Remote Australia Online

The pervasive and dynamic influence of economic restructuring on political and social relations is highlighted in many aspects of Australian daily life. The effect of economic restructuring on already marginalised and disempowered groups in society is often overlooked Development of iron ore mines and associated new towns, railways and ports transformed the regional economy of Western Australia's Pilbara region in the 1960s and 1970s. For Aborigines in Roebourne, this restructuring represented a new phase in their relations with ‘White Australia’. Interacting historical legacies, corporate strategies, government policies and economic processes further marginalised the region's Aboriginal population and linked the region to the global economy in ways which created significant barriers to the development of Aboriginal self-management strategies. This paper reviews this period with particular emphasis on the social impact of the iron ore ‘boom’ on local Aboriginal people. In the current climate of renewed economic and political crisis in Western Australia, this review provides a timely reminder that such processes occur in a broader context than is often recognised in regional planning processes.

“This paper adopts a socioeconomic and policy systems approach to housing tenure patterns. It argues that the housing tenure system in more densely settled Australia, dominated by home ownership, does not fully penetrate to remote areas for either Indigenous or other households. It uses data from the 2001 Census organised by remoteness geography to demonstrate this lack of penetration, and attempts to describe the housing tenure system in remote Australia in its own terms. The paper begins and ends by specifically looking at ideas about promoting home ownership in remote Aboriginal communities. It argues that this is a largely unrealistic policy goal, given the underlying income and employment status of Indigenous people in these communities. The paper also argues that there are better measures of Indigenous housing disadvantage in Australia than low home ownership rates and it identifies two: private rental rates in settled areas and household size in remote areas.

This paper describes and critically examines five resource development agreements signed between mining companies and Aboriginal communities between 1992 and 1994 in the Northern Territory and north Queensland. These include the Mt Todd Agreement, the McArthur River Agreement, the Cape Flattery-Hope Vale Agreement, the Mapoon-Skardon River Agreement and the Placer Pacific-Kalkadoon Tribal Council Agreement. It also discusses the general approach adopted by the Northern Land Council in the Northern Territory to negotiating exploration licence agreements under the Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976. The paper updates a somewhat dated literature that examines a series of mineral development agreements negotiated between Aboriginal interests and mining companies in the late 1970s and early 1980s. It also analyses the broader context within which the five recent agreements examined were negotiated and assesses the purposes and contents of the agreements themselves. In conclusion, the author comments on the broader political significance of some general trends that emerge from the cases considered and suggests criteria for evaluating these agreements.

“There is a growing body of evidence on the effectiveness of modern continuous quality improvement (CQI) approaches in a variety of industries. The development of CQI theory has been paralleled by an increasing recognition of the value of ecological approaches to health promotion and community interventions. In this paper we propose a long term ecological and quality improvement approach to maximise the impact of housing programs on Indigenous health, and discuss how some current key initiatives could be developed to support such an approach. State and Commonwealth data systems on Indigenous housing are patchy and inconsistent. From an ecological perspective, there are three important gaps in information, which include a lack of indicators relating to a) hygiene promotion; b) workforce development; and c) information systems development. Factors that will be important in improving health through an ecological approach to housing related interventions can be described in three categories: infrastructure factors; behavioural factors; and factors in the policy environment. Efforts to improve health through housing interventions should adequately target all three areas of influence concurrently. A CQI approach could provide a way for community and other organisations to be effectively engaged in housing initiatives.”

In July 2006, Paul Omodei, commissioned the Taskforce to inquire into the extent, impact and causes of the decline in housing affordability in Western Australia and to recommend policies to address the decline. The Taskforce released its Preliminary or Interim Report in January 2007. The Interim Report assembled the available evidence to diagnose the extent and causes of the problem. The general conclusion of the Interim Report was that the State faces a serious and growing crisis in housing affordability in the home purchase and rental markets, and that this is imposing huge burdens on WA’s economy and its social fabric. The Report found that although unexpectedly large increases in demand combined with labour and material shortages contributed to the decline in housing affordability, the main cause was government failure of a systemic nature and on a pervasive scale.

