Goal 4.1: Greater accountability for justice outcomes

The evaluation of AJA3 found that one of the greatest achievements of the AJF is that it has facilitated and enabled the development of strong and durable relationships between agencies and with members of the Victorian Aboriginal community. The partnership has come a long way since it first formed in 2000 and there are now high levels of trust between the partners. This has not led to complacency on the part of any of the partners, and there remains a high demand for accountability, particularly driven by the community, for outcomes being achieved.

Underpinning greater accountability is a need for better access to data that can inform the design and delivery of key initiatives. In the past, data collected about Aboriginal people have commonly been defined by governments and research institutes rather than being determined by Aboriginal people. Adopting an Aboriginal self-determined approach will shift approaches to monitoring and evaluation. Data should be made more available to Community to ensure that it has all the information it needs about its own affairs, and to promote trust with government.

	Establish independent mechanisms to oversee, monitor, and report to Parliament on the achievement of improved justice outcomes for Aboriginal people in Victoria.
	Make up to date justice data more readily available to Community and improve the quality of program and administrative data so that it provides clearer and more accurate description of program use and effectiveness for Aboriginal people.
	Enable full participation of Aboriginal people in AJA evaluation work, ensuring Aboriginal input into all aspects of the evaluation, including the design, ownership of data, data interpretation and publication of findings.