Remote Australia Online

As the use of solar systems as an alternate source of energy increases, so too does the volume of waste from decommissioned systems. While several options have been suggested as solutions for the end of life of solar systems in terms of their component elements in urban regions, there is little discussion of managing waste arising in regional areas where volumes are often below necessary thresholds. This paper discusses why solar energy systems in Australia’s Northern Territory are being removed and how they are disposed of. Results suggest that there are several social and economic reasons for their removal, as it is not just a matter of failure to generate electric power. Since solar energy generation waste is a new problem, there are few or no social mechanisms in place to manage this waste. The results of this study highlight the need for addressing this gap. This paper inquires into, and attempts to formulate an early definition of this newly emergent social problem, conceptualising it as a sociomaterial issue.

Introduction: New graduate physiotherapists working in rural and remote Australia must develop unique skills to work in this setting, while at the same time managing the difficulties typically faced by novice practitioners entering the workforce. Workplace mentorship is commonly used to facilitate this transition, yet little is known about new graduate physiotherapists’ needs in rural and remote settings. This study aimed to explore workplace mentorship in rural and remote Australia from the perspective of new graduate physiotherapists and investigate what new graduates feel they need from mentorship that is specific to rural and remote settings. Methods: A qualitative study with a thematic analytical approach was used. Semi-structured interviews of 12 new graduate physiotherapists working in rural and remote settings were undertaken within the graduates’ first 8 to 10 months of clinical practice. Interviews were audio-recorded between August and November 2019. Results: Three key themes were constructed during the analysis: 1) Mentorship is best when it is frequent and consistent, 2) Initiating mentorship can be challenging and 3) Mentorship needs to be accessible and individualised. Conclusion: There are challenges to mentorship of new graduate physiotherapists in rural and remote areas, including infrequency of mentorship, limited access to mentors and reluctance to request support. Whilst new graduate physiotherapists desire mentorship that is accessible, individualised and, ultimately, similar to what they perceive they would receive in the metropolitan setting, they acknowledge that to suit rural and remote localities, the delivery must be flexible. Mentorship is considered critical to support new graduates entering rural and remote settings.

While the English literacy outcomes of Aboriginal children are constantly measured and debated, attention falls away once they leave school, leading to limited data on English literacy rates among Australia’s Aboriginal adults. This paper reports on an investigation into the prevalence of low literacy in adults in eight Aboriginal communities in NSW, Australia, drawing on both self-report data from household surveys and objective professional assessments using the Australian Core Skills Framework (ACSF). The research was conducted in partnership with a national Aboriginal organisation as part of a longitudinal study of the impact of improved adult literacy on the social determinants of health and social wellbeing. Of the participants who were measured to have low or very low English-language literacy level using ACSF, 51% had completed Year 10 or higher. This casts serious doubt on the value of school completion data which is used, for example, in Close the Gap reporting, as an accurate predictor of adult literacy rates. Results further show that while self-reported low literacy was prevalent in the population studied, there was also a significant overestimation, with adults who have completed years 10–11 nearly 30 times more likely to overestimate compared to people who only complete primary school. Given the well-known associations between adult literacy and a range of other outcomes including income, employment and health, national adult literacy surveys such as the Program for International Assessment of Adult Competencies should aim to produce more comprehensive national, regional and local data on Aboriginal adult English literacy.

Companion animal management in Australian remote Aboriginal communities (rAcs) is a complex problem with multiple stakeholders involved, with differing needs, knowledge, power and resources. The Comm4Unity (Cycle of Multiple Methods for Unity—For Community) approach was designed to address such problems. This study represents the second step of the Comm4Unity framework, where a causal loop analysis (CLA) was adapted and tested as a tool to address the issue of dog overpopulation in Wurrumiyanga, and in particular the systemic causes of the problem and necessary transformational management solutions. Ten focus group discussions (FGDs) were held amongst three of the four stakeholder groups identified during the first step in the analysis. The CLA identified 13 positive feedback loops, which drive vicious cycles and perpetuate the dog overpopulation issue. All three groups agreed and developed 22 solutions to address the causes of dog overpopulation. Despite the differences in the framings of the three groups, “training” and “education” were both the top priority solutions for all three groups. The majority of the solutions discussed by the groups were not only transformational but also social, requiring collaboration. This study was successful in so far as transformational actions were co-developed by all FGDs, which may have also built capacity and agency amongst the local community to implement them as a cohesive group.

