"The students are the center of our care, so it's really important to focus on what the students' needs are. Not only their academic needs, but more importantly their social and emotional wellbeing." - Karen Wilson, Cape York Girl Academy Head of Wellbeing.

Why should schools prioritise the health and wellbeing of their students? How can this be achieved? For Indigenous Australian students, are there unique cultural considerations? And what does it mean to feel culturally safe?

On this week's episode of Time to Listen, we speak with Karen Wilson and Chaseley Walker, two Indigenous wellbeing support staff at the Cape York Girl Academy (CYGA). Every day, their paramount concern is ensuring that the CYGA students feel safe – physically, emotionally and culturally. They aim to meet the students base level needs – physiological, safety, and love and belonging – which will ensure, in turn, that the students feel most ready and able to engage in their education.

 After outlining their roles, Karen and Chaseley outline the cultural backgrounds of the CYGA students. They clarify the trauma that has played a part in the lives of the students and has, ultimately, been a motivating factor in their enrolment to CYGA. They then explain why the Support and Wellbeing program is such a vital component of CYGA's operations.

Karen and Chaseley clarify what constitutes positive outcomes pertaining to their Indigenous students' wellbeing. They then evaluate the success of the CYGA Support and Wellbeing program by providing examples of these outcomes. They also explain what it is to create a learning environment that is culturally safe.

We conclude the episode by addressing the financial assistance provided by the Our Sisters campaign. Along with other areas, the campaign raises funds for CYGA's Support and Wellbeing program. Karen and Chaseley explain how the program, and the Indigenous girls who are uplifted by it, can and will benefit from further funding support.

Thank you for taking the time to listen.

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Have you listened to the special 'Or Sisters' episode of Time to Listen? You can find it here:
https://bit.ly/TTL-SPECIAL-OUR-SISTERS-APPLE (Apple Podcasts)
https://bit.ly/TTL-special-our-sisters-spotify (Spotify podcasts)

Would you like to learn more about the Cape York Girl Academy? Check out their website:
Cape York Girl Academy - Cape York Partnership

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"I can say that we are a fairly unique situation here at Girl Academy. We're offering opportunities for students to learn more about their first languages. We're offering more opportunities for students to be exposed to the diversity and interwoven layers of Indigenous communities ...The teachers here are really mindful of our students' cultures ... so that we can help them build upon their knowledge of their own traditional culture." – Baressa Frazer.

How can Indigenous students be best supported in their learning environments? What are the unique cultural considerations that must be taken into account whilst educating Indigenous students? What does it mean to "be shame"?
For educators all across Australia, these are important questions to think and reflect deeply upon. As these questions guide the daily teaching practices of the Cape York Girl Academy staff, we believe that their perspectives and experiences can offer a lot to other educators of Indigenous students.

On this week's episode of Time to Listen, we speak with Baressa Frazer, Madeleine Boyd and Catalina Bejarano-Sanchez – three educators with real-time experience in teaching Indigenous students. Baressa is the former principle of the Cape York Girl Academy and current principle of Aurukun State School. Madeleine and Catalina are currently teaching at the Cape York Girl Academy.

Madeleine and Catalina speak about how they have had to adapt their teaching practices to suit the needs of the Indigenous students at the Cape York Girl Academy. They also talk about their observed differences between educating Indigenous and non-Indigenous students, and how cultural safety is an important factor when teaching Indigenous students.

Baressa speaks from her perspective, as an Indigenous person, about what the 'shame factor' is, and how it plays a harmful and obstructive role in Indigenous lives. Baressa, Madeleine and Catalina speak about how they have avoided putting their students in a position where they may feel shame.

We speak about trauma-informed approaches to teaching, avoiding deficit-orientated and punitive responses to dysregulation, and meeting students' wellbeing needs to ensure they feel most able to learn.

We also talk about how the Cape York Girl Academy has interwoven traditional culture and ways of learning into the fabric of its curriculum and teaching practices. Madeleine and Catalina speak about how they, as non-Indigenous teachers, are continually engaging in professional development that focusses on knowledge of Indigenous culture.

We conclude by addressing the key things that other educators around Australia could learn from the Cape York Girl Academy's experience. Madeleine, Cataline and Baressa also share some heart-warming success stories concerning the development of their students.

Thank you for taking the time to listen.

