Remote Australia Online

Greater integration of housing assistance programs and improved consultation at the regional and local levels will assist remote Indigenous communities to achieve better management and maintenance of their housing. This project, conducted by the Remote Area Developments Group (RADG) at Murdoch University, involved a survey of management and maintenance of housing and infrastructure in remote indigenous communities across two states and consultations with other state's agencies, and review of literature of similar work that may have occurred in the other states. The project aimed to study the extent of local and regional capacity-building necessary to improve management and maintenance of housing and infrastructure and recommend how policy-makers can respond to this need. This study also aimed to identify and review housing and infrastructure projects in each state that have demonstrated the successful coordination and local integration of human services programs to improve housing and infrastructure service delivery to indigenous communities. The strengths of these projects were analysed and evaluated for their policy implications in other states and at the national level. This would enable a "whole of government" approach. There has been a general recognition by agencies working within the indigenous field of the necessity of coordinating service and infrastructure delivery - in addition to capacity building to support sustainable outcomes. This study aimed to contribute valuable new knowledge to current policy initiatives by ATSIC nationally and state indigenous housing authorities. Consultation with communities about policy will further delineate an appropriate and sustainable direction for emerging and future initiatives. In brief, the aims of this project were to produce the following: * Case studies of the management dynamic of program integration in relation to housing assistance and its links with human services. * To examine the housing and housing-infrastructure related aspects central to positive health and well-being outcomes. * To examine perceived and 'actual' differences in the nature of community control, ownership and management of housing and how this contributes to community capacity, particularly in remote indigenous communities.

I am aware as I begin this plenary paper that members of the library profession that are drawn to a presentation slotted under the theme, Indigenous Knowledge, are most likely interested in the systems and issues for managing information in that area.

Currently, over 16,000 Indigenous students and 13,000 non-Indigenous students located in 260 Australian schools are involved in an Indigenous language program. More than 80 different Indigenous languages are taught. This project sought to present practice which would strengthen the quality of Indigenous language programs in schools. The report consists of a literature review, a mapping exercise to document current practices relating to Indigenous languages in Australian schools, an analysis of existing models of teacher preparation, and six case studies of good practice examples.

This paper presents findings from an action research project conducted by the University of Ballarat, funded through the Australian Flexible Learning Framework, New Practices initiatives. The project was designed to help remove barriers to Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) through the development of a streamlined and culturally appropriate model for assessing the knowledge and skills of Indigenous workers intending to gain vocational qualifications. The project investigated and trialled the use of web-based voice applications for recording and transmitting oral evidence. The paper highlights challenges in traditional RPL assessment processes described as time-consuming and cumbersome by Kemmis (2004) and Bowman et al (2003). These challenges were encountered by experienced Indigenous workers who possessed a wealth of knowledge and experience in relation to their work, but had not, necessarily, collected the documents (certificates, logbooks, diaries) to demonstrate competence. These workers preferred to demonstrate their knowledge orally, through discussion, conversation and/or narrative. They were geographically isolated, which meant that face to face interview methods proved a costly option. Initial trials suggested that online voice technology might provide an alternative method for the confidential and secure capture and transmission of evidence of competence.

Despite claims of a negative impact on Indigenous school attendance due to mobility no attempt has been made to estimate the number of school-age Indigenous children away from a home base at any one time. This paper uses census data to derive such estimates for the first time. It finds that Indigenous children are mostly sedentary within their school catchment area. This suggests that factors other than chronic mobility might be more prominent in accounting for observed outcomes. Could it be that mobility is more a consequence, rather than a cause, of low school attendance? To consider this, data are drawn from a case study of school attendance in the predominantly Aboriginal town of Wadeye in Australia's Northern Territory.

