Rapporteur on the Rights of 

Indigenous Peoples. SNAICC reported on its 

experience as Foreign Correspondent in the 

May 2012 edition of the Human Rights Law 

Centre’s monthly Bulletin. 

SNAICC prepared three background papers to 

inform our participation in the Permanent 

Forum: 

• Children Growing the Declaration Strong, 

a document that introduces key human 

rights instruments relevant to Indigenous 

children: the United Nations Convention 

on the Rights of the Child (CRC) and the 

United Nations Declaration on the Rights 

of Indigenous Peoples (Declaration). The 

paper highlights some key successes and 

strengths of the CRC in its first 20 years, 

and the strong complementarities between 

the CRC and the Declaration, as important 

and tangible lessons and opportunities for 

advancing Indigenous children rights. 

• A systematic overview of the work of the 

UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous 

Issues since 2001 that relates to 

Indigenous children — including all 

recommendations and the current status of 

their implementation. 

• An overview of the work of the Special 

Rapporteur on the Rights of Indigenous 

Peoples as it relates to Indigenous children. 

SNAICC is seeking to build on a number of the 

recommendations made by the forum this year, 

including an invitation to the UN Committee 

on the Rights of the Child to participate in 

its next session, and to prepare for effective 

participation in 2013. 

The UN Committee on the Rights of the Child 

reviewed Australia’s implementation of the 

UN Convention on the Rights of the Child in 

Geneva, Switzerland, on 4 and 5 June 2012. 

SNAICC was represented at the review by 

Deputy Chairperson Geraldine Atkinson and 

CEO Frank Hytten. 

In preparation for the review, SNAICC was 

a member of the Child Rights Taskforce and 

Steering Committee, contributing to the Listen 

to Children report (May 2011), and the 

Addendum Report (May 2012). 

Being in Geneva for the review also gave 

SNAICC the opportunity to engage with Committee 

members, seeking guidance on how to 

best address serious violations that Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander children continue to 

experience. 

In its report, released in June 2012, the committee 

was very strong in its indictment of the 

Australian Government and provided comprehensive 

recommendations to strengthen the 

protection of Indigenous children’s rights in 

Australia. For more information on key 

recommendations see pages 36–37. 

To build awareness around these recommendations 

and how organisations and individuals 

can use them to support our children, SNAICC 

prepared: 

• a brief overview of the relevant recommendations 

as an online resource 

• a briefing paper connecting the 

committee’s recommendations to the 

second three-year plan for Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander Children in the 

implementation of the National Framework 


for the Protection of Australia’s Children, 

and 

• a booklet, Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander Child Rights Report Card, which 

explains the concerns and recommendations 

on the rights of Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander children and youth, and 

suggests how Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander services, organisations, parents 

and communities can take action to 

improve the protection of, and support 

for, the rights of our children. 

CRC member Marta Mauras has also confirmed 

participation as an international key note at 

SNAICC’s national conference in June 2013. 

The CRC recommendations strongly build on, 

and will be further integrated in, existing 

SNAICC work. 

For example, SNAICC will focus on key recommendations 

to strengthen Aboriginal participation 

in child protection decision-making 

and increase the availability of early childhood 

education and care services for all children by 

considering providing free or affordable early 

childhood care. 

SNAICC undertook activities to reactivate the 

Indigenous Sub Group of the NGO Group 

on the Convention on the Rights of the 

Child (ISG) during the reporting period, 

based on an agreed work plan and more 

regular communication. As well as hosting 

a series of events at the UN Permanent 

Forum on Indigenous Issues in New York, 

SNAICC attended the ISPCAN Conference in 

Istanbul in September 2012, at which National 

Executive member Desley Thompson gave three 

presentations — on international partnerships 

to advance the rights of Indigenous children; 

Indigenous leadership in integrated children 

and family services; and Indigenous cultural 

advice services in child protection. 

SNAICC also prepared two submissions to 

contribute to the UN Secretary General’s 

report on the rights of children with particular 

attention to Indigenous children, one on 

behalf of the ISG and one from a national 

perspective on behalf of SNAICC. Through 

this representation, the ISG advocated for 

increased visibility of Indigenous children 

in international human rights forums and 

increased pressure for redress of their rights 

violations. 

SNAICC participated in other major processes 

this year to increase awareness of human 

rights issues impacting Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander children, and to strengthen and 

broaden efforts for better protection. These 

included: 

• a submission to the Attorney General’s 

Department (AGD) on the Australian 

Government’s Draft National Human Rights 

Action Plan 

• a submission to the AGD on a new UN 

mechanism, ratified in December 2011, that 

gives children (or their advocates) an avenue 

to complain about potential abuses of 

their rights to the Committee on the Rights 

of the Child, and 

• two submissions for the United Nations 

Secretary-General in preparation of a report 

he was requested to provide to the General 

Assembly on the rights of the child, with a 

focus on the rights of Indigenous children. 

One submission centred on critical rights 

issues that Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander children continue to experience in 

Australia; the other submission, on behalf 

of the Indigenous Sub Group of the NGO 

Group on the Convention on the Rights of 

the Child, was on violations of the rights of 

Indigenous children around the world, including 

key recommendations for change. 

This year SNAICC continued to increase 

awareness of child rights, including: 

• facilitating a series of sessions on the 

rights of the child at Indigenous Human 

Rights Advocacy training conducted by the 

Diplomacy Training Program and Oxfam 

Australia at Mt Isa in March 2012 and Alice 

Springs (September 2012), and 

• producing an information paper on the 

Victorian Charter of Human Rights and 

Responsibilities Act 2006 and the Australian 

Capital Territory equivalent, with a focus 

on their relevance to Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander peoples and children 

(December 2011). 


In 2012, SNAICC attended two important 

international forums to help promote 

greater awareness of the human rights of 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, 

particularly children. 

As well as attending the Eleventh Session 

of the United Nations Permanent Forum on 

Indigenous Issues in New York, SNAICC was 

present in Geneva for the review of Australia 

by the Committee on the Rights of the Child. 

For more information, visit 

www.snaicc.org.au 

The United Nations casts an eye on Australia’s 

performance on human rights 

The Committee on the Rights of the Child reviewed 

Australia’s implementation of the UN Convention 

on the Rights of the Child in Geneva, Switzerland, 

on 4 and 5 June 2012. 

SNAICC was present in Geneva, having been part of 

an NGO collective engaged with the UN committee 

over the past two years to prepare for this hearing. 

At Geneva, the committee held positive talks with 

members of the Australian Government and, more 

informally, with NGOs. SNAICC highlighted to both 

the government and the UN committee persistent 

human rights issues impacting Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children and the need for 

change. 

