1.0.1 What is governance?

“Let’s learn from what works and let’s breed that success. Good Indigenous governance and leadership need to be supported as they are the foundation for success.”

(Professor Mick Dodson, AM, Chair, Indigenous Governance Awards)

“We use a very simple definition of governance, and it means to make sure things are run well.”

(Richard Weston, Regional Director, Maari Ma Health Aboriginal Corporation, NSW Finalist 2005 Indigenous Governance Awards)

This chapter will help you understand what governance is and why it’s important. You’ll find information about different kinds of governance—Indigenous, community and organisational.

Every society has different ways of governing and their own words to describe how they govern. The meaning of the English word ‘governance’ can be traced back to the ancient Greeks who defined it as the ‘art of steering boats’.

The following definition captures the key aspects of governance.

Definition: It is useful to think of governance as being about how people choose to collectively organise themselves to manage their own affairs, share power and responsibilities, decide for themselves what kind of society they want for their future, and implement those decisions.

To do that they need to have processes, structures, traditions and rules in place so they can:

• determine who is a member of their group
• decide who has power, and over what
• ensure that power is exercised properly
• make and enforce their decisions
• hold their decision-makers accountable
• negotiate with others regarding their rights and interests
• establish the most effective and legitimate arrangements for getting those things done.

Governance gives a nation, group, community or organisation the ways and means to achieve the things that matter to them.

Governance is not the same thing as ‘government’, ‘management’, ‘corporate organisations’, ‘administration’ or ‘service delivery’. It’s also more than just ‘leadership’.

You can find plain English definitions for many of the ‘power words’ commonly used in ‘governance talk’ in the toolkit’s Glossary. Just remember that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have their own concepts and languages for talking about their own governance, and sometimes the meanings of those are very different to Australian English.

1.0.2 Think about how footy is played—it’s a bit like governance.

“Sports contain all the parameters of good governance. For example, what would sports be without rules, schedules and time limits? Without agreed values and discipline? What would sports be without the best of managers and coaches? Who would dream of entering a sport without being offered the opportunity to learn and develop the skills and tools to play the game? Yet, we do so routinely in the game of community governance.”

(Neil Sterritt, Gitxsan Leader, British Columbia, Canada)

1.0.3 Why is it important?

“It is only when effective governance is in place that communities and regions will have a solid foundation for making sound decisions about their overall goals and objectives, what kind of life they want to try to build, what assets they have or require, what things they want to retain, protect or change, the kind of development they want to promote or reject, and what actions they need to take to achieve those goals.” (Professor Mick Dodson and Diane Smith, 2003. ‘Governance for sustainable development: Strategic issues and principles for Indigenous Australian communities’, CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 250)

Without governance, you won’t achieve the things that really matter to you as a group.

Governance helps ensure:

• the welfare and human rights of citizens are protected
• resources (money, people, natural, cultural) are managed
• rules, policies and laws are created and enforced
• essential programs and services are prioritised and delivered
• goals are set and achieved
• relationships with external parties are negotiated.

Having effective and legitimate governance benefits families, communities and nations. It is a powerful predictor of success in economic and community development and in maximising self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

For all these reasons, the importance of having a strong governance foundation is gaining ground. Rebuilding your governance is self-determination in action.

“…the deplorable economic and social circumstances in our communities will change for the better only when the Aboriginal communities can construct their own systems of governance and plan for their people’s long-term development.”

(Peter Yu, Indigenous Governance Conference, 2–5 April 2002, Canberra)

“If we are truly committed to the notion of self-determination, we cannot begin to pursue it without instruments of governance. If we do not have these structures, we cannot engage with government other than on an ad hoc, individual basis that leaves us vulnerable. We cannot engage in partnerships with business, we cannot benefit from the essential nature of our communal identity as Indigenous people. If we want to acquire native title and manage it for the benefit of our communities, this cannot be achieved without effective governance both during the process of acquisition and once the native title is acquired.

We can’t possibly hope to negotiate a treaty or any other form of meaningful national agreement if we don’t have governance structures that legitimise our side of the negotiation.”