This is the latest in what is developing into a series of CAEPR monographs stimulated by the interest of mining companies to better understand the social and economic landscape of regions within which they operate. It stems from an approach made to the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) by Jeff Wilkie of Pilbara Iron who sought to establish a detailed profile of the Pilbara population in order to assist company and public policy discussions on Indigenous engagement in the context of rapidly expanding mining activity in the Pilbara region. We acknowledge the financial and logistical support of Pilbara Iron that facilitated the undertaking of the research.

Evaluations and evaluative research do not occur in a cultural or ethical vacuum. This paper has attempted to offer some principles for ethical, inter-cultural evaluation and research practices. It was my intention to make some suggestions about approaches to best practice in an attempt to ensure that evaluative research with or about Indigenous communities is of high value to the various stakeholders, including, the Indigenous community, those who commission evaluations and the profession itself. As a basic tenet, I repeat that approaches to any evaluative research involving Indigenous peoples must be based on respect for Indigenous people’s inherent right to self-determination, and our right to control and maintain our culture and heritage. Mutually respectful, inclusive, consultative evaluation practices in the before, during and after stages are seen as the preferred model of practice.

Indigenous Research Methodologies

This paper summaries the results of a LINKS research initiative begun in June 2000 to investigate the effectiveness of CRCATH procedures associated with undertaking research, managing research and disseminating research findings. The internal research project aimed to identify ways to increase the benefit of the CRCATHs research to Indigenous peoples. Key barriers were identified as power imbalances between Indigenous and non-Indigenous research stakeholders, the primacy accorded Western research traditions, the undervaluing of Indigenous Knowledge and the investigator-driven approach to research. Among its findings, the paper identified a need to foster more community involvement in research programs and to incorporate Indigenous research methodologies within CRCATH research.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are almost five times more likely to be placed in out-of-home care compared with non-Indigenous children (Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 2007). Yet there is a serious shortage of culturally appropriate placements to accommodate them. Even with intensive recruitment efforts, professionals have been unable to recruit sufficient Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander carers to meet the demand.

Within Australia's education revolution lies another, quieter revolution that attempts to raise the profile and status, and improve the learning outcomes, of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: children, young adults, women, and men. Two Way Teaching and Learning addresses the interface where two cultures meet: in the classroom, in the school, and in the community. Most of the contributors are highly experienced Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander practitioners drawn from academia, the teaching profession, and the community. They put the spotlight on policies and processes that serve to either facilitate an informed respectful relationship in education, or to reinforce cultural inequity and inequality. The policy implications - which can either be liberating or devastating for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Australian school systems - are exposed and explored with forensic care. Each contributor clearly articulates specific problems in complex areas - such as school retention, literacy and numeracy, self-concept and identity - and each offers practical strategies that address these issues. Written for teachers, policy-makers, academics, and administrators, Two Way Teaching and Learning works toward embedding a more culturally reflective, relevant, and inclusive agenda in places of learning for the benefit of all. At once confronting and uplifting, where there's an issue, there are also practical solutions and measurable outcomes.

Notes by Professor Jon Altman from a CAEPR Seminar of 13 October 2004, discussing changes in Indigenous social policy in the light of the recent federal election, including mainstreaming, whole-of-government approaches, Indigenous representation, consultation, choice, and agreement-making. A discussion about changes in Indigenous affairs that are likely to be implemented after the federal election on 9 October 2004. I want to do the following: 1. Provide a brief historical account from the forthcoming CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 266, ‘Indigenous socioeconomic change 1971–2001: A historical perspective’ that I have written with Boyd Hunter and Nick Biddle. That paper analyses trends across a number of socioeconomic outcomes for Indigenous Australians from the 1967 referendum to the present. 2. Read from three texts on new directions in Indigenous affairs, these being: • Peter Shergold’s ‘Connecting Government: Whole of Government Responses to Australia’s Priority Challenges’ dated 20 April, less than 6 months ago, focusing on the sections that highlight Indigenous issues; • Senator Vanstone’s Opening Address to the Bennelong Society Conference ‘Pathways and Policies for Indigenous Futures’ on 4 September 2004; and • The Howard Government’s Election 2004 policy, Indigenous Australians—Opportunity and Responsibility, released in September 2004. 3. This reading will be infl uenced by research I undertook in July for a paper ‘Practical Reconciliation and the New Mainstreaming: Will it make a difference to Indigenous Australians?’ published in August 2004 in Dialogue and now available at <http://www.assa.edu.au>. 4. As suggested in the seminar blurb, I then want to look at some potential strengths, weaknesses and concerns I have about the new approach, before concluding with a few challenging questions for us all. 5. This is obviously very new terrain for everyone, and I will try and get through this paper quickly to allow lots of time for questions and comments; I am no instant expert in this area, just a long term researcher on Indigenous public policy.

