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Remote Australia Online

Search here for evidence-based reports and resources about remote Australia
Remote Australia is a vast and complex area. To create opportunity, foster social inclusion and drive economic development in this region, you need a comprehensive knowledge base to drive change.
Remote Australia Online is exactly that. It’s an online platform that delivers authoritative research on topics that impact this region and its people, including education and its pathways, policy, business, social and cultural welfare, infrastructure, communication and natural resource management.

Remote Australia Online is for those who want to delve deeper into the complexities of remote Australia: its intricate and interconnected networks, the geographical, social, cultural and environmental influences, its opportunities, challenges, and to understand just what makes this unique region tick.
Journal Article
Participatory Development for Regional Sustainability in Western Australia: An Enabling State?
Author(s):
McGrath, N.; Armstrong, R.; Marinova, D.
Published:
2004
Publisher:
Institute for Sustainability and Technology Policy, Murdoch University
Sustainability requires integration of social, economic and ecological spheres and equitable participation in decision making. Regionally specific sustainability processes that account for diverse environments and populations, including indigenous are required. An international participatory paradigm provides a broad philosophy and includes an array of concepts and methods for local and regional communities in partnership with government to facilitate regional processes. To achieve this, a coordinated commitment to an enabling government structure, sustainability principles and in particular a participatory philosophy, by the State and local governments is necessary. This will require a transformation of the public service from a director of passive programs and laws to a facilitator of community projects and outcomes, towards an enabling state. Participatory methodologies have been utilised successfully around the globe to create an institutional framework that facilitates a process of dialogue, partnership, networking, learning and managing change. This paper examines the potential contribution of a participatory approach as the means to improve the participatory capacity of regional communities and both local and State Government towards the facilitation of regional sustainability processes.
Report
Indigenous mobility in remote and rural Australia
Author(s):
Memmott, P.; Long, S.; Thomson, L.
Published:
2006
Publisher:
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, Queensland Research Centre
Aboriginal households in Dajarra, Alpurrurulam and Mt Isa, while exceptionally mobile by Australian mainstream standards, are relatively stable in their customary attachment to their home community, local bush country, cultural region, and regional centre. There is a need to balance the local provision of housing and other services to outlying remote and rural communities and to rationalise service provision in regional centres. This research was conducted to understand, in depth, why Indigenous people move, where they move to, how frequently and for how long. The researchers examined the mobility of two Aboriginal settlements: Dajarra in Queensland and Alpurrurualam in Northern Territory. Both movers and the hosts of movers provided quantitative data on the frequency and durations of moves, and qualitative data on the reasons for such moves. The key findings of the research are: More than 40 per cent of visits are to stay with family members and more than a third of the households in each community were hosting visitors at any one point in time. Other important drivers of Aboriginal mobility are sporting events, hunting and collecting bush resources, shopping, and accessing social services. There are strong circular patterns of mobility within a well defined kinship region and to and from a key regional centre. The highest frequency of visits is to a regional centre, with an average of 39 trips per year per visitor. Visits are typically for 2-3 days, very few are longer than one month. These mobility patterns add complexity to Aboriginal housing policy and service delivery with regard to the need to: - Respond to both local and regional housing needs. - Design houses that cope with fluctuating numbers of residents. - Provide services that can respond to fluctuating demand that traverses jurisdictional boundaries.
Book Section
I still call Australia home: Indigenous Belonging and Place in a White Postcolonising society
Author(s):
Moreton-Robinson, A.
Published:
2003
Publisher:
Berg Publishing
Migrancy and dispossession indelibly mark configurations of belonging, home and place in the postcolonising nation-state. In the Australian context, the sense of belonging, home and place enjoyed by the non-Indigenous subject – coloniser/migrant- is based on the dispossession of the original owners of the land and the denial of our rights under international customary law. It is a sense of belonging derived from ownership as understood within the logic of capital; and it mobilises the legend of the pioneer, 'the battler', in its self-legitimisation. Against this stands the Indigenous sense of belonging, home and place in its incommensurable difference. It is these differences in conceptions and experiences of belonging, that I address in this chapter. I do this through a reconsideration of the discourses on British migrancy and a critique of the ways that migrancy is mobilised in postcolonial theory. My focus on white British migrancy is because of its role in colonisation and the dominant and privileged location of white people and institutions, which remain at the centre of Australian society. I then discuss some of the ways in which Indigenous people configure home, place and belonging and the social, political and legal impositions that define us, the original owners, as not belonging, but as homeless and out of place. I argue that Indigenous belonging challenges the assumption that Australia is postcolonial because our relation to land, what I call an ontological belonging, is omnipresent, and continues to unsettle non-Indigenous belonging based on illegal dispossession.
