Executive Summary

INDIVIDUAL AND FAMILY DEVELOPMENT

• PAMA PLATFORM has 228 users signed up to the web-based application that helps users take control of their money and day-to-day life. The Platform officially launched across Aurukun, Coen, Hope Vale and Mossman Gorge in February, with presentations held overviewing its benefits. Community members were impressed with its features, including new Hope Vale user Keithean Bowen who said: “Being able to see your financial goals and [incremental] achievements makes budgeting and saving seem more manageable.”

• MPOWER has helped 2,572 people to date across the Cape York Welfare Reform (CYWR) communities (Aurukun, Coen, Hope

Vale and Mossman Gorge) to improve their financial skills and wellbeing. Of these, 1,667 (65%) are still current members. MPower members continue to make progress in building their financial capabilities with more than a third of members who completed a

‘You & Your Money’ questionnaire across the CYWR communities, reporting an improvement since their last assessment. In June, 100% of members surveyed advised that they were very safisfied with MPower support, including Fiona Gibson who said: “Thank you to the O-Hub staff in Hope Vale for their support with getting my debts sorted. I have worked on a budget, which provided me with an understanding of where my money was going and now I feel more confident and no longer stressed.”

• HOMELANDS has 27 members—across Coen, Hope Vale and Wujal Wujal communities—who are jointly managing the ongoing costs related to, and realising their development goals for, their homes and lands. To date, families have come together to save more than $87,000 to cover the cost of land-related expenses. The Nipper family, of Hope Vale, recently made the decision to avail of this opportunity to work together and take financial responsibility for costs associated with home ownership. They join existing Homelands members, like Dora Gibson, that have seen the benefits of saving for future expenses. Dora said: “It has been a relief for me to know that there is the Homelands account…if anything needs repairs.”

EDUCATION

• STUDENT EDUCATION TRUST (SET) has helped 773 parents and carers from seven Cape York communities (Aurukun, Coen,

Cooktown, Hope Vale, Lockhart River, Mossman Gorge and Wujal Wujal) to provide 1,250 students with the educational goods and services they need to succeed at school. Since SET began, more than $3.8M has been diverted to support children’s educational needs, ensuring that money is saved up for ever-increasing expenses as children progress into secondary education.

Tegan Kulka, a Cooktown SET donor said: “I was starting to stress about how I was going to pay for everything. Luckily, I had her

SET account, which helped me pay for the fees and uniforms. That was a great relief and weight off my shoulders!”

• CAPE YORK LEADERS PROGRAM (CYLP) supported 124 Indigenous Cape York students to attend secondary schools and universities across Australia at some point during January–June. Leaders, with CYLP support, continue to achieve academic success, such as taking up leadership roles at their boarding schools, attaining awards, and completing tertiary education. In

February, Academic Tertiary Leader, Joel Johnson of Yarrabah, graduated from QUT with a Bachelor of Law degree. Joel, who has been with CYLP for over ten years, said: “My education will allow me to build a stable life for my family and myself. I want to affect change and achieve positive outcomes for our people and this qualification will give me the foundation to do that.”

• CAPE YORK ABORIGINAL AUSTRALIAN ACADEMY (CYAAA) supported 158 students across Coen and Hope Vale to attend and achieve at school. CYAAA parents and students understand the importance of attending school each day, with Hope Vale in first place position and Coen a close second, in the Top 10 Attending Schools in Queensland Indigenous communities. Coen and

Hope Vale staff worked closely with parents around preparing their children for a successful transition to high school. Interactive

Guugu Yimithirr language lessons, complementing what is being taught to Hope Vale students, are being shared with the community through social media. Shane Gibson, one of the community members involved in the project, said: “It is important to teach our language to the next generation to keep our culture intact.”

• DJARRAGUN COLLEGE supported 377 students to undertake their primary and secondary schooling in Semester 1. The

College’s ongoing, concerted efforts to improve school attendance is yielding results with average student attendance increasing from 50% in Semester 2, 2016 to 71.9% in Semester 1, 2021. At the start of Term 1, the College introduced the ‘Academies of

Excellence’ as an innovative educational initiative that inspires and engages students from Year 10 onwards in their choice of a broad range of interests and opportunities. In February, the College Leaders for 2021 were inducted into their new leadership roles as primary, secondary, house sports and boarding captains, and all pledged their commitment to being positive role models within the College community.