There is a lot of evidence in the literature to show that Indigenous learners are not fully recognized for their skills and knowledge. Mainstream approaches to teaching vocational courses rely on English language text based resources. For many Indigenous learners these ways of learning are not appropriate. This paper is based on the author's experiences and reflections of several years of children services training. That experience has led to a realisation that for Indigenous learners more culturally appropriate approaches were necessary for successful learning outcomes. After searching for a better tool for teaching and assessment, the author found 'etools' were being used in Indigenous contexts and had been successful, and began to explore their potential to support Indigenous learners. An opportunity arose to develop a set of her own customised teaching and learning 'etools' using multimedia, with funding from a Communities for Children project based in Palmerston and Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory. This project is about supporting Indigenous students, or potential Indigenous students, interested in working in childcare centres in those locations to undertake a Certificate III in Children Services. Together with an application developer, an electronic resource was developed to help teach Indigenous students in culturally appropriate ways. The tools are being used for both the delivery and assessment of the Certificate III in Children Services. The paper will report on my learnings about this project: what works and why. It is based on a critical evaluation conducted with the support of the Communities for Children local evaluation team at Charles Darwin University. The presentation will also demonstrate the use of the 'etools'.

In recent debates about the Indigenous welfare economy, the Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP) scheme has not been given the attention it deserves. It represents a major adaptation of the Australian welfare system to the particular social and economic circumstances of Indigenous people. Part I of this volume contains overview papers which place the CDEP program in its wider cultural, sociopolitical, and economic contexts. The contributions in Part II address policy and policy-related issues which impact directly, or indirectly, on the structure and function of the CDEP scheme as a whole and of individual CDEP projects. Part III presents research based case-studies of particular CDEP projects in their regional contexts, drawn from the Northern Territory, South Australia, and Victoria. Part IV consists of short case studies, from the perspective of the participants themselves, of a number of CDEP organisations. These case studies provide an important perspective, taking up and providing a grass-roots view of many of the broader policy themes and concerns that are discussed elsewhere in the monograph. The crucial issue, addressed by many of the contributions, is how Indigenous self determination and the rights agenda, which argues for the unique and inherent rights of Indigenous Australians, will sit with (or in opposition to) the ‘mutual obligation’ of the Howard government's welfare reform. The volume thus represents a contribution to an ongoing and important debate in current Australian social policy.

The invasion and subsequent colonization of what was to become known as Australia, by the British in 1788 marked the meeting of two utterly different societies and the beginning of ongoing destructive disruption to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander ways of life. How have Indigenous Australian peoples fared since then? They have endured a series of welfare regimes driven by racist, eliminationist, exclusionist, assimilationist, integrationist and multiculturalist values over the last two centuries. Welfare policies for Indigenous Australians have been, and continue to be different from, although parallel to those for other Australians, and based upon the same values of individualism, the work ethic, deservingness and Christian morality imposed by the British upper and middle classes upon the poor. Controlling the lives of the very poor has been, and still is central to welfare policies for poor non-Indigenous Australians, but its manifestation amongst Indigenous Australians has been utterly pervasive and all encompassing. From invasion to contemporary times, Indigenous Australians were seen and treated as members of a “race” in extreme need of “civilizing.” No respect was shown to Indigenous social or cultural institutions and a template of British welfare-ism was imposed upon all Indigenous Australians.

