👋🏽 Werte,
Welcome to the September edition of SNAICC’s newsletter, marking the start of a new season of renewal, birth and growth.
Our work at SNAICC is all about supporting growth through investing in our children and young people, because Closing the Gap starts with them. It is a wonderful time to be reminded about why we do this work and the rewards that come with time.
In this edition of the SNAICC Newsletter we will cover our advocacy to the Inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. What we found is that everyone who stood up to give evidence at the Inquiry and told their story said the same thing – the levels of racism directed at our people are flatly unacceptable.
But how can we have accountability when some governments did not bother to turn up and listen? Too often narratives about our children and our communities are driven by politics for short-term rage bait.
I see the truth every day. ACCOs and community led solutions deliver real outcomes when governments work with our communities and invest in them.
You will find that truth throughout this edition. Fifty years of community control in Central Australia, measured in years of life. A cross-border hub in Mparntwe that took decades of advocacy to build. Sites across the Northern Territory working together to come up with solutions for our sector.
Work is also underway on a national framework for transition and transformation, built on the principle of returning authority to our communities. Communities already hold the knowledge and the leadership. What has to change is the systems around them.
The advocacy and work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, families, and ACCOs is what is driving the progress we see.
So grab a cuppa, sit back, and catch up on what has been happening.
Racism Blocking Progress on Closing the Gap
Every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person understands how pervasive racism is, and how it impacts our children.
SNAICC gave evidence to the Inquiry into racism, hate and violence directed at Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The inquiry received more than 700 submissions with exhaustive accounts of racism at every level.
SNAICC’s CEO Catherine Liddle also spoke before the inquiry, detailing how social media has changed how fast racism spreads. Catherine also spoke with Sarah Ferguson on ABC’s 7.30.
During the interview Catherine spoke about the need for politicians and social media companies to take accountability for the politically driven narratives that damage our children, families and their communities.
Racism starts at the top, addressing the pervasive narratives must start with accountability from those in power. To close the gap, we must address racism as well.
You can watch the full interview below:
Child Protection Week: shifting conversation to action
This year’s theme for Child Protection Week is Every Conversation Matters: Shifting Conversation to Action.
ACCOs already know what keeps our children safe. Family, community, culture and Country. The problem has never been that governments do not know it.
Only 16 cents in every dollar spent on child protection goes to early interventions to support strong families and strong communities.
SNAICC is calling on all governments to shift that spending out of crisis response and into prevention and family support delivered by ACCOs.
SNAICC CEO Catherine Liddle made that case on The Pub Test in Melbourne, where she was asked whether the child protection system works for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. She widened the question. It does not work for any child.
She described child protection as a political football. New laws and curfews win votes because they look like action, and the politics driving them is the same politics driving the narratives about our children and communities. Housing, food, shoes on children’s feet and schools children can get to do not make a compelling story. That is the hard work, and the work that keeps children with their families.
In the Northern Territory, the Every Child Matters legislation passed before a review found the department did not have the staff to support families. SNAICC gave evidence against that Bill and continues to warn that it weakens the Child Placement Principle.
Learn more about the Child Placement Principle
Learn more about Family Matters
A Place for Culture: places available in Brisbane, Tweed Heads and Canberra
A Place for Culture continues to support early childhood educators and leaders from mainstream services across Tarntanya/Adelaide, South-East Boorloo/Armadale and Northern Coastal Boorloo/Watermans Bay to strengthen culturally responsive practice.
Educators continue to engage with curiosity and commitment, deepening their understanding of cultural inclusion and building confidence to create environments where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives are meaningfully embedded in everyday practice.
Educators have described the training as both inspiring and thought-provoking, supporting a deeper understanding of cultural inclusion and respect while encouraging new ways of thinking about how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures can be authentically embedded within their services.
Participant feedback included:
“I believe every educator and leader should complete this training (training feels like the wrong word, it is a beautiful journey)”
“Thank you so much. I loved the program as an Aboriginal person it felt like a safe space to share lived experience.”
