Remote Australia Online

The reluctance of some communities to participate in research and researchers' lack of penetration into the community are major stumbling blocks to successful community-based approaches. The authors'purpose is to determine how a photovoice project in a lower income, African American, urban community was able to generate a social process that resulted in active grassroots participation in a community-campus partnership. Through this partnership initiative, the authors asked neighborhood residents to take photographs of things in the community of which they were proud and the things they wanted to change, and to tell the story of why these were important. The authors used strategies from visual anthropology to analyze the 54 photographs, stories, and dialogue produced. Their analysis identified three distinct levels of cognitive-emotional interpretations that moved participants out of helplessness toward authentic engagement and participation. The authors discuss implications and lessons learned for community-based participatory research.

Objective: To explore the use of photovoice as a research methodology to identify and explore community health and disability priorities. Methods: Published studies (n 31) that applied photovoice as a research methodology to promote and enhance individual and community change were identified and reviewed. Results: Findings are explored and organized by community concerns and priorities; participant recruitment, training, and camera instruction; identification of photo assignment; photo assignment discussion; data analysis; outcomes; and evaluation of program and policy changes. Conclusions: Despite the limitations of the studies and/or how they are reported, findings from this review support further application of photovoice to facilitate community change.

Indigenous Australians are often keen to use digital technologies in their struggle to develop sustainable livelihoods on their own lands. This paper tells of gradually coming to recognize how an Aboriginal Australian elder struggled against the grain of digital technologies designed to represent, in using them in Aboriginal Australian knowledge practices where knowledge is always actively performative rather than represenational. The performance of Aboriginal knowledge must express the remaking of an ancestral reality. At the same time, this man exploited possibilities the technologies offered for representation in achieving political ends in dealing with representatives of mainstream Australia.

This paper reviews cross-national research and policy debates about pathways between education and work, and draws on this review to reflect on the utility of the pathways concept itself. It identifies three main uses of the concept: to analyse the relative size and role of general education, school-based vocational education and apprenticeship, respectively, in an effective transition system; to examine the relationships and interconnections between pathways; and to consider how pathways can reflect the perspectives and priorities of individual young people and enable them to manage and control their own itineraries. Pathways can be useful as an organizing concept linking policy and research, provided that the metaphor is used with precision and its unintended meanings are avoided.

Youth educational transitions have transformed since the 1970s, in response to dramatic changes in the labour market and associated policy shifts in relation to post-compulsory education. Assumptions in current youth and education policy of linearity and choice in educational transition, however, do not match the practice of this transformation. This article challenges both these policy assumptions by drawing on the experiences of students at two Senior Colleges in the state of New South Wales. Findings suggest that non-linear transitions may be beneficial and represent successful attainment of adult status. Furthermore, individual choice was found to be restricted by external factors, including actions by adults, schools and systems. The presentation of research results in this article aims to contribute to a reconceptualisation of educational transition, in order for policy to better match transition experiences in contemporary society.

Setting Up Sociological Research

Like most of the jurisdictions highlighted in this edition, the Northern Territory of Australia has a large Indigenous population who live in small communities isolated from major service centres and urban areas. A digital divide has long existed for residents there but with the rollout of the Internet enabled “Next G” mobile phone network from 2006, along with other technology infrastructure upgrades, residents are going through a rapid ‘catch up’ in personal technology ownership and use. The new network allows for both reliable communications with the outside world as well as broadband access to the Internet. Studies elsewhere highlight potential for these gateways into the global world to bring about changed aspirations and behaviours in relation to life choices for education, employment and where to live, particularly amongst young people. In this study we explore the early outcomes in relation to these themes from the uptake and use of information communication technologies by residents of three remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory of Australia. The results suggest that technology, particularly the mobile phone, is already changing people’s lives, bringing with it opportunities and possibly negative consequences. The research demonstrates the value of observing and commentating on the process of technology adoption as a lens for re-considering how we might perceive Indigenous disadvantage and its turnaround.

