Working 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.
At the beginning of the month I was camped on the banks of the Mary River in Western Arnhem land along with one hundred other Aboriginal and Islander peoples who had met to discuss issues related to the use and management of the water resources across Northern Australia. The Mary River as it is known to non Indigenous Australians is on the land of the Limilm Ngari people who are living on and sustaining their land and waters in the traditions of the forebears while endeavouring to develop a tourism enterprise that is framed around sharing their country with visitors from Australia and other lands from across the sea. In that country on the edge of Kakadu where the great rivers of the north make their way from the majestic Arnhem land escarpment across vast flood plains and on into the Arafura Sea, Aboriginal people are seeking to play their role in the sustaining of the resources that have been entrusted to them from their fathers and mothers and those before them... The full text of Patrick Dodson's speech to launch the Indigenous Policy Dialogue and Research Unit at the University of NSW.
A link for those who missed this seminal interview with Milton James about the Remote Area Work Scheme for Indigenous young people.
This media release from the one of the most effective organisations working with remote Indigenous young people says it all about the Rudd government's post "sorry" efforts and "closing the gap".
One of the out-takes from the short but spectacular reign of KV band, Wasted Management, featuring lead singer Dash Moore and bass player Henry Rutherford
Australia's grim record on health care for Indigenous people is by far the worst of any developed nation. Developed? How can a country be "developed" when it leaves so many of its children behind? Australia has not provided its citizens with an equal opportunity for primary health care, education, housing, employment, let alone recognition and a life of dignity. Ian Thorpe, Beyond Sport Summit, London, July 9
The Kimberley and the schemes of economic development embarked upon by governments and entrepreneurs have a chequered past ... when history is ignored it is destined to be repeated. Extraordinarily the same thinking that got us into this mess in the first place is now being proposed as the solution.
Australia claims to be a modern society, imbued with the values enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and with a sense of reflective wisdom about the appalling immorality and consequences of global colonisation, racism and genocide. The current relationship that exists between Australia’s First Peoples and the nation state is incompatible with the status that Australia claims in the global community.
While there is no independent, credible, national Indigenous leadership forum, there will be no resolution of the structural and ideological impasse between Australia's Indigenous leaders, and subsequently, the endless cycle of failing policies and bitter debates will continue.
Malcolm Turnbull needs to bring Noel Pearson to Canberra as a conservative to not only revive the quality and substance of the Coalition, but to improve the fabric of the whole National Parliament.
Two outstanding Australian women: newly elected Premier of Queensland, Anna Bligh, and one of Australia's great, but unsung, composers, the late Dulcie Holland, feature. "Letter from Australia" is a regular podcast commentary on Australian politics and issues. It features contemporary Australian music that is tragically often ignored by the mainstream media and is not well known enough - even in its native land.
