Subject
Policy
Description
The Aboriginal Lands Act 1970 (Vic) (the Act) was passed to grant freehold title to Aboriginal residents of the former missions at Framlingham and Lake Tyers through two land-holding Trusts. The Act established the Framlingham Aboriginal Trust (FRAT) and Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust LTAT). The Minister for Treaty and First Peoples (Minister) is the administrator and regulator of the Act. FRAT was placed in administration by the then Minister in 2018. Funding to support administration expenses lapse on 30 June 2023. Without further investment from the Victorian Government, FRAT cannot meet its statutory obligations and allow the Minister to acquit their legal responsibilities.
Status
For review
Actions taken
The policy is targeting a specific cohort of Victorians, particularly the community of FRAT. DPC has focused on engaging all genders and gender diverse community members in the design and delivery of the program. This includes embedding targeted engagement and providing community members with contact details to make anonymous and confidential feedback.
Intersectional lens applied
The policy considers intersection between gender and Aboriginality and community. It aims to enable greater self-determination and independence by supporting FRAT to bolster governance and operational capability to support the transition to sustainable self-governance. It ensures the participation of all community members through the development of targeted and inclusive projects. Further the program will implement activities to increase workforce and governance participation, and activities to increase financial sustainability. This is expected to benefit the community by enabling sustainable income streams and employment opportunities for women, men and gender diverse community members. It will also give practical effect to the Victorian Government’s commitment to self-determination by supporting the FRAT’s economic independence from government.
Subject
Program
Description
The Programs provide Foundation and Formation services to support Traditional Owners to engage in Treaty, progress formal recognition and realise self-determination; while the Treaty Architecture is being established; and support transition of functions to First Peoples Representative Body (FPRB) / Self Determination Fund (SDF).
Foundation - Strong Roots for Our Futures resources foundational activities to build strong Traditional Owner groups of regions without formal recognition.
Formation – FNLRS provides formal recognition services to support Traditional Owners to progress formal recognition in regions.
Status
For review
Actions taken
The programs are designed to engage in a culturally and gender sensitive way. Both Strong Roots and FNLRS are delivered by teams of male and female staff and engage flexibly with individual's families and groups.
Intersectional lens applied
People with different social roles and responsibilities are involved in the program, in particular young people and Elders, men and women. The program respects men’s and women’s business, men and women may want access for different priorities and needs. It acknowledges that Elders and young people have different needs and specific cultural protocols need to be respected. It accommodates people with caring responsibilities and health issues.
Subject
Program
Description
The Victorian Government delivers a program of major Aboriginal cultural events and awards, including the Ricci Marks Awards, the Aunty Dot Peters Awards, the NAIDOC State Government Reception, the Victorian Aboriginal Honour Roll and the Victorian Aboriginal Remembrance Service. The outcome of the gender impact assessment was positive.
The GIA was positive, but also found that the program design could improve its gender diversity - for example, the Honour Roll nomination process and Ricci Marks and Aunty Dot Peters Awards application and selection processes do not support gender diverse people to participate. Conversely, the Victorian NAIDOC Committee has a good representation of women, and the 2022 Honour Roll event used the services of female-owned and operated businesses.
Status
For review
Actions taken
The Major Aboriginal cultural events and awards initiative will make the following improvements to progress positive gender diversity outcomes:
- Increase the gender diversity of event and award participants.
- Ensure balanced gender representation in decision-making panels and committees.
- Consider gender impacts and gender inclusiveness in the formulation and review of funding proposals and funding agreements.
- Consider the gender diversity of event and award suppliers and services.
- Collect gender event and award participant identity data where possible and appropriate to monitor progress.
Intersectional lens applied
Event attendees and award recipient cohorts vary significantly and therefore broad intersectionality is considered. DPC notes that the need for gender representation and inclusivity is greater for the Ricci Marks and Aunty Dot Peters Awards which are targeted at young Aboriginal people, as it is assumed that young people are more likely to identify as gender diverse than Elders. If young Aboriginal people who identify as gender diverse are not given the opportunity to apply to these awards, there will be a lack of equity in the opportunities being made available to young Aboriginal gender diverse people to fund their high school or tertiary studies, training, etc. All events and awards support people with mobility requirements to apply, and event and award documentation consider the accessibility requirements of the audience.