This report indicates that Aboriginal people in central Australia with limited access to fixed telecommunication services are turning to mobile phones as a way of accessing basic telecommunications services. Background: Central Australia is vast region, with Alice Springs as the main service centre. The region has a population of around 40,000 people, 38% of whom are Aboriginal people who tend to be highly mobile. The Aboriginal population can be divided into three main groups: ● People from remote regions, who live in 260 or so communities over a vast distance. Visitors from these regions often travel into Alice Springs ● Town Camp residents. Alice Springs has 19 'Town Camps', which are small Aboriginal communities within the boundaries of Alice Springs, and ● Alice Springs urban residents, which includes Aboriginal people living in privately owned or rented accommodation, and those in public housing. Aboriginal people in all three groups face significant barriers and disadvantage, including in relation to income, employment, education and health. Telecommunications services in the region are limited. In remote regions, there are limited residential phone services in communities, and public phones are not available on many communities. In Alice Springs, public telephones are available in thirteen out of nineteen Town Camps, with home phone services generally available in urban areas but generally not available in Town Camps. Mobile phone coverage is available in Alice Springs, Tennant Creek, Ti-Tree, Yuendumu, Mutitjulu, Hermannsburg, Santa Teresa and Ali Curung. As Aboriginal people appeared to be increasingly turning to mobile phones as a way of accessing basic telecommunications services, the Central Land Council commissioned Tangentyere Council to conduct this study on patterns of mobile phone use among low income Aboriginal people. Cultural expertise was used in the design, conduct and analysis of the research, enhancing the validity of the study.

This paper examines the literature pertaining to ‘innovative’ primary health care models in rural and remote areas in order to identify areas where knowledge is lacking and describes future research priorities. Although a number of reviews have identified successful primary health care models and synthesised principles that help to understand why they are successful, there is generally a dearth of rigorously collected information regarding rural and remote health service delivery. The evidence base that supports the superiority of any one model or models in a given context is thin because of the lack of systematic, policy-informing evaluation of primary care innovations. The paper identifies the need for more rigorous health services evaluation information, including examination of optimal financing systems, the optimal range and mix of providers, and supports for team practice, appropriate community participation mechanisms, improved health information systems and relevant performance indicators.

Indigenous Australian females are under-represented in the Australian labour force and in employment. According to the Population Census of 2006, 49 per cent of Indigenous females were in the labour force compared with 58 per cent of other Australian females. The unemployment rate for Indigenous Australian females was almost three times the rate for other Australian females, 15.4 per cent compared with 5.3 per cent. An understanding of the reasons for the poor labour market performance of Indigenous females is an important first step in improving the economic status of this disadvantaged group of Australians. This paper uses data from a survey by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (conducted between August 2002 and April 2003), to consider possible determinants of labour force status for Indigenous females. The survey enables us to use two potentially significant determinants of labour force status that are not available together from other sources—indicators of fertility and the interaction with the criminal justice system. Our estimates show that high levels of fertility and having been arrested have a negative effect on the probability of participation for Indigenous females. The paper concludes with some policy recommendations for raising the level of participation among Indigenous Australian females.

