Remote Australia Online

Relatively small and remote destinations such as the Northern Territory rely heavily on public–private sector cooperation for a large range of marketing and planning activities. Destination organisations generally see it as part of their role to enhance collaborative partnerships related to such activities, but are concerned about the representativeness, inclusiveness and sometimes weak levels of participation in such ventures. Collaboration can be defined as ‘a process of joint decision making among key stakeholders of a problem domain about the future of that domain’. It means working together and may involve joint activities. This report had as its primary objectives: • To determine the factors that hinder and/or foster collaboration between tourism and/or non-tourism businesses • Identify the respondents’ perceptions of: - Costs - Benefits - Risks - Current barriers, and potential actions to encourage collaboration between tourism and/or non-tourism businesses • The information is then used to identify gaps, future opportunities and possible directions for collaboration in regional areas.

Research on Indigenous/ Aboriginal tourism (IAT) is highly heterogeneous and difficult to organise for the purpose of over-viewing and synthesising. In order to gain an overview of completed research, and be able to identify benefits, gaps and directions of IAT research in the Australian context, this research project had three main objectives: • to review IAT research - produced by Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre (STCRC) - undertaken by others in Australia - describe and critique IAT research - develop a matrix of elements that make up IAT • use this review to identify lessons learned for industry • identify gaps, future opportunities and possible directions for IAT research.

The fifth volume in the Applied Social Research Methods series is an extremely successful volume. In this 4th edition, Robert Yin has updated the chapters and case examples to reflect recent developments in the field. Case Study Research is a comprehensive presentation of the design and use of the case study method as a valid research tool."--BOOK JACKET. Contents 1. Introduction 2. Designing case studies 3. Preparing to collect case study evidence 4. Collecting case study evidence 5. Analysing case study evidence 6. Reporting case studies

This short report is drawn from the workshop outcomes report of an Indigenous knowledge forum, held at Alice Springs on 28–29 May 2003. The purpose of this report is to provide recommendations and advice on how Agency staff can better equip regional staff to work effectively with Indigenous knowledge in regional natural resource management. The report outlines: the regional delivery context; the issues involved in supporting Indigenous knowledge; a framework of principles for engaging with Indigenous knowledge; an Indigenous natural resource management (INRM) planning process; a partnership approach; protocols for working together; the overall way forward recommendations to improve Australian Government processes; and next steps agreed.

Tangentyere Aboriginal researchers and Charles Darwin University (CDU) evaluators, have been working together to evaluate Akeyulerre, an Aboriginal healing centre in Alice Springs. The healing centre offers traditional healing and cultural support for local Arrernte families in and around Alice Springs. The healing centre was established in the late 1990s. It was set up as a place for Arrernte families in Alice Springs and surrounding communities to come for a range of support services. The CDU research team is well experienced in conducting evaluations across the Northern Territory. The Tangentyere researchers were asked to work alongside the CDU team who have the knowledge in western academic ways. The Tangentyere researchers have their own style of conducting research among their people. They recognise the need to be patient, building the trust and the respect for each other before any work can be done. The Aboriginal researchers play a vital role when conducting research within an Aboriginal environment. Members of both teams recognised that to carry out the evaluation they must work closely with Arrernte language speakers who will be able to get the right and true information. The researchers found that by working together and understanding each other the respect was shown to each other and the outcome out of the respect for the two working parties was an evaluation report that effectively blends together the western knowledges of the University researchers and the cultural knowledges of the Aboriginal researchers. Many individuals and/or institutions contact Tangentyere in order to carry out research on Aboriginal people on the Town Camps. Naturally, the Council has developed a set of research principles to ensure that research is of benefit to the residents involved and is conducted in a culturally protected manner. The presentation is based on research that Tangentyere and CDU have been involved in and the principles behind the Tangentyere Council Research Program. These principles are included as “two knowledges, working together”. Presenters from the CDU and Tangentyere research and evaluation teams will offer insights they have learned from working together. Their learnings are discussed in terms of a) the time required for partnerships to develop; b) community ownership of research; c) what partnership means; d) the dilemma of living with uncertainty; e) trust and respect; and f) the importance of sharing tasks equitably.

The growth of a network of remote communities in Australia's Northern Territory followed the success of an Aboriginal land rights movement in the 1970s. In the course of the past two decades, there have been increasing reports of distress in these communities interpreted differently by anthropologists and opinion writers in the national press, some of the latter of a neo-liberal bent. This article examines critically the position of anthropologists and the relations between a politics of difference and equality as they bear on the position of remote Aboriginal Australians.