In Indigenous policy circles there is an increasingly desperate desire to lift the educational and employment outcomes of remote Indigenous students, relative to their non-Indigenous peers in the rest of Australia. A lack of engagement with education and a scarcity of jobs underpin this policy anxiety. This paper queries some current policy approaches to these issues and seeks to provide a practical and grounded perspective to education programs in remote Indigenous Australia. We question and challenge the weight current policy agendas are ascribing to literacy and numeracy attainment through direct and classroom based instruction. Alternatively, we seek to reinvigorate the notion that quality education can comprise other modes of learning and include community based educational approaches. As an example we outline the importance of Indigenous land and sea management (ILSM) as a development and employment activity for Indigenous people living in remote regions of Australia, and show how remote education programs are connecting to ILSM to provide local ‘Learning through Country’ solutions. From research conducted in a diversity of remote Aboriginal education and employment contexts, we find that there is a commonality of issues confronting attempts to link education with work and development activity. We finish by giving voice to some of these issues and offer insights relevant for educators and policy makers.

Although Australian Government officially rejected a paternal assimilation strategy as public policy in the late 1960s, its policy increasingly encourages Indigenous people to adopt ‘mainstream’ values and objectives. This paper examines contemporary Australian policy directions for their desire to promote conformity. By exploring recent policy responses to Indigenous affairs it considers the resistance that ideologically-imposed objectives foment in subject populations. The paper highlights the weakness of coercive approaches to public policy. The discussion concludes that imposed problem definitions and solutions will not satisfy the needs that liberal traditions uphold as the social agenda of western democratic Government. More importantly, they fail to address the needs and aspirations of Australia’s Indigenous people in any meaningful way.

Patterns of pathways between and within vocational education and training (VET) and higher education are examined in this study. It compares the notion of straightforward pathways with what is actually happening. The researchers interviewed 49 students in South Australia who had participated in VET and/or higher education and who had been through more than one transition between VET and higher education. The study concludes that pathways, while not necessarily seamless, and (as the title indicates) are often not straightforward, do work for the students interviewed.

As people with disabilities enter in greater numbers into competitive employment, it has become clear that they can be excellent employees, an asset to their employers, if they work in jobs matched to their skills, abilities and interests. Many employers of disabled persons are testifying to this all round the world. Other employers are willing to recruit disabled workers, but need support in this, as they may be unsure of what jobs to offer. Job and work analysis can be useful in identifying suitable jobs within the enterprise, and adjustments and accommodations which may need to be carried out, and in making it easier to match the skills and abilities of the disabled job seeker with the requirements of the job.

Purpose. Community-based rehabilitation (CBR) developed in response to delivery of rehabilitation services to people with disability in developing countries, and appears appropriate to address rehabilitation needs of rural and remote populations, including Australian Aboriginal People with acquired brain injury (ABI). This article will describe participatory action research (PAR) as a vehicle for exploring and translating the CBR model within a mainstream brain injury rehabilitation service in Queensland, Australia. Method. PAR was conducted with two self-selected remote Aboriginal communities in Far North Queensland. Key components to this project were the employment of a local Aboriginal worker, facilitating community engagement and consultation. PAR elements of planning, action and review were conducted through individual and group meetings and activities within the communities across a 3-year period. Results. The project has facilitated expansion and change within the current brain injury rehabilitation service model in line with CBR philosophical foundations, including community development and partnership as a desirable way of engaging with key stakeholders. Conclusions. The focus on community consultation through PAR and the development of community partnerships has increased the cultural competency of the rehabilitation service, the capacity of participating communities and of the sector to respond in ways that are valued and owned by Aboriginal People with brain injury, their families and communities.

Objectives - Although employment is associated with health benefits over unemployment, the psychosocial characteristics of work also influence health. We used longitudinal data to investigate whether the benefits of having a job depend on its psychosocial quality (levels of control, demands and complexity, job insecurity, and unfair pay), and whether poor quality jobs are associated with better mental health than unemployment. Method - Analysis of seven waves of data from 7,155 respondents of working age (44,019 observations) from a national household panel survey. Longitudinal regression models evaluated the concurrent and prospective association between employment circumstances (unemployment and employment in jobs varying in psychosocial job quality) and mental health, assessed by the MHI-5. Results - Overall, unemployed respondents had poorer mental health than those who were employed. However the mental health of those who were unemployed was comparable or superior to those in jobs of the poorest psychosocial quality. This pattern was evident in prospective models: those in the poorest quality jobs showed greater decline in mental health than those who were unemployed (B = 3.03, p<0.05). The health benefits of becoming employed were dependent on the quality of the job. Moving from unemployment into a high quality job led to improved mental health (mean change score of +3.3), however the transition from unemployment to a poor quality job was more detrimental to mental health than remaining unemployed (-5.6 vs -1.0). Conclusions - Work of poor psychosocial quality does not bestow the same mental health benefits as employment in jobs with high psychosocial quality.