The UN committee’s report, released in June 2012, 

provided comprehensive recommendations to the 

Australian Government on a number of human 

rights issues. The report highlights, in particular, 

Australia’s failure to address many of its prior 

concerns, and the gap in institutional protection 

of children’s rights, particularly for Aboriginal and 


The report also highlights the continued serious 

and widespread discrimination against Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander children in accessing 

health, education and housing services. 

SNAICC is keen to start discussions with the 

Australian community on how the UN committee 

recommendations can be progressed to see 

improved protection of rights for Aboriginal and 



Committee’s recommendations 

In its recommendations, the UN committee focused 

on a gap in participation and decision-making by 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples on 

issues impacting their children, as well as in 

Aboriginal representation in children’s rights 

monitoring mechanisms. 

To remedy this, it suggested the Australian 

Government: 

• appoint a Deputy Commissioner for Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander children’s issues at the 

national and-or state-territory levels 

• establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

Steering Group to oversee and review each 

“Closing the Gap” target as it impacts on child 

development, wellbeing and protection, and 

• ensure the meaningful participation of 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples 

in the policy formulation, decision-making and 

implementation of programs affecting them. 

The recommendations cover the spectrum of 

human rights, including health, education, disability, 

leisure, protection and identity. Some of 

the issues within SNAICC’s mandate raised by the 

committee’s report are summarised below. 

Children in out-of-home care 

The committee drew attention to the high number 

of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children 

being placed into care, separated from their homes 

and communities and challenged the government 

to redress these problems. These included an 

absence of national data documenting the criteria 

and decisions leading to child placement; and

inappropriate placements, including placing 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children outside 

their communities. 

The committee expressed frustration with 

Australia’s failure to adopt its past recommendations. 

It again called for government measures 

to fully implement the Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander Child Placement Principle and intensify 

its cooperation with Indigenous communities and 

leaders to find the most appropriate solutions. 

SNAICC has constantly repeated this message and 

strongly agrees with the committee in highlighting 

the need to work together to develop solutions 

that respond to local needs and improve the 

situation of children in alternative care placements. 

In the longer term, the committee emphasised the 

need for early intervention approaches to provide 

support to families in vulnerable situations and 

prevent or mitigate abuse and neglect of children. 

Stronger Futures legislation 

The committee called for a different approach to 

the punitive nature of the Northern Territory Emergency 

Response Act (2007), which was continued 

by the Stronger Futures bills — since passed by 

Federal Parliament in June 2012. It made specific 

mention of the measure which allows for punitive 

reductions to welfare payments for parents whose 

children don’t attend school. It called for measures 

that are proportionate and that do not discriminate 

in form or in practice. 

Culture 

The committee urged the government to review its 

progress in implementing the recommendations of 

the 1997 Bringing them home report to ensure full 

respect for the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander children to their identity, name, culture, 

language and family relationships. 

More action required from 

government on human rights 

The Committee on the Rights of the Child 

was very clear that Australia’s human 

rights obligations require far more from the 

Australian Government. At the heart of what 

the committee felt was required included: 

• meaningful participation of Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander communities in 

decisions impacting their children 

• clear positions of Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander leadership at both state 

and national levels empowered to make 

decisions on policies and programs 

designed for children 

• funding, staff and technical expertise to 

support community-based programs, and 

• long-term national strategies that respond 

to the causes of disadvantage and build on 

evidence of what works. 

Early childhood care 

The committee noted that early childhood care and 

education continues to be inadequate for children 

under four years of age. And it was concerned that 

the majority of early childhood care and education 

is provided by private institutions, resulting in the 

services being unaffordable for most families. 

Education 

The committee called on the government to 

protect and promote bilingual models of education, 

and suggested that coordination and monitoring of 

state and territory governments should be provided 

within the “Closing the Gap” initiative. 

Health 

As a major issue of concern, the committee urged 

the government to take action to ensure all 

children and, in particular, Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander children, enjoy the same access to 

quality health services. 

The committee focused on measures that would 

support parents to care for their own children, 

recognising that parents and communities are best 

placed to respond to issues, with government 

delivering professional support and resources to 

allow this to happen. 


Focus 

area 

4 

A strong national peak body for 




Four SNAICC National Executive meetings 

were organised and held, including the 2011 

Annual General Meeting and Members Forum 

in Launceston, Tasmania. 

A number of important issues were canvassed 

at the Members Forum, including the National 

Framework for the Protection of Australia’s 

Children, funding for Multifunctional Aboriginal 

Children’s Services, the role of the new 


and Family Centres, and the Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement 

Principle. 

Guest speakers at the forum included Les 

Malezer, Co-Chair of the National Congress of 

Australia’s First Peoples, and Michael Mansell, 

Legal Director at the Tasmanian Aboriginal 

Centre. 

SNAICC staff numbers increased slightly from 

19 to 20 (12 full-time, eight part-time). 

SNAICC consolidated its program for student 

placements, interns and volunteers, 

involving a range of partnerships with tertiary 

institutions, including internal professional 

development for all staff and students. 

SNAICC moved to further enhance its 

engagement with members and subscribers. 

Members and subscribers were surveyed to 

seek their responses to SNAICC publications 

and other resources, current policy needs, 

potential resource, sector and training gaps, 

and resources they have developed that may 

be appropriate for SNAICC to distribute and/or 

support. 

In 2012, SNAICC had a high priority on 

governance issues, strengthening its 

organisational systems. Internal policies 

and procedures were reviewed and additional 

policies drafted, including on media protocols, 

voting procedures for membership on the 

National Executive, and the Working with 

Children Check and National Police Check 

for all staff and the National Executive. 

Policies were also reviewed to increase staff 

awareness of operational procedures, while 

new employment policies were developed 

following the transfer of all existing SNAICC 

staff contracts to the Modern Award. 

SNAICC was recognised nationally for its 

leading governance work at the prestigious 

Indigenous Governance Awards (IGAs) in 

2012, winning the Highly Commended Award 

in Category A. 

SNAICC was one of five finalists in Category 

A, “for outstanding examples of Indigenous 

governance in Indigenous incorporated 

organisations”. 

The award was won by the Ngaanyatjarra 

Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Women’s Council 

Aboriginal Corporation (NPY Women’s Council) 

in Alice Springs. 

SNAICC will use the $10,000 prize money to 

help fund its scholarships/traineeships 

program. 

Created in 2005, the IGAs are held every two 

years by Reconciliation Australia in partnership 

with BHP Billiton to identify, celebrate 

and promote strong leadership and effective 

governance. 

