Tamworth council agrees to formalise ties with local Indigenous groups

During its meeting on Tuesday, Tamworth Regional Council (TRC) voted unanimously to support councillor Marc Sutherland's motion to endorse the signing of a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) with a coalition of groups called the Tamworth Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation (TACCO).

The purpose of the MOU will be to help community and government work together to close the gap on a local level, creating a partnership that would be the first of its kind in NSW.

"Formal partnerships are always important. By working together we can always achieve more, and local government is no exception," Cr Sutherland said the morning after his motion was approved.

The MOU now has to be drafted and agreed upon by all parties, a process Cr Sutherland said he's hopeful TRC and TACCO will be wrapped up by Christmas.

The organisations comprising TACCO include:

Director of Birrelee MACS Rachael Philips told the Leader it's "heartwarming" to see support and momentum continue to build for addressing social and economic disadvantage in Tamworth's Aboriginal community.

"Especially after having the state MOU signed, now for it to be more localised and working with council will provide a benefit not only to the Aboriginal community, but the whole community," Ms Philips said.

"I can only see positives coming out of this. If [council is] genuine and focused on closing the gap the best thing they can do is have the Aboriginal community on board."

As of two weeks ago, Tamworth is one of the only cities in Australia to have a state-recognised governance structure for its various Aboriginal Controlled Community Organisations.

Members of TACCO told the Leader these formal partnerships are a huge step in the right direction.

"It is absolutely brilliant to be a part of TACCO and we applaud council, particularly Cr Marc Sutherland, for supporting it," Tamworth Aboriginal Medical Services chairperson Catherine Trindall said.

"This is the first time an agreement like this has been initiated by any council in NSW. That's significant and it shows that the council is implementing what the government set out to do in terms of Close the Gap."

Both Ms Trindall and Cr Sutherland said they're looking forward to moving away from the traditional government-led, top-down, "we-know-what's-best" approach into something more collaborative.

"For council to endorse the signing of an MOU with TACCO aligns all three tiers of government to make sure we're working collaboratively with Aboriginal communities to deliver better outcomes,"

"This sets a framework for a relationship between community and council to make sure we can get levels of information and consultation genuinely from the community that will help create and deliver our strategic plans moving forward."

Two years ago TRC became the first local government in the state to pursue a local Closing the Gap strategy.