Remote Australia Online

Feral camels have potential commercial uses. A camel industry has been emerging in Australia over the last 20 years, but it is still very small. This chapter reviews the potential for the commercial utilisation of feral camels in Australia and discusses the implications for feral camel management arising as a consequence. Recommendations are made that aim to encourage the development of a strategic management approach to feral camel control within an emerging camel industry.

Because they are established and widespread, feral camels are one of the 73 or so species of introduced vertebrates occurring on mainland Australia that do not meet the criteria to justify eradication effort. For such species, the management options are containment, control, or no management (Australian Pest Animal Strategy 2007). We need to manage feral camels in Australia because the deleterious impacts of the species on pastoral production, the environment, and on social and cultural values are evident at current population densities over many parts of the camel’s range (see Edwards et al. 2008). Furthermore, the current estimated population of about one million feral camels is doubling every 8–10 years (Edwards et al. 2004, Saalfeld & Edwards 2008) and it is presumed that impacts will increase along with the population (Edwards et al. 2008).

The growing feral camel population in central Australia is a cause for concern at many levels and is the subject of a cross-jurisdictional Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre (DKCRC) project that has recently been funded by the Natural Heritage Trust (NHT). Opinions and perceptions concerning camels vary; there appears to be no one obvious solution to the ‘problem’, and yet it is important to have stakeholder support for recommendations made as a result of the DKCRC NHT project. Stakeholder input, as part of the first stage in an alternative futures assessment, was solicited at two workshops held at the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) in Alice Springs in December 2005. A team of three scientists from the Desert Research Institute (DRI) in Reno, Nevada, USA conducted these workshops following extensive discussion over several months with the DKCRC and CSIRO team members, and the award of seed money jointly contributed by Desert Knowledge Australia and the DRI. The two workshops were attended by sixteen outside participants from a variety of backgrounds (e.g. conservation, the meat industry, pastoralists, and government agencies). Following introductions to the NHT project, alternative futures assessments, and scenario-based futures modelling the participants interactively identified stakeholders involved with camels and the driving forces operating on natural, social and economic variables associated with the growing camel population. Interactions between the stakeholders and driving forces were summarised in two matrices (one for each workshop) which indicated the most crucial issues and stakeholders, and which will be used for developing scenarios (or plans) to show how change might occur. These workshops were the first stage in the alternative futures assessment process, which will continue with workshops with other stakeholder groups and the development of scenarios during 2006. During 2007 and 2008, the spatial modelling of environmental, social and economic results of the three to four alternative futures (decisions made regarding the management of feral camels) between now and, say, 20 years from now will be carried out. Results will therefore identify not only the range of plausible actions but the effects these actions are likely to have.

In 2004, the Northern Territory Department of Infrastructure, Planning and Environment applied for funding through the National Feral Animal Control Programme to conduct a workshop focussing on developing a coordinated and strategic program to manage the impacts of feral camels. There was general consensus among the workshop participants that the key to successfully managing the impacts of feral camels lay in the implementation of the following recommendations: Recommendation 1: Development of an integrated national approach to feral camel management involving collaboration and promoting attitudinal changes. This would require coordination across various jurisdictions and stakeholder groups. Recommendation 2: Identification and protection of key assets currently or likely to be affected by feral camels (species/sites/infrastructure). Recommendation 3: Clarification of environmentally ‘acceptable’ camel population levels across a range of situations. Recommendation 4: Clarification of how and where the camel ‘industry’ can contribute to feral camel management.

The workshop was held as part of two concurrent fire management projects: Desert Fire and the Consultancy to produce a Fire Management Strategy for Uluru–Kata Tjuta National Park (UKTNP). Both projects were developed in the context of widespread wildfires in 2001–2002 which followed high rainfall in 2000, and also for some areas in 2001.