In indigenous societies throughout the world ‘business’ and economic activities are embedded in cultural and social aspects, creating unique styles of entrepreneurship, which are often community-orientated, and with diverse livelihood outcomes. In the Pacific Island country of Samoa, the Samoan way of life and culture (fa’aSamoa) is intricately interwoven with rural entrepreneurial activity. This paper explores the relationships between micro-enterprises and fa’aSamoa in rural communities of Samoa, and questions whether an ‘indigenous’ style of entrepreneurship enhances the success and sustainability of micro-enterprises. The qualitative research investigated two separate clusters of micro-entrepreneurs. In each of the case studies fa’aSamoa was interwoven with, and strongly influenced, the livelihood outcomes that the micro-entrepreneurs sought, the characteristics of the micro-enterprise, the risks and vulnerability the micro-entrepreneurs faced, the way in which the micro-entrepreneurs in each of the clusters worked together, and the success and sustainability of the micro-enterprises. The research demonstrated that where fa’aSamoa blended successfully with the micro-entrepreneurial activity, an ‘indigenous’ form of enterprise had developed, and the success and sustainability of the micro-enterprise was enhanced. On the other hand, the research showed that tensions between fa’aSamoa and introduced business systems of the micro-enterprise could jeopardize micro-enterprise success and sustainability.

Indigenous Entrepreneurship Research: Themes and Variations

In this article we discuss some of our findings from two research projects that explore opportunities for Indigenous enterprise development in remote locations in Northern and Central Australia. Based on a series of focus groups and in-depth interviews with Indigenous community leaders, Traditional Owners, government officials, Land Council officials and other stakeholders, we discuss barriers to economic development faced by Indigenous communities in remote regions. We argue that many of these barriers are the material effects of discursive practices of ‘whiteness’ in the political economy. We discuss the relationships between institutions and Indigenous communities that constitute the Indigenous political economy and argue that these relationships are informed by discursive practices of whiteness and colonial-capitalist relations of power. We conclude by discussing the implications of our findings for management learning and public policy.

This paper provides a contribution to theorizing information and communication technology (ICT) and development by applying a livelihoods approach. This is found to provide the basis not only for an information-centered understanding of ICTs but also a means for broad and systematic analysis of poverty. The specific development issue analyzed is the role of ICT in microenterprise because microenterprise represents a viable route out of poverty through increased and more diversified income streams for poor households. A case study of Botswana is presented to demonstrate how the livelihoods framework can be applied. This suggests that ICT applications may only bring marginal direct benefits for poverty reduction. Viewed from the perspective of a livelihoods approach, greater benefits for the poor may be derived from ICTs if they are applied to strengthen a broader range of social and political assets and if they are able to assist in building more effective structures and processes that favor the poor. The livelihoods approach is therefore able to identify information and ICTs as only one part of a much broader development picture, and it avoids the overemphasis on technology that can beset some development informatics/ICT for development (ICT4D) research. Mainstream application of livelihoods ideas tends not to engage explicitly with either information or ICT issues but the framework developed in this paper shows how such engagement can occur. It identifies both an analytical role for information/ICTs that helps understand livelihoods of the poor, and a functional role that uses these assets within livelihood strategies.

Through a path regression analysis of data from the Vermont Micro Business Development Program, this study examines the relationships between client characteristics, program activities, interim outcomes, and impacts, to understand factors that lead to and mediate client success in microenterprise development programs and as entrepreneurs. Statistics demonstrated excellent model fit to the data. The interim outcome of improved personal well-being was related to more sources of capital, course completion, being partnered and younger. Starting a business was related to having more financial resources and mediated by improved well-being. Clients who experienced an increase in income had previous business experience and an increase in assets. Increased income was mediated by improved well-being and business start. Reduction in public assistance was related to course completion, more sources of capital, not being in poverty, and increased assets. Increased assets were related to more education, not being in poverty, and more sources of capital. Being older, more sources of capital, a larger family, and improved well-being led to job creation. Overall, access to more financial resources enabled clients to meet personal and business goals and work toward self-sufficiency. The results suggest implications for public policy regarding business training and loan financing.

