Today, the members of the Indigenous Advisory Council continued to meet and discuss priority areas over the coming year.  

Council members welcomed discussion with the Productivity Commission on the Indigenous Productivity Commissioner announced by the Prime Minister in his Closing the Gap statement. The proposed role, will among other things, assess programs relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.  Members acknowledged the importance of a rigorous independent assessment of what is and is not working so policy settings can be amended appropriately, and offered initial advice on the criteria and key skills that should be considered for the Indigenous Commissioner.

Council members discussed the proposed approach to the Closing the Gap refresh and agreed the importance of engaging with key Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stakeholders, including representative land councils, as this work is progressed to ensure there is a genuine partnership on the way forward. Members also agreed the Closing the Gap refresh should take into account the value of culture as a means of bringing all Australians together and the importance of ensuring normalisation and clarity around government accountabilities.

Members received an update on progress of the Constitutional Recognition dialogues.

Members acknowledged the positive discussions held over the last two days and recognised the opportunity to support the reset of the relationship between Government and Aboriginal and Torres Straits Islander peoples.

Members of the Council are:

• Co-Chair - Professor Chris Sarra
• Co-Chair - Ms Andrea Mason
• Professor Ngiare Brown
• Ms Susan Murphy  
• Cr Roy Ah-See
• Mr Djambawa Marawili AM

The Council is supported by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet and is the first point of contact: indigenousadvisorycouncil@pmc.gov.au. Media interviews with members can be arranged through the Secretariat.