Remote Australia Online

The cost of living in Western Australia has been greatly influenced by fluctuating economic conditions over the past two years. This time last year, WA was nearing the end of a prolonged mining and resources boom, driving up the cost of goods and services far beyond the reach of low-income families in this State. Not long after global markets crashed in late 2008, the West Australian economy began to display the negative impacts of the economic downturn; rising unemployment, record property repossessions, and an increased demand on community services. In 2006-07, even before the effects of the economic downturn were being felt, 9750 people were turned away from community service organisations in WA. 81% of these people were eligible for the service, but were turned away due to the services operating at maximum capacity.1 As vulnerable members of our community bear the brunt of the economic downturn, community service agencies report that the number of people struggling to make ends meet is growing. Agencies on the ground have reported sharp increases in demand for their services, and this looks set to continue. The WA No Interest Loans Scheme (WA NILS), which provides assistance to low income households to purchase essential items, is processing applications at 3 times the rate they were in October/November 2008, increasing from approximately 50 per month to 150. Relationships Australia reports an increase in the number of people presenting with relationship difficulties, and attributes these difficulties to financial stress and unemployment. They have also noted an increase in the number of people requesting a fee waiver, whereby clients either pay a reduced amount, or are not charged for service. It is evident to see that the economic downturn is plunging many families into rapid and sustained hardship. Families that may otherwise have been able to avoid crisis are now faced with a number of immense challenges.

This project examined housing market dynamics in four resource boom towns in the states of Western Australia and Queensland. The project considered the impact of housing shortages particularly on low income and Indigenous groups, and identified key factors facilitating or limiting housing supply. The challenges of managing the housing implications of mining activity include the diversity in the scale and nature of the industry and its impacts; the cyclical and often unpredictable nature of the industry; the propensity for mining to be located in regional and remote areas; changing technology and labour market practices and differences in policy and institutional arrangements across Australian jurisdictions. Successful housing strategies in mining communities require coordinated action by all spheres of government as well as the mining and residential property industries. The sustainability and liveability of resource boom towns would be enhanced if the design and planning of a town was taken with an eye to permanence and diversification of the economic base underpinning the local community.

Indigenous Australians make up 2.4 per cent of the total population but comprise 18 per cent of Supported Accommodation Assistance Program (SAAP) clients. There is a commonly held view in parts of Australia that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander homelessness has cultural origins and may be a matter of choice rather than a personally devastating experience. This myth has no substance and its existence underlines the urgency of developing and disseminating a better understanding of the unique nature of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander homelessness. This paper is intended to contribute to that process and to help ensure culturally appropriate services are supported and developed to further alleviate and prevent Indigenous homelessness within Australia. This paper builds upon a number of previous studies,2 the findings of the National Indigenous Homelessness Forum held in Melbourne during March 2003 and, especially, the findings of a national consultation on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander homelessness conducted by the Commonwealth Advisory Committee on Homelessness (CACH) as part of the National Homelessness Strategy (NHS) during 2005.

This paper examines the economic status of Indigenous Australians as a self-identifying group. It is an early version of an entry to the 2nd edition of the Encyclopedia of the Australian People, to be published in 2001. Indigenous Australians today face a diversity of economic circumstances. At one end of a spectrum are those residing in urban settings and engaging with the market economy, with varying degrees of success, like other Australians. At the other end are those who reside in remote parts of Australia and maintain important aspects of the Indigenous economy. Despite this heterogeneity, the vast majority of Indigenous people (73 per cent) reside either in towns or in cities, with the remaining 27 per cent residing in small Indigenous towns (so defined because the majority of the population is Indigenous), on pastoral stations or at outstations. It can be argued that nowhere are the differences between Indigenous institutions and those of the colonisers of Australia more marked than in the economic system. Measures of economic status are primarily statistical and based on the social indicator approach. The social indicators utilised in this paper provide data that differentiates Indigenous from non-Indigenous Australians in relation to employment, income, housing, education and health status. These measures of wellbeing show that, as a group, Indigenous people have the lowest economic status of all Australians, without any qualification. A broadly related set of factors can explain Indigenous economic marginality: historical exclusion from the mainstream provisions of the Australian welfare state and associated legacies; structural factors such as population structure and location of residence; cultural factors such as differing priorities and absence of labour migration; and demand side issues such as discrimination. The variable interplay of all these factors explains in large part the diversity of circumstances of Indigenous Australians today.