In the context of Australia's strategy to Close the Gap on Indigenous disadvantage in employment, this paper tells my personal story as an example of the challenges that Aboriginal people face in moving to new jobs and to face new responsibilities. In my case, I became employed as a researcher in the Empowerment Research Program of James Cook University (JCU) in Cairns and a facilitator in the related Aboriginal-developed Family Wellbeing Empowerment Program. As the first paper in a two-part series, this paper explores why change and the unknown had a large part to do with my reluctance to move to new jobs, and the rewards of facing my fears. The second paper will describe the opportunities and challenges associated with facilitating the Family Wellbeing program. Both papers are based on reflections written during the training and facilitation processes over the last couple of years. I used thematic analysis to code the reflections and identify themes. I reviewed the themes and created a mind map to see how the themes related to each other. This paper concludes that becoming personally empowered through meaningful employment is an ongoing process involving both personal courage and a supportive environment.

This paper uses longitudinal data from the Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (or HILDA) Survey to examine the extent to which the relatively high rates of transition from low-paid employment into unemployment are the result of disadvantageous personal characteristics or are instead a function of low-paid work itself. Dynamic random effects probit models of the likelihood of unemployment are estimated. After controlling for unobserved heterogeneity and initial conditions, we find that, relative to high-paid employment, low-paid employment is associated with a higher risk of unemployment, but this effect is only significant among women. We also find only weak evidence that low-wage employment is a conduit for repeat unemployment.

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to present a case for the importance of mentoring programs in addressing the disadvantage of minority groups in the workforce. Also, to report on a workplace mentoring program conducted for indigenous Australians at the University of Newcastle, Australia. Design/methodology/approach – Interviews with program participants. Findings – Indigenous Australians are marginalised in the Australian workforce. Governments have developed many special labour market programs for indigenous Australians, the majority of which are based on public sector employment. There is potential for more extensive private sector participation in developing workplace programs to support indigenous Australians. Workplace mentoring, especially through indigenous mentors, is important in assisting indigenous employees sustain employment and enhance workforce attachment. The case study demonstrated how culturally appropriate mentoring programs can be successful in attracting, training and placing indigenous Australians into employment. Research limitations/implications – Confined to a single case study organisation, but the findings are in keeping with North American research on mentoring indigenous workers. Practical implications – Mentoring has a strong role to play in assisting disadvantaged minorities improve labour market outcomes. Originality/value – There has been no previous research in the Australian context on mentoring indigenous workers.

This Topical Issue addresses the Australian Government’s draft Indigenous Economic Development Strategy (IEDS), with specific lessons learnt from working with Aboriginal people to further their economic development in remote areas. It notes the lack of coherence between the draft IEDS and the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, explores possible unintended 'perverse outcomes' based on the misapplication of the notion of 'incentives', and champions the significance of Indigenous community-based enterprises in land and sea management as an economic development option for remote areas.

Governments in Australia have deployed Aboriginal specific positions within government departments which focus on health, education and welfare services. This small-scale study uses a qualitative interpretive interview approach to explore the relative value of these targeted positions to service provision. The paper reveals that Aboriginal practitioners use a range of communication strategies that enable them to act as mediators and to traverse cultural distance between the bureaucracy and Aboriginal communities. The paper points out that Aboriginal practitioners experience unique types of professional pressures, which may not be evident in the wider public service. The paper concludes that the uses of particular communication strategies have the affect of creating distance and building solidarity between the practitioners and the communities they engage with. Although focused on Australia, the findings may have implications for other intercultural communication contexts that involve interaction between indigenous people and government bureaucracies.

Indigenous participation in employment has long been seen as an indicator of Indigenous economic participation in Australia. Researchers have linked participation in employment to improved health outcomes, increased education levels and greater self-esteem. There has been a dramatic increase in the number of Indigenous workforce policies and employment strategies as employers and industries attempt to employ more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Coupled with this has been a push to employ more Indigenous people in specific sectors to address the multiple layers of disadvantage experienced by Indigenous people, for example, the health sector. This paper draws on interview discussions with Aboriginal women in Rockhampton, Central Queensland, along with findings from the research of others to offer a greater understanding of the mixed benefits of increased Indigenous employment. What is demonstrated is that the nature of Indigenous employment is complex and not as simple as ‘just getting a job’.

