CASWA Planning Day 2026

CASWA's Board and staff came together in Boorloo to set the priorities behind the CASWA Implementation Plan 2026–2028 — with Aboriginal people setting an Aboriginal agenda for Aboriginal communities.

Insights

Something struck us at the strategic planning session on 18 June: every person in the room setting CASWA's implementation priorities for the next two years was Aboriginal.

That is what a community-controlled peak body is meant to be. Aboriginal people setting an Aboriginal agenda for Aboriginal communities.

CASWA's Board and staff came together at our Boorloo office to work through the priorities that will shape our advocacy for the WA Aboriginal community-controlled sector — talking through what matters most across the outcomes our Member ACCOs work on every day. The session feeds directly into the CASWA Implementation Plan 2026–2028, which sits under our Strategic Plan and turns direction into concrete priorities we will deliver against.

Four areas came through clearly.

Voice of the regions — close collaboration with strong regional ACCO networks, with a real say in the priorities that affect them and the resourcing to be heard.

Sector capability and sustainability — an ACCO sector funded adequately to deliver the culturally appropriate services our communities need.

Policy and systems reform — fair funding, ACCO-led service transition, and shifting resources toward the organisations that know their communities best.

Aboriginal data sovereignty — building a sector-owned evidence base, so the story of what works is told with our data, on our terms.

The work from here is to turn these priorities into a plan that delivers real value for Members, and holds government to account on its Closing the Gap commitments.