A social enterprise hub providing health and wellbeing services for Indigenous people in Sydney has suddenly closed, one month after the site was divested from the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation to the NSW Aboriginal Land Council.
The decision to shut the National Centre for Indigenous Excellence (NCIE) came after the ILSC failed to reach an agreement with the land council on the Redfern hub’s future, the recently appointed CEO of the NCIE, Jasmine Ryan, said.
“Everyone is being made redundant,” Ryan said.
“We have a very large number of First Nations staff here and many of the people grew up in this community, it’s devastating.”
The NCIE opened in 2006 and offers sport, fitness, conferences and community classes including tutoring and educational support. It employs approximately 50, mostly Indigenous, people.
“We have so much community coming through the doors that use the centre, Indigenous and non-Indigenous people – everyone is welcome,” Ryan said.
“It’s a place that people could come and feel safe in what has been just a rapidly changing community of Redfern.”
Ryan said staff had little warning of the closure and the future of NCIE was uncertain.
“From my understanding from what they’ve told us, those negotiations essentially broke down, they weren’t able to come to an agreement and because of that ILSC made the decision to close NCIE down,” she said.
Jinny-Jane Smith, a Wiradjuri and Walbunja woman, said the hub provides vital services for health and wellbeing as well as support for First Nations people.
Smith said people were crying at news of the closure.
“It’s been quite a traumatic day,” she said.
The Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation is a federal statutory body which manages and acquires millions of dollars in land and sea assets to benefit Indigenous people.
The ILSC bought the Redfern site in 2010 with the NSW Aboriginal Land Council taking ownership from 30 June 2022.
But the land council says “diligence and negotiations with the ILSC, that has not been possible”.
In a joint statement, the ILSC and the Aboriginal Land Council NSW said they had worked in “good faith” to come to an agreement.
“Unfortunately, we have not been able to reach agreement on terms for ongoing support of the organisation and as a result it will close,” the statement read.
“We are disappointed by the outcome and will work to support affected staff and community.”
The Aboriginal Land Council NSW’s chairman, Danny Chapman, said it was disappointing a mutually agreed decision could not be reached but stressed that tenants of the George Street facilities would still be able to use the building.
“We will be opening a process to secure a suitable third-party to manage the fitness and aquatic centre on the site. The process will be open to both community and industry to apply,” Chapman said.
The Aboriginal Land Council said it remains committed to driving community benefits and outcomes from the site and it is working with stakeholders to ensure a smooth transition.
“In the interim, NSWALC will be working to provide community organisations with safe access to the centre,” it said.
But Smith, who is a project officer at the Inner-Sydney Empowered Communities at the George street address, said no one from either the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation or the NSW Aboriginal Land Council had communicated this to her.
“Everyone is extremely worried and no one has told us anything,” Smith said.
The Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation did not respond to further questions.