The 2012 IGAs attracted over 100 applications 

from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

owned organisations and projects — a recordbreaking 

figure and more than triple the 

number from 2010. 

The eight finalists in 2012 (there were three 

finalists in Category B) were selected by 

an independent judging panel chaired by 

Professor Mick Dodson, who said the standard 

of applications had been extremely high. 


At the 2012 Indigenous Governance Awards in Melbourne: (from left) SNAICC manager Sue Beecher, head of the judging panel 

Mick Dodson, SNAICC CEO Frank Hytten, SNAICC Deputy Chairperson Geraldine Atkinson (holding the award won by SNAICC), 

SNAICC National Executive member Sharron Williams and awards judge Glenda Humes. 

The winners were announced at an awards 

ceremony in Melbourne on 12 October. SNAICC 

congratulates all the finalists in the awards. 

In 2012 SNAICC developed and published a 

guide to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander community organisations in applying 

for endorsement as a Deductible Gift 

Recipient (DGR) by the Australian Taxation 

Office. 

The 64-page guide covers the breadth of issues 

organisations need to consider in applying 

for DGR and the support currently available, 

drawing on the experiences of organisations 

with DGR status, including SNAICC, which was 

granted DGR status in 2011. 

Applying for DGR status can be a complex 

process but, if successful, it can confer 

organisations a number of benefits, including 

access to a greater range of philanthropic 

money and donations from the public, as well 

as the ability to offer additional benefits to 

their staff. 

Philanthropic and public money — including 

grants, endowments and private donations — 

have the potential to greatly assist community 

services, programs and initiatives. However, 

many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

organisations have had limited opportunity to 

engage with these sources for a variety of reasons. 

One initial hurdle for our organisations is 

applying for DGR endorsement. 

Considerable work was undertaken to organise 

a SNAICC dinner and concert at Bunjilaka, 

the Aboriginal Cultural Centre at Melbourne 

Museum. 

The gala event, scheduled for 22 November 

2012, will be held to raise funds and as a 

curtain raiser for SNAICC’s 30th anniversary 

celebrations in 2013. 

Funds raised on the night will contribute to 

scholarships for Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander tertiary students and workers within 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations. 

The concert will feature song writing legends 

who have been prominent advocates on 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander issues 

— Archie Roach, Neil Murray, Shane Howard 

and Monica Weightman — as well as the VACCA 

youth choir, the Koorie Tiddas. 


SNAICC intensified its focus this year on 

building stronger relationships with national 

peak Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

bodies and networks. These included the 


Legal Services (NATSILS), National Congress of 

Australia’s First Peoples, First Peoples Disability 

Network, Indigenous Peoples Organisations 

Network, and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander Social Justice Commissioner. 

Information sharing was also a strong aspect 

of collaboration with national child rights 

organisations (Save the Children, National 

Children’s and Youth Law Centre, AYAC, Child 

Rights Task Force Steering Group), as well as 

early childhood and child welfare sector bodies 

and events, including the: 

• Coalition of Organisations Committed to the 

Safety and Wellbeing of Australia’s Children 

• National Children’s Services Forum 

• National IPSU Alliance Conference, and 

• Closing the Gap Working Group. 

SNAICC also participated on the steering committee 

of The Nest project, an independent 

initiative which aims to shape a better future 

for all young Australians by building a national 

plan for coordinated action. 

SNAICC engaged with the Australian Children’s 

Education and Care Quality Authority 

(ACECQA), the new national body for early 

childhood education and care. SNAICC lodged 

a submission (and participated in a follow-up 

interview) on ACECQA’s draft criteria for 

‘Excellent rating’ for ECEC services under the 

National Quality Standard. 


The new SNAICC website (launched in August 

2011) continued to grow in size, quality and 

popularity. 

Website use, measured in number of pageviews 

(hits), totalled 284,326 — an increase of 65 

per cent on the previous year. The resources 

section and news section were the most 

popular with 80,000 visits each — an increase 

of 200 per cent on 2011 — followed by policy 

pages (40,000 pageviews, also a 200 per cent 

increase). 


New features on the website included special 

members only e-alerts, embedded YouTube 

videos of SNAICC digital stories, and a new 

training section. 

Online clearinghouse resources — resources 

and collections from other organisations/ 

websites linked to the SNAICC website — now 

total around 1000. 

The online shopping cart facility continued to 

be used extensively. 

SNAICC continued its multimedia activities, 

successfully producing two broadcast quality 

ads for National Aboriginal and Islander 

Children’s Day. The ads aired on National 

Indigenous Television, community television 

in Melbourne and YouTube. 

Three editions of SNAICC News were published 

— in January, May and August 2012 — and 

distributed to some 1650 organisations and 

individuals, including SNAICC members. The 

newsletter is written and designed in-house. 

This 2012 Annual Report was published and 

distributed to members and other stakeholders. 

Two other publications were published and 

distributed during 2012: a revised edition of 

the SNAICC corporate brochure and, for the 

first time, a NAIDOC Week card. 

Twenty e-bulletins were published in the 

reporting period and distributed to subscribers 

(totalling almost 3000 at the end of September 

2012), and five special alerts were distributed 

to SNAICC members. 

SNAICC’s media activities increased 

considerably in 2012. Twelve media releases 

were issued, which helped to promote SNAICC 

issues, resources and events in Indigenous 

and mainstream media. For example, National 

Aboriginal and Islander Children’s Day on 

4 August received extensive coverage at the 

national, state and local levels. 

SNAICC also increased its use of social media 

tools Facebook and Twitter to promote events 

and raise awareness of children and family 

issues, and is exploring media such as video 

and Youtube to disseminate its messages more 

broadly.

In 2012, SNAICC was a member of the 

Department of Health and Ageing Adaptation 

Reference Group, actively contributing to 

development of the department’s Get up & 

Grow Indigenous resources, which promote 

healthy eating and physical activity in early 

childhood. SNAICC provided feedback on the 

cultural appropriateness of resources and 

contributed to the distribution strategy via 

SNAICC members. 

The resources include a director/coordinator 

book, a staff and carer book, a cooking for 

children book, a family book, six posters, 

14 brochures and four stickers. 

Training 

SNAICC expanded its training function this 

year with the creation of both a dedicated 

team within SNAICC and a National Executive 

sub-committee to deal with training issues. 

The Training and Workforce Development Team 

commenced work in late 2011, building on the 

strong history of SNAICC’s policy, advocacy and 

resource development work. 

SNAICC provides training to support strong and 

vibrant services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander children and families. Our training 

helps to strengthen families, promote their 

stability and enhance the lives of children. 