This report reviews past fire management practices on conservation reserves in central Australia and makes recommendations on the best way to manage fire. It includes a summary of relevant ecological knowledge and highlights barriers to efficiently achieving best practice. The concept of fire regimes is central to this report. It is widely agreed that current fire regimes are unfavourable for some species and communities due to the prevalence of large intense wildfires. This is believed to be the result of changed land use and fire management and the spread of non-native grasses. The cessation of nomadic Aboriginal burning (past 50–100 years) and an associated loss of diversity in post-fire vegetation age across the landscape has been a major change. However, fire regimes of both the recent and older past are difficult to quantify. Much of this report is based on a belief that humans need to influence fire regimes with fire management, including prescribed burning (i.e. deliberately lit fires, burning in prescribed conditions, which are part of an agreed fire management plan). It is widely agreed that the extent of prescribed burning needs to be increased. Preferred fire management regimes are described for broad vegetation types. Better ecological understanding is required to devise more specific management regimes for finer-scale vegetation types. In most years, the majority of the areas deliberately burnt should be in fire-tolerant vegetation characterised by the presence of spinifex and the absence of long-lived woody obligate seeders (trees and shrubs which do not re-sprout when their canopies are killed by fire). Prescribed burning in these areas should be a combination of: - patches aimed at diversifying post-fire vegetation age with presumed benefits for fauna - burnt fire breaks (lines) aimed at limiting the spread of and damage from wildfires.

This report examines the internal climates of buildings in desert communities, their design and passive climate control characteristics and the energy used for active heating and cooling. The primary outputs of this report are: • A review of the literature on building energy efficiency • A review of models and their applicability to the desert built environment • A review of the applicability of the Building Code of Australia for desert communities • An improved understanding of energy usages and costs associated with active climate control in buildings in remote desert communities • A greater appreciation and understanding of opportunities for energy conservation through passive climate control and appropriate building design • A platform for future improved modelling of buildings, improved data on suitable design and improved practical recommendations and guidelines, allowing for more informed decision making when designing and retrofitting • A greater awareness of Aboriginal cultural and other user issues related to building design • Identification of knowledge gaps that directly or indirectly influence thermal performance of the remote desert built environment.

A cost-effectiveness analysis based on a bioeconomic model was carried out with regard to specific feral camel control strategies in central Australia. Two different aerial control strategies were modelled for the period 2009–20. Strategy 1 involved annual removals, whereas strategy 2 involved periodic removals only when a specific feral camel density was reached. The direct benefits to the pastoral industry of feral camel control were also modelled in terms of reduced grazing competition together with infrastructure damage. A single environmental service related to reducing greenhouse gas emissions was further considered. Although the present costs of control under the two strategies are considerable ($4.10–4.95 million over 12 years at a 5% discount rate), they are far outweighed by the present benefits to the livestock industry from reduced competition ($46.3 million), as well as to society as a whole through reduced greenhouse gas emissions ($32.1 million). Including reduced infrastructure damage, the net present value of control is $75.2 million under strategy 1 and $73.3 million under strategy 2 (over 12 years at a 5% discount rate), suggesting that a control strategy based on annual removals should be preferred over a strategy of periodic removals. Given the large positive net present value of control and the robustness of the overall findings, there would appear to be a strong argument for considering the implementation of a full-scale, long-term feral camel control programme in the near future.

