The AM-YAC Indigenous Community Trust is in place to assist AM-YAC Members. Below is a list of ways you may be eligible to receive assistance. For full rules Members should contact the Executive Office. Please note all programs have annual funding caps and funding is not always available.
Are you a member?
Please note that you need to be a registered AM-YAC Member to apply for assistance from the AM-YAC Indigenous Community Trust. This does not automatically happen when you turn 18. Download an application form here.
Medical
Health and Medical
Up to $2,000 per year per Member may be available for:
- Doctor’s appointments, x-rays & scans.
- Podiatry and physiotherapy.
- Prescription drugs and ‘pharmacy only’ medication.
Support provided to AM-YAC children is taken out of their parents’ annual entitlement.
An application to the PATS Program must be made prior to an application to the Trust – documentation must be provided.
To apply, submit the following form.
AMYAC-Charitable-Trust-Assistance-Application-Form-Medical-Cultural-Education
Carer's Assistance
Carer’s assistance forms part of the Health and Medical program. Up to $1,000 per year per member requiring care may be available for travel, food and accommodation subsidies to AM-YAC Members or close family members who are caring for other AM-YAC Members or Members’ children who:
- Have a disability; or
- Are under 18 years of age; or
- Have a serious medical condition ; or
- Who are aged/frail; and
- Are travelling for medical care.
To apply, submit the following form.
AMYAC Charitable Trust Assistance Application Form - Carer's Assistance
Serious Family Illness and Emergency
Funding to assist Members to attend the bedside of a terminally ill or seriously ill relative (who is a Member) may be available for:
- Travel (between towns and cities).
- Food
Other Key Factors
- Only immediate blood or cultural relatives of the patient can be assisted.
- Verification from the hospital or a doctor must be provided – e.g. a letter.
- Funding will only be provided if other community or Government funding (e.g. PATS) cannot be obtained.
To apply, submit the following form.
AMYAC-Charitable-Trust-Assistance-Application-Form-Medical-Cultural-Education
Patient Assistance Transport Scheme (PATS) Process
The Patient Assistance Transport Scheme (PATS) provide assistance to people who live in rural South Australia who need to travel more than 100 kilometres each way to see a medical specialist that is not available locally.
To apply for PATS there are three forms that need to be completed.
Form 1: Signed by the referring doctor in your home town.
Form 2: Signed by the specialist on the day of your appointment.nnForm 3: Signed by you as the AMYAC Member.
You must have PATS Form 1 signed by your local doctor and sent to the Executive Office before your appointment to receive travel assistance.
You must then have PATS Forms 2 and 3 completed and sent to the Executive Office before your return travel will be arranged.
If you do not return PATS Forms 2 and 3 you will not receive assistance to get back home after your specialist appointment.
You must also send a photocopy of your concession card (back and front) to the Executive Office.
PATS does not apply to the following:
- Dental
- Optometrists
- Speech pathologists
- Podiatrists
- Psychologists
- Physiotherapists
Emergency Hardship
Up to $1,500 per Member per year is available to provide:
- Access to clean water, functioning sewerage and electricity services.
- Air-conditioning to a Members’ home.
- Essential furniture and essential whitegoods.
- Any other purpose deemed by the Trustee to constitute relief of extreme poverty including homelessness or detrimental living conditions.
Applications need to include:
- Any payment plans or agreements where the member agrees not to let their debt get this bad again.
- A support letter from a recognised social work organisation or medical professional or anyone else necessary to the application.
See Emergency Hardship Frequently Asked Questions
To apply, submit the following form.
AMYAC Charitable Trust Assistance Application Form - Emergency Hardship
Ngangkari Assistance
Ngangkari treatment forms part of the Health and Medical program. Up to $150 per treatment per Member is available (up to $1,000 per year). Requests must be approved by two members of the Advisory Council.
The available $1,000 carer’s assistance and $1,000 Ngangkari assistance both form part of the overall $2,000 allowance for health and medical (i.e. these are not separate programs).
To apply, submit the following form.
AMYAC-Charitable-Trust-Assistance-Application-Form-Medical-Cultural-Education
Elders Funding
Up to $3,000 may be available per approved Member as a once off payment to provide assistance to Elders suffering from poverty.
- The Member must be over 45 years of age.
- The Advisory Council will consider the Members’ contribution to the AM-YAC community and their knowledge of culture, geography and history.
To apply, submit the following form.
AMYAC Charitable Trust Assistance Application Form - Elders
Headstones
Up to $5,000 may be available to provide assistance to AM-YAC Members with the cost of a headstone for an immediate family members’ grave.
