There is no way to avoid it - different standards have short-changed Indigenous people. We must not accept poorer levels of service or poorer outcomes for Indigenous people. This is why the Australian Government decided last year, to end the practice of separate policy development and program delivery for Indigenous people.

The programs previously administered separately by ATSIC are now being administered by mainstream departments which now clearly carry the responsibility for providing services to all Australians. They cannot pass the buck on these issues.

At the same time we are requiring them to work together to solve problems that cross many areas of responsibility. No one should underestimate the difficulty of pulling together this kind of whole-of-government approach. The ‘stovepipes’ of government policy and programs have grown up over many decades and cannot be undone overnight. This reform task is the other side of shared responsibility – governments taking responsibility for their bit. Shared responsibility means Indigenous Australians taking responsibility in their own communities; but it also means governments delivering on their responsibilities.

That said, I am proud of how far we have come over the last 12 months. We have successfully negotiated 121 Shared Responsibility Agreements with 98 communities. Some of these agreements may seem modest to outsiders, but as the expression of the aspirations of these communities and the desire to improve the lives of their children, we are starting to see some hopeful signs.

Our Indigenous Coordination Centres (ICC) which are located all around the country - from Kalgoorlie to Nhulunbuy, Roma to Ceduna, Tamworth to Melbourne - are meant to lead this process from the ground up. These ICCs are made up of teams of people from different departments. We have put the people together and the task now is to get them working together and to respond directly to the needs of local people. In some places such as NSW they are also co-located with state government staff.

In Canberra there is an unprecedented commitment to driving real change in the way governments do business. The relevant Ministers meet together regularly as do the Secretaries. None of this is easy, bureaucracies have a history of failing Aboriginal people. But we are going to keep pushing ahead, we are determined that the service the Australian government provides will be less complex, more flexible and make a real difference.

It is pleasing to see that some states and territories are making important moves in the same direction. While I appreciate the growing level of cooperation from the states and territories, nonetheless we will occasionally have disagreements. Some will not agree with my view that all the states and territories should be much more transparent in accounting for what they do with and for Indigenous Australians. For example, it might interest you to know that $1.1 billion of Goods and Services Tax (GST) revenues flowing to states is diverted to those jurisdictions with higher proportions of remote Aboriginal populations such as Queensland, Western Australia and the Northern Territory. There is little transparency in what happens to this money and how much of it finds its way to Indigenous people.

I am keen to ensure that all money allocated to improve outcomes for indigenous people is actually reaching them where they live - and not bloating bureaucracies, both government and non-government, or being used for other things. I am also sure the states such as NSW and Victoria with lower proportions of Indigenous people and which therefore subsidise the other states and the northern territory are as interested as I am in ensuring that it is being used for the purposes intended. If this money is being invested wisely we should be able to look forward to the day when the relative disadvantage has diminished and redistribution on this scale will not be needed.

Governments do not always have the solutions. It is very heartening to see the private sector’s growing role in Indigenous affairs. Forward-thinking mining companies have long seen the value of a constructive engagement with Indigenous people. It is inspiring to see major banks, retailers and others in the corporate sector really engaging with Indigenous Australia and getting results that governments would not achieve. I could tell you about some of them but I am a bit worried about promoting one bank or retailer over another. There are potentially many more creative ideas within the private sector that could respond to some of the issues facing Indigenous people.