This article is based on face-to-face and focus group interviews with 72 people who have experienced ongoing difficulties integrating into Canadian labour markets, and who had completed a labour market training programme. Participants were representative of at least one (and often several) categories that inhibited labour market integration: low socio-economic status, Aboriginal status, single parenthood, criminal justice history and being disabled. The major finding: respondents associated life skills rather than labour-market skills with success in overcoming personal barriers to securing and maintaining employment. Life skills involved developing life meaning and interpersonal skills related to personal cognition and behaviours. Valued cognitions identified by participants were gaining a new perspective on life and realising that the past impacts the present. Valued behaviours identified by participants included actions associated with understanding personal characteristics and motivations, and building positive social support and social capital. These insights provide theoretically rich considerations for labour market training programmes and could considerably influence labour market policies and practices, particularly since most training programmes and policies are geared toward human capital (i.e. labour-market skills) accumulation.

This paper draws on the lessons learned from an evaluation of a program designed to support Indigenous people into employment. The program (TrainingPlus), managed by the Desert Peoples Centre (DPC) in Alice Springs, uses vocational training offered by the Centre for Appropriate Technology (CAT) and the Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education (BIITE) as a vehicle for achieving employment outcomes. What makes this program different from a plethora of others trying to do the same is the intentional use of a case management approach where Indigenous cultural brokers support learners through a transition in their identity from being ‘unemployable’ through to becoming ‘employable’. While the evaluation highlighted a number successes associated with the TrainingPlus approach, it also highlighted a number of tensions that arise for DPC as it attempts to straddle the space between mainstream and Indigenous cultural contexts. The paper problematises the issue of training for employment outcomes in Indigenous contexts. The evaluation found that VET as a tool designed for employment outcomes (at least in this context) is not as effective as might be expected. That said, the findings suggest that the training space is a useful place for creating meaning and for engaging at the interface between the mainstream and Indigenous culture. Another finding from the evaluation reinforces the need for cross-cultural skills for trainers that go beyond basic cultural awareness programs. Ultimately, the evaluation concludes that the integrated case management process is effective compared to more conventional approaches to training in the employment services industry. However it is an approach that requires considerable resources to be sustainable. The policy and practice implications of these issues are discussed in the paper.

This research project was funded by Queensland Working Women‟s Service (QWWS) for Security4Women, which is an incorporated body that is funded by the Australian Government through the Office for Women (OfW), Department of Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaCSIA). Security4Women works to promote lifelong economic wellbeing for women and is now called economic Security4Women (eS4W). QWWS is an organisation providing information, referral and support to women who work in Queensland. Driving this eS4W project is a commitment to inform government and the actions and interventions of agencies, like QWWS, and on how to best serve Indigenous women in the workplace. Though the project focuses on Indigenous women, the authors wish to make clear that the issues raised affect many Indigenous people (including men). The current project builds upon our work in a recent report entitled: Indigenous Women and QWWS. Whilst that report was primarily concerned with the ways in which QWWS might improve it service to Indigenous women in Queensland, it also provided a glimpse of Indigenous women‟s employment experiences, which was the catalyst to the current project. The current work is designed to examine Indigenous women‟s experiences of work, with a focus on key issues in urban Queensland. Its main objective is to explore those issues that continue to impede Indigenous women‟s employment and promotion at work. This objective is seen to be of crucial importance to enhancing the economic security and wellbeing of Indigenous women and their families.

Recent years have seen a burgeoning interest in developing indicator frameworks for 'Indigenous wellbeing'. Implicit in each of the frameworks are particular conceptions of what constitutes the 'good life' for Indigenous peoples and what 'Indigenous development' should entail. In developing these frameworks, then, certain judgements must be made about whether statistical equality should be prioritised as a 'development' goal. This issue has generated long standing debate and in this context must be broached anew. In this paper we briefly examine the growing interest in Indigenous wellbeing and outline three prominent indicator frameworks: the Productivity Commission's indicators for 'Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage'; the 'capability indicators' developed by the Cape York Institute for Policy and Leadership; and the indicators of wellbeing developed by the United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues. The first prioritises statistical equality between Indigenous and non Indigenous Australians; the second adds a concern with 'capabilities'; and the last emphasises the importance of distinct cultural preferences. We offer an assessment of these approaches, drawing in part on Amartya Sen's work. We argue that in seeking to improve the wellbeing of Indigenous Australians, policy makers should not only make their own normative assumptions clear, but also be aware of the implications of their decisions for constituents with different worldviews.