Book Section
Mining projects in remote Aboriginal Australia: sites for the articulation and contesting of economic and cultural futures
Author(s):
Trigger, D.
Published:
2005
Publisher:
University of Sydney Press
In recent years it has become clear that there is now, and has been for some time, a range of responses to large-scale mining projects across Aboriginal communities in Australia. The responses vary from opposition to mining due to concerns about maintaining the cultural and environmental integrity of traditional landscapes, through to enthusiasm for mining developments as the promised bearer of economic benefits for Indigenous communities (Ah Kit 1995; Altman 1995; Trigger 2000). It is also clear that there has been considerable change in policy and practice in the case of at least some of the major mining companies. If we take the example of Rio Tinto, a paper by senior staff Harvey and Gawler (2003) presents the company policy as seeking to engage with Indigenous people to ‘find mutually advantageous outcomes’ and, in particular, to seek ‘economic independence’ for such communities through direct employment, business development and training. The paper (pp.199-200) sets out the considerable success of Rio Tinto in generating employment for Aboriginal people at various of its mines; these are running at 5 percent of the direct workforce across the Group’s Australian operations, and aiming for a higher rate, to match the proportion of Indigenous people in the regions where the mines are located. Significantly, in terms of issues raised in this paper, the Rio Tinto authors stress that this engagement of the Aboriginal communities through paid work and associated training does not involve cultural assimilation; it in fact enables people to choose participation in the Australian industrial economy while retaining valued aspects of their cultures (p.207).
Report
Code of Practice for Housing and Infrastructure Development in Western Australian Indigenous Communities
Author(s):
Indigenous Environmental Health Coordinating Committee,
Published:
2006
Publisher:
Department of Indigenous Affairs
The aim of the code is to raise long-term basic living standards in discrete Indigenous Communities. The objective is to develop the most appropriate infrastructure for each community with this code of practice providing guidelines to achieve this objective. The IEHCC intends that the effective adoption and ongoing implementation of the revised Code of Practice for Housing and Infrastructure in Western Australian Indigenous Communities (COP) will raise basic living standards for the long-term in Discrete Indigenous Settlements (DISs) by undertaking ‘best practice’ delivery of infrastructure development projects in Western Australia. The objective therefore is to develop the most appropriate infrastructure for each DIS, with this COP providing guidelines toward that end. The result of ongoing implementation of the revised COP will be improvements in the design and delivery of housing and environmental health related infrastructure in Indigenous communities throughout WA. This is fundamental toward normalising housing and infrastructure service delivery to Indigenous communities. The capacity in each DIS to operate and maintain proposed housing and infrastructure remains an issue, which the COP highlights as a need that must be considered when planning a development project. These improvements are crucial to raising basic living standards and to achieve sustainable improvements in Indigenous environmental health outcomes. The need to improve Indigenous people’s environmental health is a national objective that has been adopted by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). In 2002 COAG agreed to the development of a key set of indicators of Indigenous disadvantage against which to measure outcomes and to report regularly on progress. ‘Effective environmental health systems’ is one of the seven key strategic areas for action under the COAG framework. The first national report was produced in 2003, with the State report released in 2005: Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage in Western Australia, Key Indicators 2005.
Thesis
Remote Indigenous Housing System: A Systems Social Assessment
Author(s):
Jardine-Orr, A. F.
