Forward

The Queensland Government has a goal to provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders with economic, health and social opportunities comparable to those of other citizens in the state. Appropriate and effective community engagement between all levels of government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must be improved and sustained to achieve this.

Genuine, inclusive and sustained community engagement is widely recognised as the most effective means for the government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to work together to improve everyday life for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Queenslanders.

Engaging Queenslanders: Introduction to working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities provides community engagement tools to identify, develop, deliver and implement government policies, programs and services that address the significant diversity amongst Queensland’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and each community’s circumstances.

Importantly, it also provides public sector officers with well-researched and relevant community engagement techniques that respect and affirm the cultural diversity amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, while providing practical guidance on ways to improve and sustain engagement between government and communities.

The aim of this resource is to foster and sustain effective community engagement that will underpin the state government’s partnership philosophy based on the following initiatives:

• Meeting Challenges, Making Choices (2002)
• Partnerships Queensland (2005).

These initiatives provide a platform for government engagement with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in a spirit of co-production and active partnerships that address issues of concern at the local level.

This resource was developed in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the public sector, community engagement practitioners and public officials who have significant expertise working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

We invite all government officials to utilise Engaging Queenslanders: Introduction to working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities when planning, implementing and sustaining community engagement with Aboriginal