BLANK PAGE SUMMIT HARD YARN 2010

BLANK PAGE SUMMIT HARD YARN 2010

Mary Victor O'Reeri and Christine Smith

Welcome Message from Mary Victor O’Reeri

“There are programs, policies and initiatives underway all around Australia to ‘close the gap’ for Indigenous people. A huge amount of research about the problems and likely solutions. There’s also a lot of goodwill, investment and great heart for things to change.

Wherever you go, you see the ‘gap’. It’s a way of life. If you’re an Indigenous person or you work in and around Indigenous affairs, you know about the gap from the inside out. You also know it’s an ongoing cycle that doesn’t easily get broken.

To offer a different world to the ones coming through – the unborn babies, the little kids, us 40 year olds when we’re old people, our old people in their final years when a new generation will be born before their eyes – we need to have a hard yarn.

The Blank Page Summit Hard Yarn will be a transformative event – it won’t be a bunch of talking heads going around in circles saying what’s already been said. Nor will it be a series of presentations from experts telling others what to do, or a one-way download of information.

The Summit will be a strategic gathering where we start with the highest ambitions for individuals and communities across the country.

We’ll come together to have a fresh conversation where we can talk honestly about what’s involved in truly ‘closing the gap’.

We at Billard started this process in 2009 with a blank page on the specific issue of suicide. We demonstrated that there are solutions.

But it requires all of us to have a hard yarn as Indigenous people and as Australians who together want to contribute powerfully to building a whole and functioning society.

In inviting you to join us at the Blank Page Summit Hard Yarn 2010, I make this important point – we can only start with a blank page, if we are indeed going to have a new conversation. A blank page is what we must offer to ourselves and others. There is a great power and joy in us filling up those pages together.

“We are the people we’ve been waiting for”.

Key Information

When is the Blank Page Summit Hard Yarn?

The Summit will run for four days and four nights:

  • MONDAY 26 JULY 2010

Opening ceremony at 1.00PM

  • FRIDAY 30 JULY 2010

Closing ceremony at 8.00AM

The theme – closing the gap means no more muckin’ around – will form the basis for the discussions and action planning throughout the Summit.

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Where will the Blank Page Summit Hard Yarn be held?

The Summit will be a residential event at the Billard Aboriginal Community (‘Billard’) near Beagle Bay approximately 122 kms north of Broome on the Cape Leveque Road.

The Summit is hosted by Mary Victor O’Reeri and Stephen Victor Snr, the Main-People-in-Charge of Billard, in collaboration with a Summit Team.

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Who will be at the Blank Page Summit Hard Yarn?

There will be 150 key contributors (Summiteers) at the Summit:

  • Indigenous people from all over Australia
  • Representatives from the Commonwealth, state and NT Governments
  • Representatives from the private, philanthropic and not-for-profit sectors
  • Individuals
  • Facilitators and rapporteurs

The Summiteers will be joined by Special Guest Contributors whose unique and powerful contributions at specific times during the Summit will inform the work of the Summiteers.

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What is the program for the Blank Page Summit Hard Yarn?

A Summit program is not issued ahead of the Summit.

The Summit has these unique characteristics:

  • it is held in a remote location
  • it is residential
  • it has diverse people (Summiteers) working closely together to break new ground
  • it includes special guest contributors who travel to the Summit site on tight and short schedules with specific logistical requirements
  • its overall structure is organized to allow for flexibility

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What will happen at the Blank Page Summit Hard Yarn?

At the Summit participants will work together in a variety of ways:

  • Working Groups
  • Whole-of-Summit reporting sessions
  • Keynote presentations
  • Recreational and cultural activities

Based on a Consensus Decision Making model, key contributors will be invited to join a Working Group for the duration of the Summit.

Each Working Group will be supported by an experienced facilitator who will guide each of the sessions to reach consensus. Whilst detailed discussions will take place in each Working Group, feedback will be limited to 2-3 key pieces of input to the Summit as a whole based on specific questions.

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Blank Page Summit Hard Yarn

What does it mean to be a ‘key contributor’?

Every person attending the Summit will be a ‘key contributor’, i.e. there will be up to 150 key contributors.

Key contributors are expected to:

  • attend the Blank Page Summit for the full schedule of activities
  • join and contribute to a Blank Page Summit Working Group
  • act in good faith in relation to the purpose and principles of the Blank Page Summit
  • co-operate with physical arrangements at the Summit site to assist smooth running

Please note ‘key contributors’ are not expected to deliver prepared papers or make formal presentations to the entire Summit audience. There will be opportunities during the Summit for every individual to participate effectively.

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Stephen Victor Snr and Dr Kim Hames

“I was privileged to be invited to the Billard Aboriginal Community on the Dampier Peninsula, or Nirrumbuk, the home of the rainbow serpent, to participate in the Billard Blank Page Summit on Suicide. I would like to acknowledge the amazing job that the Billard Learning Centre did in organising and running the summit. I would particularly like to acknowledge Stephen Victor Senior, Mary Victor O’Reeri and their extended families, Kari Kristiansen, the Summit Director, and the many participants, sponsors and volunteers all too numerous to mention now but who all contributed and made the summit the success it was.”

Hon. Dr Kim Hames MLA (WA)

Deputy Premier, Minister for Indigenous Affairs & Health