Following a rigorous judging process, the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health (Windsor, QLD) and Nyamba Buru Yawuru (Broome, WA) were named joint winners of the Category A award for incorporated organisations.

The Warlpiri Education and Training Trust (Alice Springs, NT) is the winner of the Category B award for non-incorporated organisations, and the Alekarenge Community Development Working Group (Ali Curung, NT) are highly commended in this category.

More than 200 guests – including politicians, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, corporate partners and community members – attended the presentation event at the Palladium at Crown Melbourne.

Among the guests were representatives from the nine finalist organisations, who travelled from as far west as Perth, as far east as Stradbroke Island, and as remote as Ali Curung
(350 kilometres north of Alice Springs).

Other finalists hail from Broome, Alice Springs, Karratha and Yuendumu.

Indigenous Governance Awards Chair, Professor Mick Dodson, and Australian Institute of Indigenous Governance Institute CEO, Michelle Deshong, who is a member of the Awards judging panel, agreed the calibre of this year’s finalists was exceptionally high.

Commenting on Category A co-winner, the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health, Professor Mick Dodson said “the strength of their leadership and vision is profound”.

“Their groundbreaking approach to the provision of health care in South East Queensland has reaped impressive results, including a significant reduction in the life expectancy gap in the region,” he said.

Ms Deshong said the other co-winner of the Category A award, Nyamba Buru Yawuru, was managing the Yawuru community’s assets “so that Yawuru people are able to fulfil their cultural and customary obligations”.

“They embed the philosophy of ‘Mabu Liyan’ in everything they do, enabling them to build a resilient community,” she said.

The winner of the Category B award, the Warlpiri Education and Training Trust, is “wisely investing the community’s gold mining royalties to grow funds for the delivery of bilingual and bicultural education to four Yapa communities in the Tanami Desert,” Ms Deshong said.

Professor Dodson said he was “truly amazed” at the work of the finalist organisations when the judging panel conducted site visits in September and October.

“In the 14 years I’ve been involved with the Awards, I’ve seen the quality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance practiced by the applicants rise and rise. This year, again, I can say that the finalists are the best we’ve ever had.”

Professor Dodson said the finalists’ work was evidence of the strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led organisations and projects throughout urban, rural and remote Australia.

“Their success shows us that traditional governance models, which have been developed and refined over tens of thousands of years, can inform effective responses to contemporary challenges,” he said.

Reconciliation Australia CEO Karen Mundine said the Awards helped highlight the crucial role of self-determination in a just, equitable and reconciled nation.

“The work of these outstanding organisations is evidence of all that is possible when Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have control of their lives and are empowered to determine their future,” she said.

In total, $70,000 in prize money will be distributed through the Awards. The winner/s in each category will receive $20,000, and the highly commended organisation will receive $10,000.