(Jackie Huggins 2003, extract from speech, 10th Annual Cultural Heritage and Native Title Conference, Brisbane, 30 September 2003)

1.0.4 Who has governance?

All societies and groups have governance.

You can see it at work in extended families, the smallest communities and the largest nations and states.

You can see it in the activities of informal groups such as the local night patrol, native title claimant groups, volunteer groups, artists’ collectives and sporting teams.

It is present in organisations, schools, churches, health clinics and community stores, big businesses, banks, public service departments and mining companies.

Governments have their own forms of internal governance.

1.0.5 Power, authority and rules

Governance is about power and authority: who has it (who ‘calls the shots’, making the important decisions and rules) and how those people with power are held accountable within their group.

Sometimes, governing power and authority is in the hands of a small group of people. Sometimes it is widely shared across a network. Sometimes, power is in the hands of outsiders.

Who is calling the shots in your governance system?

Effective self-governance means not only having genuine decision-making power, but also being able to practically exercise that authority and take the responsibility for it (i.e. being accountable).

To exercise power effectively and legitimately, people need agreed rules and ways of enforcing them. Rules are the organising tools of governance. They tell us:

• how to behave towards each other and what to expect when we don’t
• how power is shared
• who has the authority to make the important decisions
• how decisions should be enforced
• how the people who make decisions will be held accountable.

Governance rules can be the unwritten laws, traditions and ways of behaving that people live by. They can also be written down in documents such as constitutions, by-laws, policies, regulations, business and strategic plans, and company rules.

If your governing rules are poorly understood, easily sabotaged by selfish interests or erratically enforced, the legitimacy of your governing power and authority will be severely undermined.

1.0.6 Women and governance

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have always had valued roles and responsibilities in the governance of their families, clans, communities and nations. They are traditional landowners and transmitters of systems of knowledge.

This continues to be the case today. Senior women are often the bedrock of community and family wellbeing, which is all part and parcel of governance. And they are active in many leadership and governance roles.

Today, the number of women in important governing roles in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander nations, communities and organisations is growing.

Those organisations that deal only with women’s issues or men’s issues have boards and leadership that consist of women or men only. For most other organisations, especially those representing the wider interests of communities and nations, it’s important to reflect their general membership and to have both men and women sharing leadership on the board, and among the staff and management of the organisation.

If you promote gender equity (fair representation of men and women) in decision-making and leadership roles, you will strengthen the governing capacity of both men and women, and draw on all the knowledge and experience in your group.

Encourage young women to become involved so that they bring their own strengths to governance and leadership.

1.1.1 What is ‘good’ governance?

Building governance is a journey in which the road ahead and the final destination can change over time. As people from different cultures have their own ways of judging what is ‘good’ governance or not, problems can arise when one society or group imposes their view of what is ‘good’ governance onto another.

Because of this, the Indigenous Community Governance Project suggests that instead of talking about ‘good’ governance, it’s more useful to talk about ‘effective’ and ‘legitimate’ governance.

Effective governance means having rules, structures and processes that are capable of achieving your objectives—it gets things done.

In order to do this, governance must also be legitimate.

Legitimate governance means your rules, structures and processes have to be seen as credible and worthy by your members, and must match their ideas about how authority should be organised and exercised—it gets things done ‘properly’.

There are some principles of effective governance that many experts argue should be considered when new governance arrangements are being created.

For example, the United Nations Development Program says that to have effective governance, it is necessary to have:

• Legitimacy and voice—where all men and women have a say in decisions and about what is in the best interests of the community or group
• Fairness—where all men and women have the opportunity to maintain and improve their wellbeing and have their human rights protected
• Accountability—where decision-makers are accountable to their members, the public and stakeholders.
• Direction—where leaders and members have a shared, long-term view of what their future society is going to be like
• Performance—where the governance system delivers goods, services and outcomes that are planned for and meet the needs of the members.

The Indigenous Community Governance Research Project in Australia has identified several basic conditions which, in combination, help to produce effective Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance:

• governing institutions (rules)
• leadership
• genuine decision-making power
• practical capacity
• cultural legitimacy
• resources
• accountability
• participation.

Not surprisingly, to be effective and legitimate these governance solutions need to be tailored to suit the local environment.

