".. we cannot keep extracting from the earth energy systems for the profit and short term gain of the predatory elite. Mother Earth needs the love and care of people to maintain Country, Living Waters, and multispecies justice. The sustainability of all life in our universe requires implementing Indigenous traditional knowledge and law systems. It is time to create peace with Indigenous peoples and with nature"

Anne Poelina, Nyikana Warrwa Guardian of Martuwarra, River of Life.

Latest Papers

The working papers collection comprises historical papers as well as current ideas and works in progress on some of the major issues and topics of our times.

The dramatic turn-around of Gallarrwuy Yunupingu (released 25 September 2007)
The model deal achieved by Gallarrwuy Yunupingu should be rolled out to all Indigenous communities in the North, the South, the East and the West. That is the test of the bona vides of Howard and Brough and the challenge for Labor. However the deal casts a shadow over the way Indigenous leaders work with each other. Out of the bad feeling, now only Patrick Dodson can pull all of the forces of Indigenous Australia together to form a strong national leadership group that is capable of lobbying for plans that benefit all Indigenous Australians, not just those who have a strategic negotiating advantage.
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Little Old Man (released 17 September 2007)
John Howard has become no little big man, just a little old man. The revelatory blow has come from his own comrades.
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On being a wypella (released 2 September 2007)
When I looked into the campfire I saw not only two hundred years of overwhelming sadness, but a thousand years of wisdom. The gift comes to me now whenever I like – in my dreams, in my thoughts. It comes to me through the people I know.
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My Man in Perth (released 31 August 2007)
It was three o’clock on a Friday afternoon in the wealth creation capital of Australia and there he was stealing around the rubbish bins, searching for a half used cigarette, a bit of food - a modern day Fagin.
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Bill Moss, Passive Capitalism and the Challenge of Investing in Indigenous Business (released 20 August 2007)
Former Macquarie Bank Chief Bill Moss' call for more incentives to invest in Indigenous Australia is a welcome one.
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Worried Sick (released 17 August 2007)
In his opening address to the 2007 Garma (“both ways learning”) forum, Gallarrwuy Yunupingu told us that he was “worried sick” about the effects of the current Northern Territory intervention legislation before the Senate.
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Breathless in Canberra (released 16 August 2007)
We’re at that dangerous point in the political cycle when journalists think they determine the outcome of elections. However one ex-journalist does seems to be turning the tide.
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The Lamb Enters the Dreaming (released 14 August 2007)
Robert Kenny's remarkable book is the story of Wotjobalak man, Nathanael Pepper, who reaches the heights of religious acceptance and hope in the late nineteenth century and yet is doomed never to move beyond a certain level. When he dies at the age of 36, after an extraordinary life as an interpretor of two worlds, he has achieved only the status of ‘native helper’.
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The Possibility of National Labor Governance (released 25 July 2007)
A Rudd Federal Labor government working with State Labor governments could re-vitalise our national institutions.
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Divided Minds (released 25 July 2007)
We are, most probably, a nation of people who are divided in our own minds about the future of Indigenous Australia.
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