Subject
Program
Description
The Aboriginal Community Infrastructure Fund includes two programs:
- The Aboriginal Community Infrastructure Program, which provides funding for Aboriginal organisations to build new community infrastructure or repair, refurbish or expand existing community infrastructure.
- The First Mortgage and Community Infrastructure Program, which provides Aboriginal organisations that own property where the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples holds a first mortgage the opportunity to have full control of their assets and have the autonomy to grow and plan for the future.
The GIA found that women in the Aboriginal infrastructure sector are more likely to face disadvantage when applying for grants through the Fund – for example, the limited timing of grant application funding rounds are more likely to impact people who have caregiving responsibilities or who were required to home school during the coronavirus pandemic. This meant that Aboriginal organisations with more women employees were more likely to experience time pressures to submit applications.
Status
For review
Actions taken
The Aboriginal Community Infrastructure Fund initiative is making the following improvements to progress positive gender diversity outcomes:
- Address current accessibility barriers to women and gender-diverse people applying for grants from the Aboriginal Community Infrastructure Fund. This includes:
- Considering school holidays for future funding rounds’ open and closing dates to help gendered caregiving roles submit applications for grants equitably.
- Encouraging gender diversity in the construction procurement carried out by Aboriginal organisations that receive grant funding for their infrastructure projects, so that more women and gender diverse people can be involved in the industry.
- Ensure that the Aboriginal Community Infrastructure Fund assessment panels that make funding recommendations for the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples are gender diverse to avoid bias towards projects that different genders may relate strongly to.
Intersectional lens applied
The GIA considered the disproportionate impacts that the coronavirus pandemic has had on women’s workforce participation, employment and economic security, with a significant number of women being displaced. At the same time, there has been a demand for workers in male-dominated industries including construction, transport and logistics that will form part of recovery efforts and experience growth. Organisations vary drastically in size and capacity of staff to prepare and submit lengthy applications for grant funding. The Aboriginal Community Infrastructure Program application process mandates applicants to make contact with the project team to discuss project proposals, and the panel acknowledges the differences between large and small organisations and considers this in their decision to recommend projects. This assessment approach compares organisations equitably.
Subject
Program
Description
The Multicultural Community Infrastructure Fund (MCIF) program supports Victoria’s multicultural community organisations to upgrade their community facilities and the Multicultural Festivals and Events (MFE) program funds multicultural and multifaith community organisations to hold cultural festivals and events for Victorian communities.
Status
New
Actions taken
No action taken.
The estimated date of implementation of the actions in the GIA is from July 2024 – June 2025. The next opportunity to open a funding round for the MCIF program will be after July 2024, the MCIF team will have a period of several months to undertake the actions outlined in the GIA including consultation with relevant stakeholders. The first round of the 2024-25 MFE program is already due to open for application in March 2024 but necessary adjustments will be made for the second round which will open in approximately September 2024.
Intersectional lens applied
The initiative recognises that a person’s gender identity can impact their experiences. Both programs impact and reach people of different genders by supporting the social and economic wellbeing of multicultural communities in Victoria, which includes women who are at greatest need.
Victoria’s multicultural communities experience significant barriers to fully engaging in the economic and social life of our state. Royal Commissions and other inquiries into Victorian service systems have thoroughly documented these barriers, including poor accessibility of information, discrimination and exclusion from services, and stigma and discrimination that deters culturally and linguistically diverse people from accessing mainstream services. Gender and gender diversity are clearly further identity layers which community members who already identify as multicultural will also recognise and include as part of their identities – but there is limited research and data / evidence which explores these complex, multi-layered identities together.
The GIA actions recognise that both programs can do more to design, develop and implement data collection with respect to multicultural communities and a gender lens. This will help to support more evidence-based decision making around the application and assessment process and ultimately the projects supported through each program. The outcome will be improved support for gender diverse community members, especially in the context of intersectionality.
Subject
Program
Description
The programs delivered through the Support for priority newly arrived migrants initiative will have a direct and significant impact on the public through the provision of targeted and place-based responses to the unique and challenging issues faced by newly arrived persons.
The aims of the programs are to support priority newly arrived migrants, particularly those from refugee and asylum seeker backgrounds and operate based on best practice and evidence-based models across, early childhood, education, language and training, health protection and promotion, family and social support, and access to justice.
Status
New
Actions taken
No action taken.