This project identifies the barriers to private sector financing of affordable housing and specifies the options for institutional investment in affordable housing - each requires a level of government subsidy to make it feasible. This project deals with the challenge of achieving greater private sector involvement in the financing of affordable housing in Australia (as occurs in a number of other OECD countries). The project will critically summarise and analyse past attempts to achieve this goal with an eye to substantially advancing the enterprise. Particularly important is the question of involving large institutional investors in the rental market, given the build-up of very large volumes of savings in the superannuation funds in particular. This project aimed to answer the following questions; - What are the options for private sector finance of affordable housing? - What are the main barriers and inducements currently facing key players who are or who could be involved in affordable housing provision? - What policy interventions would be necessary to reduce current barriers/improve current inducements in order to increase the likelihood of greater private sector involvement? - What are the main implications for Government housing assistance and asset management of greater private involvement in housing provision, if the barriers identified in 3) are overcome? The analysis would model the impacts on assistance levels (in their current form) of alternative scenarios concerning the level of future private sector involvement in financing affordable housing. Attention would also be directed towards improved asset strategies for managing the scale and application of housing assistance over time. In the case of institutional investors and the SHAs, what model or models can be developed to the point of initiation which could originate a new investment class?

The contribution of leisure to individual health and well-being is well documented. It is also clear that patterns of leisure activity are differentiated by gender and regional differences, as well as those of age, class and ethnicity. This paper explores the leisure and well-being of mid aged rural women in a small Australian country town in the late 1990s, focusing on issues which have been identified in the Canadian literature as being significant for women in isolated areas. These issues, which constrain the choices women make about their lives, include poor job opportunities, a lack of public transport and other facilities, family transience, community designs that isolate women in their homes, and the politics of being ‘different’ in a small community. Commonalities in the lives of rural women in North America, New Zealand and Australia indicate that these issues may more broadly characterise the lives of women in isolated towns in western post-industrial societies. Data are drawn from focus group interviews, augmented with observation, and the study is contextualized in findings from the Women's Health Australia longitudinal study (WHA).

The National Indigenous Housing Guide is a resource to assist in the design, construction and maintenance of housing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, with a particular focus on providing and maintaining the health hardware1 that supports a safe and healthy living environment.

The Australian Government, in partnership with the States and Territories, has facilitated the establishment of a number of regional natural resource management bodies across the country. These bodies are responsible for the strategic implementation of the extension to the Natural Heritage Trust at the regional scale. While the first phase of the Natural Heritage Trust was very successful in raising awareness and understanding of natural resource management issues within the broader community, Indigenous community participation in Trust processes, and access to Trust resources, was relatively poor. The redress this situation, the Australian Government has initiated a number of activities intended to provide the necessary information, assistance and support to enhance Indigenous access to and participation in the regional delivery of NRM as appropriate to the Natural Heritage Trust and the National Action Plan for Salinity and Water Quality. A key component of this initiative is the compilation of cases studies, or stories, of Indigenous engagement in land management processes relevant to a range of regions across the country. By documenting and identifying effective processes and achievements of engaging Indigenous groups, the case studies are intended to assist those regional bodies seeking to improve contact and communication with the regional Indigenous community, and to build Indigenous understanding of the opportunities available through effective participation in the Australian Government’s natural resource management programs and processes. This report presents six case studies in Indigenous engagement in regional natural resource management (NRM), planning and implementation in Victoria, New South Wales, Queensland and Tasmania. Case studies from Northern Territory, South Australia and Western Australia are the focus of a complementary project undertaken by other consultants.

“Population estimates are rarely constructed for ecological regions. The recent establishment of a Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) generates a need for such estimates. This paper obliges by presenting Indigenous and total population projections for the Australian desert to 2016. The desert is found to be a region of relatively low population growth in national terms, contrary to the experience of many other parts of non-metropolitan Australia where population decline is prevalent. Also noted is the markedly different growth observed for the Indigenous and non-Indigenous components of the desert population, with the former projected to increase much more rapidly over time. It is likely that virtually all of the increase in the desert population over the next 15 years will arise from natural increase among Indigenous peoples. As a consequence, the Indigenous share of the regional population is projected to rise from 20 per cent in 2001 to 24 per cent by 2016, with attendant consequences for social and economic policy.”