Indigenous people living in remote communities face some particular difficulties with regard to housing and its impact on their health. This paper reviews the contemporary international understanding of the relationship between housing and health, the history of settlement and housing conditions in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and some of the recent initiatives to improve housing in these communities.

This discussion paper presents the results from the third and final year of the Kuranda community case study for the project on the delivery of appropriate welfare services and policies to Indigenous families. Core recommendations and conclusions from the project as a whole are also discussed. Three years of survey data now allow a comparison of sources of household income. Indigenous families and households in the community remain highly dependent on income support from welfare benefits and pensions, and from the CDEP scheme. The research also points to Abstudy payments as playing an important part in family domestic economies. One of the key issues highlighted for service delivery and policy consideration is the complexity of patterns of residential mobility of Indigenous adults and children in Kuranda. Taking into consideration all the people surveyed in 2000 and 2001, one out of every two persons had moved into or out of the house- hold sample. Over half of those people were children, or young adults aged 17-25 years. Importantly, the existence of a non-mobile core of household members-usually older people on secure pensions-is identified as a point of domestic stability for children and youth. Child-care is an extended family, rather than a household-centred activity, and the mobility of children and youth is an expression of extended family networks. The key role played by older women in the care of children is emphasised once again. The results raise several important issues for policy and service delivery. The fact that child-care is family-based rather than household-based needs to be recognised in the delivery of welfare services to children and in policy frameworks. Many children have multiple carers who are in need of financial support for the period in which they are responsible for a child. There needs to be flexibility in the service arrangements so that the relevant family payments are going to the person actually caring for a child. The three survey waves have identified an important characteristic of young adults: there appears to be no transition for this group from school into mainstream local employment. The main transition is, in fact, into early dependence on welfare or CDEP payments. If inter-generational welfare dependence is to be short-circuited, there needs to be immediate targeted policy and program support for this age group, preferably before they enter the welfare system. It is proposed that a Youth Work Preparation and Employment Program be piloted, focusing on young CDEP participants and school leavers. The program would be delivered by local CDEP organisations with the objective of creating a detour around early dependence on welfare and CDEP incomes, by mentoring the transition of young adults into local work experience and main-stream employment. The paper emphasises the need for a holistic and realistic approach to delivering assistance to families with children. Taking into account feedback from respondents, the paper reinforces some of the core recommendations made in Smith (2000) and Henry and Daly (2001), including the need to: pilot a mechanism for the development of a 'Kid's Care Card'; provide additional assistance to people who care for children on a daily basis, via adjustments to the Child Care Benefit scheme; reform the role of Centrelink Indigenous agents; establish decentralised welfare transaction centres and updated Centrelink information technology in key remote Indigenous communities; adapt the JET scheme for greater effectiveness with Indigenous welfare recipients; and formulate a relevant mutual obligation strategy for Indigenous welfare recipients.

This paper advocates a multi-measure approach to Indigenous housing need for the purposes of public funding allocation. It has been developed from three reports examining Indigenous housing need undertaken in 1998 and 1999. The first part of the paper elaborates on the context in which those reports were undertaken, including the concerns of Indigenous people in southern/urban areas that some dimensions of their needs were not being captured by earlier exercises emphasising bedroom need measures. It outlines our multi-measure approach intended to pick up on some of these other dimensions of housing need. The second section of the paper reports on homelessness, overcrowding, and affordability need measures in different parts of Australia, as estimated from the 1996 Census. It finds that these measures do have very different geographic distributions, thus vindicating the concerns of southern/urban Indigenous people. This section also costs the homelessness, overcrowding and affordability measures of housing need for Indigenous Australians in different parts of Australia in comparable terms. The third section of the paper examines the incidence of these three need measures across different housing tenures, from owning and buying to private, public and community rental. These too are costed in comparable terms. The fourth section of the paper compares Indigenous and non-Indigenous housing need according to the homelessness, overcrowding and affordability measures using data from the 1996 Census. The fifth section examines Indigenous housing need as measured from the 1991 and 1996 Censuses. The final section of this paper reflects on some limits and limitations of allocating Indigenous housing funding according to need, even with a multi-measure approach. It notes several other dimensions of housing need in which we have not yet been able to estimate nationwide measures. It notes the policy paradox that some measures of need may go up, while others, through policy intervention, go down. Also it notes that the standards used in this needs analysis are drawn from non-Indigenous social circumstances and may not reflect the aspirations or values of all Indigenous Australians. Finally it notes that to fund always on the basis of need may, over time, be to penalise those who are doing best at addressing need and reward those who are not. Some countervailing principle of public funding allocation on the basis of 'capacity to deliver' may also be required.