Places are now available for Meanjin/Brisbane on 20 October, Cooloon/Tweed Heads and Coolangatta on 22 October, and Canberra on 10 November.
First Nations Languages in Early Childhood Education and Care
Cox Inall Ridgeway is inviting expressions of interest in a national research project being delivered for SNAICC – National Voice for our Children and First Languages Australia.
The project is exploring how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages are used and taught in early years education, the benefits this can bring for children’s development, identity and wellbeing, and the practicalities that support or limit language use.
We are interested in hearing from teachers, Elders, parents, carers, service leaders and other people with relevant experience or perspectives. Participants will be invited to take part in an online yarning-style interview, expected to take approximately 60 minutes. We are seeking a mix of voices from a variety of locations and roles.
Participants can choose not to answer any question or withdraw at any time. Any information you share will be de-identified in reporting.
To express your interest or for more information, please contact Conal Thwaite at information@coxinallridgeway.com.au.
Download the Information Sheet
Parents Voices on Early Years Service Support
SNAICC’s Early Years Support program supports community-led early childhood education and care services to do things differently, in ways that help children, families and communities thrive.
Culturally strong early learning shapes more than a child. It shapes families and communities.
Over on SNAICC’s socials, we’ve been running our Parents Voices series, sharing the impact of ACCO early childhood services supported by SNAICC’s Early Years Support program.
Watch Jessica talk about the impact that Noogaleek Children’s Centre has had on her daughter.
Celebrating our Deadly Dads: Happy Father’s Day
Every parent who has taken a child to playgroup knows those early years matter. Terrence Wilson saw it up close, sitting on the floor with his own kids week after week, watching what happens when children learn together, on Country, with their families around them.
Since 2024 the proud Miriwoong dad has been an early years educator with Gawooleng Yawoodeng Aboriginal Corporation’s Stepping Stones and Mobile playgroup in Kununurra, supporting local children to learn, grow and build confidence. He is the only male early years educator in town.
Being a dad, he says, is part of why he finds the work rewarding. Supporting children, encouraging them, and seeing their confidence grow.
That work builds more than early learning. It builds community, keeps culture strong, and gives children a sense of who they are before they ever walk into a classroom.
His team are proud of what he brings to the playgroup, and to the children and families who come through it.
Terrence is one of thousands of early childhood educators who show up for our children every day, and one of many fathers, uncles and grandfathers doing the same in their own families.
Happy Father’s Day to all the dads, pops, uncles and father figures who show up for our kids every day.
SNAICC Youth Gathering 2026
Around 40 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander young people from across the country are in Tarntanya/Adelaide this week for the SNAICC Youth Gathering.
Across three days of workshops, yarning circles, cultural activities and creative sessions, they are connecting with each other and setting the priorities for SNAICC’s Youth Voice work.
What comes out of the Gathering will guide the Youth Voice Sub-Committee and shape SNAICC’s work into 2027 and beyond.
Young people have the right to be heard on the issues that affect them, their families and their communities. This week they are leading the way.
To learn more about Youth Voice, or to sign up for the newsletter, click the button below.
East Arnhem Land Youth Model visits SNAICC
We were delighted to welcome members of the East Arnhem Land Youth Model (EALYM or Guŋga’yunga Djamarrkuḻiny) leadership team to the SNAICC office in early September.
EALYM is a youth empowerment and capacity-building initiative supporting Yolŋu communities in Milingimbi, Galiwin’ku, Ramingining and Gapuwiyak. Delivered by Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation, the model uses local decision-making structures and a community-led brokerage approach to support cultural, leadership and skill-building activities for young people across East Arnhem Land.
During their visit, EALYM leaders shared stories of the program’s impact and the strengths-based, community-controlled approaches that underpin their work. Staff from across SNAICC also had the opportunity to share insights into their own programs and priorities, creating space for rich conversations about self-determination, youth leadership and community-led change.
