Now, more than ever, governments must support Indigenous-led decision making, writes Professor Bronwyn Fredericks in Croakey.
Communities in Far North Queensland are using inclusive decision-making processes to shift the power back into Indigenous hands through Joint Decision Making.
This involves panels of community members convening to provide on-the-ground input to government on funding decisions. This is a transition away from inflexible, business-as-usual supply-driven approaches, where funding decisions are made by far off government employees.
This approach offers important lessons for governments more widely, especially at a time when governments have a responsibility to step up for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, according to Professor Bronwyn Fredericks and Eden Bywater from the University of Queensland.
“Communities need bureaucrats to transition from grant managers and funders to enablers of Indigenous-led approaches,” they write in the article.