• CAPE YORK GIRL ACADEMY had 22 students enrolled between January–June, as well as three babies in residence. Senior students in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Language class each wrote a ‘My Language Story’, reflecting on their connection to language and culture in Semester 1. Savanna Forbes, who is a fluent speaker of her ancestral language, said:

“When I speak my Kriol language, I feel like I’m at home. I feel comfortable and feel like I belong to something bigger. It connects me with my family and my culture and my community.”

EMPLOYMENT AND ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT

• CAPE YORK EMPLOYMENT (CYE) supported 727 jobseekers across Aurukun, Coen and Lockhart River communities during

January–June to build the capabilities needed to move away from passive welfare dependency and into employment. In advance of an upcoming recruitment drive for local mining workers, CYE has engaged Kapani Warrior to deliver a six-month work readiness program to upskill Aurukun jobseekers interested in employment in the mining sector. To date, 23 jobseekers have participated in the program, with one already securing casual work as a result of the skills, confidence and experience she has gained. Another jobseeker commented: “Without this program, we would be fighting, drinking and smoking…this program has changed our lives.”

• BAMA SERVICES employed 56 staff at some point between January–June, 66% of whom are Indigenous. Bama’s commitment to staff wellbeing was formally recognised at the 2021 Queensland Reconciliation Awards, where it was a finalist in the Support and Wellbeing category. During January–June, Bama celebrated significant anniversaries with many employees who have remained with the company for many years, which is a testament to the organisation’s achievement enabling continuous employment and long-term career opportunities. Joshtel Charlie, who has worked at Bama for three years, said: “I love working with the Bama crews. We provide high standards and do quality work. Building positive relationships with co-workers and managers is a priority here. I’m always learning new skills and building my knowledge because of the ongoing training that Bama provides.”

LANGUAGE AND CULTURE

• PAMA LANGUAGE CENTRE (PLC) now works alongside 20 First Nations to ensure the viability of ancestral languages in

Cape York Peninsula. In March, Mpakwithi speakers were delighted to watch the first episode of Tava Ghwa (Sandy Road), which is a language immersion YouTube series for young children and their parents. PLC continues to apply augmented reality to the development of innovative and effective language immersion resources for fragile language revitalisation. Sandra

Sebasio, an Injinoo Ikya language champion, said: “It gives us great pride to be able to see our languages written in new ways and to hear them spoken for the first time in decades.” In May, Anguthimri peoples gathered to tell stories and write songs about their childhood experiences of Old Mapoon and to sing in their ancestral languages as part of the healing process through the ‘Voices of Old Mapoon’ wellbeing workshop series.

CAPE YORK INSTITUTE

• POLICY, a part of Cape York Institute (CYI), has been a leading driver of Indigenous policy reform in Cape York and elsewhere since the independent think tank was launched in July 2004. CYI continues to advocate strongly for the Australian Government to call a referendum to enshrine a Voice within the Constitution prior to passing the requisite legislation. In his speech at The

National Museum of Australia, Noel Pearson said: “Constitutional recognition of Indigenous Australians is not a project of woke identity politics, it is Australia’s longest standing and unresolved project for justice and inclusion.” A number of productive discussions have been held with Mayors and Council members during workshops with the Torres Cape Indigenous Council

Alliance on the Job Guarantee concept. The benefits of a Job Guarantee for Cape York were outlined in ‘The Most Immediate

Need in Indigenous Affairs’ through Cape York Partnership’s Time to Listen podcast.

HEALTH AND WELLBEING

• NGAK MIN HEALTH supported 368 Djarragun College students, their family members and members of the Gordonvale community to improve their health and wellbeing outcomes between January–June. Ngak Min’s holistic care model provides targeted and easily accessible health support to Djarragun College students, who accounted for 90% of active patients in the period. A cornerstone of ensuring that Ngak Min works towards improving the health outcomes of Djarragun students is the completion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Checks. Between January–June, Ngak Min completed the highest number of health checks in a six-month period since it started operations.

• THE MAYI MARKET provided more than 1,492 fresh food boxes to 229 customers in Coen, Hope Vale, Mossman Gorge and Wujal Wujal between January–June. In April, it launched its new subscription model through online orders on the Mayi

Market website. Mayi Market customers have set up recurring orders and ongoing payments, which ensures that families are consistently receiving quality produce at affordable prices. Samuel Michael of Hope Vale said: “Having Mayi Market makes me feel good! I have set up payments through Centrepay so money goes out each fortnight. That makes it easy and I don’t have to worry about food for my family!”