On-country trial set to start ‘soon’

THE first group of child offenders set to be mentored by Indigenous elders in a muchanticipated program will hit the ground running “soon”, but no start date has been promised.

Gr8motive Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation was granted the State Government’s on-country program tender on July 1, but is still tightening up loose ends before it can start.

Townsville chairman Chris Anderson said the corporation wanted everything to be perfect before the first run.

“We are closer to a start date … there is still some groundwork to do and making sure all the back-end stuff is done, especially with a government tender,” he said.

“We are also going through the final processes of hiring two cultural mentors.”

The Atherton-based company, founded in 2017, will have 12 months to prove its success as part of the $1.5 million funding commitment.

Mr Anderson said the first child referrals from the Youth Justice Department were starting to drip through, meaning the first trial could start soon.

The group has already started to make a name for itself in the Townsville community, with a new Flinders Street office and positive community engagement.

“The feedback we have got has all been very positive … we’ve been meeting with Youth Justice, Child Safety and other government circles, as well as the community,” Mr Anderson said.

A rival Indigenous community group recently threw its arms up about not being chosen for the tender, claiming the state government made an IT blunder that put it out of the game.

Mr Anderson declined to comment on the claims, but said his group ticked all of the government’s boxes.

He said his team was excited to get started at two of its program locations in North Queensland.

The organisation also plans to contract Townsville Indigenous elders Uncle Rusty Butler and Wayne Parker as “cultural specialists”.

Mr Anderson said the pair would work under the banner of the YINDA Program, a similar Indigenous on-country program the state government cut funding to last year.