The Australian Government has made Indigenous Affairs a significant national priority. The Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) is the way in which the Australian Government funds and delivers a range of programmes targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Through the IAS, the Australian Government is working to improve the way that the Government does business with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to ensure funding actually achieves outcomes.
The IAS Grant Guidelines apply to most grant activities under the IAS. Following a process of reviewing the guidelines, the revised Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) Guidelines have been released and are now available.
More detailed information relating to specific IAS grant funding activities will be provided in Application Kits.
As part of the revision process, the Department received feedback from a variety of sources on the operation of the IAS open grant round and the IAS Guidelines.
A key part of this process was the seventeen public forums held across Australia, which attracted over 500 people, as well as meeting with seven national peak bodies which represent over 500 organisations.
The Outcomes of the IAS Public Forums are available here.
In addition we carefully considered the feedback received directly from organisations and from submissions to the Senate Inquiry (Finance and Public Administration References Committee – Commonwealth Indigenous Advancement Strategy Tendering Processes).
The Department has continued to work alongside providers to ensure that the best possible outcomes are achieved for the services funded. Many of these services were funded through the 2014 IAS grant round.
The Department also continues to work closely with communities to ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples receive the highest possible level of support and that services are targeted towards each individual community’s needs.
Under the revised IAS Guidelines there are three ways that proposals can be considered for grant funding:
- The Department invites applications.
- The Department directly approaches an organisation/s.
- The Department responds to community led proposals.
Further information on the revised IAS Grant Guidelines are available here.
