Remote Australia Online

This thesis investigates and analyses the functions and business practices that underpin the sustainability and performance of Australian remote Aboriginal Art Centre Co-operatives. The primary means for Aboriginal artists to engage with audiences and mainstream markets is through Art Centre Co-operatives. The sustainability of Aboriginal Art Centres is of critical importance to remote communities as they contribute to the economic, social and cultural capital of the communities and provide the artists and their families with benefits through enhanced economic security, access to training and employment. This thesis also explored the additional benefits derived from the Art Centres, which contribute, to individual and community wellness and longterm sustainability. Methodologically this thesis draws extensively on the Mazzarol et al (2011a; 2011b; 2012a; 2012b; 2012c) Framework for Co-operative Enterprise Research but further develops the model to incorporate the unique features of Aboriginal community enterprises. A new culturally appropriate Combined Research Framework is presented for use as a research tool that enables a systematic analysis of the sustainability of remote Aboriginal Art Centre Cooperatives which flourish in two milieu – a domain of industry and commerce and a creative environment of cultural and social expression that has Aboriginal tradition and culture as the nucleus. Most remote Art Centres have experienced a sustained downturn in sales, coinciding with a long-term drop in profitability due to the global financial crisis and Australian Government policy changes. This downturn has negatively impacted the fiscal and social resilience and sustainability of remote communities and individual artists’ livelihoods. This thesis investigates the enabling factors and opportunities for the sustainability of remote Aboriginal Art Centres and has identified critical factors for Art Centres endeavouring to achieve long-term viability.

This chapter outlines findings from a 2020 review of the impact of telecommunications infrastructure programs on internet access in Australia’s remote Indigenous communities (RICs) and outstanding needs. This review was undertaken for the Australian Communications Consumer Action Network (ACCAN) about 6 months after the arrival of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia. The review outlined over $155 million of investment in telecommunications infrastructure in RICS by governments and industry over the last 5 years. However, it found that significant gaps in access and usage of communications technologies remained due to issues of affordability, lack of last mile delivery or community access facilities, service quality and congestion, and barriers to using online services. Some communities have chosen to not accept infrastructure due to concerns around cyber-safety, potential impacts on cultural and social cohesion, and ongoing costs of services and maintenance. Without a coordinated digital inclusion strategy in place to address these barriers, there is currently a patchwork of solutions. The chapter concludes by outlining the report’s recommendations and noting subsequent policy efforts to address the growing digital divide for First Nations people in Australia, including establishing a target to close the digital inclusion gap.

Introduction: Dementia is responsible for the most significant burden of any chronic disease in older Australians. Two in five of those with dementia live in rural and remote areas. This research describes education barriers and enablers for the health and aged care workforce who care for those living with dementia in rural and remote Australia. ‍Methods: As part of a more extensive study, this research aimed to better understand barriers and enablers of dementia education with input from sixty-seven participants in roundtable focus groups across six diverse rural and remote locations across Australia. ‍Results: Many commonalities emerged, confirming those identified in prior literature—the most significant challenges related to staffing levels, time constraints, and competing priorities. Enablers of the uptake of training included support from employers, local collaboration, and accessibility. Participants emphasised the need for strong organisational support, content relevant to both local challenges and workers’ scope of practice, the value of local training that brought providers across different organisations together, and flexible, interactive delivery methods by experienced trainers. Participants at all sites highlighted the need for culturally safe aged care practices tailored to local cultures. Discussion: The results of the roundtables, as well as a national survey completed as part of the research, informed key principles of an education and training framework for designing, delivering and evaluating dementia education and training for rural and remote workforce in the critical area of caring for people living with dementia. Three overarching principles were identified: community and stakeholder engagement, culturally responsive training, and research and evaluation. Central to these overarching principles were seven underpinning values: local knowledge and expertise, training in a rural context, inclusivity, equitable access, flexible training design, knowledge translation, and multidisciplinary collaboration. These findings enhance our understanding of how to better meet the educational needs of this workforce.

Rural and remote communities’ health and wellbeing needs are often more complex than those of urban communities (AIHW, 2022). Inadequate healthcare resources and infrastructure compounds poorer health outcomes and poorer access to, and use of, healthcare services (AIHW, 2022; Edelman, et al., 2020). As a result, rural and remote Registered Nurses (RNs) practice with greater autonomy. This autonomy still requires RNs to closely engage with their colleagues and communities, to deliver effective healthcare in diverse cultural and geographical contexts. This unique context of practice offers highly rewarding professional and leadership opportunities for RNs’ career development. The intent of the National Rural and Remote Nursing Generalist Framework 2023–2027 (the Framework) is to describe this unique context of practice and core capabilities for rural and remote RN practice. It is underpinned by the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia’s (NMBA) Registered Nurse Standards for Practice (2016).

While there is a well-developed body of literature in the health field that describes processes to implement research, there is a dearth of similar literature in the disability field of research involving complex conditions. Moreover, the development of meaningful and sustainable knowledge translation is now a standard component of the research process. Knowledge users, including community members, service providers, and policy makers now call for evidence-led meaningful activities to occur rapidly. In response, this article presents a case study that explores the needs and priorities of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in Australia who have experienced a traumatic brain injury due to family violence. Drawing on the work of Indigenous disability scholars such as Gilroy, Avery and others, this article describes the practical and conceptual methods used to transform research to respond to the realities of community concerns and priorities, cultural considerations and complex safety factors. This article offers a unique perspective on how to increase research relevance to knowledge users and enhance the quality of data collection while also overcoming prolonged delays of knowledge translation that can result from the research-production process.