The development of an Australian Indigenous-led bush products sector presents opportunities for Indigenous Australians to create new livelihoods, and build on existing enterprises, based on their unique knowledge systems and long established socio-cultural and environmental management practices. This review draws on Australian literature from 2005 to 2018 to establish a better understanding of the benefits that could result from the development of this sector in northern Australia; identify the key challenges that need to be addressed to facilitate sector development; and identify possible solutions. Insights reveal that while there are significant, and potentially self-sustaining opportunities offered by the development of the sector, these are unlikely to be realised without appropriate actions to resolve knowledge and skills gaps and address significant social, cultural and legal challenges. We propose a conceptual framework for the appropriate, sustainable and self-sustaining growth of the sector and end with policy and research recommendations to support growth.

This paper uses the capability approach to analyse renewable energy developments on Aboriginal land in Australia's Pilbara and Kimberley regions. These regions in the north-west of Australia have very high rates of Indigenous land tenure, and are attractive for both solar and wind power generation, particularly as developing technology makes it economically feasible to transport power over large distances. They are also remote from Australia's electricity networks and often rely on expensive fossil fuels for electricity generation. Resident Aboriginal communities are among the most income-poor in Australia yet live in regions rich in renewable energy. Their ability to benefit from the opportunities offered by a transition to renewable sources of energy varies according to a number of factors. This paper examines the conditions under which Indigenous capabilities may be enhanced or inhibited, through examining three scales of energy generation: large-scale developments for export; remote utility-owned networks; and small-scale standalone off-grid applications. This paper will ask what capabilities can Indigenous people achieve from a just approach to a renewable energy transition in northern Australia, and what capabilities are required in order to gain maximum benefit from this current rapid energy transition?

A significant proportion of the excess mortality and morbidity found in Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population is attributable to poor fruit and vegetable consumption. Fruit and vegetables are more expensive in remote Northern Territory (NT) Aboriginal communities than in larger centres and Aboriginal people eat less fruit and vegetables in these places. In overseas settings, community food gardens have been linked to increased fruit and vegetable intake. There has been a call to investigate and promote remote Aboriginal community gardens in Australia. Our study aimed to locate and survey all remote Aboriginal community food gardens (gardens) in the NT ‘top end'. During 2011, a snowball search for gardening stakeholders was undertaken within the boundaries of the Northern Land Council. A subsequent call was made to every remote or very remote locality within the survey area to locate community‐oriented gardens involving at least one Aboriginal person or organisation. This resulted in 112 phone calls to 78 of 86 (91%) of localities in the area. Thirty‐one gardens (four planned, 24 running and three dormant) were found. Eighteen were visited and surveyed for their funding sources, profitability, manager Aboriginality, manager pay, number of Aboriginal and non‐Aboriginal people employed, garden area, crops grown, and produce distribution. Two planned, 15 running, and one dormant garden were surveyed. The greatest number of running gardens was found in East Arnhem Shire (10) followed by Victoria Daly Shire (7). Fifteen of the 18 surveyed gardens were funded either wholly or partially through the Community Development and Employment Program (CDEP). Two ‘for profit’ enterprises were surveyed. One was a large farm owned by an Aboriginal corporation but not employing any Aboriginal people. The other was a CDEP farm employing Aboriginal people and managed by a non‐Aboriginal manager. It produced commercial quantities for regional sale. Both enterprises were in less remote areas with access to commercial markets and transport hubs, and neither produced food for local consumption. Of 15 running gardens surveyed, three had paid Aboriginal managers, one had an unpaid Aboriginal manager and 10 had paid non‐Aboriginal managers. There were no gardens with unpaid non‐Aboriginal managers. There were 98 Aboriginal and 17 non‐Aboriginal workers surveyed as employed in gardens. One of the ‘for profit’ farms employed no Aboriginal manager or workers, but was funded by an Aboriginal corporation. The total surveyed garden area was 70.7 hectares, with a minimum area of 0.005 hectares (50 square metres), median of 0.75 hectares and a maximum area of 40 hectares. Forty‐seven varieties of fruit and vegetables were identified. Watermelon, banana, pawpaw, passionfruit and mango were the most frequently grown fruits, and sweet potato, tomato, cucumber, pumpkin and sweet corn were the most commonly grown vegetables. Twelve of the 15 running and surveyed gardens reported the consumption of produce either in the garden, at home or in the broader community (Table 1).

