Charles Darwin University welcomes the apology to Indigenous Australians for past injustices, made this morning by the Federal Parliament.
Vice-Chancellor of CDU, Professor Helen Garnett said that “as a University committed to justice and equity and a positive future for all Australians, we support the apology made by the Federal Parliament to Indigenous Australians, particularly the Stolen Generations”.
“The University is strongly committed to working closely with Indigenous people, communities and organisations, and the Federal and Northern Territory governments to improve education access and social, economic and cultural outcomes for Australia’s Indigenous people. We sincerely hope that today will lead us on a path of both reconciliation and learning - learning how we can all work together more effectively to create a future where no Australian is disadvantaged because of their heritage,” Professor Garnett said.
“CDU’s commitment to the Indigenous community is embedded in our Futures Framework in which enhancing Indigenous participation and relevance is identified as one of the five key commitments of the University,” Professor Garnett said.
The Futures Framework, entitled “First in 5 in 10”, commits CDU to:
Developing an understanding of Indigenous perspectives to enable the University to best serve the needs of Indigenous citizens and communities
Improving access and providing additional support to Indigenous students, staff and other stakeholders
Incorporating Indigenous perspectives and needs into mainstream University core business areas.
Implemented in 2007, the Futures Framework is a 10-year plan which, in part, commits CDU to be the best Australian public university for Indigenous participation and relevance.
“CDU serves a significant Indigenous community in the Northern Territory where the need for education and training is immense and where a huge effort will be required from all of us to achieve the commitments made by the Prime Minister this morning to ‘close the gap’,” Professor Garnett said.
“We look forward to continuing to work with government and Indigenous organisations to seize the opportunities presented by the apology in Federal Parliament,” she said.
The University is planning an appropriate event soon to mark this historic day.