Preparing the public sector for implementing the Uluru Statement from the Heart
Summary
This course aims to introduce those working in and around the public sector to the case studies, principles and practice needed to begin to reflect on what is needed to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
This course will also outline important challenges when considering public policy in Australia and will focus participants on active engagement using tailored case studies and exercises drawing on real life policy scenarios. The course will provide participants with a tool kit of diverse conceptual and practical approaches that can be applied to public sector organisations which will help prepare them to better support First Nations and to consider the barriers to public sector implementation of the Uluru Statement. Participants will also have access to a national community of practice for ongoing support and engagement after the completion of the course.
Course overview
Course learning outcomes
Upon successful completion, participants will have the knowledge and skills to:
- work towards preparing the public sector to develop the next steps towards implementing the Uluru Statement from the heart and to better support First Nations self-governance
- understand critical principles that should underly the praxis of public sector organisations in policy-making that impacts First Nations peoples and communities
- engage with domestic and international case studies that show the potential for policy making that can be adopted by public sector organisations
- Reflect on the various parts of the Uluru Statement so as to encourage personal reflexivity and praxis by public servants in supporting the Australian Government’s commitment to ‘Truth, Voice, and Treaty’
- Support and build an ongoing community of practice.
Skills and knowledge gaps
This course aims to introduce those working in and around the public sector to the case studies, principles and practice needed to implement the Uluru Statement from the Heart.
Anticipated behavioural and business impacts
Agreement making with First Nations groups is well underway in Australia. When agreements are signed, various responsibilities will be expected of public sector organisations and thus a spirit and ethic of honouring First Nations sovereignties is critical for all public sector organisations to take on. Through drawing on case studies, best practice, and practical guidance, this course will outline specific steps that public sector organisations will need to understand and enact to get ready for agreement making.
Who should attend?
This course is relevant for all levels of public sector organisations. Being treaty ready is critical for all public sector organisations, not just those that specifically and explicitly service First Nations peoples and communities.
Prior experience/knowledge
No prior experience is necessary although an interest in issues covered is helpful.
Testimonials
“This course is vitally important as Australia grapples with the wide-ranging policy issues raised by the Uluru Statement from the Heart”
Previous course participant, 2022
“The course examines the colonising effects of public policies on First Nations people, and it challenges emerging policymakers to consider how their policies can become less colonising. The course raises awareness of the harmful effects of colonisation, both past and continuing, while also demonstrating the inspiring resilience of First Nations people. The Indigenous perspectives presented in the course prompt students to question their own values and assumptions, potentially leading to better policy for non-Indigenous Australians as well”
Previous course participant, 2022
Course presenter(s)
Dr Elise Klein
Dr Elise Klein (OAM) is Associate Professor of Public Policy at the Crawford School, ANU. Dr Klein has a Dphil in International Development from the University of Oxford and held a Post-Doctoral Fellowship at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) at the Australian National University.
Her research interests include the rise of therapeutic cultures in policies, neoliberal subjectivities, economic rights, and decoloniality. Her two books include Developing Minds: Psychology, Neoliberalism, Power (Routledge), and Reading Amartya Sen’s Inequality Re-examined Study Book, (Mouseion/ Routledge).
Dr Klein has also two co-edited collections; Postdevelopment in Practice: Alternatives, Economies, Ontologies (Routledge) with Carlos Eduardo Morreo, and Implementing a Basic Income in Australia: Pathways Forward (Palgrave) with Jen Mays and Tim Dunlop.
Dr Klein has held various roles including working on the UN Secretary General’s High-Level Panel on Women’s Economic Development and the Human Rights Committee within the United Nations General Assembly. She was awarded the Medal of the Order of Australia (OAM) in 2019.
Dr Siobhan McDonnell
Dr Siobhan McDonnell is a Senior Lecturer at the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University. Siobhan is a highly skilled engaged legal anthropologist who has over twenty years of experience working with Indigenous people in Australia and the Pacific on climate change, land, resource management, environment and development issues. Her commitment to the practice of engaged anthropology means that she produces research that contributes to high-impact policy and legal outcomes. She has contributed both research and policy outcomes in the following areas: land reform, gender and natural resource management, climate change, disaster management, resettlement issues, legal pluralism and the operation of customary institutions.
She has previously worked as a policy advisor at the Central Land Council and at Reconciliation Australia. She began her research career at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research. In 2014, she was the principal drafter of a new set of land laws in Vanuatu, as well as amendments to the Constitution of the Republic of Vanuatu. In 2015, she worked with the Solomon Islands Government to develop a pathway for land reform discussions. She is currently a Chief Investigator on two projects (1) Gendered impacts of Climate Change in Oceania, (2) Evaluation of a $8.25million family violence project working with Indigenous, refugee and migrant families across 8 locations.
Updated: 19 October 2024/Responsible Officer: Crawford Engagement/Page Contact: CAP Web Team