Microenterprise development and microfinance have been widely adopted as anti-poverty strategies internationally. They are popular because they provide a meeting-point between neo-liberal advocates of private enterprise and the market as creators and distributors of resources, and grassroots practitioners’ focus on local agency and the on-the-ground problems of poverty. Thus, like the category ‘informal sector’ before it, microenterprise finance has become a “category for both the management of growth, and for the management of equity” (Peattie, 1987, p. 855). Now, migration and the significant economic transfers represented by migrant remittances are coming to the attention of international development policy-makers and researchers interested in poverty reduction (Adams and Page, 2003). This paper traces these international development trends, and reflects on both the potential and the dangers of current attention to migrant remittances as a source of anti-poverty development finance, given the blind spots and biases that have plagued earlier anti-poverty efforts.

A Different Inequality

Small Aboriginal enterprises (SAE) are reported one way in academic research but assessed and supported in a different way by government. Research (for example on Indigenous business and entrepreneurship) does not influence policy. Stepping stones - enterprise as a process beginning with strong family values/culture (enterprise building blocks) - whole process - interconnected building blocks - interdependency No enterprise began without person having long-term employment or leadership experience Common relationships - (connecting up) interconnectedness, heterogeneity and identity NAO viewed enterprises as ‘success or failure’ - SAE different understandings of success Decision making complexity - choices between work or culture No NAO mentioned the word power but the ASE participants did often Cultural power - Power hungry people-quote - “people who go go go, work and people who want their family first” - managing cultural power influences decision making Dominant families Issues around interpreting finance/time (all social enterprises operated with State and market failure) Social enterprises needed government support but this was kept silent by owners/manangers SAE distrust of government - land title major source of angst Balancing act - between different expectations Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal land tenure is often misunderstood - these misunderstandings stifled SAE and stopped growth (inalienable title) Family is central both positive, negative and inbetween- dealing with disagreements - resolving relationship conflict/tensions NAO use instruction to separate out parts of SAE into health, education, training, welfare etc. This grates against the inclusive and instinctive nature of SAE…”what is a family health issue becomes an enterprise issue; and what is a wage issue becomes a training and/or cultural issue” NAO approaches minimise whole of process thinking - missing element is compromise and reciprocation - a process that SAE already use in their daily lives through family Middle ground - third-world - an interchange place where NAO doesn’t dominante - the SAE middle ground is hinted at or conceptually by other authors (Hybrid economy and Foleys work on Indigenous entrepreneurship) but not formulised to practical or linked on measures. This is already in place (middle ground) however their voice is minimised NAO - dominated two world situation Working through difference by respecting the SAE tri-lectic - suggests that Western economic centred procedures, job readiness-plans, programme outcomes, performance measures and rigid macro level rules are not the most relevant way to support SAE There is no separation of Aboriginality from their enterprise practice (Lindsey 2005) No business without culture - Accretion - this research shows that economics and culture should not be separated but nee action to keep them whole “…our ways to define and measure SAE success may indeed require widening to include Aboriginal complexities, rather than Western economic parameters. Yet, how this can be achieved remains the purpose of future studies” It can be inferred that NAO’s approach is to minimise SAE complex ways (their middle ground and instinctive patterns), but aim to increase the volume of Western economic complexity based on measurement at performance regardless of any Cynefin that is present.

In the past decade, there has been an increasing push for economic independence for Aboriginal people (SCATSIA 2007). However, despite improvements in Aboriginal employment rates, the labour force participation of Aboriginal Australians remains low (CYI 2007, SCATSIA 2007, SCRGSP 2007). The unemployment and underemployment problem in remote and desert areas is even more severe because of the lack of job opportunities in these areas. Micro, small and medium enterprises, or MSMEs, offer pathways to promote participation in economic activities and income generation and increase economic self-sufficiency. However, there is a high failure rate of small and medium enterprises, especially in the first five years. The situation is more challenging in desert areas because of the very nature of desert environments. These environments affect the way businesses operate and influence the performance of businesses. Desert regions in Australia are characterised by high variability, small population, lack of services and poor infrastructure. Many desert areas are located in remote areas and are often far from market centres. The lack of critical mass poses a challenge for businesses operating in desert areas. Nonetheless, there are MSMEs that have overcome the barriers of distance and remoteness and are thriving in the desert, showing that it is possible for businesses to succeed in desert areas if the necessary ingredients are present. Some of the critical factors that lead to successful businesses in desert areas are described below.

