Host Partners
Central to the on Country experiences is connecting students and participants to Traditional Owners, Educators, Interpreters, Academics and Lawyers. Each of our roles offer unique perspectives of law and justice. Aboriginal-led trauma informed practice and expertise from the health sector is built into course design. The invitation to be on Country is from Traditional Owners.
These roles speak with their own authority, and the experiences are actively supported by the following host partners:
North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA)
The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) delivers high quality and culturally competent legal services to Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory.
In addition to our core legal practice in criminal and civil law, we provide law and justice related services that aim to ensure that Aboriginal people have real access to justice. NAAJA is contracted by the Commonwealth Attorney General’s Department (AGD) and National Indigenous Australian Agency (NIAA) to provide the following services to Aboriginal people and their families in the Northern Territory.
We now employ 160 full time staff. We are proud of the fact that 43% of our staff are Aboriginal, employed in positions right across the organisation, including senior management. An important role in our legal practice is played by Client Service Officers (CSOs) who provide specialised knowledge about the needs of Aboriginal people.
One of the strengths of NAAJA’s approach to its work is the way in which our practical experience in providing legal services informs our approach to law and justice on broader justice issues for Aboriginal people. We speak with authority and credibility on Aboriginal justice issues because we are ‘at the coalface’. Government, the courts and other stakeholders regularly seek out NAAJA’s input on law and justice issues in recognition of our expertise and the quality of our work.
The True Justice: Deep Listening initiative is led by our Law and Justice Projects team.
Winkiku Rrumbangi NT Indigenous Lawyers Aboriginal Corporation
Winkiku Rrumbangi NT Indigenous Lawyers Aboriginal Corporation represents members who are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander lawyers or law students from, or have a strong association to, the Northern Territory.
Directors and members of Winkiku Rrumbangi serve leading roles and are actively involved across a diverse range of legal and justice related activities. The Chair, Mr David Woodroffe, is the Principal Legal Officer of NAAJA and is one of the most senior Aboriginal lawyers in the nation. In 2020 Mr Woodroffe was recognised with the Indigenous Alumni Award and the overall category the Distinguished Alumni Award at the Inaugural Charles Darwin University Alumni Awards.
In 2019, Winkiku Rrumbangi hosted the 14th National Indigenous Legal Conference and concurrent inaugural Indigenous Health Justice Conference receiving widespread acclaim and recognition as an exceptional conference experience.
Aboriginal Medical Services Northern Territory
The Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT) is the peak body for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHS) in the Northern Territory and advocates for health equity, while supporting the provision of high quality comprehensive primary health care services for Aboriginal people.
ACCHSs are incorporated independent legal entities controlled by Aboriginal people under the principles of self-determination. Their accountability processes include holding annual general meetings and regular elections of management committees which are open to all members of the relevant Aboriginal community. Community control enables the people who are going to use health services to determine the nature of those services, and then participate in the planning, implementation and evaluation of those services.
AMSANT is committed to the principles of community controlled primary health care ~ as set out by the National Aboriginal Health Strategy (1989) ~ as essential to improving the health status of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The principles encompass:
a holistic view of health care which includes the physical, social, spiritual and emotional health of people.
capacity-building of community controlled organisations and the community itself to support local and regional solutions or health outcomes.
local community control and participation.
partnering and collaborating across sectors.
recognising the inter-relationship between good health and the social determinants of health.