Indigenous groups are hoping a new federal inquiry will give Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people far greater control over the management
of their own communities.

The House of Representatives' Aboriginal and Torres Straight Islander
Affairs Committee has launched an inquiry focusing on governance issues in
indigenous communities.

Committee chair and Federal Liberal MP, Barry Wakelin, says the inquiry
should take 12 to 18 months.

He says governance and the "community capacity to manage" is a factor in a
wide range of fields and the committee will examine all of them.

Mr Wakelin says that includes health, education, employment,
infrastructure, cultural attitudes, general issues of policing and
violence in the community and substance abuse.

He says the committee will examine "the appropriate management at all
levels, from all people involved, right down to the individual".

The MP says it will ask: "How can we improve that and get better outcomes
for Aboriginal people and Aboriginal communities?"