The Special Projects team has been fortunate to connect with EALYM leaders throughout the NT Child and Family Sector Strengthening Project this year, and it was a privilege to continue building these relationships face-to-face. We thank the team for their generosity in sharing their experiences and look forward to staying connected as their important work continues to grow across the region.
NAIDOC 2026 Awards
Congratulations to all the winners of the 2026 NAIDOC Awards which were held in Mparntwe/Alice Springs. This year’s theme was 50 Years of Deadly.
SNAICC would also like to congratulate this year’s NAIDOC Person of the Year, Aunty Pat Turner AO. Aunty Pat was the first Aboriginal woman to lead a Commonwealth government department, as CEO of ATSIC. The award pays tribute to Aunty Pat’s more than 50 years of work dedicated to advancing the rights, wellbeing and self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Aunty Pat has played an important role in shaping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander policy, including recently as the Lead Convenor of the Coalition of Peaks and the implementation of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, a landmark joint commitment between all levels of government to work towards shared decision making and accountability.
One of our Deadly members, the Aboriginal & Islander Independent Community School (the Murri School), was a finalist for the NAIDOC Education Award.
The Murri School is a community-controlled Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander independent school in Acacia Ridge, Brisbane. They have been delivering culturally grounded education for 40 years. Their curriculum embeds Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture, language and knowledge across everything taught.
Northern Territory Integrated Services Forum
Community led work is delivering real change.
On 5 and 6 August, the Northern Territory Department of Education and Training coordinated the Northern Territory Integrated Services Forum, bringing together Connected Beginnings sites, Child and Family Centres, Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations, and government partners from across the Territory. Collaboration and innovation were on full display, with valuable opportunities for networking, peer learning and the sharing of place-based approaches that are strengthening outcomes for children and families.
SNAICC delivered in-depth workshops on Understanding, Monitoring, Evaluation and Learning (UMEL) and Collective Impact, working alongside sites to strengthen data-informed decision-making, Community Action Plan development and collaborative service delivery. Through interactive discussions and practical examples, participants explored how strong partnerships, shared goals and meaningful use of data can drive continuous improvement.
The forum showcased the depth of innovation already occurring across communities and strengthened relationships across sectors, creating new opportunities for collaboration and ongoing learning.
Connected Beginnings Jurisdictional Networks
The next NSW/ACT Connected Beginnings Jurisdictional Network gathering will be hosted by Three Rivers Regional Assembly Aboriginal Corporation (TRRA) in Dubbo in October, bringing Connected Beginnings sites together on Country to connect, yarn, share knowledge and strengthen relationships across the network.
A Jurisdictional Network creates a space for Connected Beginnings sites to come together around shared experiences, priorities and opportunities, while recognising that each community has its own strengths, culture and ways of working. It also provides an opportunity to explore how services can work together more effectively, strengthening service integration across education, health, early childhood and family support to better respond to the needs of Aboriginal children and families.
Hosted by TRRA, the Dubbo gathering will include on-Country cultural learning and connection, alongside yarning, sharing local practice and exploring priorities for Aboriginal children and families. The gathering will create space to learn from local knowledge, culture and community leadership, while strengthening relationships and collaboration between Connected Beginnings sites across NSW and the ACT.
SNAICC is also looking forward to establishing the next new Jurisdictional Network later this year, continuing to build stronger connections, service integration and collective learning across the Connected Beginnings sites.
From Transition to Transformation: Co-Designing a National Framework
The National Transition Framework Working Group has spent 2026 in co-design, bringing together ACCOs, peak bodies, partner organisations and SNAICC to shape a nationally consistent approach to transition.
Members have worked through what it means to move beyond transferring services to restoring authority, decision-making and accountability to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Transition is not about changing service providers. It is about long-term structural reform grounded in self-determination, cultural authority and community control.
The group has endorsed “Returning Authority” as the Framework’s central organising principle. It recognises that communities already hold the cultural knowledge, leadership and authority to shape solutions for their children and families, and that systems need to reform to support that authority rather than constrain it.
