Stronger voice for Indigenous women

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island women will have a new forum to raise issues of concern and develop their own solutions through the establishment of the new National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s Alliance.

The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Jenny Macklin, and the , Tanya Plibersek, today announced the establishment of the alliance at a meeting of 55 Indigenous women leaders in Canberra organised by Oxfam.

This alliance of Indigenous women and their organisations from across the country will work with the Australian Government on policy issues to develop a more informed and representative dialogue with the Government.

The Australian Government will provide $600,000 over three years for the creation of the new alliance, as part of the Office for Women’s National Women’s Alliances program.

Its establishment will be led by prominent Indigenous women and their organisations, with initial set up support from the YWCA.

Already, Indigenous leaders representing communities from Adelaide to the Torres Strait, Sydney and Melbourne to the NPY lands in Central Australia have indicated their support.

In the coming months, the alliance will expand its membership to encourage more women to join up to have their voices heard and their communities represented.

Over the next year, we expect it will grow significantly in membership and in skills.

It will become strong through rigorous debate, democratic governance and the diversity of its membership, which importantly will include a strong grassroots base.

The Australian Government is encouraging other prominent Indigenous women leaders to join forces with this alliance.

The new Indigenous women’s alliance is one of six National Women’s Alliances to be funded by the Australian Government to work on national policy issues.

The National Women’s Alliances are a national mechanism to ensure the issues that concern women are raised with government and publicly debated.