The two-member team started by rolling out 

training based on a selection of our popular 

(and externally evaluated) resources and 

engaged several highly-skilled Aboriginal 

training facilitators to support us in this work 

— creating a pool of consultants that will be 

called upon to assist SNAICC in future. 

We also formed partnerships with other 

NGOs in the field of children’s services and 

considered ways to expand our work in coming 

years, including the potential to generate 

some income to support SNAICC’s work. 

Extensive preliminary work was undertaken 

during the year in preparation for SNAICC’s 

Fifth National Conference, to be held 

in Cairns in June 2013. The program was 

finalised, with registrations for the conference 

to open early in 2013. See panel article on this 

page for more information. 

Fifth National Conference 

SNAICC’s Fifth National Conference will be held 

at the Cairns Convention Centre from 

3 to 6 June 2013. 

Titled For Our Children: Living and Learning 

Together, the conference’s key objectives are: 

Share and Celebrate Stories 

To celebrate Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander cultures, strengths and successes in 

child and family services. To share our stories 

and ideas about what works and how we 

address our challenges. 

Inspire Action 

To inspire and enable leaders, services and 

others to act in a way that strengthens 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agency, 

self-determination, and connection to culture. 

To ensure the rights of our children and 

families are respected and fulfilled. 

Listen, Learn and Grow 

To listen, learn and grow our knowledge 

of Elders, families and communities, to 

strengthen our connection to culture. To 

inspire, foster and develop leadership and 

collective responses. 

SNAICC’s is the only national conference 

focusing on Aboriginal and Torres Strait 


The conference is supported by an Expert 

Advisory Group, comprising experts and 

leaders on issues relating to the wellbeing of 


and families. Members include Geraldine 

Atkinson, Shaun Coade, Lisa Coulson, April 

Long, Krista McMeeken, Shane Merritt, Desley 

Thompson and Kerry Tim. 

For more information visit the conference website 

at www.snaicc.org.au/conference 


In 2012 SNAICC conducted a series of 

consultations with 14 communitycontrolled 

early childhood and education 

services to explore how services are 

implementing the Early Years Learning 

Framework (EYLF) to improve outcomes for 


children. 

In the process, SNAICC identified some 

innovative early childhood practices being 

undertaken by services, including Ampe 

Kenhe Apmere in Alice Springs. 

New approaches to children’s learning and interaction 

Congress Child Care Centre, or Ampe Kenhe 

Apmere, is a Multifunctional Aboriginal Children’s 

Service (MACS) operating in Alice Springs. It was 

established in the early 1990s in response to a 

need for child care in the community, and initially 

operated out of a house within the community. 

After several years it received funding to become 

established as a MACS service, and was able to 

move into a new, larger building. It now operates 

under the auspices of Central Australian Aboriginal 

Congress Inc, and is licensed for 55 children 

aged from six months to school age. The children 

come from a number of nations in Central 

Australia, including the Luritja, Central Arrernte, 

Eastern Arrernte, Western Arrernte and Warlpiri 

peoples. 

While most early childhood centres separate children 

into different rooms according to their age, 

Congress has implemented an innovative family 

group setting where children of all ages interact 

and learn together. 

This new structure aligns with the wishes of their 

families, as culturally a family group setting is 

better aligned with families’ home and community 

environment and traditions. Consultations with 

staff and families produced a positive reaction to 

the proposed change, and so staff then conducted 

research on the area. 

Training on the theory of attachment and the idea 

of primary carers within the family groupings was 

also provided to staff. Children are now free to 

roam throughout the centre, but all still have their 

own ‘homeroom’ and primary carer to provide 

them with security and attachment. 

A key benefit of this approach has been to curb 

children’s behavioural issues. Head of the centre, 

Branch Manager Margaret Harrison, attributes this 

change to reduced competition for toys between 

children of the same age in the same room. This 

has in turn reduced staff stress and room noise 

levels. Margaret also believes that it has prompted 

staff to more deeply reflect on how to meet the 

needs of each individual child, rather than an age 

group. 


Images on these pages are of children at Ampe Kenhe Apmere (Congress Child Care Centre) in Alice 

Springs, which has designed its learning environments to accommodate family groups. 

Margaret illustrates how this approach supports 

children to assist and nurture each other, 

describing how she recently witnessed a young 

child climbing a plank, with an older child 

standing holding the plank steady. She explains 

how the older child “was giving him a chance to 

actually explore slowly but he was there guiding 

him.” 

Congress has paid particular attention to designing 

its learning environments to accommodate 

family groups. To meet the challenge of multiple 

ages in one setting, it has designed environments 

that cater to any age group, and have opened the 

centre up so children are free to play indoors or 

outdoors. 

Initially staff found that by having all activities 

available in all rooms some activities weren’t getting 

used, as Margaret explains, “because there 

wasn’t enough of them in every room and there 

wasn’t a good space”. 

They therefore redesigned their approach to create 

specialised rooms within the centre, including 

rooms for creative arts, scientific discovery and 

construction, finer arts, and a room for quieter 

activities and finer cognitive work. 

While they have a standard way that each room is 

set up, educators explore what they need to add, 

take away or change to enhance the children’s 

experience in this area according to their interest. 

Following staff training on brain development and 

trauma, staff discussed how child care environments 

do not provide children with opportunities 

for breaks during the day. 

Their new learning environment therefore affords 

children opportunities for time out, as they can 

choose to remove themselves from environments 

whenever they wish and go outside or to a quiet 

space. 

Margaret believes that it is vital for children to 

have time when they can withdraw and be quiet, 

and also to have control over which environment 

they want to be in. She says: “I think that’s 

another one of the reasons why some of the 

behaviour issues have disappeared too, so that 

children who want to be by themselves can actually 

find…a quiet space right away.” 

Based on a discussion with then Congress Branch 

Manager Margaret Harrison, conducted in May 

2012. 


“Our service is about 

Aboriginal kids with 

Aboriginal kids and Aboriginal 

staff. I think that is one 

of the biggest assets and 

contributors to our success in 

this. It’s community…it’s not 

contrived. So I think we take 

for granted that community 

connection, and how powerful 

that cultural connection is 

when it comes to learning, 

self-esteem, identity and 

belonging.” 