Themes running through the co-design have included workforce sustainability, readiness for transition, Indigenous Data Sovereignty, governance, accountability, partnership practice and sustainable investment. Members were clear that governments, NGOs and ACCOs share responsibility for readiness, and that communities should determine what success looks like and how it is measured.
Co-design workshops concluded at the end of August. The first full Framework goes to the National Transformation Sub-Committee for review and endorsement in September, ahead of a proposed launch at the SNAICC National Transition Transformation Summit in early 2027.
Listening, Learning, Transforming: A Community of Practice Journey
Like the Emu in the Sky, whose story emerges through connection rather than individual stars, meaningful transformation is revealed through relationships, shared wisdom and collective purpose.
Through a partnership between SNAICC and Brotherhood of St Laurence HIPPY Australia, the Transformation Community of Practice creates a culturally safe space where learning, reflection and collective action support the transition of HIPPY sites to Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations.
SNAICC co-facilitates the Community of Practice as subject matter expert, bringing cultural authority, sector expertise and an understanding of community-led approaches to the discussions. The work is underpinned by SNAICC’s Genuine Partnership Framework, keeping Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander voices and aspirations at the centre of decision-making.
The Emu in the Sky, traced in the dark clouds of the Milky Way, above the emu engraving at the Elvina site in Ku-ring-gai Chase National Park. Barnaby Norris and Ray Norris (CC BY-SA 4.0)
Through storytelling, peer exchange and critical reflection, participants explore the opportunities and challenges of ACCO transition while strengthening culturally informed governance, leadership and service delivery. SNAICC provides specialist guidance on applying HIPPY frameworks in ways that honour local cultural knowledge and community priorities.
Together, SNAICC and BSL HIPPY are supporting a pathway to self-determination, so that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families are supported by services that are community-led and culturally strong.
Walking Together in Transformation: Building Change Through Collective Knowledge and Leadership
Meaningful transformation is built through strong relationships, shared learning and a commitment to walking together toward lasting change.
In partnership with Life Without Barriers, SNAICC has co-designed three Communities of Practice bringing together the cultural knowledges, professional expertise and lived experiences of both organisations to support better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.
Grounded in Aboriginal Ways of Knowing, Being and Doing, the sessions create culturally safe spaces for learning, reflection, storytelling and honest yarning, and explore how the SNAICC Transformation Principles can be translated into action that strengthens self-determination, cultural authority, community control and ACCO-led decision-making.
The first, on Knowing, was held in August. It explored the foundations of transformation through a cultural lens, recognising truth-telling, relationship-building, cultural humility and deep listening as essential to meaningful systems change. Participants shared insights from their own work and communities, reflecting on what it means to embed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of knowing within organisational practice and decision-making.
Left to right, front row: Renika Chedzey, LWB Director NSW; Lisa Peruzzo, LWB Director VIC/TAS; Cas McMurtrie, SNAICC Senior Project Officer. Back row: Joy Vallance, LWB Director WA; Wendy Knight, LWB Executive Director; Sid Williams, SNAICC Acting Manager Transformation; Lisa Coulthard, LWB Director SA
The remaining sessions will explore Being and Doing, drawing on operational experience to strengthen governance, partnerships, workforce development and service delivery. What comes out of them will inform the co-designed LWB Transition Practice Guide.
Sector Strengthening in the NT
The Special Projects team has continued community and sector engagement across the Northern Territory as part of the NT Child and Family Sector Strengthening Project.
In early July we travelled through Central Australia, holding a sector and community forum at Olive Pink Botanic Garden in Alice Springs. Around 20 participants from more than half a dozen ACCOs joined us, and we began the day with a yarn led by our CEO and Arrernte Traditional Owner Catherine Liddle.
We also visited ACCOs in Alice Springs, travelled to Yuendumu and Ntaria, and connected with Aboriginal-led organisations working across education, mental health and community services in Central Australia.
