First Nations engagement
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We acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as Traditional Owners, Custodians and First Nations of Australia, and Māori as tangata whenua and Treaty of Waitangi partners in Aotearoa New Zealand.
This website may contain names, images and voices of deceased Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
ANZSOG is committed to working with communities across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand to promote and prioritise the perspectives and contributions of First Peoples.
“Public services need to become more responsive to the needs of Indigenous people, and to recognise that the whole nation can benefit from incorporating Indigenous knowledge and understandings into policy and practice,” ANZSOG Dean and CEO Professor Ken Smith said.
ANZSOG is developing programs and research to assist public service officers, managers and executives in their approach to the administration of Indigenous affairs as well as to the contribution of Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing to the broader endeavours of the public purpose sector. We are also committed to better representation of Indigenous people in the public service, particularly at senior levels, and to providing leadership development opportunities for First Peoples.
Recognising the value and meaning of Indigenous knowledge and culture is critical to ANZSOG’s mission of ensuring the development of better ideas, evidence and networks for the public sector. This delivers public value through better government and better outcomes for all citizens.
Resources
2023 First Nations Public Administration Conference: First Peoples to All Peoples
ANZSOG’s First Peoples to All Peoples conference was held in Meanjin Brisbane from 1-3 March, 2023. Over 800 in-person attendees (plus 300 watching online) heard from over 20 First Nations speakers in a series of plenaries, panels and yarning circles discussing First Nations administration in Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand.
The conference examined First Nations policy through the lenses of Australia’s National Agreement on Closing the Gap commitments, particularly the four Priority Reforms, as well as the New Zealand Public Service Act 2020, which now clearly sets out the responsibility of the public service, particularly its leadership, in supporting the Crown’s relationship with Māori under the Treaty of Waitangi.
A range of First Nations speakers from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand shared their insights and experience of how transformative approaches that include First Nations knowledges, perspectives and values, can serve the wider public and First Nations interests.
Proud Partnerships in Place: ANZSOG First Peoples Public Administration Conference 2021
The past 12 months have been difficult for many, not least partnerships between Indigenous communities and governments. While many have been challenged, genuine partnerships built on foundations of trust and respect have not only survived but been agile, innovative and even strengthened through the environmental trials and the COVID-19 pandemic. Qualities that have resulted in a different and successful post-COVID recovery, require detailed exploration.
The Proud Partnerships in Place: 2021 ANZSOG First Peoples’ Public Administration Virtual Conference will unpack and celebrate the successes we are already seeing across Australia, Aotearoa New Zealand and internationally. It will also challenge participants to think beyond the way things have always operated, to consider how First Peoples knowledge, local community decision-making and new relationships with government and the public purpose sector can be mobilised to meet the needs of communities.
ANZSOG Indigenous Public Servant Forum 2019
14-15 November 2019
Ngunnawal Country, Canberra
On 14 and 15 November 2019, 23 senior Indigenous public servants from nine jurisdictions across Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand came together on Ngunnawal Country in Canberra for the third annual ANZSOG Senior Indigenous Public Servant Forum.
The Forum, supported by the National Indigenous Australians Agency, focused on Indigenous leadership in a changing public sector. It was smaller than previous years to allow for more strategic discussions among the most senior decision makers across both nations.
Reimagining Public Administration: First Peoples, governance and new paradigms
20-21 February 2019
Federation Square, Melbourne
The Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) in partnership with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) held its second Indigenous affairs conference, Reimagining Public Administration: First Peoples, governance and new paradigms at Melbourne’s Federation Square on 20-21 February 2019.
Public sector leaders, not-for-profits, academics and Indigenous community organisations from across Australia and Aotearoa-New Zealand were invited to explore new ideas and discuss better ways of engaging with Indigenous communities including Indigenous knowledge and culture in public service practice.
The #FirstPeoples2019 conference looked at the relations between the Aotearoa New Zealand government and Māori people, what Australia can learn from the Aotearoa New Zealand experience, and how we can build stronger links between the two nations’ First Peoples.
Download the report (word) Download the report (pdf)
ANZSOG Senior Indigenous Public Servant Forum 2018
Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori public servants from all ten jurisdictions met in Canberra from 9-11 December 2018 for the second ANZSOG Indigenous Public Servant Forum. The forum, held with the financial support of the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, and the Governments of South Australia, Tasmania and NSW, aims to develop a plan to improve representation of Indigenous peoples, culture and knowledge in the public sector.
Read more and view a photo gallery of the Forum at the Forum news article.
Download the report (Word) Download the report (PDF)
Read a news story on the report
Indigenous Affairs and Public Administration: Can’t we do better?
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), the University of Sydney, and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) held the conference ‘Indigenous Affairs and Public Administration: Can’t we do better?’ at the University of Sydney on 9 and 10 October 2017.
A range of speakers sparked ’courageous conversations’ around the need for change in Indigenous policy, the need to respect and learn from Indigenous culture and the best ways to ensure genuine involvement of Indigenous people and communities in policy development and implementation.
