This first comprehensive external review of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC), the principal policy adviser to government on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs, has found that the organisation is in urgent need of
structural change. The report provides 67 recommendations which give greater control of ATSIC to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people at a regional level.

See related info for ATSIC's response to the review report. 

Key recommendations

• The existing objects of the ATSIC Act should be retained.
• ATSIC should be the primary vehicle to represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ views to all levels of government and be an agent for positive change in the development of policies and programs to advance the interests of Indigenous Australians.
• The structure of ATSIC shall be altered to provide for a national body and a national executive as outlined in the report.
• ATSIC regional plans should be focused on needs, outcomes, outputs and capacities, not the broad sweep currently set out in the Act.
• ATSIC must take the initiative to involve other relevant players, particularly all relevant government agencies, in the preparation of regional plans.
• Future funding by ATSIC should focus on outcomes-based contracts for the purchase of services.
• The ATSIC Act should be amended to provide that where a substantial majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in an ATSIC region or ward agree to a system for selecting regional councillors that is different from the system set out in the ATSIC Act, the Minister may approve such a system for determining the regional councillors for that region or ward.