A cost-benefit analysis based on a bio-economic model was carried out to evaluate specific feral camel control strategies in the central region of the Northern Territory (NT). Based on expert opinion obtained through a series of workshops and meetings, and with a view to achieving the NT Integrated Natural Resources Management (INRM) Plan goal by 2020, specific control strategies for feral camels in the central region of the NT were identified (Drucker 2008). Two different aerial control strategies were modelled. Strategy 1 involved annual removals, while strategy 2 involved periodic removals only when a specific feral camel density was reached. The direct economic benefits of feral camel control for the pastoral industry were also modelled in terms of reduced grazing competition together with reduced infrastructure damage. A single environmental service related to reduced methane emissions was further considered. Although cultural values and other environmental services are also likely to be important, their modelling was beyond the scope of this study. Consequently, the analysis carried out in this report does not account for these values. The total present value of costs of the feral camel control strategies ranged from $5.39 million (strategy 2) to $6.00 million (strategy 1) over a 12-year time horizon (at a 5% discount rate), equivalent to an annualised present cost of $608 000–$676 000, respectively. Depending on how such a control program were implemented, these costs could be both public and private in their incidence (i.e. incurred by government and/or landholders). Of the $6.00 million strategy 1 costs, $3.74 million (62.3% of total) would be spent in year 1; $913,000 (15.2% of total) in year 2; and $107 000–166 000 in each year thereafter. It is therefore apparent that the vast majority of the control costs are spent in the first two years of the control program, making the cost-effectiveness of a go-stop policy low (strategy 2). Although control costs are large, they are far outweighed by the direct economic benefits to the livestock industry from reduced competition between livestock and feral camels ($50.68 million under strategy 1 or 57.9% of total present benefits). The value of reduced methane emissions is also large ($35.24 million or 40.3% of total present benefits), while reduced infrastructure damages make a relatively small contribution to total present benefits ($1.62 million or 1.8%). Total present benefits under strategy 1 are thus $87.54 million over 12 years or $9.88 million per annum and were larger than those found under strategy 2 ($83.98 million). The difference between the economic benefits under the different strategies suggests that a control strategy based on annual removals is almost always likely to be preferred. We can therefore conclude that the magnitude of the benefits arising from a given control strategy should play a key role in control strategy choice. We also note that approximately 60% of the benefits (i.e. from reduced grazing competition and infrastructure damage) will accrue privately to pastoralists, while the remaining 40% (methane emissions avoided) will accrue publicly. The net present value of control (i.e. total present benefits minus total present costs) is $81.54 million under strategy 1. Delays in implementation of a control program could, however, reduce this value significantly. For example, a one-year delay could reduce this value by $7.7m, largely because of benefits forgone during the delay. Given the large positive net present

A cost-benefit analysis based on a bio-economic model was carried out to evaluate specific feral camel control strategies in the central region of the Northern Territory (NT). Based on expert opinion obtained through a series of workshops and meetings, and with a view to achieving the NT Integrated Natural Resources Management (INRM) Plan goal by 2020, specific control strategies for feral camels in the central region of the NT were identified. Two different aerial control strategies were modelled. Strategy 1 involved annual removals, while Strategy 2 involved periodic removals only when a specific feral camel density was reached. The direct economic benefits for the pastoral industry of feral camel control were also modelled in terms of reduced grazing competition together with infrastructure damage. A single environmental service related to reduced methane emissions was further considered. Although cultural values and other environmental services are also likely to be important, their modelling was beyond the scope of this study. Consequently, the analysis carried out in this report does not account for these values.

Since late 2005, we have collaborated, as an Indigenous Research Fellow and Ethno-ecologist respectively, on a bush food and harvesting research project. The project aims to examine the sustainability of small-scale commercial ‘wild’ harvest and the attitudes, knowledge and practices of Aboriginal harvesters and traders in relation to the collection and sale of bush foods. Over more than 5,000 years, desert Aboriginal people have refined their knowledge about the use and management of bush foods, medicines and other natural products. Customary management included complex governance systems and applied manipulation of species and ecosystems. Harvesting for domestic use and small-scale commercial trade continues today using traditional knowledge and harvesting methods. In the past 10 years, commercial markets dominated by non-Aboriginal people have rapidly expanded, as has research into bush foods and other produce.