The Inquiry gathered and reviewed a vast amount of information that was shaped into 97 recommendations for the Chief Minister. Underlying the Inquiry’s findings was the common view that sexual abuse of Aboriginal children is happening largely because of the breakdown of Aboriginal culture and society. Important points made by the Inquiry included: Child sexual abuse is serious, widespread and often unreported. Most Aboriginal people are willing and committed to solving problems and helping their children. They are also eager to better educate themselves. Aboriginal people are not the only victims and not the only perpetrators of sexual abuse. Much of the violence and sexual abuse occurring in Territory communities is a reflection of past, current and continuing social problems which have developed over many decades. The combined effects of poor health, alcohol and drug abuse, unemployment, gambling, pornography, poor education and housing, and a general loss of identity and control have contributed to violence and to sexual abuse in many forms. Existing government programs to help Aboriginal people break the cycle of poverty and violence need to work better. There is not enough coordination and communication between government departments and agencies, and this is causing a breakdown in services and poor crisis intervention. Improvements in health and social services are desperately needed. Programs need to have enough funds and resources and be a long-term commitment.

Increased demand for assistance from families and communities has led to a substantial reinvestment in a rapidly changing family support sector. In this paper, a number of central themes in the development and provision of family support are explored,particularly as they apply to the prevention of child abuse and other family violence in the twenty-first century.

This study uses the 2002 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey (NATSISS) to examine the economic and social factors that underpin Indigenous contact with the criminal justice system. The analysis shows that the Indigenous respondents to the NATSISS were far more likely to have been charged with, or imprisoned for, an offence if they abused drugs or alcohol, failed to complete Year 12 or were unemployed. Participating in the Commonwealth Development Employment Scheme (CDEP) appears to reduce the risk of being charged (compared with being unemployed). Other factors that increase the risk of being charged or imprisoned include: experiencing financial stress, living in a crowded household and being a member of the ‘stolen generation’.

The research analyses the impact of state public housing estate regeneration on Indigenous households in urban communities in WA from the perspectives of government agencies and the residents themselves. It assessed the importance of place and the effects of regeneration schemes on Indigenous households including: incoming residents, remaining public sector residents and those displaced by the urban regeneration process. The evidence suggests that displaced Indigenous households suffer disproportionately, psychologically and physically, from moves caused by estate regeneration. There is also evidence to suggest that the more specific needs of Indigenous communities, families and individuals are largely overlooked in current urban regeneration practices. Strong unbroken kinship networks and face-to-face relationships are important for Indigenous households and this study will help understand how these contribute to stronger sustainable communities and other non-shelter outcomes.

Purpose – This paper aims to present the case of the Pilbara as an illustration of how neo-liberalism and globalisation affect a natural resource region. Design/methodology/approach – A primary data set was collected by interviewing 21 people who had an interest in the development of the Pilbara. Secondary data was collected from relevant government policy documents and media reports relating to the region. Qualitative analysis techniques were used to analyse the data. Findings – It is found that neo-liberal policy has had a profound and largely negative effect on Pilbara communities. Rather than reaping the benefits of the wealth being generated in the region, participants in this research experience social breakdown and unmet social needs, and the local democratic institutions are weak and ineffective. Research limitations/implications – This paper reports on a single case and is limited in terms of its generalisability. However, it does illustrate the value of the “Resource Curse Thesis” and the concept of “risk” in illuminating the issues associated with neo-liberalism. Practical implications – This research has practical implications in that it provides an example of the problems associated with neo-liberal perspectives when they are used as a framework for developing and implementing regional policy. Originality/value – The resource curse thesis tends to be used in analysing developing nations and risk has so far been applied in limited areas of researching the effects of neo-liberal policy trajectories. This paper employs these concepts to provide a critical examination of regional development policy in a way that can be used in other national contexts.