In common with colonized Indigenous people worldwide, many Australian Aboriginal people experience inequitable health outcomes. While the commitment and advocacy of researchers and health practitioners has resulted in many notable improvements in policy and practice, systemic and structural impediments continue to restrain widespread gains in addressing Indigenous health injustices. We take Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD), a potent marker of extreme health inequity, as a case study, and critically examine RHD practitioners’ perspectives regarding the factors that need to be addressed to improve RHD prevention and care. This study is an important explanatory component of a broader study to inform new clinical practices, and health system strategies and policies to reduce RHD. A decolonising, critical medical anthropology (CMA) analysis of findings from 22 RHD practitioner in-depth interviews conducted in May 2016 revealed both practitioners’ perceptions of health system shortcomings and a sense of hopelessness and powerlessness to transform existing health system inequities, the negative impacts of which were subsequently confirmed in a separate study of RHD patients’ lived realities. We reveal how biomedical dominance, normalized deficit discourses and systemic racism influence the current policy and practice landscape, narrowing the intercultural space for productive dialogue and reinforcing the conditions that cause disease. To counter biomedical approaches that contribute to existing health inequities in health care, we recommend localized, strength-based, community-led research projects focused on actions that use critical decolonizing social science approaches to achieve system change. We demonstrate the importance of integrating biological and social sciences approaches in research, education/training, and practice to: 1) be guided by Indigenous strengths, knowledges and worldview, and 2) adopt a critical reflexive stance to examine systems, structures and practices. Such an approach facilitates productive cross-cultural dialogue and social transformation; providing direction and hope to practitioners, enhancing their knowledge, skills and capacity and improving Aboriginal health outcomes.

Technology increasingly features in intimate relationships and is used by domestic violence perpetrators to enact harm. In this chapter we propose a theoretical and practical framework for technology-facilitated harms in heterosexual relationships which we characterize as digital coercive control. Here, we include behaviors which can be classified as abuse and stalking and also individualized tactics which are less easy to categorize but evoke fear and restrict the freedoms of a particular woman. Drawing on their knowledge of a victim/survivor’s experiences and, in the context of patterns and dynamics of abuse, digital coercive control strategies are personalized by perpetrators and extend and exacerbate 'real-world' violence. Digital coercive control is unique because of its spacelessness and, the ease, speed and identity-shielding which technology affords. Victim/survivors describe how perpetrator use of technology creates a sense of omnipresence and omnipotence which can deter women from exiting violent relationships and weakens the (already tenuous) notion that abuse can be 'escaped.' We contend that the ways that digital coercive control shifts temporal and geographic boundaries warrant attention. However, spatiality more broadly, cannot be overlooked. The place and shape in which victim/survivors and perpetrators reside will shape both experiences of and response to violence. In this chapter, we explore these ideas, reporting on findings from a study on digital coercive control in regional, rural and remote Australia. We adopt a feminist research methodology in regard to our ethos, research processes, analysis and the outputs and outcomes of our project. Women’s voices are foreground in this approach and the emphasis is on how research can be used to inform, guide and develop responses to domestic violence.

Menstruation is a natural experience for most girls and women, yet it is often associated with socially imposed taboos and shame. "Period poverty" is a new term that has garnered the attention of media and politicians. It has articulated a public discussion of the menstrual health challenges that remain in many cultures.