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, achieving effective and legitimate governance can be particularly challenging because it involves working across Indigenous and western ways of governing, and trying to negotiate the demands of both.

1.1.2 The important parts of governance

Governance is made up of many different, but equally important elements. These all need to work well together if your nation, group, community or organisations are going to be effective.

Culture is at the heart of every society’s governance arrangements and this is also true for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

For Indigenous governance to be effective it is not enough to simply cherry pick and import foreign governance structures and processes into communities, and expect those communities to function effectively within those arrangements.

To be meaningful to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, the component parts of governance must reflect important relationships, networks, values and ways of behaving.

The challenge is to craft arrangements that incorporate both the Indigenous requirement for cultural legitimacy, as well as meeting the governance requirements of the wider non-Indigenous society.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have always had their own governance. It is an ancient jurisdiction made up of a system of cultural geographies (‘country’), culture-based laws, traditions, rules, values, processes and structures that has been effective for tens of thousands of years, and which nations, clans and families continue to adapt and use to collectively organise themselves to achieve the things that are important to them.

As Mick Gooda, the Indigenous Social Justice Commissioner (Social Justice report 2012, p.90) said:

“While Indigenous peoples have governed ourselves since time immemorial in accordance with our traditional laws and customs, when we speak of Indigenous governance we are not referring to the pre-colonial state. Rather, we are referring to contemporary Indigenous governance: the more recent melding of our traditional governance with the requirement to effectively respond to the wider governance environment.”

In many parts of Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance systems were disrupted and changed because of British colonisation. Often people were forcibly relocated to settlements that were run according to western governance structures, rules and values.

Today, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have many forms of governance based on their diverse histories, environments and cultures.

Indigenous governance is not the same thing as organisational governance. While governance is a critical part of the operation and effectiveness of legally formalised and registered incorporated organisations, it can also be seen at work every day:

• in the way people own and care for their country, arrange a ceremony, manage and share their resources, and pass on their knowledge
• in networks of extended families who have a form of internal governance
• in the way people arrange a community football match or an art festival, informally coordinate the activities of a night patrol and develop alliances across regions
• in the voluntary work of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men and women within their own communities, and as governing members on a multitude of informal local committees and advisory groups.

What makes it Indigenous governance is the role that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social and philosophical systems, cultural values, traditions, rules and beliefs play in the governance of:

• processes—how things are done
• structures—the ways people organise themselves and relate to each other
• institutions—the rules for how things should be done.

In other words, just like all other societies around the world, the practice of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance cannot be separated from its traditions and culture.

Today, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are working to rebuild and strengthen their contemporary governance arrangements. The challenge in doing this is to ensure that governance solutions continue to reflect cultural norms, values and traditions, while remaining practically effective.

Developing a shared vision within your nation or group about your approach to these issues will be critical right from the beginning. You will find more information about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures of governance in Topic 2.

1.2.1 What are Indigenous communities?

“The concept of a ‘community’ is complex. Who and what makes a community and what it does, generally depend upon those who live in it and, most importantly, its history. The Walgett Shire communities of north-west New South Wales are remarkable on both accounts. They have a unique multicultural history which is rarely understood by people living outside of regional Australia and who often believe that multiculturalism only exists in urban Australia. United by a common bond of attachment they feel towards each other and towards their community. They express their sense of belonging in many different ways.”

(Frances Peters-Little, presentation to ‘History Through a Lens, Unsettling Histories: Visual Modes of Historical Practice’ forum, 30 June–1 July 2005, Canberra)

Definition: A community is a network of people and organisations linked together by webs of personal relationships, cultural identities, political connections, traditions and rules, shared histories, social and economic conditions and/or common understandings and interests.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are extremely diverse in their cultures, histories, locations, size and local conditions. They are also subject to different national, state and territory government laws.