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Have you listened to episode 5 of Time to Listen, wherein we introduce the Cape York Girl Academy? You can find it here:
https://bit.ly/Apple-Time-to-Listen-Girl-Academy (Apple/iTunes)
https://bit.ly/Spotify-Time-to-Listen-Girl-Academy (Spotify)

Would you like to learn more about the Cape York Girl Academy? Check out their website:
Cape York Girl Academy - Cape York Partnership

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"If this [the First Nations Voice] is something you believe in, and you feel a conviction for it and in your heart you want to this happen, then stand with us and help us bring more people along ... I am absolutely of the belief that when Australians from all walks of life take this up and walk with us as the Uluru Statement invited everybody to do ... we're going to make history together." - Dean Parkin

This week on the podcast, we are bringing to you the second part of our interview with Dean Parkin, the Director of the From the Heart campaign. From the Heart's mission is to see Australia realise the principles and propositions laid out in the Uluru Statement from the Heart — Voice, Treaty, Truth.

In this second part of our conversation, Dean demystifies the First Nations Voice; also known as the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. He explains at what point in the co-design process we find ourselves, and what the next steps are likely to be. We talk about the public submissions made to the Voice co-design process, and what they demanded of the Federal Parliament.

Dean explains why constitutional enshrinement of the First Nations Voice is vital, how it is consistent with the request made by government to the referendum council, and how it honours the wishes of First Nations people. We also talk about the prospect of bi-partisanship support during a potential referendum process.

We address the potential membership models for the First Nations Voice. Dean gives his opinion on how the First Nations Voice will practically address disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. He addresses the common rationale that drives rebuttal against the First Nations Voice. Finally, we conclude with Dean's opinion on how this profound reform opportunity will unite, not divide, Australian society.

Thank you for taking the time to listen.

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Have you listened to part 1 of this interview yet? You can find it here:
https://bit.ly/TTL-E11-Spotify (Spotify)
https://bit.ly/TTL-E11-Apple (Apple/iTunes)

To learn more about the From the Heart Campaign and the Uluru Statement from the Heart: fromtheheart.com.au

To read the public submissions made to the Indigenous Voice to Parliament co-design process: https://haveyoursay.voice.niaa.gov.au/submissions/list

To keep up to date on the progress of the First Nations Voice: https://voice.niaa.gov.au/#

Sources of audio snippets:

Noel Pearson (00.00.53)
Q&A Highlight: Declaration vs Constitutional Recognition | 15 June 2015
abcqanda (YouTube channel)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fo9Sug2FXn4

Malcolm Turnbull (00.01.24)
PM Malcolm Turnbull on Q&A | 11 December 2017
abcqanda (YouTube channel)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4VG6_aFhji0&t=1978s

Paul Keating (00.26.45, 00.35.19 and 00.40.58)
Prime Minister Paul Keating - Launch of International Year of the World's Indigenous Peoples, 1993
National Archives of Australia (YouTube channel)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x1S4F1euzTw

Noel Pearson (00.28.09)
Noel Pearson - Woodford Folk Festival 2017
Cape York Partnership (YouTube channel)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC3hMEl7Dlo&t=672s

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"The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an invite to the Australian people, and I have seen people respond to that invitation. There is a sense that if we could do it 1967, then this is our generation and we can do it this time. I think that more and more people are feeling connected to the cause." - Dean Parkin

This week on the podcast, we are speaking to the Director of the From the Heart campaign —  Dean Parkin. From the Heart's mission is to see Australia realise the principles and propositions laid out in the Uluru Statement from the Heart — Voice, Treaty, Truth.

Dean was an active participant in the formulation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart and was close to the design process. He has since embarked on a campaign to bring about awareness of the Uluru Statement and the tenets that lay within. This included speaking at TedX in Canberra in 2018, presenting the Uluru Statement to a live audience (link to that speech below).

We engage in this conversation with Dean for two fundamental purposes. Firstly, to illuminate the Uluru Statement from the Heart. Secondly, to demystify the First Nations Voice, which the statement outlines as the first step toward harmony between First Nations people and other Australians.

This episode is the first of a two-part series. In this episode, Dean explains what the statement is, who was consulted in order for it to be formulated, and why it is unprecedented for its scale. He also gives an insightful take on how previous efforts for constitutional recognition have created a foundation of precedent and success beneath the Uluru Statement.

We then move on to the topic of the First Nations Voice. Dean explains what it is, and outlines what function it is likely to have if and when it is actualised. He also address the line of rebuttal commonly known as the 'third chamber of parliament argument', and why he thinks it is baseless and misguided.