In 2003, a series of papers was commissioned to provide information, analysis and advice to Government as part of a Review of the Australian Government’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Program. The Review examined issues relating to funding for comprehensive primary health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and the impact of activity in this area. The commissioned material complemented information obtained from previous reviews and evaluations as well as that obtained from program data. An Interdepartmental Committee (IDC) oversaw the Review process. Members of the IDC were from the Australian Government Departments of the Treasury; Prime Minister and Cabinet; Finance and Administration; Immigration and Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs; Health and Ageing (Chair); and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Services. This is Volume 2 of the published Review papers. The papers in this series are: Volume 1. National Strategies for Improving Indigenous Health and Health Care by Judith Dwyer, Kate Silburn and Gai Wilson, La Trobe University. Volume 2. Investment Analysis of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Program in the Northern Territory by Carol Beaver, Centre for Chronic Disease, University of Queensland and Yuejen Zhao, Health Gains Planning Unit, Department of Health and Community Services, Northern Territory. Volume 3. Costings Models for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Services by Econtech Pty Ltd. Volume 4. Capacity Development in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Service Delivery – Case Studies by Cindy Shannon and Helen Longbottom, School of Population Health, University of Queensland. Volume 5. Cancer, Health Services & Indigenous Australians by John Condon, Cooperative Research Centre for Aboriginal and Tropical Health. Volume 6. Maternal and Child Health Care Services: Actions in the Primary Health Care Setting to Improve the Health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women of Childbearing Age, Infants and Young Children by Sandra Eades, Menzies School of Health Research. Volume 7. Substance Misuse and Primary Health Care among Indigenous Australians by Dennis Gray, National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology; Sherry Saggers, Centre for Social Research, Edith Cowan University; David Atkinson, Rural Clinical School, University of Western Australia and Phillipa Strempel, National Drug Research Institute, Curtin University of Technology.

The Australian Learning and Teaching Council (ALTC)-funded project 'Exploring Problem-Based Learning Pedagogy as Transformative Education in Indigenous Australian Studies' raised a number of issues that resonated with concerns we have had as professionals engaged in teaching and researching Australian Indigenous studies and Indigenous education. In this discursive paper we air some of the concerns we share which emerge from our collective research and teaching interests. We argue that Australian Indigenous studies and Indigenous education are too frequently collapsed or used interchangeably, and while there is tension between these areas rather than see as a problem we chose to interrogate this and argue for the potential for fruitful intellectual collaboration. This article problematises pedagogy and finds that sustained effort needs to be made to understand how pedagogical approaches to Australian Indigenous studies and Indigenous education are guiding and shaping each cognate area.

Indigenous people have been for a long time deprived of financial benefit from their knowledge. Campaigns around the stolen wages and the “Pay the Rent” campaign highlight this. As does the endemic poverty and economic disenfranchisement experienced by many Indigenous people and communities in Australia. Recent enterprises developed by Indigenous people, such as the sale of art works, can be seen as examples of people receiving remuneration for tangible products deriving from their knowledge. Also, tourism involves the sale of selected knowledge in context. Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a rich and expanding area of enterprise development which supports the development of knowledge and its use in enterprise. While such work depends on the owner’s, or in this case Indigenous, control of the knowledge, it can open up new avenues for enterprise development. Knowledge about local land can be included in children’s computer games, knowledge about successful projects can be shared between communities through the immediacy and multimedia format afforded by online environments, and government reports and statistics can be accessed and analysed by Indigenous groups, given tools that suit a community’s abilities and needs. In particular the way in which ICT can be adapted to individual requirements make such tools ideal for communities which form such a varied and complex environment. The author believes it is important that Indigenous communities not only benefit from ICT by taking control of the technology for their purposes, but are also part of its creation and design to suit their aspirations. ICT is a highly flexible technology which can be tailored to many different enterprises. This paper presents some of the projects being developed at the University of New South Wales and suggests how these can be extended.

Following the first significant research into Indigenous methods of learning, it was argued that Indigenous students could learn western knowledge using Indigenous ways of learning. Subsequent research contradicted this finding to take the position that Indigenous students must learn western knowledge using western methods and so this set the scene for the development of a pedagogy where Indigenous students could learn how to learn. Theorists in Indigenous education began to search for a metalanguage. Crosscultural theorists have perceived this metalanguage in terms of an explicit and transparent pedagogy while critical theorists want Indigenous students to develop their own ways of speaking and writing and to be conscious of how they do this. However, I take the position in this paper that there is already a metalanguage at work in-between the student and the teacher in the classroom although it is often obscured from consciousness in the effort to articulate valid, quantifiable outcomes.

