[1] Its terms of reference were outlined at the first meeting, with its purpose stated as "to provide advice to the Government on Indigenous affairs, and was intended to focus on practical changes to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people".
Its size was set at 12 people, comprising both Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, who would meet three times each year.
[3] Malcolm Turnbull, who became Prime Minister in 2015, established the Indigenous Policy Committee of Cabinet in 2016, to "support better engagement with Cabinet Ministers, their portfolios and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, including through collaboration with the Indigenous Advisory Council".
[4] He temporarily suspended the IAC at the end of January 2017,[5] with its initial terms of reference being wound up on that date.
[9]) The co-chair of the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, Jackie Huggins, expressed a wish to work with the new body.