Thank you for taking the time to listen.

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To learn more about the From the Heart Campaign: fromtheheart.com.au

Sources of audio snippets:

Nigel Scullion and Pat Dodson (00.00.52)

Nigel Scullion and Pat Dodson clash over Indigenous voice to parliament

Guardian News (YouTube channel)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=9IzmVhBa9xg

Dean Parkin (00.08.09 and 00.16.37)

The Uluru Statement From The Heart - an idea whose time has come | Dean Parkin | TEDxCanberra

TEDx Talks (YouTube channel)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=xB-31jD4XcA

Megan Davis (00.21.10)

Uluru Statement from the Heart

Guardian News (YouTube channel)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=zREKuT6GUqU

Noel Pearson (00.28.49)

Noel Pearson - Woodford Folk Festival 2017

Cape York Partnership (YouTube channel)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=KC3hMEl7Dlo

Thomas Mayor (00.35.00)

Discussing an Indigenous voice to parliament at Garma |The Drum

ABC News (Australia) (YouTube channel) 

www.youtube.com/watch?v=s91ois0Z-m0

Danny Gilbert (00.40.29 and 00.52.16)

Danny Gilbert - Indigenous Constitutional Recognition Speech

Gilbert + Tobin (YouTube channel)

www.youtube.com/watch?v=IeimQWHy9Dg

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"This is the second inquiry into food security by the parliament in eleven years. And like the Closing the Gap targets, little has changed or improved for those Australian Aboriginal people who live in remote communities." - Anne Stanley MP.

In December 2020, the Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs tabled a report on food pricing and food security in remote Indigenous communities. The inquiry into this issue was made after reports of grocery price gouging in remote ATSI communities during the COVID-19 crisis. It was also made in response to the longstanding concerns of fresh, healthy and affordable produce being unavailable to our most remote Australians – many of whom are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.

The report resulted in 16 recommendations, made to state and federal governments, concerning a need to put downward pressure on food prices in these communities for the sake of equality in health and socioeconomic outcomes. The Federal Government is yet to respond to the report.

This week, we are speaking to the project lead for the Mayi Market, Rohan Gupta, as well as Mossman Gorge O-Hub staff, Robert Henning and Terrence Douglas. The Mayi Market is an initiative of the Cape York Partnership, and was established to address the enduring issue of food security and affordability in Cape York. In some communities, residents have been paying triple the price for groceries in comparison to Cairns, the nearest regional center.

The mission of the Mayi Market is to ensure a healthy diet is attainable for all Cape York families, through the delivery of fresh food boxes on a fortnightly basis. The produce in these boxes is priced in parity with Cairns supermarket prices.

During the episode, we discuss the reality of food availability and affordability in Cape York communities, and address the ensuing health outcomes. We also speak about the logistics of such an operation, how the initiative was co-designed with residents of Cape York and how CYP plans to scale it over the next 12 months.

Thank you for taking the time to listen.

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To find out more about the Mayi Market, read pages 72-75 of the CYP July-December 2020 Family Empowerment Report: bit.ly/FER-2020-July-to-December

Mayi Market website: The Mayi Market – Fresh food boxes for Cape York communities
Mayi Market is also on Facebook and Instagram.

Report on Food Security and Affordability: Report – Parliament of Australia (aph.gov.au)

A snapshot of the report via SBS: Calls for study to improve food security and stop price gouging in remote Indigenous communities (sbs.com.au)

SBS short documentary 'The Distance Diet': Food availability in remote indigenous communities - YouTube

Sources of audio snippets:

The Distance Diet
Food availability in remote indigenous communities
Food availability in remote indigenous communities - YouTube

Linda Burney
Food insecurity in remote Aboriginal communities
Food insecurity in remote Aboriginal communities - YouTube

Anne Stanley MP
Indigenous Committee Report into Food Security 

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"History has had a direct impact on future Indigenous generations. Before any person wishes to judge or stereotype and Indigenous individual, please do your history first." - Warren Clements.

Welcome to a special NAIDOC Week edition of Time to Listen.
NAIDOC Week is a celebration of Indigenous Australian culture, history and achievement, and is also an important period in the calendar for listening, reflection and healing.

The theme for 2021, Heal Country, is a call to action; a powerful reminder that reconciliation is not beyond our capability as a nation. All of us, as individuals and communities, can make the choice to realise it.

