AAG’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ageing Advisory Group, or ATSIAAG, is made up of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who are members of AAG. ATSIAAG has been directly advising the AAG Board on matters relating to older Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people since 2008, when its inaugural National Workshop was held.
While it is important that AAG’s work in this space is owned and led by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, the ATSIAAG Executive, led by Co-Chairs Graham Aitken and Ros Malay, and Immediate Past Chair Mark Elliott, has recognised that many non-Indigenous members of AAG have been and continue to be keenly interested and involved in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ageing issues and would like to support work in this area.
In April 2018, the ATSIAAG Executive asked AAG to establish a “Friends of ATSIAAG” group that enables interested non-Indigenous AAG members to keep informed of developments in this area, and to link with and support the work of ATSIAAG. Friends of ATSIAAG is chaired by Professor Tony Broe, who was the first Char of ATSIAAG.
The purpose of the Friends of ATSIAAG is to support the ATSIAAG in its role of advising AAG on all matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ageing. The Friends of ATSIAAG is an online network only, to:
- Receive information about current and future ATSIAAG activities and other relevant AAG activities, plus any newsworthy information relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ageing,
- Provide any comments or suggestions to the ATSIAAG (generally via the secretariat at AAG), and
- Share any relevant information about current research, upcoming events etc, relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ageing.
The Friends of ATSIAAG do not meet separately from ATSIAAG but are invited to participate in workshops hosted by ATSIAAG, and to attend the Yarn Up session at the AAG conference on an observer basis.
ATSIAAG acknowledges the support of Professor Tony Broe, Professor Leon Flicker AO, Sandra Forster, Sharon Wall and many others.
If you are interested in joining the Friends of ATSIAAG, please click here, and you will be added to the Friends of ATSIAAG mailing list.
If you are Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander, please consider joining AAG and ATSIAAG. If you are not yet an AAG member please click here and click here to find out more including joining the ATSIAAG.