The transition from urban centres back to rural and remote communities can be challenging for rural cancer survivors after treatment. This study aimed to (a) provide deeper understanding of the experiences of rural survivors who have completed active cancer treatment and returned to their rural communities, and (b) determine strategies to re-orient existing services or develop new interventions to more appropriately meet rural survivors’ service preferences and needs. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 22 adults (64% female) who lived outside of a metropolitan area and had completed active cancer treatment (n = 13), were the carer for a rural/remote cancer survivor (n = 6), or were both a survivor and carer (n = 3). Thematic analysis was conducted to identify dominant themes in the qualitative data. A range of physical, psychological and practical challenges that impact quality of life among rural survivors post-treatment were found. These challenges appeared to be compounded by a lack of trust in local rural healthcare services and a lack of clear post-treatment pathways to quality of life-enhancing support services. Acceptable strategies to overcome barriers included nurse-led, telephone-based, or face-to-face interventions, initiated and continued by the same service provider, and that included support to manage emotional challenges associated with post-treatment survivorship. The findings will inform the design of interventions to better meet rural cancer survivors’ post-treatment support needs.

Over recent years, considerable effort has been put into increasing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (First Nations) participation in higher education. While there are signs that enrolments are increasing, the sustained engagement and successful completion of higher education remains challenging, particularly in remote locations. With this in mind, a collaborative research project among researchers from three northern Australian tertiary education institutions was designed to understand student perspectives, particularly from remote contexts, about their engagement and success towards completion in higher education. Based on a qualitative research design situating Indigenist/interpretive research within a critical realism metatheory, we present findings from the study, based in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, and unpack implications for higher education provision in remote contexts. The findings point to the unique challenges faced by students who live in the Kimberley—and perhaps in other remote locations around Australia. In order to meet these needs, we suggest that tertiary education providers must tailor provision to ensure that engagement with Aboriginal students is relational and culturally safe.

Many large remaining areas of high conservation value currently lie within Indigenous homelands. The attempts of conservationists to protect such areas from industrial development sometimes come into conflict with the contrary wish of Indigenous populations to benefit from such development. How, in such cases, can the claims of Earth communities to ecological justice be reconciled with those of Traditional Owner communities to Indigenous justice? The dilemma is here examined via a case study, that of a proposed natural gas installation at James Price Point in the far north of Western Australia. It is argued that resolution of the dilemma may require a significant re-visioning of conservation: environmentalists might need to concede to Aboriginal communities the moral ownership of conservation per se, at least in so far as it applies to Aboriginal homelands, and perhaps more widely.

Attendance at high-quality early childhood education and care services can have positive impacts on children’s learning and development, particularly for disadvantaged children. Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory are among the most disadvantaged in Australia and stand to benefit in the short- and long-term from attending high-quality and culturally safe early childhood education and care. Few studies, however, have evaluated how early childhood education and care services can support Aboriginal children’s learning and development, or reported on the challenges of conducting such evaluations. This article reports on an evaluation of the Arrwekele Akaltye-Irretyeke Apmere Centre for Aboriginal children in Alice Springs, Australia, which employed a culturally-adapted Abecedarian approach. The evaluation drew from interviews, classroom observations, document review, and language and developmental assessments to report findings about quality, cultural safety, acceptability to the community and children’s language and development. The findings show that despite the Centre facing challenges during its establishment, by the end of the evaluation children were attending the Centre and receiving high-quality service. The service was overwhelmingly valued by interviewees from families and the community and there were indications of positive outcomes in children’s language and development. Insights for the design of similar evaluations are discussed, such as the need for more rigorous and consistent data collection techniques, a larger sample, and the inclusion of a wider range of perspectives.

Researching the schoolhouse: Rethinking research on the staffing of rural, remote and isolated schools in Australia (2000-2019)

