Views From The Top of the 'Quiet Revolution'

Abstract

In February 2005, Minister Amanda Vanstone addressed the National Press Club on the new arrangements in Indigenous affairs. She identified these new arrangements as a 'quiet revolution in Indigenous affairs'. Within the context of the new arrangements, the Australian Public Service is undergoing some major changes in the way in which it seeks to develop and implement policy in relation to Indigenous affairs. In her address to the National Press Club, the Minister said 'Back here in Canberra, the mainstream agencies are not only charged with, but fully engaged in providing better outcomes for Indigenous Australians. It's not the old mainstreaming where separate departments may have fallen into a silo mentality. Through the Secretaries Group, which meets monthly, some of our best public servants are turning their minds to the issue.'

Between October 2005 and January 2006, Bill Gray and Will Sanders interviewed the members of the Secretaries Group on Indigenous Affairs, including the Secretary of the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, Dr Peter Shergold, and canvassed with them their personal views as to the way in which the new arrangements were being implemented and the impact such arrangements were having on their own portfolio responsibilities. Issues such as the operations of the Secretaries Group, the Ministerial Taskforce on Indigenous Affairs, mainstreaming, the whole-of-government approach, Shared Responsibility Agreements, the role of the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination (OIPC), Indigenous Coordination Centres (ICCs), COAG trial sites, flexible funding of Indigenous programs and accountability were discussed.