ABORIGINAL CO-ORDINATING COUNCILNEWSLETTER VOLUME 1, NO 2: MAY 199917 A PLIN S T OR PO B OX 6512, C AIRNS , Q, 4870.P H ( 0 7 ) 4 0 4 4 2 9 9 9 F A X ( 0 7 ) 4 0 3 1 2 5 3 4 E M A I L a c c @ i i g . c o m . a u

Minister questioned over CSA Review fundingQueensland Minister for Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander Policy and Development Judy Spence faced atough question period at the Aboriginal CoordinatingCouncil Full Council Meeting in Townsville last month.

ACC Chair Wayne Connolly said discussions with theMinister focussed on the review of the CommunityServices Act, scheduled for the coming months.

He said the ACC’s Full Council Meeting offered theperfect opportunity for Aboriginal Community Council-lors to question the Minister on funding arrangements.

“We had four Ministers attending this meeting andMinister Spence was in the first session with HousingMinister Robert Schwarten,” he said.

“So we asked Ms Spence why the allocated fundingwas not sufficient to ensure all our communities will beproperly consulted.

“The funding we asked for ensured all our communi-ties, with their differing needs and problems across thewhole state, would have the opportunity to participatein the process.”

Other issues discussed during the week includedhousing, policing and other issues of importance to theDOGIT Community Councils.

“Always the biggest issue is housing and with thatties in health, education and infrastructure,” MrConnolly said.

“So on one hand it’s been a big boost to our commu-nities to have this infrastructure and maintenanceprogram (announced by Minister Spence at the lastcouncil meeting) underway.

“Other things were policing and justice issues and aproject on three communities on handing back control tothe State Police.

Chair Wayne Connolly & Executive Director Peter Opio-Otim

“But the bottom line was we really needed to haveour community people talking directly to the politi-cians.”

The Meeting included sessions with:• Minister for Aboriginal & Torres Strait IslanderPolicy & Development Judy Spence;• Minister for Public Works & Housing RobertSchwarten;• Minister for Families Youth & Community CareAnna Bligh; and,• Minister for Police Tom Barton

Major issues addressed included native title, theReview of the Community Services Act, a Five-YearHousing Plan, the transfer of Community Police to StatePolice and youth development issues including youthsuicide.FOR FULL REPORTS ON EACH OF THEMINISTERS SEE PAGES 4 & 5

INSIDE....Consumer Awareness kicks off...p 2What’s news...p3Native Title...p 6-7Elders Insurance opportunity...p 9Palm Island Community Profile...p 10-14It must be football season!...p 15Townsville Snapshots...p 16

Welcome, once again, to the ACC Newsletter. The name’s prettyexciting, hey? The editor takes no responsibility - I did tellyou about the prize for coming up with a name ($150 and it’sstill there...) and I suppose I should confess I’m working on itas hard as you all are! This issue we look at the most recentACC Full Council Meeting in Townsville as well as a profile ofthe Palm Island community. We also chat to a sporting hero ortwo. Contributions to the next newsletter on just about anytopic are welcome and can be made by contacting the editor,Christine Howes, via the ACC office for deadline details.

Aboriginal Co-ordinating Council Newsletter: May 1999

ACC Consumer AffairsLiaison Officers have hadtheir first two day workshop explaining what theprogram will be all about.

Consumer AffairsOfficer Andrew Lewissaid the workshop was ahuge success.

He said the ConsumerAwareness Program,called Training ThroughBetter Buying, involvedthe appointment of aConsumer Liaison Officerbased in the communitywho would become a focal point for people to come tofor consumer advice.

“So those Consumer Community Liaison Officerswho have been appointed came down to Cairns toattend the first two day introductory workshop,” hesaid.

“That workshop just went through the program andexplained to the Liaison Officers what their role wouldbe, the role of the program and it covered areas theywill need to be trained.

“It gave a good overview of what the whole programwill be about.”

He said the work shop involved a number of practi-cal exercises aimed at introducing the role to partici-pants.

“We went into some case studies which were exam-ples of consumer problems that had arisen in the past,to use them as a bit of a guide or example,” he said.

“And we also covered the background of the pro-gram, where the funding came from and we playedgames as well to make it a bit light and entertaining.”

He said the group also took the opportunity toconduct an experiment in the actual market place.

“What we did was as a group we wrote down a listof questions we thought may be applicable in asking orapplying for a $20 000 personal loan for a motor vehi-cle.

“We selected three banks, a building society, a caryard and a credit union and they actually went out andspoke to a representative from each, contacted themand got some written information back.

“After that we putit all up on a board toreview and see whatvariations we got.

He said the resultswere very interestingand had alreadygiven the Officerssomething to takeback to the commu-nities and use.

“A lot of themwere very surprisedabout how friendly,open and welcomingsome of the people

were and on the other hand there was one particularinstitution who said they were just too busy and tocome back another day,” he said.

“Regarding the findings, there was a $5000 variancebetween the institutions for a five year loan.”

He said the information the program would focus onwas to give good pre-sale advice to both organisationsand individuals in each community.

“It’s all about having people get good informationand a good understanding of what they need and thequestions they need to ask before they buy,” he said.

“And hopefully from that we’ll get less of the needto seek redress or compensation.”

He said there was also a focus on issues such as financialmanagement and planning as well as warranties.

“Especially on a motor vehicle where there areconditions that the purchaser must meet to ensure thatthe warranty stays valid.”