Australia is currently canine rabies free; however, the spread of rabies in eastern Indonesia poses an increasing risk to northern Australia. Domestic dogs are numerous in East Arnhem Land (EAL) and the Northern Peninsular Area (NPA), usually unrestrained and living in close relationships with humans. The response to any rabies outbreak on Australian territory will focus on dog vaccination, controlling dog movements and depopulation. A One Health approach to zoonotic disease control should seek to co-promote human and animal health, whilst also seeking to accommodate the preferences of affected communities. We report on 5 collaborative workshops and 28 semi-structured interviews conducted between January 2017 and June 2018 with: (i) EAL and NPA community members; (ii) Indigenous Rangers in EAL and NPA; and (iii) residents of Cairns, the local regional centre. Storyboard methodologies were used to work with participants and explore what rabies response measures they thought were justified or unacceptable, why they held these views, and what other steps they believed needed to be taken. Key findings include that the capacity of the NPA and EAL communities to contribute/adapt to a biosecurity response is limited by structural disadvantage including poor infrastructure (such as lockable premises and intact fences) and appropriate information, dominant cultural norms and food security concerns. Dogs and dingoes can have great cultural and social importance; key interventions might be accommodated within cultural beliefs and long-standing norms of dog management if sufficient effort is made to adapt interventions to local contexts and community preferences. Adopting such a ‘strengths-based’ approach mandates that the communities at greatest risk need help to prepare for and develop strategies to manage a biosecurity response to a rabies incursion. This would include listening to individual and community concerns and attending to the educational and infrastructural needs for supporting different groups to respond appropriately.

Despite contributing to the ongoing collapse of native mammal populations across northern Australian savannas, we have limited understanding of the ecological constraints of feral cat population density in this system. Addressing such knowledge gaps is a crucial step towards mitigating the impacts of feral cats, and is particularly important for the large islands off northern Australia that remain as strongholds for numerous species vulnerable to cat predation. Here, we investigated cat density across Melville and Bathurst Island, two large islands in Australia’s monsoon tropics. We deployed large grids (~13 km2) of 70 camera-traps at four locations to investigate how feral cat density varies under different combinations of fire frequency, and feral herbivore presence. Using spatially-explicit capture-recapture models, we estimated feral cat density on Melville Island to be 0.15 cats km−2. We did not record any cat detections on Bathurst Island. Using simulations, we predicted that if cat density on Bathurst Island was equal to that on Melville Island, we would have expected to record 27.9 detections of 9.9 individual cats. Our results, coupled with other recent surveys, suggest that the density of cats is much lower on Bathurst Island than the adjacent Melville Island. The absence of feral herbivores on Bathurst Island may have contributed to this variation in cat density. Management that enhances understorey vegetation density, through feral herbivore control, as well as fire management, could help mitigate the impact of feral cats on northern Australian savanna biodiversity.

A hybrid renewable energy system offers a significant cost and environmental benefits over the conventional sources due to the constant reduction in the capital costs and increase in the efficiency of renewable energy generators. The major challenge is to properly size the hybrid system components for supplying a stable and cost-effective power with lower environmental emissions. This study analyses a photovoltaic-PV and wind-based hybrid system using different storage technologies based on the technical and economic indicators while satisfying the load requirements of a remote community in an Australian state, Western Australia. For optimizing the system configurations, the effects of temporal resolutions, different storage technologies, PV tracking systems, and lifetime of the battery are comprehensively investigated in conjunction with a sensitivity analysis. Results indicate that the PV/Wind-based hybrid system with vanadium redox flow battery has a lower cost of energy-COE (0.229$/kWh) and net present cost-NPC ($558,118) than those of the PV/Wind/Li-ion (COE: 0.323$/kWh; NPC: $787,464) and PV/Wind/Zinc-Bromide (COE: 0.270$/kWh; NPC: $658,326) ones, but comparable with the PV/Wind/Lead acid (COE: 0.231$/kWh; NPC: $564,002). However, the PV/Wind with a pump-hydro storage option offers the lowest COE of 0.177$/kWh and the NPC of $431,818..

Since the introduction of child welfare legislation in Australia in the early colonial era, the separation of Aboriginal children from their parents has extended over several generations leading to significant displacement and intergenerational trauma. Today, there continues to be a significant overrepresentation of Aboriginal children in the welfare system, and Western Australia has the highest rate of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care nationally. This paper will discuss the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle and the difficulties associated with its implementation, particularly in the East Kimberley. The main conclusion drawn from this paper is that there is a need to rethink the interaction between child protection services and Aboriginal children, families, and communities. There is a need for culturally appropriate practices and consultation with communities to address systemic problems and disadvantages. Increased funding for Aboriginal-controlled organisations and a focus on strength-based rather than deficit-driven systems would go a long way towards addressing the over-representation of Aboriginal children in out-of-home care.