Published:
2005
Publisher:
Murdoch University
Indigenous Australians make up a mere 2.4% of the population of whom around a quarter live in remote and very remote parts of Australia. The poor state of Indigenous housing in remote areas is generally acknowledged as one of Australia's most intractable housing problems. The thesis examines why the remote Indigenous housing system does not meet the housing needs of Indigenous people in remote areas and discusses an alternative system. The aim of the thesis is to understand why the remote Indigenous housing system is not meeting people's needs, despite policy statements that emphasise empowerment and partnerships. This understanding of the current remote Indigenous housing system involved placing it in historical, policy and international contexts and examining the current attempts to rationalise and streamline the system. The service-delivery concepts of supply-driven (externally prescribed) and demand-responsive (community determined) are applied to remote Indigenous housing. The characteristics of successful remote Indigenous housing, namely Indigenous control and self-determination, an enabling environment and a culturally responsive system, are developed and found to be characteristic of a demand-responsive system. The research hypothesises that the remote Indigenous housing system's supply-driven focus is largely responsible for the housing needs of Indigenous people in remote areas not being met. This was tested using the new methodology of a Systems Social Assessment which is developed by combining Social Assessment and Checkland's Soft Systems Methodology. This methodology illustrated that the current remote Indigenous housing system has a supply-driven focus where the housing 'solutions' are controlled and largely provided from an external source, in this case the Commonwealth and State governments and their agents. The thesis discusses an alternative demand-responsive focus where remote communities have more control over the nature and delivery of their housing that may prove more successful.
Report
Rural Housing, Regional Development and Policy Integration: An Evaluation of Alternative Policy Responses to Regional Disadvantage
Author(s):
Hillier, J.; Fisher, C.; Tonts, M.
Published:
2002
Publisher:
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute.
Within the context of 'responding to regional disadvantage', this project sought to interrogate the potential for the incorporation of a neglected housing dimension into the increasingly integrated approach currently being adopted in regional policy development. The study focused on two non-metropolitan regions which were experiencing the negative effects of economic restructuring and where the provision of appropriate and affordable housing is a vital component of the responses by government and industry to local socioeconomic change. In the Eastern Wheatbelt of Western Australia mechanization and deregulation, both in broad acre farming and in government and commercial service delivery, are resulting in depopulation and service withdrawal. These trends inevitably impact negatively upon the local housing market to the detriment of current residents and the deterrence of any in migrants. Inter alia, they also contribute to a significant ageing of the local population structure, which has the potential to impact significantly on local housing and welfare requirements. In the more remote parts of the State's South West, the traditional economic mainstay of the timber industry is in decline, threatening the viability of a number of towns where a significant proportion of the housing stock is currently in company hands. In this case, it is the working age population and their families who are most vulnerable to housing stress. In both cases there is, therefore, a nexus between the local housing situation and a range of other socioeconomic issues including declining employment opportunities, access to services, and health and educational disadvantage. Prior to a detailed investigation of and in these communities, however, the project commenced with a survey of Australian and international literature on integrated policy and program responses to regional and, more specifically, rural disadvantage, paying particular reference to the cost effectiveness of the various approaches and the role of housing policy therein. A User Group incorporating representatives from the various spheres of government and from the non-government welfare sector had input into this process which produced as its end product a Discussion Paper which evaluated the success, cost effectiveness and appropriateness for non-metropolitan Australia of the various international and national policies and programs aimed at redressing regional disadvantage and which specifically examines how housing assistance/initiatives can be successfully integrated into regional policy. This discussion paper was then circulated to stakeholders in the case study areas and in relevant State and Commonwealth government organisations and non-government agencies both inside and outside the project's User Group. Following workshop sessions with stakeholders in both case study areas, with the User Group and with recipients of the Discussion Paper appropriate feedback was incorporated in a Findings Paper and a full report on the entire project. This final report incorporates the implications for housing and regional policy arising from the project's findings and identifies future research priorities and opportunities.
Report
Thinking regionally, acting locally: lessons for Australia from overseas housing and regional assistance policies
Author(s):
Gleeson, B.; Carmichael, C.
Published:
2001
Publisher:
UNSW - UWS Research Centre, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute
This paper reports research by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute: University of New South Wales & University of Western Sydney Research Centre that examines polices to address social disadvantage at the regional level. The research investigates the regional disadvantage policies of key international bodies and considers their relevance to the Australian context. This project builds upon previous research by Brendan Gleeson which has explored European Union (EU) spatial and environmental policy regimes and their relevance to the Australian policy context (Gleeson 1998). This study aims to: 1. examine the relative merits of spatially targeted versus universalist regional support frameworks, through reference to the recent policy experience of key overseas bodies, including the EU, the ADB, the World Bank, and the OECD; 2. evaluate the policies of key overseas bodies that encourage city-hinterland partnerships and consider their relevance to the Australian policy context; 3. review the housing policy components of overseas regional assistance programs; and 4. outline ways in which the overseas policy experience might inform the development of new approaches to regional assistance in Australia, with an emphasis on the potential for housing-regional policy integration.
