The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion, will spend the coming week in Far North Queensland and the Torres Strait meeting with elected leaders, traditional owners, community members, stakeholders and service providers. This will be the first opportunity Minister Scullion has had to meet with elected council members in their communities since Queensland’s local government elections in March 2016. He will meet with mayors and councillors in Yarrabah, Napranum, Aurukun and the Northern Peninsula Area. Discussions with the local governments and communities will focus on the importance of getting children to school, economic development, jobs and community safety. Minister Scullion said his trip was an opportunity to listen to the views of communities in Far North Queensland and the Torres Strait and maintain the Coalition Government’s commitment to do things with Indigenous people and not to them. “Visiting communities is the best way to get a firsthand understanding of the issues on the ground and I’m looking forward to meeting with local leaders and traditional owners,” Minister Scullion said. “I acknowledge the important role that mayors and local councillors have in communities as the elected authority, and the Coalition Government respects their leadership and is committed to working with them to improve outcomes for their communities.” Key areas of focus for the trip include improving access to services for jobseekers in Yarrabah, examining ways to develop Indigenous owned and operated businesses in Weipa and meeting with Queensland police in Aurukun to discuss the importance of community safety. "The Coalition Government has delivered a new engagement with our First Australians and I am taking every opportunity I get to meet with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians across the country in their own communities, from Yarrabah to Redfern to Maningrida, to ensure that the policies developed by the new government-community partnership are making a difference on the ground.”