Strengthening Indigenous Governance
The Australian Government supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through the provision of leadership training and provides incorporation and other services for Indigenous corporations.
The successful Indigenous Women’s Leadership Development Program has been expanded to include men and young people. Regional workshops on leadership are held across Australia as part of this program.
On 1 July 2007 the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act) came into effect, delivering modern corporate governance standards to some 2500 Indigenous corporations.
The Office of the Registrar of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporations administers the Act and delivers intensive interventions to target core problems in the Indigenous corporate sector, including:
- delivering a specialised training program in good corporate governance;
- assisting corporations to redesign their rules and operations for success;
- establishing a register of disqualified officers;
- strengthening regulatory work to deal with persistent poor corporate behaviours; and
- establishing specialist appointment, recruitment and retention services for use by agencies and key Indigenous corporations to help treat problems contributing to corporate failure.
Persistent problems in corporate governance impact on general community governance, and undermine the return on investment in services and assets for Indigenous communities.
Strong leadership and good corporate governance are required if we are to achieve long-term sustainable outcomes in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.