To apply, submit the following form.
AMYAC Charitable Trust Assistance Application Form - Headstone
Funerals
Up to $10,000 may be available to provide assistance to AM-YAC Members for the cost of an immediate Member’s funeral (the deceased must be an AM-YAC Member or the immediate family of an AM-YAC Member). Government assistance is also available to help cover funeral costs. Funding can be for:
- Returning the deceased’s body home.
- Undertaker’s costs.
- Burial costs.
- Flowers and casket wreath.
- Clothes for pall bearers and deceased’s family.
- Food for the wake, memorial or sorry camp.
- Travel costs for immediate family.
Documentation confirming the date and location of the funeral must be provided and all invoices must be provided.
Up to $5,000 may be available to provide assistance to AM-YAC Members to attend the funeral of an immediate family member who is a non-member. This covers travel, food and accommodation. Documentation confirming date and location of the funeral must be provided.
To apply, submit the following form.
AMYAC Charitable Trust Assistance Application Form - Funeral
Oz Minerals
Scholarship Program
The objectives of the Oz Minerals Scholarship Program are to:
- Encourage secondary and tertiary students to stay in school.
- Encourage supported secondary students to go on to further study after school, and
- To support tertiary students to obtain their desired qualifications.
- This program is for AMYAC students under 25 years of age.
Please read: Scholarship Guidelines
Closing Dates:
31 October for Term 1, 2020n30 April for Term 3, 2020
To apply, submit the form that is applicable.
Business Development and Opportunities
Funding on an application basis is available for the acquisition of land within the Claim Area, the promotion and development of Corporation business and/or employment opportunities to the community. This may be the purchase, operation and/or development of Aboriginal businesses including (but not limited to):
- Tourism or cultural heritage businesses owned or operated by Members.
- Commercial and non-commercial business opportunities.
- Equipment or land purchase to establish a business.
The following documentation must be provided with the application:
- The intention of the funding.
- The benefits (social return) to the community.
- The involvement of a business support service.
- The amount required.
- The proposed agreement between all parties in regards to any funding received.
Sporting
This program is specific to the Annual Sporting Carnival held in October each year.
Each team will need to submit an application with quotes for all items they are seeking assistance with. Once all of the applications are received, the funding will be decided and distributed based on the applications received.
There is no assistance provided for individual sporting requests.
Education
AMYAC children and adults may receive assistance for support with costs associated with education and vocational training.nnUp to $5,000 per year per Member may be available for the support of the education of AMYAC children and adults. Assistance may be provided for:
- Education costs.
- Attending educational courses.
- Other items as deemed appropriate by the Trustee.
Any person who is eligible to apply under the OZ Minerals Scholarship program cannot apply under this Education program.
To apply, submit the following form.
AMYAC-Charitable-Trust-Assistance-Application-Form-Medical-Cultural-Education
Culture and Heritage
Up to $750 per event for individual Members and $750 per person for a group event (capped at $7,500) is available to assist AM-YAC Members to participate in artistic, cultural and heritage activities associated with the AM-YAC people.
Funding will not be approved until all the following documentation is received:
- A listing of all Members and their children attending the event.
- A budget / breakdown of funding requested and attached quotes.
- Approval from the Cultural Sub-Committee of the Trustee Advisory Council.
- Invoices and receipts as appropriate.
No cash will be given, assistance is by purchase order only.
To apply, contact the Advisory Council.
“All funding program ‘budgets’ are based on a calendar year”
Items NOT Covered
Items not Covered
- No cash payments
- No reimbursements
- No hire vehicles, taxis or cab vouchers
- No skip bins, garden maintenance, house repairs
- No vehicle registrations, repairs or maintenance
- No debt collector payments
- No child care fees.
Rental Arrears and Bonds
The AM-YAC Trust does not provide support for rental arrears or bond payments. The Department of Communities and Social Inclusion can assist eligible Members in this area. To apply you must:
- Have an independent income.
- Meet the income and liquid assets limits.
- Have rent of less than 50% of your total household income before tax.
- Have rent of no more than $450/week.
- Not have any debts of more than $1,000 with Housing SA.
You can apply online at:
http://www.sa.gov.au/topics/housing/renting-and-letting/tenancy-bonds/help-paying-bond-and-rent
Legal
The AMYAC Trust does not provide support for legal assistance / solicitor fees, Court fines, nor travel assistance to attend Court. For assistance with legal aid in South Australia, contact the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement on 1800 643 222.