This report is the result of research into how Indigenous and non-Indigenous owned micro, small and medium enterprises (MSMEs) perform. It takes as a starting point the potential role small business could play in improving Indigenous people’s participation in the economy, recognising that this has a direct impact on Indigenous people’s wellbeing. After reviewing the literature to reach an acceptable definition of small business, the report makes a case for a comparative study of Indigenous and non-Indigenous businesses. It presents an overview of enterprises participating in the study: their location, size, type of activity and status (Indigenous or non-Indigenous), number of years in operation and structure. It profiles business owner managers and managers, examining formal and informal business training, previous experience in business and membership of associations or networks. The report then moves into a study of motivations for starting up a business, revealing the priorities of Indigenous and non-Indigenous entrepreneurs and analysing how businesses were originally financed. The performance of businesses as revealed by reported profit and loss and by the perceptions of the entrepreneurs is discussed. This discussion reveals congruence in the views of Indigenous and non- Indigenous entrepreneurs over the critical factors influencing business success. The study concludes with an examination of support mechanisms utilised by entrepreneurs in establishing their business and outlines additional support business owners and managers believe would assist them in running their business. The report then examines business owners’ and managers’ goals and challenges for the future. Participants in the research are generally optimistic. With clearly defined and achievable business goals, many feel they are on track to meet those goals, despite a keen awareness of the constraints and challenges facing them. Many Indigenous business people identify more accurately targeted and accessible support as a key element in delivering a more sustainable and profitable Indigenous business sector. The report concludes with a summary of key findings in response to the research’s goal of understanding the critical success factors for business, a comparison of performance, an outline of business models in operation in the MSMEs studied and specific measures to support Indigenous business. The conclusion reinforces the need for support measures that will encourage sustainable growth.

The Australian Government is committed to ensuring that Indigenous Australians have the same opportunities as non-Indigenous Australians to share in the prosperity of our nation. Providing Indigenous Australians with the education, skills and support to find and keep meaningful work, and to build financial self-reliance, is a crucial part of the Australian Government’s long-term vision for closing the gap in Indigenous disadvantage. The aim of the Indigenous Economic Development Strategy 2011–2018 is to support increased personal and economic wellbeing of Indigenous Australians through greater participation in the economy. Economic independence and security are necessary foundations for good health, functional families and successful communities. Despite some positive developments, Indigenous Australians continue to face significant economic disadvantage. Indigenous Australians are still less likely to finish school, have a job, own a home or run a business than non-Indigenous Australians. The Australian Government is committed to overcoming this situation. The Indigenous Economic Development Strategy 2011–2018 sets out a long-term agenda for Indigenous economic participation that will guide government decision-making and program development through to 2018. The Strategy also details a program of specific initiatives and reforms that translate the Australian Government’s priorities into action. These actions will be assessed and updated every three years to ensure that the Strategy responds to changing circumstances and continues to drive real and sustainable progress. The Australian Government recognises that tangible and lasting improvements in the economic situation of Indigenous Australians cannot be achieved by government alone. This Strategy supports Indigenous Australians to take responsibility for their own economic wellbeing and to lead independent and productive working lives. The Strategy also emphasises the vital roles that partnerships play in this endeavour, across the private sector, the not-for-profit sector, all levels of government and the community

This essay proposes that a fundamental arbitrariness and absurdity at the heart of culture becomes visible in times of radical social change. As the Australian nation attempts to celebrate and revive Aboriginal Culture, and institutions call upon culture to remedy Aboriginal ills, Aboriginal traditions are also being held responsible for present distress and social disorder. However, some Aboriginal people are also developing new relationships with ‘their culture’, taking up opportunities to refashion or construct identities that are free of ancestral power, and encouraging new forms of subjective identification, social recognition, and self-assertion. Equivalent processes are explored in remote and suburban Australia at semiotic, political, and social levels.