Army Aboriginal Community Assistance Program
History
Members for the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation met with the Prime Minister on 23 October 1996 to raise concerns about the poor primary health of Indigenous Australians.
In November 1996, Senator John Herron, then the Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs raised the issue of using the skills and resources of the Army to deliver urgently needed water and health infrastructure to remote indigenous communities.
As a consequence, the Ministers for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs, Defence and the then Health and Family Services (DHFS) met with the Prime Minister on 5 November 1996 and agreed that the Australian Army would assist with infrastructure improvements in a number of communities, identified by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) for priority assistance.
On 14 November 1996 Senator Herron announced the initiative known as the ATSIC/Army Community Assistance Program (AACAP) where ATSIC, Army and DHFS formed a partnership to assist in the delivery of housing and infrastructure capital works to a number of remote Aboriginal Communities.
The then Department of Health and Aged Care (DHAC) also contributed to the establishment of the AACAP.
The program was formally launched when a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) was signed by the then Chief of Army, Lieutenant General John Sanderson, ATSIC representative, Patricia Turner, and DHFS Secretary, Andrew Podger.
The MOU commits the parties to AACAP. It sets the strategic direction, working arrangements and funding process for AACAP as well as acknowledging the role of each agency and sets out the broad terms under which AACAP will be administered.
A revised MOU covering round three of AACAP was signed by Mr Jeff Harmer, the Secretary of
FaCSIA, and LTGEN Peter Leahy, AO, Chief Of Army, on 27 March 06.
Army’s role is to assist with provision of infrastructure improvements by Army construction engineer units and civil contractors, and to coordinate the delivery of health and training aspects by military staff.
All projects are managed by Army. The work itself is conducted by both Army construction elements and civil contractors.
Between 1997 and 2007, Army has participated annually in the AACAP in various locations in
Northern Territory, South Australia, Western Australia and Queensland. In some years the AACAP is delivered in multiple communities in a number of different areas.
The first round of AACAP projects were delivered during the period 1997 - 2000 with total expenditure from the FaCS budget of approx $13.4 million. The majority of work (65%) was completed by Army construction elements with limited support from contractors (35%).
An evaluation of the first round of AACAP was completed in September 1999 which found that AACAP had been an effective partnership between ATSIC, the Army and the Department of Health and Aged Care, and that it delivered quality projects with additional benefits to communities and the Army.
Accordingly, $40 million was allocated for AACAP Round two to be delivered during the period 2001 - 2004.
The significantly increased budget resulted in the majority of work (approximately 65%) being
completed by contractors supervised by Army with Army construction elements completing
approximately 35% of the work.
In an attempt to reduce the impact on both Army project managers and Army construction elements, it was determined in early 2004 that future projects should be no larger than $5 million per year.
With the movement of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services (ATSIS) from the Department of Indigenous and Multicultural Affairs to the Department of Family and Community Services in mid 2004 followed by the Federal Election in Oct 04, Army’s AACAP Partners were not able to obtain approval for AACAP Round Three in time for AACAP 05. As such, $5 million was approved in the 2004 Budget to fund AACAP 05 as a ‘stand alone’ project. Approximately half of this project was completed by Army construction elements with the other half completed by contractors supervised by Army Project Managers.
Round three of AACAP was approved during 2005 to a total value of $20 million and as is to cover the period 2006 - 2009.