Geographically mobile populations are notoriously difficult to survey, especially in a cross–cultural context. In broad terms, it is difficult to ensure that respondents are representative of the underlying population, can be relocated, and that data obtained are relevant to them. At a practical level, the problem can be as basic as not having any well–formed notion of what defines a household. Consequently, the resulting analysis of households is at best imprecise and, at worst, conceptually confused. This article documents the lessons for the design and conduct of longitudinal data collection from three recent surveys of an exceptionally mobile population, Indigenous Australians. There appears to be a trade–off between cultural relevance, data quality, response rates and survey costs. The use of Indigenous interviewers does not, in itself, guarantee that response rates will be acceptable.

Human occupation of the Australian continent is estimated between 30 000 and 80 000 years. It is believed that Australia's Indigenous people journeyed over the Pilbara craton from Indonesia when seas were low. The last ice-age occurred between 14 000 and 25 000 years ago, archaeological evidence suggests that the Pilbara coastline acted as a refuge during this period. Post glacier, Aboriginal people began to move inland. It is believed between 2000 and 4000 years ago, most areas of the Pilbara region were either occupied or had been transversed

“This report contains detailed analyses underlying the summary data presented in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2006 report (AHMAC 2006). The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework (HPF) is designed to provide the basis to monitor the impact of the National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health (NSFATSH) and inform policy analyses, planning and program implementation. The HPF consists of 70 measures covering three Tiers - health status and outcomes, determinants of health and health systems performance.”

“This information paper describes data available in the 2005-06 Public housing (PH) and state owned and managed Indigenous housing (SOMIH) National Minimum Data Set (NMDS). This data was obtained from the annual CSHA PH and SOMIH data collections and is stored at the AIHW in the National Housing Assistance Data Repository. The publication sets out the technical specifications and major conventions for the handling of data. It also attempts to ensure users of the NMDS will interpret and analyse data items consistently with the National Housing Assistance Data Dictionary version 3.”

“In 2004-05, 1,294 non-government, community and local government organisations were funded nationally under the Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP). This report provides information on the wide range of substantial support services provided by these agencies to people experiencing homelessness or at imminent risk of becoming homeless. An analysis of one-off or casual assistance provided by SAAP agencies on a daily basis is also included. Additionally, the report presents information about the level of unmet demand for SAAP services, as agencies cannot always meet all of the requests from existing SAAP clients, or the requests from potential clients (that is, people who request services but are turned away). A major focus of this report is the level of unmet demand for accommodation, as the provision of accommodation is one of the core activities of SAAP.”

“The National Housing Assistance Data Dictionary is an important part of the national data infrastructure for housing assistance information development. It provides the basis for consistent national data and is designed to make data collection activities more efficient and effective. It has been compiled by the National Housing Data Development Committee under the broad direction of the National Housing Data Agreement Management Group. Version 3 of the Dictionary is more extensive than previous versions, with the incorporation of new data items related to Indigenous housing, financial reporting and community housing and the specification of performance indicators under the 2003 Commonwealth-State Housing Agreement National Performance Indicator Framework. In addition, it also includes updated data standards and data items from the previous two versions and details of the main housing assistance data collections.”

Indigenous Australians suffer from less adequate and affordable housing than any other group despite the efforts of national and state governments, especially in the past 30 years, to improve them. Among the reasons for their continued poor housing are their poverty, the different values placed on housing by the more collectively oriented Indigenous people and their lack of control over the housing that has been provided for them. The Community Housing Program, under which government funded housing is provided and managed by local Indigenous housing organisations, has had some success in resolving these problems. A promising solution to the problems of the housing organisations may be found in umbrella organisations that are beginning to develop which can ensure both rent collection and accountability to funding governments and community control over housing design and management.