Louise Cave 

Director, Birrelee MACS 

Tamworth , NSW

A thank-you to our partners and supporters 

SNAICC would like to thank the following 

organisations (and individuals) that funded, 

supported and-or partnered with, SNAICC in 2012: 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Healing 

Foundation 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social 

Justice Commissioner 

Association of Children’s Welfare Agencies 

(ACWA) 

Australian Council for Educational Research 

(ACER) 

Australian Government Department of Families, 

Housing, Community Services and Indigenous 

Affairs (FaHCSIA) 

Australian Government Department of 

Education, Employment and Workplace 

Relations (DEEWR) 

Australian Centre for Child Protection 

Australian Psychological Society (APS) 

Autism Queensland 

Berry Street 

Bubup Wilam for Early Learning Aboriginal 

Children and Family Centre, Melbourne 

Bunjilaka Aboriginal Cultural Centre, 

Melbourne Museum 

Brotherhood of St Laurence 

Child and Family Welfare Association of 

Australia (CAFWAA) 

Coalition of Organisations Committed to the 

Safety and Wellbeing of Australia’s Children 

Concerned Australians 

Early Childhood Australia 

Families Australia 

Family Action Centre (University of Newcastle) 

Family & Relationship Services Australia 

Fraynework Multimedia 

GoodStart Early Learning Training College 

Gunung-Willam-Balluk Learning Centre, 

Kangan Institute, Melbourne 

Home Interaction Program for Parents and 

Youngsters (HIPPY) Australia 

Honey Ant Readers 

Human Rights Law Centre 

Indigenous Peoples’ Organisation Network 

Indigenous Professional Support Units 

Innovative Resources (St Luke’s) 

Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning 

Kapululangu Aboriginal Women’s Association 

Melbourne Mailing 


Legal Services (NATSILS) 

National Association for Prevention of Child 

Abuse and Neglect (NAPCAN) 

National Children’s and Youth Law Centre 

National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples 

Neenann consultancy firm 

One Day Hill Publishers Australia 

Oxfam Australia 

Parenting Research Centre 

PilchConnect legal service 

PostScript Printing and Publishing 

Professor Clare Tilbury, Griffith University 

Save the Children Australia 

the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

families, communities, organisations and their 

supporters who contributed to the NAICD 25th 

anniversary book, Our Children, Our Culture, 

Our Way 

University of Technology, Sydney 

Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi Aboriginal 

Corporation 

Warburton Breakfast Minyma 

Warrki Jarrinjaku ACRS Project Team 

SNAICC acknowledges the considerable pro 

bono assistance of Arnold Bloch Leibler 

Lawyers, including Peter Seibel, in securing 

Deductible Grant Recipient (DGR) status for 

our agency and other work; and Emma Rattray 

for her pro bono assistance, as an independent 

lawyer, on the SNAICC Gift Fund 

SNAICC thanks the consultants engaged in 

2012 for their professional services 

SNAICC acknowledges the invaluable 

contribution of its volunteer workers, interns 

and students during the year 

and our members, subscribers and purchasers. 


“There’s a whole board 

of Elders from over 

generations. There are 

pictures of Risdon Cove, 

Oyster Cove, children that 

used to come here, or 

political rallies done by the 

Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre 

that got us here. So when 

people walk in here they all 

feel welcome, they all feel 

connected…it’s speaking to 

the whole community.” 

Alison Overeem 

Director, Aboriginal 

Children’s Centre 

Risdon Cove, Tasmania 


Membership of external committees 

In 2012, senior SNAICC staff and members of 

the SNAICC National Executive participated on 

various committees and working groups at the 

state-territory and national levels. These were as 

follows: 

Aboriginal Child and Family Statewide 

Reference Group 

Alliance for Forgotten Australians 

Australian Children’s Education and Care 

Quality Authority (ACECQA) 

Australian Centre for Child Protection — 

Building Bridges — Building Capacity National 

Steering Committee 

Best Practice Advisory Committee 

The Common Approach to Assessment, Referral 

and Support Taskforce (CAARS) 

Child and Family Welfare Association of 

Australia Inc. (CAFWAA) 

Child Rights Task Force and Steering 

Committee 

CFCA Information Exchange Expert Advisory 

Group (Clearinghouse) 

Children and Families Round Table 

Clearinghouse External Advisory Group 

Coalition of Organisations Committed to the 

Safety and Wellbeing of Australia’s Children/ 

Steering Committee 

Department of Health and Ageing Adaptation 

Reference Group for Get Up & Grow Indigenous 

resources 

Early Childhood Mental Health Working Group 

(COAG) 

Families Australia Board/ Steering Committee 

Family Day Care Industry Reference Group 

Grow Macs Advisory Group 

Indigenous Peoples’ Organisation (IPO) 

National Children and Youth Action Plan 

Steering Committee (The Nest project) 

National Child Protection Clearinghouse 

(NCPC) Reference Group 

National Children’s Services Forum (NCSF) 

National Framework Advisory Committee 

(NFAC) 

National Framework Implementation Working 

Group (NFIWG) 

NFIWG — Closing the Gap Working Group 

NFIWG — Building Capacity and Expertise 

Working Group 

NSW National Quality Framework Reference 

Group 

Northern Territory Child Protection External 

Monitoring and Reporting Committee 

National IPSU Alliance 

Stronger Aboriginal Families, Together (SAF,T) 

Expert Panel 

Stolen Generations Alliance 

Subject Matter Expert Group, “Early Childhood 

Mental Health and Wellbeing Competencies of 

ECEC Workforce” 

The Sub-Group on Indigenous Children and 

Young People (UN) 

Universal Access to Early Childhood Education 

Stakeholder Advisory Committee. 


Organisational chart 

Executive Assistant 

Manager, Finance 

Manager, Organisational 

Services 

Finance Administration 

Officer 

Communications 

Coordinator 

Online Communications 

and Multimedia Officer 

Graphic Design/Project 

Officer 

Administration and 

Membership Officer 

Administration Assistant 

(Trainee) 

Students, interns and 

volunteers 

National Executive 


Manager, SNAICC 

Resource Service 

Manager, Policy and 

Research 

Manager, Training and 

Workforce Development 

SRS Project Officer Policy Officer 

Training Project Officer 

SRS Project Officer Policy Officer Conference Coordinator 

Conference Project 

Officer 


SNAICC staff (as at 30 September 2012) 


Frank Hytten 

Executive Assistant 

Sarah Rogers 

Manager, SNAICC Resource Service 

Melissa Brickell 

SRS Project Officer 

Joanne Borg 

SRS Project Officer 

Nick Butera 

Manager, Organisational Services 

Sue Beecher 

Communications Coordinator (Media and 

Publications) 

Giuseppe Stramandinoli 

Online Communications and Multimedia 

Officer 

Tatiana Doroshenko 

Graphic Design/Project Officer 

Guy Hancock 

Administration and Membership Officer 

Sandra Barber 

Administration Assistant (Trainee) 