Many Aboriginal people ‘worry for country’ with concerns for declining ecological condition of custodial lands. What do Arrernte people value within a landscape? How are these values inter-related? This presentation introduces the concept of Anpernirrentye by which Arrernte and other desert people see close relationships between iconic bush food species, people who are custodians for species and places, and the Altyerr (‘Creation time, Laws’). This concept guides their ecological restoration processes. Arrernte testimony about bush food plants is structured into domains and elements that combine into a traditional ecological knowledge system. A DVD segment will be shown to enliven the Anpernirrentye concept. The major domains drawn are Altyerr, Apmer (‘Country’), Tyerrtye (‘People’) and these are centred on Merne (‘Plant food’). Three cultural keystone species (Ahakeye, Akatyerr and Yalke) illustrate each domain. The domains and elements of this system align with traditional values within a landscape. Practical implications for ecological restoration or ‘fixing up country’ are identified. We ask that ecological restoration focus upon the places and species of highest value to Aboriginal people; these places and species are likely to also be of high ecological significance. Involvement of traditional owners in ecological restoration processes provides an opportunity for knowledge and language to be handed to younger Arrernte and other Aboriginal generations. On Arrernte lands, owners include people of the right ‘skin’ who are Apmereke-artweye (‘owner’) and Kwertengerle (‘manager’) of the place or species. These people are able to guide restoration work in respect to their knowledge of the Altyerr. Author biographies Veronica Perurrle Dobson is a senior eastern Arrernte speaker. She has worked as an educator, interpreter and in bush foods research. She is currently active in wetland restoration and inter-generational education. She has co-authored the ‘Eastern and Central Arrernte Dictionary’ and authored the book ‘Arrernte traditional healing’. Fiona Walsh is an ethnoecologist at CSIRO with part funding from Desert Knowledge CRC. She has worked on Martu, Warlmanpa, Arrernte and other lands over 20 years. Her current research is on the sustainability of small-scale commercial bush food species and Aboriginal employment in NRM. She has authored & co-edited a book on community-based planning and published on Aboriginal customary harvest systems and cross-cultural land management. Josie Douglas is an Indigenous Research Fellow at Charles Darwin University. She is descended from the Wardaman people of south-west Katherine, Northern Territory. Her current research is on the sustainability of small-scale commercial bush food species and Aboriginal cultural programs in remote education funded by Desert Knowledge CRC.

Apmeraltye Ingkerreke: People of one land, All together

Summaries of DKCRC postgraduate student projects

The DKCRC is dedicated to improving conditions for all desert Australians and it recognises that there have been past instances of Aboriginal people’s knowledge and intellectual property being misappropriated and exploited. The DKCRC Board also recognises that the DKCRC’s objectives will only be achieved by working in equitable partnership with Aboriginal people. Such partnerships include knowledge sharing in research and potentially the creation of new intellectual property. The DKCRC acknowledges that Aboriginal communities and groups have their own protocols and that these must be observed, understood, respected and engaged with as an essential, ongoing part of the research process. The philosophy of working together in partnership is important to Aboriginal people and is reflected in the commitments of the Board structure in the Centre Agreement’s Clause 9 (web site link shown in Attachment B) and enacted through shared Board and committee memberships. It is a requirement of the DKCRC Centre Agreement that all participants be aware of this Protocol as a working document.

Solanum centrale (Solanaceae) is an Australian indigenous food plant with potential uses as a desert crop species. This project investigated the little understood underground structures and mycorrhizal associations of S. centrale to assist the domestication process. Eight naturally colonised and cultivated sites in South and Central Australia were observed and samples of lateral and fine (secondary) roots were taken for anatomical study and to determine resprouting ability in the glasshouse. In addition, a glasshouse trial spanning 10 weeks was conducted to determine the response of S. centrale seedlings to mycorrhizal fungi and phosphorus nutrition at zero P, low P (0.15 g) or high P (0.3 g), applied as soluble phosphate. S. centrale was found to form clonal communities connected by underground lateral roots. Shoots were produced at irregular intervals on lateral roots and responded extremely rapidly and favourably to simulated disturbance in the glasshouse. Tap roots were occasionally found with a shoot and lateral roots often turned downwards to grow vertically. Fine roots were sparsely located on laterals and were old and brittle at the driest sites. Despite this, mycorrhizas were observed in the fine roots at all field sites. In the glasshouse experiment, the effect of mycorrhizal fungi on root colonisation and plant growth and development varied depending on phosphorus application. Mycorrhizal fungi colonised 48% of root length in inoculated zero P plants but only 2% of roots at low P and no roots at high P. Inoculation with mycorrhizal fungi had no effect on dry weight, root length and plant height of low or high P plants, but significantly increased growth at the zero P level (P<0.05). However inoculation increased the average root phosphorus content by 42%, decreased root to shoot ratio by 92% and decreased root biomass by 41% at all P levels, despite negligible colonisation at low or high P. This suggests that the presence of mycorrhizal fungi in the rhizosphere influences plant morphology. Furthermore, the absence of mycorrhizal associations under high P suggests that no benefit is conferred to the host in high nutrient environments. This may prevent an unnecessary drain of photosynthate from the plant when P is not limiting. The positive response of S. centrale to mycorrhizal inoculation, and its ability to rapidly resprout from roots, highlights its suitability to an arid environment. This work demonstrates the potential of S. centrale as a cultivated desert food plant.