To ensure that the learnings from the Conference are used to work towards change, an ANZSOG report is available on the Conference webpage and continues to feed into a number of other forums ANZSOG is co-hosting with PM&C in late 2017 and 2018.
Videos and photos from the Conference are also available on the Conference webpage.
Download the report (word) Download the report (pdf)
ANZSOG Senior Indigenous Public Servant Forum 2017
ANZSOG hosted a Senior Indigenous Public Servant Forum in 13-14 December 2017, supported by Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand governments and funded by the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
The forum was attended by more than 60 Indigenous public servants from Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand, and allowed participants to discuss frankly the challenges of being a minority within the public service and the benefits that could be delivered by employing more First Peoples.
ANZSOG has complied a report outlining the findings of the forum that can be downloaded below.
National Agreement Explainer – what public servants need to know
The Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap 2019-2029 (Partnership Agreement) was signed in March 2019 by the Council of Australian Governments and the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations (Coalition of Peaks) representing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled sector. It established the principles and governance arrangements for negotiating the new National Agreement on Closing the Gap (Agreement) which was signed in July 2020. The Agreement is premised on a ‘new approach…where policy making that impacts the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is done in full and genuine partnership…where [governments] listen to and change the way [they] work in response to the voices of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people’. This detailed Explainer produced by ANZSOG with assistance from the Coalition of Peaks Secretariat and the Closing the Gap Secretariat, outlines the key features of the Agreement and shows how public servants at all levels can change how they work to meet the Agreement’s four Priority Reforms and develop genuine partnerships with First Nations.
Download the National Agreement Explainer (word)
First Peoples Strategy
Indigenous models of governance and political organisation are some of the oldest and longest continuing in the world and are a foundation for our understanding of distinctly Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand governance models. Developing a First Peoples strategy recognises the impact of colonisation on Indigenous peoples, and the long history of government policies and actions that have disadvantaged and discriminated against First Peoples in both Australia and Aotearoa New Zealand. ANZSOG’s Strategy 2025 commits to “working with communities across Australia and New Zealand to promote and prioritise the perspectives and contributions of First Peoples”. The ANZSOG First Peoples Strategy builds on this commitment.
ANZSOG First Peoples Strategy (word)
Learning and action protocol
ANZSOG is committed to an inclusive approach across all its practices and curriculum that prioritises the unique contributions and value of Māori, Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As part of this commitment, ANZSOG has developed a Learning and Action Protocol, which offers guidance for faculty, staff, students and partners of ANZSOG.
This protocol is designed to ensure that all ANZSOG practices respect Māori, Australian Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander individuals and communities.
Download ANZSOG’s Learning and Action Protocol (PDF)
Indigenous Values for the APS
This paper explores how the APS could change the Public Service Act 1999 to incorporate First Peoples knowledge and approaches into the core values and ways of working of the federal public service. It recommends working with Indigenous communities to create a formal acknowledgement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Act and to better recognise Indigenous approaches to governance through changes to the APS values.
Download the report (Word) Download the report (pdf)
ANZSOG Senior Indigenous Public Servant Forum 2019
Read a news story on the report
Reimagining public administration: First peoples, governance and new paradigms
The Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) in partnership with the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C) held its second Indigenous affairs conference, Reimagining Public Administration: First Peoples, governance and new paradigms at Melbourne’s Federation Square on 20-21 February 2019.
Download the report (Word) Download the report (pdf)
ANZSOG Senior Indigenous Public Servant Forum 2018
Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander and Māori public servants from all ten jurisdictions met in Canberra from 9-11 December 2018 for the second ANZSOG Indigenous Public Servant Forum.
Download the report (Word) Download the report (PDF)
Read a news story on the report
Indigenous Affairs and Public Administration: Can’t we do better?
The Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (PM&C), the University of Sydney, and the Australia and New Zealand School of Government (ANZSOG) held the conference ‘Indigenous Affairs and Public Administration: Can’t we do better?’ at the University of Sydney on 9 and 10 October 2017.
Download the report (word) Download the report (pdf)
ANZSOG Senior Indigenous Public Servant Forum 2017
ANZSOG hosted a Senior Indigenous Public Servant Forum in 13-14 December 2017, supported by Australian and Aotearoa New Zealand governments and funded by the Australian Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.
ANZSOG report to change attitudes on Indigenous service delivery
Read 2015 ANZSOG EMPA Cohort’s report on how the NSW public service can shift its structural and attitudinal frameworks to support devolving decision-making to Aboriginal communities.
Download the report (word) Download the report (pdf)
Read a news story on the report
Challenges and Opportunities of Indigenous public service leadership
Hear from ANZSOG Deputy Dean Professor Catherine Althaus on her Indigenous public service leadership project:
Download the presentation (pdf)
Maps
Australia
This map serves as a reminder of the language, social or nation groups of Aboriginal Australia on the land in which ANZSOG operates. It shows only the general locations of larger groupings of people which may include clans, dialects or individual languages in a group. It used published resources from 1988-1994 and is not intended to be exact, nor the boundaries fixed. It is not suitable for native title or other land claims. David R Horton (creator), © Aboriginal Studies Press, AIATSIS, 1996. No reproduction without permission. To purchase a print version, please visit the AIATSIS online shop.
