National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Conference

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY

I want to begin by acknowledging the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people as the traditional custodians of the ACT and recognise any other people or families with connection to the lands of the ACT region.

I acknowledge and respect their continuing culture and the contribution they make to the life of this city and this region.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

• I want to acknowledge a few people who are here today:
• Pat Turner, CEO of NACCHO
• Donella Mills, Chair of NACCHO
• trainer Mr Jason Ash
• And of course I’d like to acknowledge the fantastic graduates here today.  This morning is about you.

SPEECH

It really cannot be understated how significant this morning is.

To build the workforce we require – to service the sectors our nation needs – the Albanese Government has had laser focus on partnering with First Nations people to find solutions to skill shortages.

To do that, we made Closing the Gap a key priority in the National Skills Agreement.

We wrote the blueprint for all governments to deliver public plans that set out Closing the Gap pathways and goals, when it comes to vocational education.

I know that just sounds like jargon but when we look around the room today – this is a tangible outcome of that plan.

Under the Albanese Government’s National Skills Agreement – we are investing more than $210 million in Closing the Gap initiatives.

That includes investing in state and territory governments to help them progress priority reforms, investment so we – as a Commonwealth – can deliver more activities and investment to partner execute a partnership through a national network arrangement in Vocational Education and Training.

Today’s graduation is a great success story and wouldn’t have been possible without NACCHO and MR-WED.

This is the first capacity building program funded under the NSA to turn around a cohort of graduates in Certificate IV in Training and Asssesment … and it’s taken just a few months.

We work best when we work together – so partnering Indigenous and non-indigenous groups to share knowledge, resources and successes is an absolute no-brainer.

This initiative is an important step in delivering on the Albanese Government’s commitment to train up to 500 First Nations health workers to create jobs, expand local health services and improve health outcomes.

Expanding the First Nations health workforce is about providing services and employment opportunities for Indigenous Australians living on country and supporting healthy communities.

It’s an important part of our efforts to close the gap in health and wellbeing for First Nations peoples.

We know that training led by Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people delivers better outcomes and that’s why NACCHO is well placed to lead the national rollout.

Skilling-up more trainers and assessors will help us get more health workers into communities, sooner.

And of course, increasing the First Nations health workforce will accelerate efforts to close the gap in health outcomes and create employment opportunities in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.

In addition to these initiatives, which we are already seeing results from, the Albanese Government is focusing on foundation skills, English language, literacy, numeracy and digital literacy skills - these are critical skills underpinning workforce participation, productivity and social inclusion.

In July this year, we launched the redesigned Skills for Education and Employment (SEE) Program to provide free training across Australia to all eligible Australians.

For the first time, the SEE program is providing First Nations-led training for First Nations people. SEE First Nations provides locally tailored training through place-based grants.

The SEE First Nations grants will fund First Nations organisations – like many of those represented here in the room today - including Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, registered training organisations, Adult and Community Education providers or peak bodies, to work with communities to design appropriate training. 

I am excited that we will be announcing successful recipients from the first round of grants soon.

Since I’ve been sworn into this quite frankly – inspiring - portfolio, I certainly feel like I have continued that collaborative relationship and am really looking forward to what we can do together next.

Because Vocational Education and Training equals jobs and jobs equal prosperity. 

And now – our graduates - Shikera, Raelene, Brittney, Synthia, Sheridan, Ian, Casey, Tanya, Llana-Monet, Vivian, Peter and Michelle – will contribute to more jobs and prosperity across the country.

I think everyone here is very eager to learn more about our fantastic graduates.

Thank you for having me this morning – I’m really looking forward to more updates about the work you’ll do through your community-controlled Registered Training Organisations.