The National
Indigenous Development
Center is to be completed
by August next year.
It will include a 25-meter heated swimming pool, a community
sports and recreations centre and a sports training field. It will also contain
multi-use classrooms and accommodation and dining facilities for up to 100
people at a time.
“The NIDC will be a fantastic community resource and will
provide new education and employment pathways fro young Indigenous people in
Redfern and Sydney,” said Ms Macklin.
The facility will be open to indigenous young people from
across the country as well.
Ms Macklin was joined by the MP for Heffron, Kristina
Keneally, Planning and Redfern Waterloo Minister Frank Sartor, and Shirley
McPherson, chairperson of the Indigenous Land Commission.
Ms McPherson said the center would help young indigenous
people improve themselves and their communities.
“This is what the NIDC is about – making a long-term,
sustainable investment in developing our most precious resource, our young
people,” she said.
Mr Sartor said the centre would also provide employment
opportunities for the local indigenous community as well as training
opportunities.
The centre will be built on the site of old Redfern Public School.
The ILC bought the land from the NSW Education Department in
late 2006 for $14.8 million.
The development has since received another $24 million in
funding from the Australian federal government.
The National Aboriginal Sporting Chance association will run
health lifestyle and education programs, as will the Lloyd McDermott Rugby
Development Team, while the Exodus Foundation plans to open a tutorial centre
from children between 10 and 14 years of age. Up to 5,000 young people a year
are expected to use the centre.
Later in the day, MP for Sydney Tanya Plibersek announced
the Federal Government would provide more than $100,000 for educational
initiatives targeting indigenous students as part of the Whole of School
Intervention Strategy.
The initiative includes homework centres and involving
parents in schools.
“This initiative… involves communities and parents working
with schools to address the significant educational disadvantages experienced
by indigenous students,” she said.