19 December, 2014

“Unfortunately there’s a lot of politics at play in communities but I think we’re starting to evolve from that and we now realise that we have to work together to achieve big things.”

My name is Cobie Britt, I’m a Yuwaalaraay descendent from the Goodooga region, and I grew up there most of my life.  I moved to Dubbo when I was about 13.

Goodooga is a very tiny town and back in the day like most rural towns, it thrived with properties and farms, but over time, businesses have moved and banks but the stayers are there and some people won’t leave and its still home so you always look to go back.

I’m acting senior LALC Support officer. I started out as an administration officer, moved up from finance and now into actual support.

We’ve been focusing on capacity development in the smaller communities in my region and building up skills of staff so their LMSS scores and RES scores are now improved and they can run their own show and they are standing strong alone.

The system has changed over time and unfortunately there’s a lot of politics at play in communities but I think we’re starting to evolve from that and we now realise we need to work together to achieve big things.

It’s great communication strategies like Facebook and online that is able to engage youth because our young people are very tech savvy. Youth forums will certainly bring them on board.

People might be starting to forget the history and how Land Rights come about and maybe focusing on that might inspire young people to get involved too.

We’ve got a great future, a great organization and great background with grassroots people, I think we can just power ahead with economic development so we can support ourselves.