11 November 2020
The CEO of VACCA, Victoria's largest Aboriginal child and family welfare organisation, Muriel Bamblett AM, said today, "the $40m of funding announced by the Deputy Premier to resource front line Aboriginal organisations to support social and economic recovery is welcomed."
She added, "it is critical that the impacts of the pandemic don't further entrench the socio-economic, health and well-being challenges faced by Aboriginal communities and families. Aboriginal organisations in Victoria have led the work to protect Aboriginal people from COVID-19 and despite the heightened risk to Aboriginal people of infection the rate of infection in the Aboriginal community has been well below that of the broader community."
"This demonstrates the results we achieve when Government invests in Aboriginal self-determination through Aboriginal organisations. The success of the Aboriginal community in keeping infection rates so low is being recognised internationally as best practice. Now we can build on that success in the recovery effort", she said.
She concluded, "beyond the specific allocation of $40m VACCA will be working to ensure that other announced measures, such as the investment to create 500 new jobs across mental health, family violence, health and child protection and the training pathways and internships are made available to Aboriginal people, particularly young people. We need to bring every available resource to the task of recovery."