This week, we are speaking with Warren Clements, a performing arts teacher at Djarragun College. Warren is an Indigenous man who is descended from the Wakaman and Kunjal nations. Warren has exceptional knowledge of Indigenous culture, and a deep care for preserving it through the coming generations.

Warren takes the time to explain what reconciliation means to him personally, and describes how he feels the process of reconciliation is being achieved at Djarragun College. He also explains how ancient Indigenous stories are inherited by younger generations through various forms of language, as well as the moral significance of them.

Warren completes the conversation by recalling his career as a performing artist. He has performed in front of several prime ministers, which included getting Kevin Rudd on stage for a dance. He has also performed for Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth on a few occasions. He recounts one particularly enlightening aspect to his third performance for Her Majesty and His Royal Highness, Prince Philip. Ever heard of Prince Philip's 'spear throwing gaffe'? We reckon that you haven't heard the perspective that Warren cares to share.

 Thank you for taking the time to listen.

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To find out more about NAIDOC Week and this year's theme of Heal Country: www.naidoc.org.au/get-involved/2021-theme

To find out more about Djarragun College and their celebration of NAIDOC week, find them on Facebook @djarraguncollege
Or check out their website: djarragun.qld.edu.au

Be sure to find and follow the Cape York Partnership on Facebook for future podcast episode updates, and follow our celebration of NAIDOC Week.

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"You can't rely on markets to deliver justice. The market is not necessarily going to give us a socially acceptable outcome, so it has to be political intervention." - Paul Krugman, 2008 Nobel laureate in economic sciences.

A gap of 26 percentile points, and widening. That is what defines the difference in employment outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Addressing this issue, which ought to be impermissible in the first place, is not a dilemma, but an imperative.

The Prime Minister stated in his 2020 Closing the Gap report that Indigenous Australians' right to take responsibility must be restored, and that things must change. But exactly what needs to change?

On this episode of Time to Listen, we are joined once again by the Cape York Institute's Head of Policy, Prue Briggs. On a previous episode, Prue introduced CYI's initiative regarding full employment in Cape York communities. This week, we take a deeper dive.

Prue explains how Australia needs to re-embrace its previous economic disposition of full employment, fitting its core tenets with the needs of modern Indigenous Australian society. We address the criticisms of full employment, as well as the employment-related criticisms that Indigenous Australians receive themselves.

Prue outlines how such a policy can be designed fit for the needs of Cape York, and appropriately implemented in consultation with Indigenous communities. She also explains the shift in socioeconomic outcomes that we are likely to witness as a result of such fundamental and radical reform, and exactly how quickly we can expect to see this change.

Thank you for taking the time to listen.
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To find out more about CYI's proposal for a Jobs Guarantee:
https://capeyorkpartnership.org.au/media-articles/australian-job-guarantee/
https://www.theaustralian.com.au/inquirer/the-case-for-a-government-jobs-guarantee/news-story/dee6e9545cd5af967c853e2f0481b02d

To find out more about Modern Monetary Theory:
http://bilbo.economicoutlook.net/blog/

Statistics mentioned in this episode:
Gap in employment rates between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians: https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/australias-welfare/indigenous-employment

Income inequality in Australia:
https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/social-affairs/income-and-wealth-inequality-australia-was-rising-covid-19

Long-term unemployment:
https://www.rba.gov.au/publications/bulletin/2020/dec/pdf/long-term-unemployment-in-australia.pdf

Budget overview and fiscal commitment to Indigenous Affairs:
https://budget.gov.au/2021-22/content/download/glossy_overview.pdf

History of unemployment and inflation in Australia:
https://tradingeconomics.com/australia/unemployment-rate
http://library.bsl.org.au/jspui/bitstream/1/160/1/research%20discussion%20paper%209215.pdf
https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/research/70-years-inflation-australia

History of unemployment and inflation in the U.S:
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/unemployment-rate
https://tradingeconomics.com/united-states/inflation-cpi

Sources of audio snippets:
Paul Krugman:
Paul Krugman - Inequality, Our Divided Society
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SQcrDNPlqfs

Martin Luther King:
MLK Talks 'New Phase' Of Civil Rights Struggle, 11 Months Before His Assassination | NBC News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xsbt3a7K-8

Scott Morrison:
PM pushes for Indigenous-led refresh after releasing 12th Closing the Gap report | ABC News
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cloZNx_3p0s&t=469s

Philip

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Indigenous youth are twice as unlikely to gain employment relative to their non-Indigenous peers. The Indigenous employment rate decreased by two percentage points between the 2006 and 2016 census, and lags behind the non-Indigenous employment rate by a staggering 25 percentage points.
Why is this really the case, and what can be done about it?