The review was commissioned to establish • the views and educational aspirations of Indigenous parents and community members in relation to their children’s schooling, with particular reference to English literacy and numeracy • the key issues affecting educational outcomes for Indigenous children • supportable actions for educational outcome improvements. The single greatest challenge for the Northern Territory Department of Education is to improve educational outcomes for Indigenous students in partnership with Indigenous people and other agencies and jurisdictions. The review established that there is • a widespread desire amongst Indigenous people for improvements in the education of their children • unequivocal evidence of deteriorating outcomes from an already unacceptably low base, linked to a range of issues, led primarily by poor attendance which has become an educational crisis • substantial evidence of long-term systemic failure to address this situation • a number of complex long-standing issues that must be addressed which have significant resource implications for the Department of Education and the Northern Territory Government • evidence of failure to access significant available Commonwealth funds to address poor outcomes with intensive projects • a need for the Indigenous Education Council Northern Territory to be completely restructured • a need for management systems in the Department of Education to be organised to ensure that Indigenous education is a critical core business of the department • a strong imperative for an outcomes-based approach to Indigenous education at all levels • Northern Territory Government responsibility for turning around the poor educational outcomes jointly shared by many departments, in particular Territory Health Services, Territory Housing, Local Government, PAWA and the Office of Aboriginal Development, making a whole-of-government response all the more essential • a need to establish partnerships between Indigenous parents, communities, and peak bodies, the service providers and both the NT and Commonwealth Governments, to honestly acknowledge the gravity and causes of declining outcomes, its destructiveness to future Indigenous aspirations, and to assume the joint responsibility of immediately reversing the downward trend.

Indigenous learners in remote communities comprise a large proportion of the learners engaged in Vocational Education & Training (VET) in the Northern Territory. Given the high participation rates, course and unit level completion rates remain low. Understanding what constitutes good community engagement is essential to any consideration of VET delivery and assessment practice that seeks to meet the expectations of remote community members. This paper reports the findings of a case study of indigenous community engagement by Charles Darwin University (CDU) among indigenous learners in the community of Wugularr in south-eastern Arnhem Land. Whilst the majority of participants expressed satisfaction with the quality of their teaching and learning experiences, in particular the performance of teaching staff, they were disappointed with the university's approach to relationship building, the continuity and consistency of VET delivery and its associated student support. Community members expressed a desire for teaching staff to consistently return to the community and develop ongoing long term relationships which include active support and follow up of learners who did not attain module or course level completion. The study's findings point to the university’s need to consistently embed good community engagement practice in the negotiation, delivery and evaluation of VET in indigenous communities; and highlights the importance of developing meaningful longer term relationships with indigenous communities that facilitate the achievement of community negotiated outcomes based on mutual benefit to the community and university alike. This paper discusses the implications of these to regional universities including CDU that seek to serve remote indigenous communities.

The Stronger Families and Communities Strategy (the Strategy) 2000–2004 was an Australian Government initiative funded by the Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) to help build family and community capacity to deal with challenges and take advantage of opportunities. In 2002, a consortium led by CIRCLE (the Collaborative Institute for Research Consulting and Learning in Evaluation) at RMIT University was commissioned by FaCS to undertake a national evaluation of the Strategy. This report discusses what has been learned from the Strategy 2000–2004 about how to strengthen Indigenous families and communities. These lessons have implications for future interventions funded through the Strategy 2004–2009, and through other funding initiatives and programs. The report provides insights into critical factors that explain the success of some projects and some of the frustrations experienced by others. Evidence for this study has been drawn from multiple sources, including research and policy literature and the data gathered as part of the national evaluation of the Strategy 2000–2004. This has included: questionnaire responses from Indigenous projects; three in-depth qualitative case studies; site visits to nine other Indigenous projects; review of progress reports and final reports (where available) for these projects and a further 16 projects; and consultations with FaCS staff.