Ashley Tennyson 

Manager, Policy and Research 

Emma Sydenham 

Policy Project Officer 

John Burton 

Policy Project Officer 

Holly Mason-White 

Finance Manager 

Ragavan Kandiah (Raj) 

Finance Administration Officer 

Phichyanee (Yanee) Myint (A/g) 

Piumi Miriyagalla 

Manager, Training and Workforce Development 

Catriona Elek 

Training Project Officer 

Rebekah Francis 

Conference Coordinator 

Poppy Bervanakis 

Conference Project Officer 

Larissa Walker 

Volunteers, interns and students 

Volunteer — Policy Section 

Susan Salmon 

Volunteer — Organisational Services 

Pip Daniel 

Student Placement — Communications/Policy 

Aiman S. Ahmad 

Student Placement — Policy 

Rebecca Boss 

Student Placement — SNAICC Resource Service 

Gareth Commins 

Administrative Assistant (Casual)— Finance/ 

Communications 

Ambika Somasundaram 

SNAICC also wishes to acknowledge the following 

volunteers, interns and students who worked in 

the agency and made invaluable contributions in 

the past 12 months: 

Allara Ashton 

Laura Aylott 

Clare Bartholomaeus 

Karla Brooks 

Carolyne Cohn 

Teya Deller 

May Drewes 

Hariette Farrance 

Chloe John 

Veronica Jones (Admin. Assistant Trainee) 

Sanaya Khisty 

Simone King 

Caitlin Louth 

Ruth Mintern 

Luella Monson-Wilbraham 

Andrew Pascoe 

Sharon Roussos 

Graham Shonfield 

Toruna Ujoodah 

Ryan Wood. 


SNAICC Governance 

SNAICC is governed by a National Executive 

made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

community-controlled children and family 

services, elected by SNAICC’s financial full 

members for a two-year term. 

All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

community-controlled children and family 

services supporting SNAICC’s aims and objectives 

can apply to the SNAICC National Executive to 

become a full SNAICC member. 

The National Executive represents Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children and family services 

and provides direct aid to and promotes the 

rights, needs and aspirations of Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children and families. 

Services represented on the National Executive 

must have constitutions that fit with SNAICC 

values, and the representative member must have 

the appropriate Working With Children screening 

and a current Australian Federal Police check. 

National Executive members are elected on a 

volunteer basis. 

SNAICC holds four National Executive meetings 

per year. The Annual General Meeting (AGM) and 

Members’ Forum is held in November each year. 

The 2011 AGM was held in Launceston and the 

2012 AGM will be held in Melbourne. 

To find more about the SNAICC National Executive 

see www.snaicc.asn.au/aboutus 

National Executive sub-committees 

SNAICC National Executive sub-committees 

comprise a combination of National Executive 

members and SNAICC staff. 

Currently (at October 2012) SNAICC operates 

with six sub-committees, as follows: 

Management Sub-committee 

Membership and Communications Subcommittee 

Policy and Research Sub-committee 

Resources Sub-committee 

Training Sub-committee, and 

Gift Fund Sub-committee. 

SNAICC National Executive members, SNAICC staff and representatives of SNAICC member 

organisations attended the 2011 AGM and Members’ Forum in Launceston, Tasmania. 


SNAICC National Executive, 

November 2010 to November 2012 

State and territory members 

CO-OPted member 

Qld: Queensland Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander Child Protection 

Peak Ltd (Brisbane Office QATSICPP) 

Natalie Lewis 

NT: 

Stronger Aboriginal Families, Together 

(SAF,T) 

Josie Crawshaw 

Category B 

Childcare services 

Qld: Gundoo Day Care Centre 

Elvie Sandow 

WA: Gurlongga Njininj Association 

Inc. (MACS) 

Dot Bagshaw 

Vic: 

Victorian Aboriginal Education 

Association Inc. (VAEAI) 

Rose Bamblett 

Tas: Tasmanian Aboriginal Child 

Care Association (TACCA) 

Lisa Coulson 

NSW: Noogaleek Children’s Centre (MACS) 

Roslynne Webb 

SA: 

Network SA Resource, 

Advisory and Management Services Inc. 

(SA IPSU) 

Leona Smith 

Vacancies: NT, ACT 

Category C 

Child and family welfare services 

NSW: AbSec 

Bill Pritchard 

WA: Yorganop Association Inc. 

Dawn Wallam 

SA: 

Vic: 

NT: 

Aboriginal Family Support 

Services Inc. 

Sharron Williams 

Victorian Aboriginal Child 

Care Agency Inc. (VACCA) 

Kerry Crawford 

Regional and Remote Aboriginal Children 

and Services Support Unit 

Alison Wunungmurra 

Vacancies: Qld, Tas, ACT 

Category D 

Local early learning 

and preschool services 

ACT: Gudjahgahmiamia MACS 

Reuben Ardler 

Vic: 

Lulla’s Children and Family Centre 

Geraldine Atkinson 

Category E 

Local child and family 

welfare services 

Coffs Harbour Aboriginal Family Community Care 

Centre 

Garry Matthews 

Cape York/Gulf Remote Area Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander Child Care Advisory 

Association Inc. (RAATSICC) 

Desley Thompson 


8 

for 

Priorities 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander Children and Families 

1. Support families to care for 

children 


provide children with a wonderful childhood that 

is enriched by family connections and cultural 

identity. Services engaging with Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander families should aim to build 

on existing family strengths to assist families 

to develop healthy relationships to care for 

themselves and their children. Child care, healing 

services, parenting services, housing programs 

and employment programs are examples of the 

types of support that families need if they are to 

provide children with a happy childhood that will 

be the foundation for their future success in life. 

2. Value and respect Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander culture 

Cultural identity and connection to family, 

community and country/land are the birth right 

of every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child 

and what they need to prosper. Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander children will grow, learn and 

excel when their cultural needs are met, valued 

and respected at home, school, child care and 

throughout all aspects of their lives. 

The 8 Priorities poster can be ordered online: 



3. Healing and reparations for the 

Stolen Generations 

The National Apology to the Stolen Generations 

on 13 February 2008 was an important step in 

acknowledging the wrongs done to members of 

the Stolen Generations, their families and all 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. 

Governments must now acknowledge that because 

injustice was inflicted compensation is required. 

Services to heal, reconnect and preserve families 

and prevent the removal of children in this and 

future generations are also essential and must be 

provided. 

4. Self-determination in child 

protection 

Self-determination in child protection is a 

right. Recognising that Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander communities are best placed 

to make informed decisions about the safety, 

well being and protection needs of Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait Islander children ensures selfdetermination. 