Telemetry provides the opportunity for pastoralists to monitor the water supply, animal health, machinery and security of their properties while dramatically reducing travel time and cost. Two small South Australian companies with a wealth of field experience were identified. Contact Communications and Stockman Electronics produce telemetry equipment that met the criteria of reliability, client endorsement and capacity to withstand harsh conditions,. Three other companies are also installing systems in limited numbers. Costs fall in the range $1000–2500 per site monitored. The immediate future of pastoral telemetry appears to be dependent on the success of the different companies involved in successfully marketing themselves and gaining the trust of pastoralists. Telemetry installers are small local enterprises that develop good relationships with their clients. These companies have good products but currently lack the capacity/orientation to market themselves further afield. Observant telemetry equipment is an industry specific product being marketed nationally but it has yet to gain market acceptance. Should a Telstra sponsored product go into commercial production we may anticipate professional marketing of their product. Several systems reviewed rely on the mobile phone network and are thus currently of limited use in much of the pastoral lands. Electronics technology is obviously a rapidly evolving field that may bring new and more economical options. Also, the variables of sustainable land management, food health standards and fuel prices may generate the demand for more extensive and more sophisticated telemetry equipment on pastoral properties.

Key points • There are significant gaps in information on groundwater quality in arid pastoral lands and in its accessibility for pastoralists. Interviews with pastoralists indicated that placement of new bores was based primarily on local knowledge (particularly of the bore drilling team) rather than use of a database. • In interviews with pastoralists and equipment suppliers/installers/maintainers, the damage to pastoral infrastructure caused by salinity in water was not presented as a major problem. • Decline in animal condition and health would be expected for water supplies containing total dissolved salts in the range 5–10 000 mg/ml for cattle and 10 000–13 000 mg/ ml for sheep. • The key issue for reproductive success and growth in sheep reliant on saline drinking water is the survival of the 3–5 month old animal through the heat of the first summer. • An important consequence of provision of saline drinking water through summer is that stock can graze only a very limited distance from watering points, resulting in adverse effects on stock food access and land degradation. • No desalination systems are in use by the pastoral industry due to their prohibitive purchase costs and energy requirements. • Hire of a reverse osmosis desalination system may be cost effective to enable a flock/herd to get through a dry summer.

Bush tomato is grown naturally throughout the central Desert region of Australia, but is cultivated also in some parts of South Australia, New South Wales, Northern Territory and Western Australia. It is known also as the desert raisin or an ‘Akudjura’ in some aboriginal communities in Australia, Bush tomato is in great market demand and is therefore emerging as an important bush food plant. Pests attack bush tomato when grown as a native or cultivated crop during production and/or during the post-harvest phase. Various insectpests cause economic losses in bush tomato stored at ambient temperature. The aim of our research work was to identify various postharvest pests infesting bush tomato. Bush tomato fruit were collected from Northern Territory (Utopia-2004, Ti Tree-2005) and from Western Australia (Calingiri-2004 and Blackstone- 2005). Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella). Rust red flour beetle (Tribolium castaneum) and saw-toothed grain beetle (Oryzaephilus surinamensis) were found and identified in bush tomato samples from Utopia, Ti Tree, Blackstone and Calingiri. Warehouse beetle (Trogoderma variabile) was found only in fruit collected from Utopia and Ti Tree. Indian meal moth is major post-harvest pest of bush tomato. Infestation of bush tomato fruit from Northern Territory with these postharvest insect pests ranged from 31-41% and from 20-37% in Western Australia. Various non-chemical treatments including heat, high CO2, liquid nitrogen or vacuum treatments were evaluated as potential as post-harvest disinfestation treatment(s) for these storage pests. It is envisaged that this research will provide a practical framework that could be used as effective large or small commercial scale e alternatives to fumigation.

