Local Government Minister Chansey Paech and Aboriginal Affairs Minister Selena Uibo were in town this week to launch the revised edition of the Remote Engagement and Coordination Strategy (RECS).

The RECS is part of a suite of tools designed to improve all aspects of regional and remote engagement, travel, and coordination of community visits.

The first edition, launched in 2015, has proved to be a useful tool for government and organisations to coordinate the delivery of services to Aboriginal communities across the Territory.

The strategy was officially recognised in 2016 when it won the International Association for Public Participation in the ‘Indigenous Project’ category.

The second edition offers refreshed information that remains relevant but with more emphasis on the use of first language, relationships and getting the community ready for, and informed about, the purposes of engagement.

This work was led by a group of NT Government agencies and the Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory.

The RECS includes the BushTel and BushReady websites, and the delivery of the Remote Engagement Essentials training workshops which provide professional learning that supports new and existing staff to develop knowledge, skills and behaviour required to work effectively in regional and remote communities in the Northern Territory – making them ‘bush ready’.

Since the initial ‘BushReady’ Remote Engagement Essentials training workshop in 2016, more than 500 staff have completed training and been awarded the Engagement Essentials Certificate through the International Association of Public Participation.

The ‘BushReady’ Remote Engagement Essentials training workshops are once again being rolled out across the regions with seven planned this year.

“The Territory Labor Government has a strong focus on building the capacity of our remote communities and the RECS is a blueprint on engagement towards strengthening traditional governance,” said Minister Paech.

“Since it was launched in 2015, the RECS has been a powerful tool that has led to a more streamlined approach for delivering services to Aboriginal Territorians.

“Everybody planning on visiting or working in remote communities should make themselves familiar with this document.”

The second edition of the RECS can be accessed at www.bushready.nt.gov.au.

This article appeared in Tennant & District Times, 25 June 2021.