Kimberley Appropriate Economics Interim Report - Australian ...

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We have won some battles, at least for the moment, like keeping cotton out of the West Kimberley, and we’ve had some good friends like Environs Kimberley and the ACF fighting beside us. But you can’t go from one battle to another. You need to develop a plan for the future, you need to set down what your goals are and how you will achieve them. The Kimberley Land Council has developed a vision from when it was established, 25 years ago: “The Kimberley Land Council is a community organisation, working for and with Traditional owners of the Kimberley, to get back country, to look after country, and to get control of our future.” This vision forms the basis of all the decisions we make and all the activities we do. Part of our vision is to look after country. We have set up a Land and Sea Management Unit to do this, with its own Vision Statement: “The Kimberley Land Council’s Land and Sea Unit assists the community to keep country and culture healthy, get good social, economic, environmental, and cultural outcomes, and maintain strong connection to country for future generations.” Aboriginal people have always made a good living from our country, but over the last 200 or so years we have been put to one side in the development of the region. Now, through changes in legislation and public thinking, we are starting to regain control over our lives and our country. We are not anti development, but there are certain things that must be protected. We don’t agree to every idea that anyone has. We have fought off cotton, and we are responding to ideas to take our water from the Fitzroy River. The KLC has a responsibility to secure the economic future of Kimberley Traditional Owners. We have started a Sustainable Development Trust to help with appropriate activities and enterprises. The Trust’s purpose is to relieve social and economic disadvantage, and to pursue sustainable economic and business opportunities for Kimberley Aboriginal people. We welcome this roundtable, and are pleased to be involved with it. We know it is important to give local people, and especially Aboriginal people, a leading role in decisions about development of the Kimberley. We all want to find ways to keep control of our lives and our future, and at the same time protect our culture and our environment. This Roundtable will help us set down ways that we can make a living from the country, ways that work with country, and protect country for our future generations. The things you say here will help to set the direction for the future. This is an important job that we all have, and I thank you for your contribution. Tom Birch, Chairman, Kimberley Land Council Taken from his Roundtable purpose speech 6
If you look at the Earth from space, you can’t see the economy In this very special region, it is hard not to feel the spirits of those who have gone before us. As a scientist, I know the significance of this region. The Fitzroy basin alone has 37 fish species, half of them found only in this region, and a remarkable 67 known species of water birds. The wetlands are replenished by the annual wet season flood. The region is important to the whole world because of its people and their culture, the land and the sea, the plants and the animals. But coming to this place has reminded me that it is more than a physical region with important biological features. It is a place of belonging, of physical and spiritual sustenance. If we don’t look after this country, sooner or later it will bite us on the backside. In southern parts of Australia, the teeth-marks are now visible, the inevitable consequences of failing to look after the country. I don’t need to remind Indigenous communities of the importance of getting our priorities right and putting economic development in perspective. The Western model puts undue emphasis on the economy at the expense of social and ecological considerations. This model concludes that social and environmental problems can always be solved if the economy is strong. But this model isn’t working. Successive reports show that we are not using natural resources sustainably. We need a new model. If you look at the Earth from space, you can’t see the economy; you see the thin membrane that supports life and some of the physical features that separate different human societies, like oceans and mountain ranges. The natural systems give us the things we really need: breathable air, drinkable water, the capacity to produce our food, our sense of cultural identity and spiritual sustenance. So this Roundtable is not just important for the Kimberley. It is the way we should think about economic development for the whole country. The vision of a sustainable future is utopian, but that has been said of all important reform movements. Change happens because determined people worked for a better world. Professor Ian Lowe, President, Australian Conservation Foundation Taken from his Roundtable purpose speech 7
Page 1 and 2: Kimberley Appropriate Economies Rou
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Page 6 and 7: Why would you? The first three word
Page 8 and 9: From our culture, we have certain r
Page 12 and 13: INTRODUCTION The Kimberley Appropri
Page 14 and 15: appropriate development in the regi
Page 16 and 17: SUMMARY OF WHAT HAPPENED AT THE ROU
Page 18 and 19: Pastoralism Workshop Danielle Eyre,
Page 20 and 21: actions to come out of the Roundtab
Page 22 and 23: OUTCOMES There were two main Outcom
Page 24 and 25: in the Kimberley with rules based o
Page 26 and 27: Research Action 2 Action 3 the regi
Page 28 and 29: Action 9 Tour operators from the Fi
Page 30 and 31: 26 Projects or enterprises that ach
Page 33 and 34: APPENDIX A PAPERS PRESENTED AT THE
Page 35 and 36: And sometimes people like myself an
Page 37 and 38: forgetting that intrinsic value tha
Page 39 and 40: Keynote Address Wayne Bergmann, Exe
Page 41 and 42: Is there a role for Aboriginal know
Page 43 and 44: Ian Lowe President, Australian Cons
Page 45 and 46: Address by Tom Birch Chairman, Kimb
Page 47 and 48: Address by Pat Lowe, Founding Membe
Page 49 and 50: In recent years, Aboriginal people
Page 51 and 52: from the freshwaters of the river.
Page 53 and 54: ecorded. Dolores Cheinmora and Agne
Page 55 and 56: development of the area. Failures i
Page 57 and 58: 3b. Vegetation change The loss of s
Page 59 and 60: The Future The entire river system,
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Woirnarski, J.C.Z. (1992).Introduct
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4. Recent photo of the same locatio
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APPENDIX C KIMBERLEY APPROPRIATE EC
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74 Don Henry ......................
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76 APPENDIX F TABLE OF PRESENTERS
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78 APPENDIX H ROUNDTABLE SPONSORS A
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KIMBERLEY APPROPRIATE ECONOMIES ROU
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