Dear Pama, When First Nations people of Cape York come together, with fire in their belly, to design and plan for a better future it is truly an invigorating and exciting gathering. The Pama Futures Summit in December 2018 brought together more than 330 people from more than 30 language groups to continue to build on 18-months of groundwork in what has been the nation’s most comprehensive future-visioning process for Indigenous reform.
What is the Pama Futures agenda trying to achieve? There is widespread agreement that under Pama Futures, there is a lot of work to be done in the three major areas: Land Rights, Empowerment and Economic Development. The number one goal of Pama Futures is to put in place the reforms needed to empower the individuals, families, clans and communities to drive their own agendas in each of these areas. Power and decision-making currently held by government alone, must shift into the hands of First Nations individuals, families, clans, communities, subregions and regions. This is what Pama Futures sets out to achieve –more and better local decision making. In this way, Pama Futures can bring about a watershed transformation for all Cape York communities.
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