Aboriginal Affairs Minister Don Punch announces $300,000 funding for local alliance at Yamatji On-Country

A $300,000 funding commitment to a local Indigenous alliance was revealed by Aboriginal Affairs Minister Don Punch as a 200-strong crowd gathered for the fifth annual Yamatji On-Country meeting in Geraldton. Mr Punch announced $300,000 would be set aside for the Midwest Aboriginal Organisations Alliance over the next two years. A youth presentation also introduced plans for local schools to complete a film project where students would produce a series of short films to record and preserve the history of the region and stories of their elders. The funding and film news were announced on day two of the meeting. The funding will assist with the call-to-action targets discussed on Wednesday including addressing systemic change in the way government works with First Nations people, housing, justice, employment, racism, education and health, seven key areas that have been identified as requiring action and change within the community. Thursday’s meeting included a passionate Q&A session allowing the local community a voice to the invited guest panellists, including politicians, community leaders in health, education, justice and housing. During the session, MAOA co-chair Chloe Collard called for an audit into how many Aboriginal boys were suspended or expelled from schools in the region saying the issue was “creating a pipeline for our boys to go into jails”. Responding to the importance of the Q&A session, Mr Punch said: “We are a government that listens, and we take the issues that are raised very seriously. Clearly people in the audience have experienced trauma in the past; what we need to do is acknowledge that, look at how we make things better into the future. “We’re very proud and pleased to commit $300,000 over the next two years to help resource MAOA to take that to the next step in terms of their engagement with agencies on how we can actually deliver services in a better way.” The annual Yamatji On-Country meeting brings together First Nations people from across the Mid West, Murchison and Gascoyne to Bundiyarra Aboriginal Community Aboriginal Corporation. The two-day gathering, now in its fifth year, is co-ordinated by Yamatji Marlpa Aboriginal Corporation. Nationals member for Geraldton Kirrilee Warr urged the State Government to continue to engage with and listen to the Aboriginal community. “Members of the community expressed their frustration in the past about a lack of response from the Government with regard to their call to action,” she said. “This has to be done in and on-country, with local Aboriginal people to help close the gap.”