This volume arises out of a panel on Indigenous participation in Australian ‘frontier’ economies at the annual conference of the Australian Anthropological Society, held jointly with the British and New Zealand anthropological associations in Auckland in December 2008. The panel arose in turn out of an Australian Research Council (ARC) Linkage Grant project on Indigenous participation in Australian colonial economies involving the National Museum of Australia as the partner organisation and the School of Archaeology and Anthropology at The Australian National University. The researchers engaged in this project (2007–10) were Ian Keen (The Australian National University), Christopher Lloyd (University of New England), Anthony Redmond (Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, The Australian National University), Michael Pickering (National Museum of Australia), John White (The Australian National University) and Fiona Skyring (consultant historian). These researchers were among the contributors to the panel and most are represented in this volume. The organisers of the panel invited other scholars to contribute papers on the general theme, several of whom have contributed to this volume. The resulting chapters bring new theoretical analyses and empirical data to bear on a continuing discussion about the variety of ways in which Indigenous people in Australia have participated in the colonial and post-colonial economy.

In 1952 long time political activist Bill Onus used compensation from a road accident to establish Aboriginal Enterprises, a tourist outlet in Belgrave, on the outskirts of Melbourne. Employing both Indigenous and non-Indigenous workers Aboriginal Enterprises manufactured artefacts and furnishings, imported bark paintings and didjeridus from Arnhem Land and sold a range of other small objects. At a time when assimilation policies expected Aborigines to adopt the ideals and values of white Australians, Aboriginal Enterprises offered a model for cultural maintenance that began to rebuild pride in Aboriginality, contributing toward a new urban Aboriginal presence in Melbourne. Yet despite its success, Aboriginal Enterprises is almost completely overlooked in the history of Aboriginal art in south-eastern Australia. With colonisation Aboriginal people in south-eastern Australia were incorporated within the uneven power relations of a settler society. From the outset they engaged in barter and trade, drawing from their own cosmologies, stories and histories and selectively incorporating from colonial genres. For Aboriginal people, participation in tourism through the production of artefacts and cultural performances was an expression of continuing attachment to their own culture often carried out in opposition to government policies of assimilation. However the narrowly ethnographic concerns of museums viewed the stylistic hybridity and commodification of these objects as evidence of acculturation and cultural decline. This scholarly response imposed an enforced silence on the history of Aboriginal art in the south-east such that, even today, a lacunae exists from the drawings of William Barak and Tommy McRae in the late nineteenth century to the emergence of a contemporary ‘urban’ Aboriginal artistic expression in the 1970s and 1980s – a period of silence that coincides precisely with the implementation of assimilation policies aimed at rendering Aborigines invisible. By considering the cultural production of Aboriginal Enterprises in the light of recent debates in cross cultural discourse and the wider socio-political context of colonisation, this paper intervenes in this apparent historical absence to argue for a dynamic and resilient presence in south-eastern Australia. My research shows that for ethnic minorities entangled in colonial power relationships, the visibility politics of tourism provides a critical insight into the representation and recognition of Aboriginal identities within the wider framework of the nation state. The ambiguities and tensions that arise around issues of authenticity and tradition as Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal alike engage in processes of collaboration, adaptation and appropriation suggest the saliency of this study to postcolonial debates on tourist art.

Introduction and Aims. To examine predictors of cannabis use at 5 year follow up in an Australian Aboriginal cohort. Design and Methods. A longitudinal study consisting of two waves of data collection 5 years apart was conducted. Of the 100 Aboriginal residents (aged 13–36 years) interviewed about cannabis use in 2001, 83 were re-interviewed in 2005–2006 from three remote communities in Arnhem Land, Northern Territory, Australia. Self-reported cannabis use was categorised at each time point (none; former use, quit≥3 months; lighter use, <6 cones, 2–3 times weekly; daily use,≥6 cones, daily) and summarised as any current use, heavy use, dependence or cessation. Other substance use, employment and involvement in school or training were also compiled. Results. Most respondents who reported cannabis use at baseline again reported use at follow up. A history of petrol sniffing predicted later heavy cannabis use (P < 0.05). Trends were evident for men to have persisting cannabis use, and for employment and/or engagement in school or training to be associated with cannabis cessation. Discussion and Conclusions. Ongoing heavy cannabis use is commonplace in this Aboriginal cohort and raises concerns for the physical, social and psychiatric burden on these already vulnerable communities. Prevention, treatment and intervention programs developed with communities are badly needed.

