Our traditional lands and culture continue to sustain us as we face the challenges of the Balanda (non Indigenous) world. The Bawinanga Aboriginal Corporation (BAC) outstations are full of culture and we retain strong connections with our traditional lands passed on to us from our ancestors.
Keeping our culture strong remains our priority and it is with concern and dismay that we view the government's intentions to reduce support for them. Living out bush provides our members with the opportunities to lead healthy and meaningful lives with a relatively minimal cost to government. Maningrida cannot provide enough employment opportunities for all and nor can the bigger centres such as Darwin. Often in these large towns our people fall by the wayside.

BAC represents a diverse group of people with different aspirations and skills; some are bush people whilst others are engaged in paid employment, usually as CDEP (Community Development Employment Program) participants. It has been very pleasing to witness the gradual movement of some of our people into non CDEP subsidised employment this year and we look forward to this gaining momentum. But we beg our critics to show more patience here; we have only been in regular contact with you white fellas for about 50 years. In this time you have expected us to move from a traditional hunter gatherer lifestyle to holding down a fulltime job in your world! These changes can't happen overnight or even over 50 years and they must be nurtured. Our people need the time and the opportunities to gain the literacy and workplace skills required by employers. David Bond, our CEO, retired in August 2005. David had been with the Corporation for almost 30 years, and was instrumental in its creation and
development into the strong organisation it is today. We thank him for his many years of service and assure him that he and his family will remain in our hearts.

The Executive's decision to appoint Ian Munro, our General Manager, as the new CEO has proven to be a wise one. Ian has been with the Corporation for the last 15 years as part of the senior management team. Consequently it has been a very smooth transition and he and the Executive members have worked closely together as I am sure they will continue to do so.
We must work with DEWR (Department of Employment & Workplace Relations) over the next year to ensure our CDEP program is not jeopardized. We must demonstrate our proven successes - even a cursory glance at our annual report demonstrates our CDEP program works well and could serve as a model for others - and convince them that the organisation is committed to moving people forward into employment off CDEP.