The estimated date of implementation is July 2024 – July 2028 and subject to 2024-2025 State Budget outcomes.
Intersectional lens applied
This initiative recognises that a person’s gender identity can impact their settlement experiences and outcomes. The initiatives funded by this program focus on supporting individuals and families to through genuine engagement, delivery of targeted and culturally appropriate communications and messaging on services and building trust and partnerships with mainstream organisations to generate positive impacts for people of different genders and cultures. This includes targeted support for women and youth-led approaches that supports their leadership and addresses emerging needs.
In times of crisis there is typically a higher impact on women, in particular women from at risk migrant communities, including new arrivals, humanitarian entrants and temporary visa holders, who are overrepresented in low paid, casual, unpaid work including carrying most caring responsibilities.
Through this initiative we will reach and positively impact people of different genders by ensuring that community organisations are equipped with the capacity to promote access to culturally safe and informed settlement supports and services.
Subject
Program
Description
The Diversity on Boards initiative aims to complement the Women on Boards commitment by improving representation of the wider community on public boards.
Status
New
Actions taken
A business case was developed to seek funding for capacity building and training for board members. The VPSC received $0.5m over two years for the 'Government Boards that reflect the community they serve' initiative in the 2023-24 State Budget.
Intersectional lens applied
The Diversity on Boards initiative seeks to improve the diversity profile of Victorian Government Boards, so they better represent the communities they serve. Although gender parity (men/women) has been reached overall on public boards, people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds (CALD), young people, people with disability, LGBTIQA+ people, Aboriginal people and people who live in rural and regional Victoria remain under-represented.
Subject
Program
Description
The Victorian African Communities Action Plan (VACAP) 2018-2028 is a key pillar of the Victorian Government’s commitment to supporting the social and economic participation of Victoria’s diverse African communities. The ten-year plan was developed in 2018 by the African Ministerial Working Group, focusing on the key areas of business, employment, education and training, health and wellbeing, inclusion and empowerment, leadership, and cohesion and connection. Several initiatives are delivered under the Action Plan that aim to respond to the range of barriers experienced by Victorians of African heritage.
Status
For review
Actions taken
Actions have been taken to ensure VACAP programs have a positive gender impact through:
- Supporting the social and economic wellbeing of women of African heritage
- Enabling participation of the Victorian African Communities Committee, more than half of whom are women
- Shaping initiatives with a targeted focus on young women and girls
- Supporting pre-established and trusted early intervention and community-based supports that address many of the causes of gender-based inequities within African communities, including in relation to education and economic independence.
Intersectional lens applied
VACAP initiatives aim to facilitate equitable service access for individuals from all sectors of Victoria’s African communities. The initiatives are designed to provide flexible supports that address the intersecting barriers experienced by Victorians of African heritage.
In addition, flexible contract arrangements enable funded organisations to address the emerging and varying needs of community members. VACAP initiatives, in line with the objectives of the Action Plan, adopt an intersectional approach to both program design and implementation. The initiatives are tailored in consultation with funded organisations, who are best placed to engage with and understand the complex needs of communities. Funded organisations are supported to deliver targeted early intervention, wrap-around supports that integrate an inclusive and intersectional approach to program delivery.
Subject
Policy
Description
The Victorian Anti-Racism Strategy will be launched in 2024 as a state-wide roadmap to address and prevent racism and faith-based discrimination.
The Strategy is a jointly led initiative between the Minister for Multicultural Affairs and the Minister for Treaty and First Peoples.
Status
New
Actions taken
No actions taken.
The estimated date of implementation for actions within the GIA is 2024 - 2029, subject to 2024-25 State Budget outcomes.
Intersectional lens applied
The development of the Strategy and its proposed actions have been informed by research and consultations conducted with a diverse range of individuals and organisations, including multicultural women's organisations.
The Strategy will consider the intersection between gender and experiences of racism and discrimination, recognising that First Peoples and multicultural women and gender-diverse people feel the effects of racism differently, with some experiencing unique barriers to accessing supports. Specific proposed actions have been included within the Strategy to address these barriers and empower women and gender-diverse people in culturally safe and supported ways.
Proposed actions have also been developed through consideration of other unique experiences of racism and discrimination, including for First Peoples and multicultural women with disability, LGBTIQA+ women, and older women, ensuring activities delivered under this policy are accessible to all people.
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