He said the next step was to travel around thecommunities “on the invitation of the councils” and towork with those communities on issues.

“After that we’ll put together the first trainingprogram which will be on motor vehicles and that willalso be taken out to the communities and used as aresource,” he said.

“I’ve been doing this for six months now, travellingthrough the communities, and there are a lot of peoplethere who aren’t aware of what they’re entitled to, sothe whole program is just to generally make peoplemore aware and also inform them of the kinds ofquestions to ask.”

Work shop kicks off consumer program

The Local Government Associationof Queensland (LGAQ) played a piv-otal role in gaining the presence ofnative title speakers at the most re-cent Full Council Meeting in Towns-ville last month..LGAQ representative Marisa Meninsaid information about Attorney-General funding for native title was

also sent to all the ACC councilsfrom the LGAQ late last year.“Another part of what we did at theLGAQ was to ask for some assistanceto hold some native title informationsessions throughout the state,” she said.“And part of that submission was toset some money aside so we couldhave some representation at the

ACC Full Council Council meeting.“So Councillors had the opportunityto get some information about nativetitle and also to ask questions.”Ms Menin said she was luckyenough to secure representationfrom both the state and common-wealth governments.FULL REPORTS ON PAGES 6 & 7

Native Title support from Local Government

Aboriginal Co-ordinating Council Newsletter: May 19992

Aboriginal Co-ordinating Council Newsletter: May 1999 15

The North Queensland Cowboys have initiated a ‘Cow-boys Challenge’ to remote area communities acrossnorthern and central Queensland.

Members of the Cowboys Development teamaddressed a meeting of Council Clerks fromAboriginal Communities under the AboriginalCoordinating Council with an idea which wouldsee 18-21-year-olds travel to Townsville for twoday training camps and to play warm up matchesbefore Cowboys NRL games.

ACC Executive Director Peter Opio-Otim said bothrugby league and sports in general was an area whichneeded to be developed by Aboriginal communitiesand councils.

He said the ACC Council Clerks were very muchenthused with the offer from the Cowboys.

“It will help to build up a stronger spirit and interest in

A young footballer and athlete is setto become the pride of Wujal Wujalfollowing his success for the secondyear in a row in rugby league teamselection.

Steve Renouf’s retirement fromthe game may or may not have lefta gap but either way his shoes willlikely one day be filled by someoneof Bradley Creek’s talents.

Creek said he admired Renoufand supported the Broncos despiteliving in north Queensland.

The 14-year-old has just won aplace, for the second year in a row,on the under-16s school boys side inthe Cairns Junior League.

The team will play off for achance to be in the North Queens-land team in Townsville next monthwith members there having a shotat the Queensland Schoolboys side.

Last year Creek made theQueensland team, played centreand scored three tries in the na-tional event held in Canberra.

Creek said he played every Saturdaywith all his friends and enjoyed a gameat Wujul Wujul when he had time offfrom boarding at the Peace LutheranCollege in Cairns.

“I spend about two days a weektraining and I spend every day from5 until 6 running around doingsports skills and listening to ourcoaches,” he said.

“We hang around together as ateam, talk to each other and jokearound with each other.”

Despite being touted by teachers asan outstanding track and field athlete,

Creek said his first love will always berugby league.

Peace Lutheran College Coordi-nator Sports & Physical EducationPhil Doecke said Creek had alwaysdemonstrated he was going to be an“outstanding” athlete.

“Just physically speaking he’s gota fine athletic build whether it bebasketball, Australian Rules, socceror track and field but the areaBradley’s really excelled in has beenhis rugby and it’ll be interesting tosee how far he progresses in that,”he said.

“He’s very fast, has a good tem-perament, good attitude towards hissport, very competitive, he’s a veryfocused sort of fella and he’s veryvery keen to listen to his coaches.”

“He has a great deal of potentialfor going on and going on and goingon, and if he’s coached through, he’llbe a very very fine sportsman.” Mr

Doecke said last year Bradley alsowon local sponsorship for a numberof track and field events.

Qualified Coach & PE Teacher KimKotzur said Creek had also representedQueensland in his age group for relayand 100m running events.

“I think he’s got potential toprobably go all the way, really, he’shas got the right build, he has gotthe right temperament, and he’s gotgreat character, not too much fazeshim, he’s very relaxed,” he said.

“It is a difficult thing when youget a kid coming from the bush, outof a community setting, and thentaking them into the highly com-petitive track and field scene inAustralia.

“People like Cathy Freeman andKyle VanDerKuyp have been able tomake the jump across and I think if wecan link Bradley in he can go a fair waywith it.”

Pride of Wujal

one of Australia’s most popular sports,” he said.NQ Cowboys Indigenous Reference Group Chair

Noel Gertz said it was a project they had been workingon for sometime.

“There has also been a number of youth develop-ment camps and Cowboys staff have been available togo out and support the All-Black Carnivals,” he said.

He said the full board of the Cowboys had approveda three-year plan which would involve much more thanplaying football.

Mr Opio-Otim said the scheme would definitelyencourage the emergence of young, talentedindigenous persons into a new arena of rugbyleague.

“We may be hoping to see more indigenous faces atthe national level if this project becomes a success.

“It is something we should be proud of.”

NQ Cowboys look to remote areas for new talent

Townsville April ‘99............... at work and play..................

Aboriginal Co-ordinating Council Newsletter: May 1999