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INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS – GOVERNMENT TO PUSH FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT
In a remote tropical community in Northern Australia, a 43-year old aboriginal fisherman is completing his working day. Yellow Charlie Whittaker, from the small aboriginal community of Krakatinni (Population 450) is gathering his daily harvest of assorted fish caught in the warm northern waters to snap freeze them for transport to markets.
Whittaker and his small fishing venture is one of many of a new breed of aboriginal entrepreneurs who are using their local environment and their traditional lifestyles and skills to benefit from the Australia Government’s economic business development programs to assist indigenous Australians.
For the new Australia Government, economic development of Australia’s aborigines is at the heart the Government’s efforts to improve the lives of indigenous Australians and to encourage indigenous people to move from welfare into work.
The new Government has committed itself to supporting indigenous individuals and communities to achieve economic self-reliance and its economic development strategies will extend the links between, and be driven by, the private sector and indigenous people, rather than let them to rely solely on government programs, to deliver opportunities for employment and economic development. Use of their land and other resources will be the focus on which to build an economic future.
Currently, indigenous Australians owned or had interests in 120 million hectares of land in Australia - largely in the remote areas of the continent. In the Northern Territory alone, they owned 53 per cent of the land base. The Government would support indigenous Australians to use their land for economic development through arrangements such as block leasing, achieved through negotiation with traditional owners.
The Government also planned to encourage partnerships between corporate businesses such as mining companies, tourist operators, art cooperatives and local communities to ensure the creation of sustainable jobs for aborigines. Sixty per cent of Australia’s mine sites were near remote indigenous communities which could provide local employment. Several mining companies were now setting targets for indigenous employment and were investing in literacy and numeracy support and other forms of training for local indigenous workers.
Today, the Government-funded agency - Indigenous Business Australia (IBA) manages about $170 million in private equities (built up largely from annual government appropriations). In 2005-06 it had $45.7 million for new equity and investment proposals and $27.19 million for business development and assistance. This assistance included 74 business loans totalling $14.2 million and $4 million for economic development initiative. The new Government would support the expansion of independent indigenous businesses and encouraging companies to mentor and develop small indigenous enterprises to create local enterprise and sustain local jobs.
Underpinning economic development, the Government recognised that sound foundational education and training, literacy and numeracy were the building blocks upon which economic development strategies could be realised. Improving education levels of aborigines would be supported by new national investment in a range of educational initiatives to cover several school age groups. Over the next four years, $60.6 was earmarked for 200 additional teachers for the Northern Territory.
Other social support programs would endeavour to boost retention levels of senior indigenous students through three new secondary boarding colleges in the Northern Territory, to provide education accommodation for away students from their remote area homelands. Training centres would also be set up to improve education and training outcomes, giving indigenous children key foundational and vocational skills.
The Government planned business venture program for aborigines would see development of farm for horticulture on ground water basins. Other land-based enterprises with potential were cattle properties in rural regions of Australia. Currently, there were some 36 Aboriginal-owned properties associated with pastoral (cattle) projects which offered potential for employment and economic development and opportunities for future investment in infrastructure and livestock. For coastal indigenous communities, the Government planned to focus on fishing industry management plans through commercial operations.
Tourism ventures, with indigenous people and archaeological groups marketing tribal culture as the oldest evolving culture in the world; along with sustainable timber production and complementary enterprises such as electricity generation, bark collection for paintings, didgeridoo production and bush furniture, all had strong development potential, as did jobs in industry forestry management, transport and trade and the environmental sciences sectors.
Aborigines’ traditional links to land the and to nature provided a base for other enterprising projects including noxious weed and feral pest eradication, bush fire management, fencing and vegetation restoration, and the protection of endangered species. Training would be provided for rangers using a nationally accredited land management qualification, supported by local knowledge.
Acknowledging the aesthetic and iconic status of indigenous culture and the enterprise value of aboriginal visual arts and craft, the Government planned to enhance the industry’s sustainability and also to protect artists from unscrupulous dealers and assist aboriginal art centres to develop sustainable business models. There were now some 80 indigenous art centres across Central and Northern Australia representing around 6,000 indigenous artists with combined sales in the order of $28 million annually. A resale royalty scheme would also provide additional income for successful artists.
Additional $1.6 billion funding for remote area indigenous housing for the next five years, to 2012, would ensure this housing was delivered while also developing the construction and maintenance skills of local indigenous people, while at the same time, involving indigenous communities in the design, building and maintenance of the dwellings.
For aborigines in Australia, 2008 looms as a time for hope as the Government is set to lay the foundations and direction for the development of Australia’s indigenous population which will be progressed by working in partnership between indigenous Australians.
Canberra
24 January 2008