The Hon. John Howard MP, Prime Minister of Australia and the Hon. Mike Rann MP, Premier of South Australia have signed a five year agreement to improve the health and welfare of indigenous South Australians.
This agreement builds on existing indigenous development programs and will significantly enhance the level of cooperation between the Commonwealth and SA governments in the delivery of services for Aboriginal people.
Joint collaborative action has been agreed for a number of key priority areas, including safer communities; housing and infrastructure; health and education; homelessness; economic development; land, environment and culture; and service delivery.
The Commonwealth and SA governments will also streamline processes and have agreed to extend recent collaborative work undertaken in the state.
This agreement signals the importance both governments place on addressing indigenous disadvantage consistent with the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Report.
The Commonwealth and SA governments are committed to tackling these issues in order to build functioning and sustainable communities. The governments will continue to work together to reduce bureaucratic overlap and duplication and with indigenous communities to respond to their needs in appropriate ways.
This is the third bilateral agreement signed under the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) indigenous service delivery framework.