Introduction Rates of secondhand smoke exposure are currently significantly higher among remote indigenous communities in the top end of Australia. By implementing a ‘smoke-free home’ rule, secondhand smoke exposure can be reduced. Smoke-free homes encourage quit attempts and improve the health of children. The prevalence of indigenous smoking rates in remote, discrete communities in Australia is elevated compared with their non-indigenous counterparts. The primary aim of this project is to examine the feasibility of conducting a health-driven intervention to encourage community members to make their homes a smoke-free zone.Methods and analysis This study uses mixed-methods exploratory evaluation design to obtain data from key informants and community householders to assess their willingness to implement a ‘smoke-free’ rule in their homes. Initial focus groups will provide guidance on intervention content and deliver evaluation procedures and community requirements. A rapid survey will be conducted to ascertain interest from community members in having the project team visit to discuss study objectives further and to have a particle meter (with consent) placed in the house. Focus groups recordings will be transcribed and analysed thematically. Rapid surveys will be analysed using frequency distributions and tabulations of responses.Ethics and dissemination The National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines on ethical research approaches to indigenous studies will be adhered to. The James Cook University Human Research Ethics Committee has provided ethics approval.

Background The epidemiology of atrial fibrillation (AF) amongst Indigenous populations remains poorly characterised. We studied hospitalisations for AF in Central Australia, the most populous Indigenous region in the country. Methods Patients with a diagnosis of AF admitted to Alice Springs Hospital, the only secondary health care facility and provider of cardiac care in remote Central Australia, were identified from 2006 to 2016. Age and gender-specific hospitalised AF prevalence, comorbidities, and CHA2DS2-VASc scores were ascertained. Results Of 57,056 admitted patients over the study period, 1,210 (2.1%; 46% Indigenous) had a diagnosis of AF. For Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals <45 years, hospitalised AF prevalence per 10,000 population was 105 (CI 84–131) and 50 (CI 36–68) in males (ratio=2.10), and 98 (CI 77–123) and 12 (CI 6–23) in females (ratio=7.92), respectively. For Indigenous and non-Indigenous individuals ≥65 years, hospitalised AF prevalence per 10,000 was 1,577 (CI 1,194–2,026) and 2,326 (CI 2,047–2,623) in males (ratio=0.68), and 1,713 (CI 1,395–2,069) and 1,897 (1,623–2,195) in females (ratio=0.90). Indigenous individuals had higher rates of cardiometabolic comorbidities, particularly at younger ages. CHA2DS2–VASc scores were greater in Indigenous individuals, particularly those <45 years (2.5±1.5 versus 0.7±1.1, p<0.001). Conclusions The prevalence of hospitalised AF amongst Indigenous people in remote Central Australia was significantly higher than in non-Indigenous individuals, particularly in younger age groups and females. Indigenous individuals with hospitalised AF also had a markedly greater prevalence of cardiometabolic comorbidities and elevated stroke risk. These data suggest that AF may be contributing to the gap in morbidity and mortality experienced by Indigenous Australians.

Objective: In 2017, a Northern Territory PHN funded pilot program integrating psychology into remote Aboriginal Health Centres, was launched at Julanimawu Health Centre at Wurrumiyanga, Bathurst Island, Tiwi Islands (pop.1600). Psychology was identified as the allied health approach most attuned to the influential socio-cultural needs of Australian Aboriginal people when negotiating health care and effecting behavioural change; namely, providing a time rich, systemic, behaviourally focused, empathic perspective with a story telling method.Method: The program was designed to address the psychological needs of the community through two clearly stated pathways: supporting and educating the staff of the Health Centre on the effects of trauma, and providing a psychological service directly to the community. The psychologist recorded program participant demographic information and kept a diary that acknowledged the program intentions in relation to her experience.Results: Overall, the pilot program demanded non-traditional responses in a non-traditional psychology setting and the capacity to maintain equilibrium without expectation in the face of intergenerational trauma. Aboriginal culture impacted significantly on psychological practice, resulting in a process of decolonisation. The psychologist responded to different perceptions of time, resources, communication, connection and obligation and championed the Social Emotional Wellbeing approach to Aboriginal health. On a systemic level, while the program model recognised that behaviour largely determines health outcomes, the program outcomes suggested that culture largely determines behaviour.Conclusions: A Social Emotional Wellbeing approach is highly applicable, however, the approach requires champions to further support integration into the Health Centre system. Key Points What is already known: The health and wellbeing of Australian Aboriginals is impacted by the consequences of colonisation.The integration of psychology into health care is beneficial when addressing trauma related health issues. Behaviour largely determines health outcomes. What this topic adds: Behaviour largely reflects culture. Decolonising psychology requires an active process contingent on cultural knowledge. Privileging the multi-dimensional connections of social emotional wellbeing is a pathway forward.