Decision makers in child protection 

need strong trusting relationships with families 

and communities to ensure that decisions are well 

informed. Evidence shows that community based 

models of child protection offer the best option 

for protecting children. Appropriate family and 

community members should be closely involved 

in all decisions regarding children’s safety 

and protection to ensure risk and alternative 

care options are appropriately assessed. Each 

community must develop and run holistic 

community based child and family welfare services 

child protection service models that meet that 

community’s needs and capacities.

5. Thrive by five with culture alive 

Meeting children’s health, development and cultural 

needs through programs that value learning 

and respect for culture is the best way to ensure 

improvements in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

children’s long term well being and educational 

achievements. A confident ready-to-learn Aboriginal 

or Torres Strait Islander child starting school is one 

who is healthy, has strong family bonds, who knows 

and is proud of his or her Aboriginal or Torres Strait 

Islander culture and who has participated in a quality 

early learning program. A high quality early learning 

program is one that has supported the child to 

identify with and feel proud of his or her Aboriginal 

or Torres Strait Islander culture. This support must 

continue through their school years to ensure their 

continued confidence and success. 

6. Real results take real planning 

The future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

people must be made by Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander people. Plans only improve people’s 

lives when they have been developed in close 

consultation with those people and include clear 

short, medium and long term outcomes that are 

properly funded, monitored and reported against. 

A National Action Plan for Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander children’s welfare and development 

which guides initiatives and programs of the 

federal government and all states and territories 

must be developed. 

7. Building capacity builds 

communities 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people 

know best what their children, young people 

and communities need and want. The role of 

governments is to support and sustain the ability 

of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals 

and organisations to work in a culturally sound way 

that will improve people’s health and education, 

strengthen families, improve connections to 

culture and build strong Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander communities. Governments need 

to work more flexibly and supportively with 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander agencies 

across all areas of the community sector. Rather 

than governments prescribing what local agencies 

do, they should support them to meet local needs. 

8. Hope, wealth and prosperity 

for our children 

All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, 

wherever they live, should enjoy a childhood that 

encourages them to aim high and explore all of 

life’s opportunities. They should be encouraged to 

dream like other kids of a happy and prosperous 

life and be supported to realise their dreams. Each 

and every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander child 

should feel safe in their homes and communities, 

feel proud of their heritage and culture and have 

health care and educational opportunities available 

to other Australian children. This will enable 

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children to 

share in and contribute to the wealth and prosperity 

of their nation. 


Independent Audit Report 

For the Year Ended 30 June 2012 

To the Committee Members of Secretariat of 

National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care 

Incorporated 

Scope 

We have audited the accompanying financial 

report, being a special purpose financial 

report of Secretariat of National Aboriginal and 

Islander Child Care Incorporated for the year 

ended 30 June 2012 as set out on pages 3 to 

14. The financial report comprises the Assets 

and Liabilities Statement as at 30 June 2012, 

and the Income and Expenditure Statement 

and Statement of Cash Flows for the year then 

ended 30 June 2012, a summary of significant 

accounting policies, other explanatory notes and 

the Statement by the members of the Committee. 

Committees’s Responsibility for 

the Financial Report 

The Committee of the Association is responsible 

for the preparation and fair presentation of the 

financial report and have determined that the 

accounting policies described in Note 1 to the 

financial statements, which form part of the 

financial report, are appropriate to meet the 

requirements of the Associations Incorporation 

Act 1981 (Victoria) and are appropriate to meet 

the needs of the members. The Committee’s 

responsibility also includes establishing and 

maintaining internal controls relevant to the 

preparation and fair presentation of the financial 

report that is free from material misstatement, 

whether due to fraud or error; selecting and 

applying appropriate accounting policies; and 

making accounting estimates that are reasonable in 

the circumstances. 

Auditor’s Responsibility 

Our responsibility is to express an opinion on the 

financial report based on our audit. No opinion is 

expressed as to whether the accounting policies 

used, as described in Note 1, are appropriate to 

meet the needs of the members. We conducted 

our audit in accordance with Australian 

Auditing Standards. These Auditing Standards 

require that we comply with relevant ethical 

requirements relating to audit engagements and 

plan and perform the audit to obtain reasonable 

assurance whether the financial report is free 

from material misstatement. 

An audit involves performing procedures to obtain 

audit evidence about the amounts and disclosures 

in the financial report. The procedures selected 

depend on the auditor’s judgement, including the 

assessment of the risks of material misstatement of 

the financial report, whether due to fraud or error. 

In making those risk assessments, the auditor 

considers internal control relevant to the entity’s 

preparation and fair presentation of the financial 

report in order to design audit procedures that 

are appropriate in the circumstances, but not 

for the purpose of expressing an opinion on the 

effectiveness of the entity’s internal control. 

An audit also includes evaluating the 

appropriateness of accounting policies used and 

the reasonableness of accounting estimates 

made by the Committee, as well as evaluating 

the overall presentation of the financial 

report. 


The financial report has been prepared for 

distribution to members for the purpose of 

fulfilling the Committee’s financial reporting 

under the Associations Incorporation Act 1981 

(Victoria). We disclaim any assumption of 

responsibility for any reliance on this report or 

on the financial report to which it relates to any 

person other than the members, or for any purpose 

other than that for which it was prepared. 

We believe that the audit evidence we have 

obtained is sufficient and appropriate to provide 

a basis for our audit opinion. 

Independence 

In conducting our audit, we have complied with 

the independence requirements of Australian 

professional ethical pronouncements. 

Qualification 

It is not practicable for Secretariat of National 

Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Incorporated 

to establish controls over receipts prior to their 

initial entry in the accounting records, nor is it 

practicable for us to ensure all such revenue 

has been brought to account. Our examination 

related to receipts was therefore limited to 

the amount included in the records of the 

Association. 

Qualified Audit Opinion 

In our opinion, subject to the matters referred to 

in the qualification paragraph, and except for 

such adjustments, if any, as might have been 

determined to be necessary as a consequence 

of same, the financial report of Secretariat of 

National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care 

Incorporated presents fairly, in all material 

respects the financial position of Secretariat 

of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care 

Incorporated as of 30 June 2012 and of its 

financial performance for the year then ended 

in accordance with the accounting policies 

described in Note 1 to the financial statements. 

MCG Partners 

Chartered Accountants 

Angelo Mazzone 

Partner 

9 November 2012 

MCG Partners 

ABN 47 963 324 418, Hawthorn East, Victoria 3123, 

Ph: (03) 9804 0888, www.morco.com.au 


Income Statement 

For the year ended 30 June 2012 

Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Inc. 

