Kimberley Appropriate Economics Interim Report - Australian ...

ROUNDTABLE
FORMAT
The Roundtable was held over two days, and
each day included two main parts:
• the big group sessions where everyone got
together.
• the smaller workshops sessions where
people broke into groups.
Day One
The Roundtable started with a welcome to
country by Gooniyandi elder Neville Sharp.
The first big group session opened with a
speech by Joe Ross, Bunuba Traditional Owner
and Community Leader. That was followed by
the keynote speech given by Wayne Bergmann,
Nyikina man and Kimberley Land Council
Executive Director.
Then there were speeches by Pat Lowe from
Environs Kimberley, Tom Birch, Chairman of
the Kimberley Land Council, and Ian Lowe,
President of the Australian Conservation
Foundation. They talked about the purpose of
the Roundtable.
The next part of the Roundtable was another big
group session, with presentations from scientists,
Traditional Owners, and conservationists. These
people talked about some research projects, and
other things happening on country.
After lunch, people broke off into small groups
to hold workshops about six different topics:
• Land Management
• Art & Culture
• Pastoralism
• Agriculture
• Tourism
• Partnerships in Conservation
People picked the workshop they wanted to
go to. Each workshop included talks from
Kimberley people about the things they were
doing to look after the natural and cultural
values of the region, at the same time as making
a living from country and culture.
After those presentations, people stayed in the
small groups to talk about the things they thought
were important for appropriate development in
the Kimberley. They started to think about the
‘key principles’ that should guide development,
and to begin making up a ‘list of actions’ they
thought would help appropriate development to
happen.
To end Day One, people came back to the big
group to finish up.
Day Two
Day Two started with the second big group
session. There were reports from each of the
small groups that met on Day One.
The big group then heard about some things that
were happening overseas, with presentations by
people from the World Conservation Union
based in Switzerland, and from Vancouver in
Canada.
After that, people broke off into the same small
group workshops again, to decide on the most
important principles for development in the
region, and to write down a list of actions that
they would like to see happen.
After lunch on the second day, everyone came
back to the big group to hear about what people
had said in the small group workshops. In the
big group, people talked together about the
main principles and the list of actions that they
wanted to come out from the Roundtable. These
were written down.
To finish off, there were thank yous to everyone,
and the Roundtable was closed by Traditional
Owners.
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