These different kinds of communities can include:

• discrete geographic communities—such as remote settlements, towns, outstations, pastoral stations—there are over 1,300 located in urban, rural and remote locations in Australia. The residents of these places may be a mix of different families, clans, language and ceremonial groups, or they may come from the same cultural group (e.g. an outstation community or island).
• dispersed communities of identity—sometimes the members of nations, clans or tribes are spread across several different locations in a region. But they share a cultural identity and so consider themselves to be a single community of identity.
• a community of interest—people who do not necessarily share a common cultural identity, but who come together voluntarily because they have the same goals or interests (such as a sporting or artistic community, a political lobby group or alliance) can be said to form a community of interest.

This means that often there are different Indigenous ‘communities’ living within a single place. But everywhere, the shared characteristic of all these different kinds of Aboriginal and Torres Strait communities is their extensive networks and overlapping relationships, strong extended family ties, multiple ties to ‘country’ and valued cultural identities.

1.2.2 Diverse communities, diverse community governance

The diversity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities has given rise to diverse governance arrangements. For example:

• families and clans within a single settlement may each have their own traditional leaders and governance networks
• some groups may be traditional landowners with related governance rights to the land on which a settlement has been established; others are not
• some groups that have been historically resettled together may be opposed to each other
• some local leaders may represent a whole geographic community, or several linked communities of identity
• some ‘community’ organisations may look after the rights and interests of all the residents; others may focus on a particular group in a community or region.

So the governance of communities is characterised by complex layers of social relationships, extended families, networks of leaders (male and female), organisational relationships and political networks.

Given this historical and cultural complexity, it is not surprising that conflict or confusion often arises about who has the authority to make particular decisions, and who has the right to represent or ‘talk for’ a particular group of people.

As your community changes over time, your governance arrangements may also need to adapt and change. A one-size-fits-all approach will not work.

Communities operate within a wider ‘governance environment’ of surrounding communities, nations, agencies, organisations, businesses, governments, networks, laws, leaders, politicians and resources. To govern effectively you need to know this wider environment and understand how you can strategically operate within it.

Today, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups are working to rebuild their governance and are crafting innovative solutions to address their varied community conditions and cultural traditions.

1.2.3 Building on community strengths

To get governance right for your group, make sure you consult and inform the right people in a community, and that the right people make the decisions about particular issues. Different, and often competing, interests in a community need to be recognised and managed.

It pays to look back at your community and its governance history to better understand how you got to where you are now.

It also pays to look at the things you value about your governance in the past, and what you want to keep, protect and strengthen.

Too often external governments and stakeholders focus on a ‘deficit’ view of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and governance.

It’s important to understand the governance challenges and gaps in your community; however, focusing entirely on problems only conveys negative images, and residents can come to depend on ‘outside’ help to ‘fix’ their problems.

A ‘community development’ approach to rebuilding governance starts with what is present in the community, not what is problematic or absent. It’s a positive, strengths-based strategy.

To get started on this approach, identify your nation or community’s assets and strengths.

‘Mapping’ or drawing the assets of your community is one of the first steps towards harnessing the strengths and support of people and organisations, so that work can begin on rebuilding or changing your particular community’s governance arrangements.

Governing well needs the support of your whole community to work properly. Once you do your mapping, you’ll be better able to keep all your community members involved and informed, and create shared solutions that they support.

1.3.1 What is an organisation and ‘organisational governance’?

Definition: An organisation is a group of individuals who come together to pursue agreed objectives that would otherwise be unattainable, or would only be attainable with significantly reduced efficiency and effectiveness. In order to achieve their objectives, groups take on enduring roles, functions, procedures and structures that give structure and function to organisations. Sometimes this involves becoming legally incorporated, but organisations may also be more informal.

Definition: Organisational governance is the exercise of authority, direction and control to accomplish the functions and responsibilities of an organisation, and secure its strategic objectives. The governance of an organisation rests under the direction of the group of people who are recognised and elected or selected by their nation or community as being the group of people with the right, responsibility and ability to govern on their behalf.

An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisation may be legally incorporated under Australian legislation; and many of these now operate in communities across Australia.

But importantly, an Indigenous organisation may also be a more informal group of people who unite to get specific things done together, and who deliberately choose not to go down the road of legal incorporation—such as an assembly, alliance or volunteer organisation.

