The Wire

For many decades, Indigenous townships in Queensland have held special status as Deed-of-Grant-In-Trust or DOGIT communities. They were governed by their own locally elected councils and were able to lobby the state government through the peak Aboriginal Co-ordinating Council, the ACC. In what might have brought division to Murri communities, the government removed funding from the ACC and changed the law to give the communities the same standing as other shire and town councils. It came hot on the heels of government-sponsored Alcohol Management Plans and created an enormous workload for Community councils introducing the necessary administrative and business procedures to become members of the Local Government Association. But the government may be surprised by the strong show of unity coming from the communities. At a time when some Indigenous Australians have faced accusations of in-fighting and corruption, most of the state’s Indigenous communities are regrouping to form the Aboriginal Local Government Association of Qld– sponsored with a portion of the funding from each community. Outgoing ACC Chairman Peter Guivarra says the new peak body will officially be formed very soon.