Shifting Sands: Transience, Mobility and the Politics of Community in a Remote Mining Town

A key issue facing mine managers in remote locations in Australia and overseas is that of managing a fly-in, fly-out (FIFO) workforce. Current Australian research (Sibbel, in prep) indicates that FIFO employees and their families do not differ from the general population in terms of their overall mental health and the well-being of their family relationships. However, they do face unique issues/pressures associated with the lifestyle, the impacts of which are dependent on the policies and practices of the company as well as individual coping and support mechanisms. Successful management of a FIFO site and its employees therefore requires specialist knowledge and skills beyond those of a solely residential operation. The well-being of the FIFO workforce depends on both site and individual employee characteristics, and has implications for productivity and turnover, as well as safety and health. In addition, although FIFO separates individuals and their families in time and space, the interaction between work and home must be acknowledged and taken into account. Drawing on findings from recent Australian and international FIFO research (eg Annear, Poot and Kingston, 2006; Beach, Brereton and Cliff, 2003; Brereton et al, 2006; Gallegos, 2006; Keown, 2005; Parkes, Carnell and Farmer, 2005; Sibbel, 2001, 2004, in prep; Shrimpton and Storey, 1996; Storey, 2001; Watts, 2004) this paper discusses key understandings of both the positive and negative impacts of FIFO employment on employees and their families, and provides practical management strategies as an aid to the development of best practice. Individual impacts including fatigue and loneliness, as well as family issues such as communication, continually changing roles and responsibilities and the impacts of regular parent absence are key areas which can be ameliorated by appropriate management understanding and action. A flexible framework approach is presented that is suitable for a diversity of operations, including principal and contractor workforces of different sized operations.

The Cost of Housing in remote Indigenous Communities: Views from the Northern Territory Construction Industry

While the economics and policies affecting regional areas in Australia have changed markedly over the past few years, there has been very little change in the everyday realities of life in northern Australia. As one of the contributors to this volume notes, northern Australians remain united in 'a shared poverty'. That is, people permanently residing in northern regions - whether pastoralists or Traditional Owners - enjoy only a very small share of the wealth that is generated here. Meanwhile, disempowerment is apparent everywhere in policy development and policy outcomes. How then do we, who reside in the northern Australia, take control of these processes, achieve improved policy outcomes and increase the wealth and social cohesiveness of our region?

Influential indigenous leaders provide analyses and reveal their passions for their people and land, and for the Australia we all want to call home. The book is inspired by the 20th anniversary of the Aboriginal Land Rights (N.T.) Act, and coincides with the final year for lodgement of claims. As the ground is shifting beneath indigenous Australia, in a political sense, there is an even greater need to stand firm on the central issue of land rights. To forsake our land is to deny not just ourselves but also the future of Australia, socially, environmentally and culturally.

Influential indigenous leaders provide analyses and reveal their passions for their people and land, and for the Australia we all want to call home. The book is inspired by the 20th anniversary of the Aboriginal Land Rights (N.T.) Act, and coincides with the final year for lodgement of claims. As the ground is shifting beneath indigenous Australia, in a political sense, there is an even greater need to stand firm on the central issue of land rights. To forsake our land is to deny not just ourselves but also the future of Australia, socially, environmentally and culturally.

Influential indigenous leaders provide analyses and reveal their passions for their people and land, and for the Australia we all want to call home. The book is inspired by the 20th anniversary of the Aboriginal Land Rights (N.T.) Act, and coincides with the final year for lodgement of claims. As the ground is shifting beneath indigenous Australia, in a political sense, there is an even greater need to stand firm on the central issue of land rights. To forsake our land is to deny not just ourselves but also the future of Australia, socially, environmentally and culturally.