Today, there are a multitude of informal governing organisations operating in every community. These include committees, working groups, reference groups, task forces and advisory groups. The great majority of these are not legally incorporated. But many community residents work, often in a voluntary governance capacity, with these informal organisations.

Some of these informal organisations have been initiated by government departments and agencies to facilitate the local delivery of their policies and programs. But Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have also formed organisations—both informal and incorporated—for their own social, cultural and political purposes.

In informal organisations, people decide for themselves what kind of governing structure, positions and processes they want to have. Legal incorporation requires particular governance conditions be met.

1.3.2 Incorporated Indigenous organisations

Today, there are many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations legally incorporated under Australian, state and territory legislation. To outsiders, these Indigenous organisations are often the most visible expression of governance in communities.

At 30 June 2011, 2286 incorporated organisations were registered under the Corporations (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) Act 2006 (CATSI Act). The Office of the Registrar of Indigenous Corporations (ORIC) estimates that there are at least as many registered under other legislation.

In other words, there are about 5,000 incorporated Indigenous organisations in Australia, which roughly works out to one organisation for every 100 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. (In the 2011 census there were estimated to be about 548,370 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia.)

Indigenous incorporated organisations have an average of six people on their governing boards, which means that about 30,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are directors or governing board members of Indigenous organisations in Australia.

Most groups incorporated under the CATSI Act are located in remote areas and are publicly funded.

Some organisations generate substantial private income through their own enterprises and resource agreements, such as those linked to mining, compensation and some linked to the arts industry. Many hold significant community assets.

1.3.3 Incorporation laws for organisations

Many government agencies and private sector companies require groups to become incorporated before they can receive money for programs, services or agreement monies.

If you are going to do this then there are different options available to you and some real governance challenges to deal with. Indigenous organisations can be incorporated under different national, state and territory legislation, each with their own legal requirements and conditions.

Nations, communities and the elected or selected members of governing boards should all understand these laws and the rules under which their organisation is incorporated. These laws limit the powers of an organisation in particular ways and require governing members to carry out specific responsibilities for which they are legally responsible.

ORIC has an electronic rule book on its website that organisations can use to help them develop rules, codes and policies that suit them culturally, but also comply with Australian incorporation laws. There are almost as many different kinds of governing arrangements in organisations as there are incorporated organisations. However, there are some fundamentals that can be seen in all.

1.3.4 Indigenous organisations often play a big role

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations often have to perform broader community governance roles without the proper funding or staffing to do so.

Many of the constitutions of Indigenous organisations are also based upon standardised incorporation templates that are often not well suited for their particular local, social or cultural circumstances and priorities.

Cost-shifting practices by governments, combined with the history of under-developed infrastructure in communities have placed heavy workloads and increased community expectations on organisations.

Because organisations often service or represent several different ‘communities of identity’ with varying legal rights and interests, their leaders and managers are constantly trying to balance competing sets of demands, obligations and responsibilities.

It can be extremely hard for organisations to keep a focus on their core functions and to put the time and work into developing stronger governance when there are significant daily demands from their members and from governments.

Simply put, most Indigenous organisations are trying to do too much, with too little.

But importantly, those organisations that are working to improve their governance have found they have greater control over their own affairs and can plan their future better.

1.3.5 Control and ownership

“The governance structure [of Yarnteen organisation] was seen as an important strategy to achieve the long-term objectives and economic self-sufficiency of the organisation. Our number one priority was to have a governance structure that was sensitive to and compatible with the culturally diversity and interests of our community, but importantly that offered stability and contributed to good governance rather than undermining it.”

(Leah Armstrong, presentation on ‘Financial management and business systems’, Building Effective Indigenous Governance Conference, 4–7 November 2003, Jabiru)

To gain greater ownership and control over their daily work and long-term directions, many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations are looking at what they do and how they are doing it. They are:

• reviewing their membership
• reviewing their community and stakeholder expectations
• reviewing their leadership and decision-making processes
• reviewing their governance structures, policies, rules and procedures
• developing long-term strategies and plans for rebuilding their governance.

When you redesign or rebuild your organisational governance it is important that the ideas and solutions come from the members, leaders and staff of the organisation itself.

You will find more detailed information about these issues in Topic 5.