Report
The Regional Impact of Housing Costs and Assistance on Financial Disadvantage
Author(s):
McNamara, J.; Tanton, R.; Phillips, B.
Published:
2007
Publisher:
Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute
It is widely acknowledged that substantial spatial differences in economic well-being exist across Australia. There is a growing body of Australian literature examining aspects of disadvantage at a small area level, and substantial research into the impact of housing costs on financial disadvantage at a national and broad regional level. However, differences in the impact of housing costs on financial disadvantage at a small area level have not been examined to date, due to an absence of adequate data at a sufficiently disaggregated geographical level. This study uses spatial microsimulation techniques to estimate at a small area level the impact of housing costs on spatial differences in financial disadvantage, and the actual or potential effect of housing assistance in reducing disadvantage. The specific research questions that the project addresses are as follows: – What is the nature of the relationship between housing assistance, housing costs and financial disadvantage at a small area level? Which regions are affected? Are metropolitan areas more financially disadvantaged because of higher housing costs? – Which types of households are affected by the inclusion of housing costs? Household types analysed include those with different tenure types, different home equity and house value, different sources of income and different life cycle stages. – What would the impact on financial disadvantage at a small area level if the upper limit for Commonwealth Rent Assistance were removed? What are the implications for government? – What is the impact on financial disadvantage of people going from renting to purchasing housing? What effect do mortgage subsidy policies have on this impact?
Thesis
Living FIFO: The Experiences and Psychosocial Wellbeing of Western Australian Fly-in/fly-out Employees and Partners
Author(s):
Sibbel, Anne M.
Published:
2010
Publisher:
Edith Cowan University
Using a concurrent multi-methods design employing both quantitative and qualitative methodologies this study investigated the psychosocial wellbeing Western Australian fly-in/fly-out (FIFO) mining employees and their partners. The quantitative phase of the study assessed the psychological wellbeing, relationship satisfaction and perceptions of family function of 90 FIFO mining employees and 32 partners of FIFO employees using the General Health Questionnaire 12, the Dyadic Adjustment Scale and the Family Assessment Device. Analyses revealed that both FIFO employees and their partners are within the norms for healthy functioning on the scales and sub-scales of the measures of psychological wellbeing, relationship satisfaction and perceptions of family function, and that there were no statistically significant differences between the scores of the two groups on any of these measures. Further, there were no significant differences when data were analysed according to family type or profile of absence. Thus, despite perceptions that regular FIFO employment related absence would have adverse impacts on various aspects of wellbeing, the group of FIFO employees and partners in this study report similar levels of psychological wellbeing, relationship satisfaction and perceptions of family function to those of the general Australian population. The qualitative phase used constructivist grounded theory methodology to explore the experiences of FIFO employees and partners of FIFO employees in order to develop an understanding and theoretical scheme of the role of contextual factors in their adaptation to the FIFO lifestyle. In-depth interviews were conducted with a medium sized sample of 16 FIFO employees and 12 partners of FIFO employees. The findings from the qualitative phase are discussed in light of existing literature and the findings from the quantitative phase. The data revealed a number of individual, family, community and workplace factors that impact on individual experiences of and adaptation to the FIFO lifestyle. Informants generally made purposeful and informed choices to undertake FIFO employment based on the notion that “the benefits outweigh the costs”, that the lifestyle associated with FIFO employment would considerably increase individual and family access to financial and psychosocial resources, and that the net gains in personal and family resources would outweigh any losses. These findings challenge earlier presumptions that the regular absences associated with FIFO employment would result in a loss of individual and family resources and would impact negatively on the psychosocial wellbeing of FIFO employees and their partners. The strengths and limitations of the study are outlined as are suggestions for future research. Implications of the findings at the individual, community, corporate and government levels are presented together with recommendations for future actions.
Book
Mining Agreements: Negotiated Frameworks in the Australian Minerals Sector
Author(s):
Fitzgerald, A.
