6Functions

6 Functions

(1) The functions of the Council are:

(a) to undertake initiatives for the purpose of promoting reconciliation between Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and the wider Australian community, focusing in particular on the local community level; and

(b) to promote, by leadership, education and discussion, a deeper understanding by all Australians of the history, cultures, past dispossession and continuing disadvantage of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and of the need to redress that disadvantage; and

(c) to foster an ongoing national commitment to co‑operate to address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage; and

(d) to provide a forum for discussion by all Australians of issues relating to reconciliation with Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and of policies to be adopted by Commonwealth, State, Territory and local governments to promote reconciliation; and

(e) to advise the Minister on policies to promote reconciliation between Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and the wider Australian community; and

(f) to provide information and advice to the Minister in accordance with section 8; and

(g) to consult Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and the wider Australian community on whether reconciliation would be advanced by a formal document or formal documents of reconciliation; and

(h) after that consultation, to report to the Minister on the views of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and of the wider Australian community as to whether such a document or documents would benefit the Australian community as a whole, and if the Council considers there would be such a benefit, to make recommendations to the Minister on the nature and content of, and manner of giving effect to, such a document or documents; and

(i) to report, in the Council’s annual report, on progress towards reconciliation between Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders and the wider Australian community; and

(j) in accordance with Part 3, to develop strategic plans that include a statement of the Council’s goals and objectives in the promotion of the process of reconciliation and of its strategies for achieving them, together with indicators and targets for measuring the Council’s performance in relation to those goals and objectives.

(2) In carrying out its functions, the Council must:

(a) have regard to the fact that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission has, under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act 1989, specific functions and responsibilities in relation to matters involving Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders; and

(aa) have regard to the fact that the Torres Strait Regional Authority has, under the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission Act 1989, specific functions and responsibilities in relation to matters involving Torres Strait Islanders, and Aborigines, living in the Torres Strait area (within the meaning of that Act); and