ABN 42 513 562 148 

2012 2011 

Income $ $ 

Operating grant/funding income 1,441,250 1,761,916 

Membership fees 25,335 30,028 

Resources sales & newsletter 56,798 94,094 

Conference/registration fees nil 235,879 

Interest received 3,118 13,915 

Partnership contributions 20,000 55,318 

Other income 91,869 70,135 

Grant income brought forward 14,001 522,729 

Total income 1,652,370 2,784,012 

Expenditure 

Administration & service expenses 277,162 354,190 

Consultancy & computer expenses 32,820 277,367 

Marketing & distribution expenses 70,056 47,703 

Conference & meeting expenses 106,004 407,733 

Project & travel expenses 155,202 234,677 

Salary & on costs expenses 1,228,376 1,255,325 

Grant income carried forward nil 14,001 

Total expenses 1,869,620 2,590,996 

Net income/deficit before income tax -217,250 193,016 

Income tax expense nil nil 

Net income/deficit after tax -217,250 193,016 


Sources of SNAICC income 

2011–12 

Dept of Families, Housing, Community Community Services 

and Indigenous Affairs — 79% 

Services and Indigenous Affairs 

Dept of Education, Employment and 

Workplace Relations — 8% 

Dept of Education, Employment and 

Workplace Relations 

Membership fees 

Membership fees — 2% 

Resource sales and and newsletter subscriptions subscriptions — 3% 

Interest received 

Interest received — 1% 

Partnership Contributions 

Partnership contributions — 1% 

Other Income 

Other income — 6% 


Balance Sheet 

For the year ended 30 June 2012 

Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care Inc. 

ABN 42 513 562 148 

2012 2011 

Assets $ $ 

Current assets 

Cash & cash equivalents 263,909 354,789 

Trade & other receivables 37,239 175,648 

Other current assets 53,629 639 

Total current assets 354,777 531,076 

Non-current assets 

Property, plant, equipment 88,333 101,662 

Total non-current assets 88,333 101,662 

Total assets 443,110 632,738 

Current liabilities 

Trade & other payables 278,011 226,928 

Current tax liabilities 39,242 62,702 

Total current liabilities 317,253 289,630 

Total liabilities 317,253 289,630 

Net assets 125,857 343,108 

Equity 

Accumulated surplus 125,857 343,108 

Total equity 125,857 343,108 


Photo acknowledgements 

SNAICC would like to acknowledge and thank 

the following photographers and agencies for 

permission to reproduce their photos in this 

annual report: 

Cover (and page 1): photo by and courtesy of 

Becky Bligh 

Page 3: photos courtesy of (from left to right) 

Lulla’s Children and Family Centre, Shepparton; 

Clare Alcock; Lulla’s Children and Family Centre; 

Tasmanian Aboriginal Child Care Association, 

Launceston; and Undoonoo Child Care Centre, 

Wooorabinda 

Page 12: courtesy of Lulla’s Children and Family 

Centre, Shepparton 

Page 16: photo by and courtesy of Clare Alcock 


Centre 

Page 21: courtesy of Undoonoo Child Care 

Centre, Wooorabinda 

Page 24: both photos courtesy of Bubup Wilam 

for Early Learning Aboriginal Children and 

Family Centre, Thomastown 

Page 25: photo of children at Lismore by Rudi 

Maxwell and courtesy of Koori Mail newspaper; 

photo of rugby players at Townsville by 

Rhonda Hagan and courtesy of National 

Indigenous Times newspaper; photo of NAICD 

event at Parramatta Park (Sydney) by Tjarani 

Barton-Vaofanua and courtesy of AbSec; 

photo of woman with fruit platter courtesy 

of Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander Human Services (QATSIHS) Coalition; 

photo of participants of NAICD event in Darwin 

courtesy of Stronger Aboriginal Families, 

Together (SAF,T) 

Page 27: photo courtesy of Bubup Wilam for 

Early Learning Aboriginal Children and Family 

Centre, Thomastown 

Pages 30 and 31: photos by and courtesy of 

Clare Alcock 

Page 33: photo courtesy of Concerned 

Australians 

Page 39: photo by and courtesy of Wayne 

Quilliam 

Pages 42 and 43: photos courtesy of Ampe 

Kenhe Apmere (Congress Child Care Centre), 

Alice Springs 


Centre 

Page 46: photo courtesy of Tasmanian 

Aboriginal Child Care Association, Launceston 

Page 53: photo courtesy of Undoonoo Child Care 

Centre, Wooorabinda 

SNAICC also thanks Ikanbala (Richard McLean) 

for permission to reproduce his line artwork on 

the cover and in other sections of this report. 



Our resources 

SNAICC continues to produce and distribute a range 

of resources, both in hardcopy and electronically, 

some for free, others at cost. Here is a selection 

of our recent resources. SNAICC also distributes a 

range of resources from community. 

Order resources online at www.snaicc.org.au 

And subscribe online to SNAICC News and the SNAICC 

e-bulletin. 

Our Children, Our Culture, Our Way 

Photographs from Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families 

Our Children, Our Culture, Our Way 

Photographs from Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families 

Our Culture, Our 

Children, Our Way 

Photographs from 

Australian Aboriginal 

and Torres Strait 

Islander families 

Early Years Learning 

Framework Good 

Practice Fact Sheets 

Growing up our way: 

Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander Child 

Rearing Practices 

Matrix 

Caring for our 

Children: Profiling 

the set up of 

Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander 

Children and Family 

Centres 

SNAICC’s Guide to 

Applying for Deductible 

Gift Recipient Status 

(and Surviving!) 

Aboriginal and 

Torres Strait Islander 

Child Rights Report 

Card 

Working and Walking 

Together: Supporting 

Family Relationship 

Services to Work with 

Aboriginal and Torres 

Strait Islander Families 

and Organisations 

(2010)

The national peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait 

Islander children and families 

PO Box 1445, North Fitzroy, VIC 3068 

Ph: (03) 9489 8099 

Fax: (03) 9489 8044 

info@snaicc.org.au 


All organisations and individuals can: 

subscribe to receive our newsletter and e-bulletin 

go online or call to purchase our resources 

use the SNAICC online resource clearinghouse 

encourage your agency to partner with SNAICC 

send us your news and views. 

All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communitycontrolled 

child and family services can apply to 

become full SNAICC members. 

The SNAICC office is on the land of the Wurundjeri 

people. SNAICC pays its respect to the ancestors 

and Elders of all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander 

people and their warriors, past and present.

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