This article investigates conceptions of giftedness amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. It adopts a qualitative case-study methodology involving 14 participants associated with a scholarship program aimed at developing the academic potential of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth from remote and disadvantaged communities. Using semistructured interviews and a grounded-theory analytical approach, a number of themes were identified. These included an egalitarian basis to the construct, an avoidance of the gifted label, an understanding of giftedness as having learned and innate dimensions as well as a relative view of giftedness. Associations with achievement motivation also were highlighted amongst participants suggesting that views of giftedness have been shifting away from traditional associations. Results further revealed a perception of giftedness linked more to leadership and progress than to previously identified associations with elitism, individualism, and broader Australian societal ideals.

Aims This commentary contends that research by higher degree research training is a sustainable strategy for capacity building the rural and remote health research workforce, provided they have equitable opportunity for access, participation and attainment. Context The path for health professionals into academic roles, particularly in rural and remote areas, can be fraught. A strong research skill set might not form a significant component of a clinician's prior experience. Concurrently, university academic positions usually include the PhD as an essential qualification which is misaligned with the experience and skills of rural and remote applicants who are otherwise well-qualified. Approach Higher degree researches are one mechanism for extending the research expertise and capabilities. However, non-traditional and remotely located cohorts such as the rural and remote health research workforce can face barriers to accessing, participating in and successfully completing formal research training. Barriers include the prevalence of the apprenticeship model of research training grounded in assumptions of colocation and face-to-face learning and supervision and a focus on the binary relationship between supervisors and students. In this commentary, the authors call for greater flexibility and equity in the higher degree research training system to cater for health professionals located in rural and remote practice contexts. Conclusion Institutional investment in, and commitment to, a truly distributed higher degree research model would ensure a stronger rural and remote workforce who can aspire to a range of career options and thereby positively impacting on the health and research outcomes for rural and remote Australia.

Warlpiri communities in Australia’s Northern Territory (NT) have long advocated for the inclusion of Warlpiri language, values and knowledge in their government-run schools. After the first bilingual programs were established in the NT in the 1970s, educators and community members from four Warlpiri communities formed a professional network known as the Warlpiri Triangle, a platform for meetings and professional development focusing on teaching and learning in and of Warlpiri language in schools. On these platforms, educators have consistently articulated the goal of the Warlpiri programs as maintenance of Warlpiri pirrjirdi, ‘strong Warlpiri language’. In this paper we seek to explore the development, refinement and consolidation of a consensual ideology around teaching and learning of and in Warlpiri pirrjirdi, ‘strong Warlpiri language’ that has informed Warlpiri language-in-education management. We analyse interviews with five Warlpiri educators at Yuendumu school in 2018/9 and a body of grey literature from four decades of Warlpiri educator professional development activities that has been less widely acknowledged and visible in local education policy discourse. We draw on the theoretical concept of communities of practice to understand the ways in which Warlpiri educators negotiate ideological and implementational spaces for inclusion of Warlpiri language teaching in the context of an ambivalent language-in-education policy environment. The results of this study exemplify the reiteration and reproduction of language-in-education goals through a community of practice in a sustained arena of action, the Warlpiri Triangle. The findings render more visible the vital efforts of Warlpiri educators and their professional networks in shaping language-in-education policy and practice to realise community aspirations of Warlpiri language maintenance in the school context.