Campaspe Shire Council has renewed its Memorandum of Understanding with the Yorta Yorta Nation Aboriginal Corporation, strengthening the council’s commitment to partnership with the group.
At the June 17 council meeting, councillors voted unanimously to renew the MOU, extending its support to the YYNAC.
The MOU is a significant agreement which formalises a respectful partnership between the two organisations.
The document lays out commitments from both council and YYNAC such as both parties working together to create better local government services for Aboriginal people and educating the council on Aboriginal Cultural Heritage matters.
The original MOU was signed in 2017 — the first of its kind between YYNAC and a local government entity.
Since that agreement, council has developed a Reflect Reconciliation Action Plan and appointed a First People’s engagement officer, as well as working alongside YNAC’s strategic growth.
Councillor Rob Amos moved the motion and explained the MOU is an important document for the shire and for trying to “bridge a gap” of understanding of First Nations peoples.
“We’ve got a long way to go, but we’re doing a better job at engaging with our Indigenous communities, and we need to continue that journey, and I think this document is part of that process,” he said.
Councillors Zoe Cook, Paul Jarman and Adrian Weston all spoke supporting the renewal, explaining this is one of the ways the council is attempting to reconcile the past.
Councillor John Zobec, speaking in support of the motion, said he had a concern with some of the terms used, but he didn’t want to bring them up in a public forum.
“We are predominantly all Indigenous here — apart from the people that have come from other parts of the world,” he said.
“We have a multicultural country, and we are quite blessed in the fact that we all integrate quite comfortably and work together.”