The contributors to the conference were leading analysts, commentators and researchers in Indigenous policy. The presenters came from all over Australia to provide a stimulating, enjoyable, and informed debate. While I am grateful to all contributors, I would particularly like to thank Tom Calma, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner from the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission, who spent more time on the Shine Dome stage than almost any other presenters. I would also like to give a special mention to the chairs of the respective sessions at the conference who provided rigour, discipline and breadth to the discussion. Four chairs deserve special thanks in this regard: Craig Linkhorn (New Zealand Crown Law Office and Visiting Fellow, CAEPR), Peter McDonald (Demography Program, Research School of Social Sciences), Sandra Pattison (National Centre for Vocational and Educational Research), and Ben Smith (Post-Doctoral Fellow, CAEPR).

The ABS were supportive of the event as they were keen to facilitate responsible and informed use of their data. The main form of that support was extra data provided to facilitate our evaluation of the 2002 NATSISS. While much of the data used in this monograph is available from the official ABS (2004c) publication on 2002 NATSISS (Cat. No.4714.0), some customised cross-tabulations were provided specifically for the conference and this publication. I would like to acknowledge the staff at the ABS’s National Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statistics, who generously gave their time in providing data and clarifying any queries about how the data was collected, coded and outputted.

The final acknowledgment must go to the dedicated and professional Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) team who were responsible for the organisation of the conference over several months, especially Hilary Bek, Geoff Buchanan, Ruth Nicholls, John Hughes, Vicki Veness and Maria Davern. Without their hard work, the conference would never have been completed successfully. Two anonymous referees and many readers also gave invaluable comments on early drafts of the chapters for this monograph. I would like to take this opportunity to thank ANU E Press for publishing this report in such a professional manner. A final thanks must go to Hilary Bek and Jeneen McLeod for assistance with the copy-editing of a draft of the manuscript for this book.