The goal of this research is to provide a clearer understanding of the non-shelter impacts of housing, and in particular of the possible processes by which aspects of housing may impact on aspects of schooling. The intention is not to prove a causal relationship, rather to shed light on mechanisms. To that end the approach taken is qualitative, involving in-depth semi-structured interviews with a sample of public housing tenants and a smaller group of educators. This thesis begins with an examination of previous research around this topic. This review identifies past studies that highlight the possible negative effects of transience as a contributor to isolation; the role that neighbourhood may play in encouraging or discouraging the valuing of schooling; a possible link between crowding and punitive parenting practices; and the impact that high housing costs can have on stress levels and therefore health. This thesis details research that builds on this earlier body of work. Given findings from earlier studies (in particular the importance of neighbourhood effects identified in some United States' studies), a sampling framework was developed to ensure a reasonable number of households who had experienced a change in neighbourhood as well as housing conditions. As well, an interview schedule was developed to provide a framework to ensure that possible pathways between housing and schooling identified in earlier research would be explored in these interviews. Public tenants were chosen as the population group from which to draw the interview sample, as this group have undergone a significant housing change (when they moved into public housing), and their income levels increase the chances of them having lived in poor quality housing in the past. A small number of interviews with educators were also conducted. Schools were chosen randomly from outer suburbs where poor quality housing and transience were expected to impact on school populations. As well an inner-city school in a gentrifying suburb was also selected for interview. These interviews identified four main themes - transience, housing amenity, neighbourhood and cost. Transience may be a significant problem for children who are already struggling in the school system, especially those who are receiving school based remediation. For these children, moving house may interrupt important remediation work at school, and may result in children falling further and further behind their peers. Also, transience may contribute to family stress levels which may impact on health and happiness, thereby reducing motivation and levels of school attendance. Housing amenity can impact on health, as a result of injuries related to poorly maintained or designed housing, from stress associated with noise and broken sleep, and from insect born illnesses due to the absence of insect screens. Possibly the most significant housing amenity related health impact seems to be due to the link between asthma, and dust and mildew. Neighbourhood seems to have the potential to be a significant positive and negative force in people's lives. Supportive neighbours can make single parenting much less stressful, for example by helping with child-care, increasing the sense of safety, and reducing isolation. Hostile neighbours, on the other hand, can create levels of stress that may force adults and children indoors to avoid conflict. High housing costs can cause significant stress for families. For those who are already suffering from stress this additional pressure may contribute to stress related ill-health. As well, these families may not be able to afford to eat properly, and may not be able to afford to pay for extra-curricula activities such as school outings, dance classes etc. Poor diet may contribute to increased incidents of illness, and extra days missed from school. These insights suggest some changed approaches to the design and delivery of housing assistance in Australia, so as to maximise the non-shelter benefits of such interventions.

What is the probability that indigenous peoples will persist – as cultures – as a consequence of mining encounters? What steps or procedures must be put in place so that both indigenous peoples and other stakeholders become net beneficiaries? How do we guide operations toward desired outcomes (goals) before the encounter between indigenous peoples and the mining industry? Much of the remaining unexploited ores in sufficient concentration to be attractive for modern commercial exploitation lie under indigenous lands. As pressure builds to gain access to their lands, a major sustainability and land access problem is unfolding. Mining can empower indigenous peoples, but previous encounters have stripped them of their sovereignty, their traditional wealth, and posed multiple impoverishment risks. The public has indicted the industry for tragic and unnecessary forced relocations, violations of human rights, under-compensation for damages, and lack of benefit sharing. Sustainable mining is not possible if indigenous cultures – that are the prototypes of persistent peoples on this planet - are rendered unsustainable. This report addresses the most critical sustainability in an encounter between indigenous peoples and the industry, as well as governments, financiers and non-governmental organizations. An encounter has four dimensions. The first involves perceptions and objectives - delineating who is or is not indigenous, presuppositions about one another, and desired outcomes. The second dimension involves the stakeholders’ capacities to sustain and/or resist negotiations. The third involves stakeholder tactics and/or strategies for dealing with one another. The fourth dimension consists of socio-economic and environmental risks and benefits - possible “on the ground” changes that may occur to the livelihoods and culture of project-affected peoples. A consideration of these four dimensions assists in understanding the negotiations, or lack thereof, between indigenous peoples and other stakeholders.

