AT the recent Port Stephens Council meeting on 23 August, Councillor Peter Kafer spoke up about the lack of community communications with Port Stephens’ Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

Whilst discussing ‘Our Funded Future’ Cr Peter Kafer expressed his frustration that the community engagement sessions have failed to address the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population of Port Stephens.

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“I want our Council Officers to take note and whoever becomes the General Manager going forward in the future, you have totally and yet again neglected eight percent of the population in Port Stephens.

That 8 per cent is the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples who make up 5,000 Port Stephens residents.

“At no point are we mentioned in the engagement; at no point were we engaged with,” Cr Kafer said.

“I remember back to a statistic I was told a few years ago that seven out of every ten people have never even met, talked to or engaged with an Aboriginal person.”

Cr Kafer stated that Council needs to develop an effective way of engaging with the population, whom he stated are sadly on the lower bounds of socioeconomic status, with many children not making it to the completion of their HSC exams.

“What I’m saying to our staff in future, you need to find other people in the community, like myself, who have a greater understanding of our people and your needs and engage with them to find this out,” he said.

Kafer said the engagement strategies have to be more efficient and tailored to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Population.

“I’m sick and tired of all levels of government coming to our people and giving them bits and pieces of documents and reports to read, telling them to comment on it, and then wondering, like in this process, why no one does it.

“It’s simple, there’s no understanding,” he said.

“You can’t go out there and talk down to them or give them a piece of paper because most of them can’t read it.”

Councillor Kafer says the Council needs to do better.

“Our people have always been distrustful of the government.

“They remain distrustful of local, State and Federal Government and of the police and we need to be doing something about that.”

By Tara CAMPBELL