Aotearoa New Zealand
Ngā iwi o Aotearoa provides an indication of the approximate relation of iwi (tribes), and some larger hapū (sub-tribes), to geography and rohe (region). Ngā iwi o Aotearoa, Edition 1, 2016 Copyright © Tuhi Tuhi Communications. Created by Dr Virginia Tamanui and Sjimmy Fransen. Contact: info@takoa.co.nz. No reproduction without permission. To purchase a print version or subscribe to the TAKOA App (Aotearoa Indigenous networking), please visit the www.takoa.co.nz
“Timeless” artwork by Jordan Roser.
Indigenous Engagement playlist
Explore more Indigenous resources at our YouTube channel.
Collaborations
Read the special edition of the Griffith Review launched in partnership with ANZSOG and the Melbourne School of Government.
This paper was commissioned by ANZSOG for this conference to seek to examine the risks and barriers to greater devolution of authority to First Nations communities and organisations (including Peak organisations).
The National Agreement on Closing the Gap, signed by all Australian governments and the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations in July 2020, commits to systemic and structural transformation to give effect to the New Approach where policy making that impacts Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is done in full and genuine partnership with them.
Shared decision-making partnerships are mandated so that First Nations representatives can engage with government as equals. Such partnerships range from policy partnerships involving national action to place-based partnerships between all levels of government and local or regional First Nations communities. They also include data and information sharing partnerships so that First Nations regions and communities can assess the data and information needed to make decisions about their future development.
These partnerships require governments (ministers and bureaucrats) to share power with First Nations representatives. They are much more than mere funding agreements.
Similarly, Government [p]Parties to the National Agreement have acknowledged that First Nations community-controlled services are better for their people, achieve better results, employ more First Nations people and are often preferred over mainstream services, and committed to increasing the proportion of service[s] delivered by First Nations organisations, particularly the community-controlled organisations. This already occurs in some sectors, primary health care, legal services and child protection are best known examples, but public servants must be prepared to give up more policy design, program implementation and service delivery to First Nations organisations.
Shared decision-making partnerships and greater delivery of programs and services by First Nations organisations is not business as usual. Public servants may be hesitant to effectively implement these commitments because of real and perceived risks or barriers.
This paper seeks to examine the academic literature around devolution and seek to identify, through interviews with current and former public service leaders, their concerns about the risks and barriers and some of the innovative approaches put in place to address them.
The paper does not, and could not in the time and budget available, identify every risk or barrier in every jurisdiction and provide a possible solution. But it does discuss some of the important structural and systemic changes needed to bring about real and lasting change.
It is up to you as public servants to identify the specific barriers in your area of policy or program and service delivery and to seek to implement solutions that remove the obstacles.
An Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or Māori public servant will receive a fully-funded place in one of ANZSOG’s 2024 foundation programs, which include the Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA), through the 2024 ANZSOG First Nations scholarship. Applications for the 2024 Scholarship open on 31 May and close on 6 October 2023.
This second ANZSOG scholarship was announced at the First Peoples to All Peoples conference in Meanjin Brisbane in March 2023, and is part of ANZSOG’s commitment to building capability in First Nations administration and lifting the number of potential First Nations leaders in all levels of the public sector.
This scholarship will help to build the capacity of First Nations leadership within the public sector and give the recipient a career-changing opportunity.
The recipient of the scholarship will be able to choose any ANZSOG foundation program: Executive Master of Public Administration (EMPA), the Executive Fellows Program (EFP), Towards Strategic Leadership (TSL), or Deputies Leadership Program, and have all academic costs covered.
The inaugural 2021 Scholarship was awarded to Palawa woman Brenda McDermott, currently working in the Victorian public service. Brenda commenced the EMPA in 2022.
Applicants for the scholarship must Identify as either Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or Māori and be currently working in the public sector in Australia or Aotearoa New Zealand, and are expected to remain in the public service for the period of their scholarship.
Applications for the Scholarship are now open and close on 6 October. Full criteria for the scholarship are available here.
ANZSOG's Commitment to First Nations Curriculum
ANZSOG has committed to embed First Nations perspectives and values in all our programs. This is one of the key priorities elaborated in our Strategy 2023-2024. This document is our public commitment to First Nations curriculum and a First Nations Curriculum Guide has been developed for internal use by staff and faculty.
First Nations Reference Group
ANZSOG has established a First Nations Reference Group to advise on First Nations programs and strategies. The Reference Group consists of six members:
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Dr Daryn Bean
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Dr Josephine Bourne
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Tui Marsh
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Geoff Richardson
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Te Hau Maiangi (Jo-Anne Short)
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Jason Ardler PSM
Key People
Related Pages
Wise Practice collection
ANZSOG’s Wise Practice collection is a combination of public administration and policy resources centred on the knowledge and culture of the First Peoples of Australia and Aoteraroa New Zealand.
Proud Partnerships in Place
Reimagining Public Administration
Indigenous Affairs and Public Administration: Can’t we do better?