This work addresses questions which are of central interest to scholars of public policy in all liberal democracies. How can we correctly identify the outcomes of public policies? How can we and how should we judge those effects, especially where policies emerge from intense political conflict between groups with divergent views of what represents a desirable outcome? How can we explain the policy outcomes we observe? Where outcomes are not regarded favourably, how can we achieve different and more positive results? The book develops an alternative way of dealing with these questions at a conceptual level, making it of interest to the wide community of scholars and policy analysts. It does so in a context which renders the book of particular interest to scholars, policy-makers and activists concerned with the inter-relationship between indigenous peoples and resource development. It examines the effects of Australia's policies on uranium mining on Aboriginal people, analyzing the policy rhetoric underlying government actions, tracing through careful research the actual outcomes resulting from uranium policy on Aboriginal communities in the Alligator Rivers Region and explaining and interpreting policy outcomes. 1. Program and Policy Evaluation: Fundamental Problems and Issues 2. Policy Implementation 3. Uranium Policy in Australia, 1969-1992 4. Policy Implementation and Policy Outcomes: Employment and Training Programs 5. Explaining and Evaluating Policy Outcomes: Employment and Training 6. Aboriginal Mining Payments: Ranger Uranium 7. Aboriginal Mining Payments: Nabarlek 8. Mining Payments: Explaining Policy Outcomes 9. Evaluating Policy Outcomes: Mining Payments 10. Conclusion.

This report is a summary of the work which has been undertaken in the period 2005 to 2010 in implementing the recommendations of Finding a Place, the report of the Inquiry into the Existence of Discriminatory Practices in Relation to the Provision of Public Housing and Related Services to Aboriginal People in Western Australia. In all there were 165 recommendations in Finding a Place and for the purpose of this report they have been grouped into five areas of reform: Staffing Issues including promoting a culture of awareness and understanding of issues faced by Aboriginal people, staffing roles and the role of Aboriginal Staff; Communication and consultation with Aboriginal people; Review of Departmental Policies and Practices to reasonably account for the specific needs and circumstances of Aboriginal people; The provision of good standard housing and maintenance services to Aboriginal tenants and fair tenancy management procedures; and The need for a fair and equitable appeals mechanism. Within each of these sections there is an overview of the issues raised in Finding a Place, a summary of the changes which have occurred in policy and practices and also where necessary identification of the issues which still need to be addressed. In some instances further recommendations have been made where the Implementation and Monitoring Committee considers there is a need for reform beyond what was identified in Finding A Place. The Committee has also identified “monitoring points” in areas of the Department’s activities where ongoing information needs to be provided to the new regime of six monthly forums which have been established. A full listing of the recommendations arising from this report can be found in Appendix 1.

This paper traces the development of the first private company set up by Aboriginal people in Western Australia. This company, Northern Development and Mining (Nodom), was formed in the late 1940s to enable Aboriginal members of the company to develop an economic base from mining and pastoralism in the Pilbara region in north-western Australia. The methods by which this company operated and the impetus behind its formation, which stemmed from a pastoral strike and associated social movement, are instructive today. Nevertheless, this paper does not attempt to provide a comprehensive overview of this early movement and the associated companies of Pindan and Nomad. Rather, it aims to draw out and interrogate structural elements of these early organisations that can shed light on management issues of contemporary Indigenous organisations set up to harness economic and social development from major mines in the Pilbara region. As such, anthropological field research was undertaken to inform this contemporary project. Hence, the selective historical mapping within this paper focuses on the structure of leadership and the associated issues surrounding access to benefits within these early organisations. Questions are raised that will assist in the analyses and formulation of effective governance structures in this same region today. Researching the history of settlement and early development is an essential prologue to contextualising current Indigenous responses to mining and associated development.

historical perspective

Aboriginal Town Camping, Institutional Practices and Local Politics

Indigenous people in Western Australia have traditionally been excluded from State decision-making processes and bureaucratic structures that impact on their lives. Sustainability, as an emerging paradigm, is primarily concerned with reconciling the value and ethical conflicts between and within stakeholder groups, including government and the community. Facilitating inclusion and participation of all stakeholders is thus a necessary pillar of sustainability. The differences that exist, and arise primarily through cultural mismatch, between mainstream Western bureaucracy and Indigenous communities provide an appropriate basis in which to examine the necessary reconciliation of values required for sustainability. This paper provides reflections on a case study of Indigenous access to mainstream social housing (i.e. public and community housing) in Geraldton, Western Australia. It concludes with the necessary transformation of the research agenda, of policy and the public service from what could be described as a passive director of programs and laws to a ‘whole-of-government’ facilitator of community processes and outcomes. Participatory methodologies are recommended within Western Australian Government agencies to allow them to build their capacity for participatory processes that involve the restructuring of power relations and the ability to cross culture required for dialogue and partnership with Indigenous communities.