Published:
2001
Publisher:
Prospect Media
This book sets out to tell a story that, it says, has long awaited the telling: the role of negotiated frameworks as a regulatory mechanism in the development of Australia's premier industry of the 20th century. Agreements negotiated between project developers and the States, the Northern Territory or the Commonwealth to regulate large projects involving substantial infrastructure development are said, rightly, to be a defining characteristic of Australian mining law. ... The conclusion reached is that there is little doubt that the negotiated agreement model has enabled the Australian mining industry to rapidly obtain world status and ensured that mining and minerals processing will continue to be a leading sector in the national economy for decades to come. ...The book is a valuable one and merits consultation by anyone who has the interesting exercise of dealing with the phenomenon of Australian mining franchise agreements. Reviewed by Pat Brazil in the August 2002 issue (Volume 21 No. 2) of the Australian Mining and Petroleum Law Journal. "This is not merely a work of intellectual analysis and curiosity. In its detail and its practical knowledge it is also an astounding practical tool for the practitioner of resource law, government contract law or law relating to international agreements for resource exploitation, and for anyone interested in the vast areas of law that govern the exercise of state powers in the protection of natural resources, the environment, and indigenous rights." :From the foreword by Frank P Grad, Joseph P Chamberlain Professor Emeritus of Legislation, Columbia University School of Law New York. Mining Agreements looks at the development of unique state authorised franchise agreements in Australia, which contain the details and methods of resources exploitation and include requirements for environmental protection. The publication includes a full historical background of the development of franchise agreements and current uses and ongoing development. An insightful and knowledgeable publication, it provides a keen grasp of the future of resource development in Australia and of the ongoing development of the legal tools used in the field. Summary of contents: • Exploitation and development of natural resources • Excellent analyses of comparative law with analogous developments in other parts of the world • Addresses issues of constitutional law related to trade & commerce powers, govt powers related to the mgmt of external affairs and aspects of federalism in Aus • Addresses significant aspects of the control of land use and natural resources • Addresses issues of Aus' foreign investments Table of Contents: Chapter 1 Introduction Chapter 2 Overview of the use of mining agreements in Australia Chapter 3 Defining mining agreements Chapter 4 Significance of mining agreements Chapter 5 Use of mining agreements by the States Chapter 6 The legal context of mining agreements Chapter 7 Ownership and control of mineral resources Chapter 8 Foreign investment in Australian mining sector Chapter 9 The substantive provisions of mining agreements Chapter 10 Mining agreements compared with other forms of resource development contract Chapter 11 Reasons for using mining agreements Chapter 12 Future of mining agreements Chapter 13 Conclusion
Report
What factors impact on people’s capacity to maintain long-term tenancies? Did the SAAP experience help them?
Author(s):
Bill Healy; Martin Ryan; Noel Renouf,; Lisa Wright; Emma Shaw; Ian Gough; Natascha Boutlis; Rob Sago
Published:
2005
Publisher:
Australian Government Department of Family and Community Service
The title of this project is, “What factors impact on peoples’ capacity to maintain long term tenancies – Did the SAAP experience help them?” The particular interest and focus of the project has been gathering consumers’ views through in-depth interviews about what they believe to be the factors that have helped them to maintain secure housing. The rationale for this approach derives from the observation that much of the relevant literature tends to focus on the causes of homelessness, is generally survey based and as a result tends to underplay the voice of the people who have sustained some success in maintaining secure housing. Furthermore it is anticipated that the results will also add qualitative depth to the data, which is currently routinely collected at a national level from SAAP agencies. The impetus for the project came from Merri Outreach Support Service (MOSS) and that agencies belief that sustainability is a key issue when addressing issues relating to homelessness. The research oversight was provided by staff of the School of Social Work and Social Policy Health and Mental Health Research Group. Two final year social work students, Lisa Wright and Emma Shaw, were employed by MOSS to carry out the fieldwork for the project. The issues that underpin this project reflect a number of concerns held by SAAP workers and others about the substantial difficulties of people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, homelessness to not only obtain but also even more significantly maintain secure, appropriate housing. Clearly stable housing is a critical factor for people at risk of homelessness in building a sense of personal adequacy. Safe, secure tenancies act as a buffer against some of the worst consequences of a limited income and are vital to maintaining access to important support networks and community resources. Without such a base people are likely to find themselves increasingly marginalised with all of the associated vulnerabilities and risks.
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