In mid-August we were in Tennant Creek and Katherine, yarning with ACCO leaders, staff and community members about priorities for building a stronger, more sustainable child and family services sector. Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation welcomed us in Tennant Creek, and we later hosted a regional forum at Godinymayin Yijard Rivers Arts and Culture Centre in Katherine, meeting more than 30 participants from around 15 ACCOs and ally organisations.
The initial engagement phase is now complete. We are developing draft project outputs and will return to the Territory later in 2026 to test them with sector and community partners.
New cross-border child protection hub opens in Mparntwe/Alice Springs
Families in the NPY Lands live across 350,000 square kilometres spanning the Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia. Their child protection systems do not travel with them.
SNAICC member NPY Women’s Council has opened Ngura Kutju in Mparntwe/Alice Springs, a cross-border place bringing child protection staff from all three governments into one co-located team alongside an NPYWC coordinator. The name is Pitjantjatjara for “one place”, reflecting a region where community and culture are connected across boundaries that exist only on a map.
The hub follows decades of advocacy by NPYWC, including discussion papers, a legislative review, submissions and almost five years leading the Tristate Steering Committee. In 2021 the organisation brought the three child protection departments together, resulting in a memorandum of understanding to work towards a better system.
Ngura Kutju runs as a 12-month trial with a formal evaluation by the University of Melbourne, which will inform implementation of Safe and Supported.
Fifty years of Aboriginal health in Aboriginal hands
Fifty years of community control in Central Australia is showing up in the numbers.
New research commissioned by SNAICC member Central Australian Aboriginal Congress from Menzies School of Health Research and NT Health has found sustained gains across the region since Congress began. Life expectancy for Aboriginal men has risen by more than eighteen years. Infant mortality in Alice Springs has been nearly halved.
The analysis links those gains to consistent, long-term funding for community-controlled primary health care, and to a service that people trust enough to come to early, before conditions become chronic.
It also makes plain what health services cannot do on their own. Central Australia still carries the largest life expectancy gap in the country, and closing it further means addressing overcrowded housing, education and poverty.
Congress is one of Australia’s oldest and largest Aboriginal community-controlled health services, and this is one of the longest runs of evidence available in the country for what community control delivers when it is properly funded and left to work.
ECCDPP Meeting 14 advances reforms for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children
The Early Childhood Care and Development Policy Partnership (ECCDPP) met online in June to progress national reforms that strengthen outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families.
During the meeting, members discussed SNAICC’s newly published Doing Things Differently – Funding ACCOs to Keep Families Together report, which has now been formally provided to and reviewed by the Joint Council on Closing the Gap.
The report is helping inform implementation of the National Child and Family Investment Strategy and supports efforts to strengthen investment in early, targeted and culturally safe supports for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and families. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander members of the ECCDPP also called for governments to accelerate the transition of funding to ACCOs and create clearer pathways for long-term funding reform.
Members also reviewed the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led Evidence Guidance Framework and accompanying toolkit ahead of its publication on the SNAICC website. Other research was progressed during the meeting, including a culturally safe disability assessment tool for children in contact with child protection systems and SNAICC-led research into pre-birth notifications and infant removals to strengthen the evidence base for keeping babies safe with their families.
The meeting also provided an opportunity to help shape Australia’s next Preschool Funding Agreement to ensure future preschool funding is developed in genuine partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and supports progress towards Closing the Gap.
You can find out more about the ECCDPP here: Early Childhood Care & Development Policy Partnership, and read the full Meeting 14 Outcomes here: Meeting 14 Outcomes – 24–25 June 2026.
SNAICC acknowledges the Traditional Custodians of Country throughout Australia and their continuing connections to land, waters, culture and communities.
We pay our respect to Elders both past and present.
- SNAICC National Voice for our Children · Suite 1, Level 8, 36 Wellington Street · Collingwood, VIC 3066 · Australia