Bama Services is a recognised social enterprise based in Far North Queensland. After ten years of rapid growth, the contract services organisation now reliably tenders and delivers upon multi-million dollar civil and landscape construction contracts, which has won them immense praise and endorsement from industry groups and various levels of government.
But Bama is concerned with far more than its bottom line, and has a vital social outcome as the core of its focus – Indigenous employment.

Over its 10 years of operations, Bama services has maintained an Indigenous employment rate of 75% or higher; either directly employing, or supporting the employment, of over 300 Indigenous persons.

In this episode of Time to Listen, Cade Dawkins, the General Manager of Bama Services, outlines exactly why Bama places value and emphasis on this social outcome, which has only served to take the organisation from strength to strength. His counterpart on this episode, Jono Coker, is an Indigenous man and Bama's longest serving employee. He has seen the organisation evolve from a humble gardens-maintenance enterprise to the stature that it holds today. Both men also comment on how the organisation's support and wellbeing program – which could serve as a model for any medium enterprise, and underpins the entirety of the organisation's operations – is paramount for consistently meeting their social ambitions.

Thank you for taking the time to listen.

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It all begins with effective education. If a true and positive difference is going to made in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, it is going to be made by the emerging Indigenous generations. This journey begins with the academic, vocational and leadership skills gained in school.
With regard to this, the staff at Djarragun College, an Indigenous owned and focused school located in Gordonvale, Queensland, understand acutely how vital the window of schooling is for its students.
This week on Time to Listen, we are joined by College Principal Michael Barton, and traditional owner of the land upon which Djarragun College stands, Allison Halliday.
Allison and Michael give an introduction to the College, as well as an overview of the wonderful diversity of First Nations culture that exists within the student and staff body.
Allison explains the cultural significance of the land, as well as the array of traditional languages groups within the area.
Michael takes some time to outline how the school makes every effort to nurture the innate leadership skills and cultural pride held by the students, and how their potential can be realised when such characteristics are cased within a culturally safe environment. Michael also talks about the suite of vocational training opportunities available for the students at the school, and the importance in realising that the respective educational journeys of Indigenous students, and the affinity developed with their school, does not necessarily end upon graduation.

Thank you for taking the time to listen.
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If you would like to find out more about Djarragun College: https://djarragun.qld.edu.au

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"The Girl Academy can perhaps act as a microcosm of how things can work [in Indigenous education]. There needs to be a systemic redesign of how we [Australia] are educating; in particular, how young Indigenous people are seeing themselves in the education system. We need to ask: are  they identifying with the signs, the symbols and the talk of what it means to be Indigenous in this country? That may then begin to answer a question that our education systems are just not seeing."

Imagine if your identity and personal context was overlooked day after day, to the point where you naturally became completely disengaged with the circumstances that refused to acknowledge you for who you are. Then imagine you were regarded as a problem, a delinquent, or failing because you refused to indulge the ignorance. Now imagine you're a child, alone.

In this episode of Time to Listen, we are joined by Shoba Kalos and Baressa Frazer, the former and current principals, respectively, of the Cape York Girl Academy. The Girl Academy, as it is commonly known, is a refuge for young Indigenous women who, for various and personal reasons, have previously become disengaged with the prospect of an education. 
The Girl Academy harbours a unique, holistic and effective curriculum that not only brings its female students back into the fold of learning, but restores their confidence in their ability to learn.

Segmented into two parts, we first speak with Shoba, who talks about the history of the Girl Academy, how its curriculum and structure of learning came to be and evolve, and the environments from which its students are drawn. Shoba also gives an insightful and judicious perspective on the real reason that the gaps in education are not closing between Indigenous and non-Indigenous students.

We then speak with Baressa, who talks about her personal experiences as an Indigenous student, and now an educator. Baressa addresses the not-so-apparent barriers that young Indigenous people, especially women, are experiencing, and how these barriers can be re-framed to better understand the perspectives of First Nations people. She also talks about her value for First Nations languages, and her vision for the Girl Academy in 2021.

Thank you for taking the time to listen.

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To find out more about the Cape York Girl Academy: https://capeyorkpartnership.org.au/our-partnership/cape-york-girl-academy/

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