GLENELG Shire Council’s strong partnership with the south-west’s Aboriginal community has been recognised with a category win in the statewide Community Helping Achieve Reconciliation Together (HART) awards.
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The council won first place in the local government category at the HART Awards, held in Melbourne on June 5.
The award commended the council’s work towards reconciliation and developing social and economic improvements for the Aboriginal community.
The award highlighted the Glenelg Aboriginal Partnership Agreement 2011-2020 between Glenelg Shire Council, the Dhauwurd-Wurrung Elderly and Community Health Service (DWECH), Winda Mara and Gunditj Mirring as an example of the council’s positive steps towards reconciliation.
Glenelg mayor John Northcott said the council was honoured to win the award.
He reaffirmed the council was committed to involving the shire’s diverse community in decision making.
“This Glenelg Aboriginal Partnership Agreement maps out a path for the Aboriginal people of Glenelg Shire to be free from discrimination and secure in their identities and life choices,” he said.
“This document acknowledges the hurt and suffering endured by local Aboriginal communities since European settlement.
“It seeks to facilitate and nurture the healing processes necessary to address and alleviate that hurt and to rectify the economic, legal, social and cultural disadvantages placed on Aboriginal people,” Cr Northcott said.
Glenelg council’s chief executive officer Sharon Kelsey accepted the award on behalf of the council’s partners at the HART ceremony last Thursday.
In other award categories, Framlingham Aboriginal Trust and Mornington Peninsula Shire Council were highly commended in the community organisation category.