One of the authors recently found herself striking up a conversation with a stranger in the checkout queue at the supermarket. It’s something you can do easily in Alice Springs. It happens all the time. Is it the sense of trust and community that comes from being in a town so far away from dense and fast city life? Maybe. Alice Springs has pockets of this, in spite of such diversity amongst its residents and the masses of other people who pass through. Or is it just because the queues are long, and everyone is trying to stay in a good humour? There’s not much you can do about it except wait. And it doesn’t take too many minutes of waiting to wonder why there are only three or four of twelve checkouts open on a Saturday morning. Supermarket penny-pinching? Maybe, but it’s also likely that the supermarket is having trouble getting staff, like so many other businesses in the town.

Globalisation presents particular challenges for deserts given that their sparse populations, which are amongst the world’s poorest in an absolute economic sense, tend to be remote from major markets and have only a distant, marginal voice in political and policy decision making. Here we are defining deserts as the arid and semi-arid drylands that encompass 70% of Australia and 25% of the world’s land surfaces. The value of the knowledge that local traditions and science have generated about living sustainably in deserts is being promoted and extended through the ‘desert knowledge’ movement in Australia. The Australian research reported here, together with a contribution from Niger that offers a contrast and some lessons for Australia, is largely underpinned by a neopopulist paradigm of development stressing respect for local knowledge, participatory practice and empowerment. Research in partnership with desert Aboriginal groups is contributing to their engagement with new livelihood opportunities. The local knowledge of livestock graziers is also being engaged to support sustainable management of desert water sources and landscapes for multiple values. The research reported here also addresses opportunities and challenges for local norms, identities, knowledge systems, governance and livelihoods from broader scale processes and institutions. In doing so it contributes to a ‘neo-ideographic approach’ wherein desert people might better harness their locality, knowledge and diversity in adaptations that shape their encounters with globalisation. It also points to considerable scope to mature such an approach.

In a policy framework, jobs are seen as an outcome, or else as a proxy indicator of the outcome of ‘a good life’ that can be readily measured. Employment is used as a key indicator for Aboriginal wellbeing and social justice. The jobs focus does not in itself offer a very good framework to think about or understand all the many factors that affect the ‘good life’ for desert Aboriginal people - that affect health, well-being, culture, care of family as well as income. Nor does it help us think about the interrelationships between the many factors that affect whether someone gets a job, stays in a job or doesn’t stay in a job. Our main message from this paper is that Livelihoods thinking provides a strong mental framework for understanding these many factors. It is useful because it provides a systems view of how policy and local contexts interact. (Meg Wheatley, Monday workshop at this symposium, said) When a system is in trouble we need to look for and connect up the missing pieces in order to create health and well being. Livelihoods thinking helps us to do this connecting up. Livelihoods view is people centred. It is concerned with ‘capability’. Amartya Sen’s concept of ‘capability’ refers to people’s ability to ‘live the life they want to live, be the people they want to be’. Considerable research shows there is a fundamental relationship between this ability – people’s sense of control over their life – and people’s health and well-being. Capability is a powerful social determinant of health. In a livelihoods way of thinking, working in a job is a strategy someone uses to pursue their goals for living the life they want to live. It is not an outcome in itself. Livelihoods thinking provides a framework to engage with people’s motivations and aspirations and capability. In work on ‘closing the gap’ it is really important to use a framework that takes account of the links between health and people’s ability to live the life they want to live. Aboriginal people’s aspirations drove the shape of the settlement pattern of desert Australia. Often we only remember this for the problems that the settlement pattern causes for policy - lots of small settlements, expensive to service, and most with a mismatch between available jobs and local skills. It is important to also remember that people can do amazing things (such as setting up these hundreds of outstations in remote Australia) when they know it is a pathway to them getting what they want. The outstation or homelands movement of the 1970s and 1980s was driven by the aspirations of desert Aboriginal people to live on or close to their traditional country in places they choose – to live the life they wanted to live. These same motivations carry through now into Aboriginal land management, which is the context of our research. A livelihoods approach is valuable because it keeps a focus on people’s aspirations and motivations – and these are powerful forces for change.