The text offers a comprehensive account of indigenous land and water management in Australia, with an emphasis on practical outcomes to manage the country for a sustainable future. It is based around three main themes (1) the diversity of approaches to working on country (2) the need for sharing knowledge and communicating concepts and tools, within a two-way learning framework (3) the role of negotiation in the development of effective working-on country initiatives. The book is said to be a valuable resource for environmental studies, natural resource management, indigenous studies, for landcare facilitators, government land management departments. The forward by Marcia Langton outlines these ideas: (1) brings together years of expert and practical experience (2) addresses challenges with well written accounts of land use planning among indigenous people (who have pressing needs, face rapid change and whose cultures are embedded in Australian landscapes) (3) the book is a guide to planning methods developed for use with indigenous communities tackling landcare, business planning and community development (4) it primarily reflects experience gained working with indigenous people in central Australia but the lessons can be applied to a range of circumstances and cross-cultural environments (5) the book has an extensive guide to planning methods, and it has 21 stories by Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal contributors about planning experiences in the field (ranging from academic to humorous). Contents 1. Managing country: an overview of the prime issues 2. Managing country: a legal overview 3. Introduction to Part II: Approaches to managing country 4. Management of sea country: indigenous people's use and management of marine environments 5. Joint management of national parks 6. Sustainable balance: a Yolngu framework for cross-cultural collaborative management 7. Culture and communication in Aboriginal land management in New South Wales: a Koori perspective 8. Challenging 'wildlife management': lessons for Australia from Zimbabwe, Namibia and South Africa 9. Introduction to Part III: Sharing knowledge 10. 'Bridging the communication gap': transferring information between scientists and Aboriginal land managers 11. Ngaparrtji Ngaparrtji Nintilpayi: reciprocal thinking in indigenous land management 12. Participatory land assessment: integrating perceptions of country through mapping 13. Cooperative cross-cultural biological surveys in resource management: experiences in the Anangu Pitjantjatjara lands 14. Understanding whitefella secret cattle business 15. Towards community-based management of natural marine resources in Torres Strait 16. Accessing the Dreaming: indigenous student response to Mungo National Park 17. Introduction to Part IV: Negotiating management 18. Bundarwa, Berri-werri and the Bay: traditional rights and bureaucratic boundaries 19. Moving towards joint management in New South Wales: a Jervis Bay case study 20. Landscapes of the mind, landscapes of the spirit: negotiating a sentient landscape 21. Turning back the clock: fire, biodiversity and indigenous community development in Tasmania 22. Social impact assessment: Coronation Hill 23. Working on country: listening, sharing and providing practical support.

This chapter provides the following sub-sections: (1) protocols for communication (2) management for our land, our mother (3) Aboriginal land and sea ownership (4) contemporary Aboriginal land management (5) Aboriginal site management The author is a Koori and has been a government officer in NSW and opens this chapter by explaining the importance of governments providing land management advice, education, and practical assistance to indigenous people in order to help them be landowners with cultural significance. The government needs to be aware that (a) culture and natural environment are inseparable (b) and need to understand how Aboriginal social structures and cultural protocols operate in relation to land.

This chapter claims that collaboative management based on the theory and practice of recognising indigenous local authority for resource management decision making, offers a valuable mechanism by which conventional geographical and cultural understandings can be decolonised and localised. Also stating that collaborative management arrangements often fail to acknowledge the unique physical and cultural components of indigenous land and seascapes; not addressing differences between cultures, including the criteria for decision-making authority and responsibility; ignoring the dimensions of a continuing history of significant power imbalance faced by indigenous groups when dealing with governments and non-indigenous resource users; these experiences continue to marginalise indigenous people and ignore indigenous rights to a variety of places, environments and resources. This chapter focuses on one initiative, the Yolngu community organisation set up in response to increased coastal degradation associated with the nearby Nabalco bauxite mine. The Yolngu is an organisation set up as part of the Dhimurru Land Management Aboriginal Corporation ("Dhimurru"). It aims to ensure that Yolngu authority for resource management decision making provides the template for contemporary agreements. Under native title regimes, indigenous community institutions like Dhimurru provide fertile ground for innovative management dialogue and partnerships.

This chapter overviews indigenous mangement in national parks and provides (a) existing examples (b) an overview of agreements in each state of Australia (c) a brief assessment of park management models (d) discussion of the related issues , eg Indigenous use of park resources eg Community development. This section on Community Development reports that the challenge is to provide economic rewards for Aboriginal people through park management processes, and that can be achieved through rental payments, employment within the park administration and associated activities such as tourism and establishing business ventures. A table is provided that lists the potential advantages and disadvantges of joint management.

This chapter provides a good, brief overview of the title (sharing knowledge) and it offers suggestions through both general observation and case studies, about how knowledge can be shared. Cross-cultural learning is a prime focus of this chapter (Note: other chapters in this text offer models of cross-cultural learning which are listed separately in endnote libraries). Case studies used in this chapter include: (a) James Cook University & Kuku-Yalanji People Collaborative Research (b) Integration of indigenous values and practices in natural & cultural resource management training - a good overview of this is provided by the author.

The chapter looks at the kind of information needed by Aboriginal landholders, and what kind of communication that would best provide this. It outlines some of the conventional ways in which scientists pass information to Aboriginal groups, and identifies mismatches between these, also identifying the types of communication processes that Aboriginal people prefer. This chapter includes the following sections: The need for better communication (b) Usual methods of communication (c) Research partnerships (d) Warlpiri Land Claim & Mala Research a brief case study.