Drawing upon in-depth interviews, this article explores the cultural resources that settler Australians use to explain Aboriginal issues. It is argued that the ‘whiteness studies’ approach has only limited value in explaining contemporary settler/indigenous relations. Focusing upon race categories and race prejudice produces a partial explanation. Other important explanatory frameworks and resources include Australian nationalism, egalitarianism and political culture more generally.

A pathway for indigenous people to increase their economic independence is by developing entrepreneurial business engagements. As a strategy to reduce the significant differences between indigenous business aspirations and non-indigenous business participation the Australian Government policy of Aboriginal self-determination encourages the strengthening of partnerships between indigenous and non-indigenous business opportunities. In this paper is reported a partnership between the Yolngu of Arnhem Land and Forestry Tasmania, which is being undertaken in a remote region in the Northern Territory of Australia. This new venture, which is being conducted in an area where there are often insufficient jobs, has the potential to generate a number of mainstream career paths for indigenous people. And while the entrepreneurial project is presenting promising achievements for the Yolngu community investment in a range of managerial business competencies is critical for further development of indigenous self-determination and economic independence.

The Prime Minister’s Indigenous welfare reform is manifold. It has introduced Shared Responsibility Agreements and Regional Partnership Agreements for Indigenous communities, and restructured the Community Development Employment Projects scheme. It has abolished the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission and distributed its functions between mainstream government departments. Indigenous Australians are categorised as marginal, non-institutionalised and illegitimate political minorities. In effect, the government has muted the Indigenous voice from a perspective of blaming the victim, as opposed to viewing the issue within power and inequality in the distribution of resources. The push to treat unequal Indigenous Australians equally by mainstreaming government services is in direct contrast to the United States and Canadian experiences where the degree of self-government that Indigenous nations exercise determines the change in rates of disadvantage. Ideas of empowerment through tactical intervention and emancipatory vision substantiate the overseas experience. These ideas provide an insight into ways of fostering an understanding and acknowledgment of human authenticity. They present an alternative pattern of intercultural communication where Indigenous issues set the context of government policy making in an environment of recognition of Indigenous experiences.

Australian youth income support and educational policies have focused on increasing participation and retention in schools. The assumptions and rationales underpinning these policies assert a positive relationship between educational engagement, employment and social inclusion. This paper examines these assumptions and rationales and, drawing upon Australian and international research (particularly the UK) over the past decade, questions the efficacy of these policies in achieving their stated goals. Furthermore, the paper argues that the neo-liberal philosophical underpinnings of these policies, particularly the emphasis on responsibilisation, can undermine disadvantaged young people’s engagement with school and does little to create positive pathways to employment. Moreover, it is clear that disadvantaged young people are not assisted by these policies to make empowered social transitions.

In spite of a ‘digital divide’, Aboriginal groups in Australia, as internationally, are increasingly using information and communication technologies (ICTs) to maintain their cultures, communicate, archive knowledge, empower their communities, develop skills and generate income. Each community uses the technologies differently in accordance with their particular needs and the opportunities available. The use of ICTs in Aboriginal youth empowerment is illustrated through a case study of an initiative undertaken by the Walkatjurra Cultural Centre in Leonora, remote Western Australia. A participatory process was used to engage the Centre’s young people and they were given individual assistance to develop their ICT related capacity. The community conceives this youth empowerment to be part of a broader youth participation process that will contribute to the Centre’s overall objectives.

It is well established that Indigenous Australians are heavily over-represented among Australia’s most disadvantaged citizens. An important component of this disadvantage is the limited and often unsuccessful engagement of Indigenous people with the labour market. To better understand this reality, the present paper explores the forces which influence the labour market status of Indigenous people. For this purpose, multinomial logit regression analysis is used to model labour force status as a function of factors relating to geography, demographic characteristics, education, health, culture, crime and housing issues. The analysis is conducted utilising the 2002 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS). Particular attention is given to geographic issues, revealing significant variations between the determinants of labour force status in non-remote and remote areas. The results also demonstrate the relevance of a wide range of factors in determining labour force status among Indigenous people, highlighting the complex array of issues which should be considered in attempts to increase employment.