Critical understandings from land management systems for ‘closing the gap’ in desert Australia - Aboriginal land management as a sector that produces a number of complementary benefits. This paper focuses on the health and well being outcomes for Aboriginal people which are important given that improved Aboriginal health is a national priority. By pursuing Aboriginal health and well being through engagement in land management, the complementary outcomes indicated on this slide can also be pursued – in an economically efficient way. Land management can be envisaged as sitting at the centre of a system that produces these outcomes. A strong land management sector certainly needs the building blocks set out in Budget 08 for “closing the gap”. But land management is also an important strategy to contribute to these ‘closing the gap’ outcomes Land management does impact positively on health outcomes (solid arrows). And on economic participation, though generation of monetary income is constrained due to market failure (hard to capture market value from outcomes such as improved biodiversity that benefit all Australians. Also, harnessing the same motivations and world views that drive Aboriginal land management generates motivations for schooling and educational outcomes. Potentially land management may impact positively on other sectors – early childhood, governance and leadership, and maybe more widely. The fundamental reason for land management having a key role is that it has a foundational positive impact on social determinants of health. This is through recognition of strengths of remote Aboriginal landowners in traditional knowledge, ways of organising productive activity that are based on still-strong social norms of customary owner/manager rights and responsibilities. These foundations engender participants’ sense of control over their lives, bring outside recognition, and form or strengthen new skills, confidence, and a sense of identity, particularly important for young people. These things are all linked together and are social determinants of health.

In this report, I identify some considerations for partnerships between research organisations and Aboriginal organisations in desert Australia, and some directions for research. I cover only some issues and I focus on land management. My report is based on selective consultations and networks. A lot more consultation and negotiation has to happen to develop the research directions I identify here into partnerships and collaborative research projects. Research can bring benefit to Aboriginal people. Aboriginal organisations do a lot of research. Some Aboriginal organisations do this research in ways that build capacity among their own people. Outside researchers can bring new ideas, knowledge and networks to desert Aboriginal people. This can help support Aboriginal people to move from welfare dependency to being a strong part of regional economies. But researchers cannot do this alone. Partnerships with Aboriginal organisations and with government are needed for long-term support and outcomes. Partnerships between organisations start from trust between individuals. It is important for organisations to have a clear agreement about their partnership, what they will put into it and what they will work towards together. Partnership agreements are important for continuity and for conflict resolution, but as one participant in this research said: ‘It’s what is in the guts of the relationship that will produce outcomes, not the agreement papers’. To be effective partners with Aboriginal organisations, research organisations need to look at how they develop and scope research projects, how they involve Aboriginal people in research, and how they communicate their research. These research approaches need to suit the way that Aboriginal people and organisations do business. To develop projects that are valuable to Aboriginal people and organisations, researchers need resources to consult and negotiate with Aboriginal organisations and to consult with Aboriginal people ‘on the ground’ about research ideas and how to implement them. Aboriginal organisations often don’t have spare capacity to devote to developing strategic approaches to their research needs. They often work in fast changing situations and have to respond to ‘crises’. Research organisations need capacity to respond quickly to Aboriginal priorities. Quick response to Aboriginal priorities can cut short the time that is needed for research organisations and Aboriginal organisations to develop relationships and negotiate collaborative projects.

This paper outlines the development and implementation of the Community Phone as an alternative public telephone for remote settlements of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, in the broader context of telecommunications services in remote Australia. The characteristics of the Community Phone service are described in terms of a generalised service model. Supply and demand drivers for the service are discussed with particular emphasis on its effectiveness as a publicly funded and managed service provided in response to the requirements of the remote settlements. Finally, the paper reflects on how the success of the Community Phone Project experience might inform some aspects of the research being conducted by the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre (DKCRC) in its Core Project 5 ‘Desert Services that Work’. This core project addresses five questions about the demand and supply of services to Aboriginal communities in remote desert areas, with a focus on demand responsiveness as a criterion for improving services. Although the Community Phone Project does not reflect a demand-responsive approach, it nonetheless provides some valuable insights into elements of successful service delivery.