Kimberley Appropriate Economics Interim Report - Australian ...

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as your starting point you come up with the sensible model which says that the economy is a means to an end, it’s a part of society, an important part but only a part. There are things we expect from society – security, a sense of community, cultural identity, companionship and love – which are not even in principle part of the economy. Our society is totally enclosed within and depends on natural systems. The economy gives us some things we need, but mostly it gives us things we have to be persuaded to want, whereas the natural system gives us the things we really need – air to breathe, water to drink, the capacity to produce food, our cultural identity and spiritual sustenance. So I hope that in thinking about economic development opportunities we recognise they need to be encased within the aspirations of our society, which in turn need to be kept within the limits of natural ecological systems. In that sense this Round Table is obviously important for the Kimberley region. It is important for developing ways to go forward that will give economic security consistent with your culture and social aspirations. But I think it is even more important than that. I think it is also a model for wider Australian society of how we should be thinking about economic development. Far too often we think about economic development and then worry about how we can cope with the social strains and the environmental disruptions that it causes. More generally, for Australia as a whole, we should be trying to think of economic development as a means of nurturing and sustaining our cultural traditions and our social aspirations, so in turn we should see that our primary duty is to nurture the natural systems of Australia. In that sense we are not just talking about economic opportunities, we are talking about values: the sort of Australia we want to be, the sort of community we want to be and how we ensure that the development choices sustain and nurture those values. We are obviously here to respect the values of the local people, and to learn from them and work together for mutual benefit so in that sense, like Joe I am a supreme optimist. He said you have to be an optimist to be an indigenous person because of the history of Indigenous people and non-Indigenous people. In the same sense you have to be a supreme optimist to be working as an activist in environmental protection or social justice. We also have strong forces ranged against us. But I would remind you that as a supreme optimist, we have seen some of the most optimistic things happen in recent times. We’ve seen the Berlin Wall come down; we’ve seen apartheid end; we’ve seen millions of hectares of Queensland country being returned to Traditional Owners; and these are outcomes I didn’t believe I would live to see in my lifetime. And it is a reminder of what Margaret Mead said ‘You should never doubt the capacity of a small group of determined people to change the world because after all that is the only thing that has ever changed the world for the better – a small group of people determined to produce a better world. This Roundtable is the outcome of a process that has been going on between the three organising groups for some time and it mirrors a similar process on Cape York. Its now nearly two years since the Cape York Roundtable and there has been real progress since then on the major issues that underpin development like land tenure, like return of country, like organising legal framework for ownership. I am a supreme optimist because I have seen the outcomes of the Cape York Roundtable and I have seen in the struggle of people determined to produce a better Australia, that by working together we can make a difference and we can produce the kind of Australia that we want for future generations. Thank you for being here and best wishes for your work over the next two days. 40
Address by Tom Birch Chairman, Kimberley Land Council Hello everyone. My name is Tom Birch. I am the Chairman of the Kimberley Land Council, and I welcome you all here to this Roundtable. Traditional Owners of the Kimberley of course have a great interest in what happens on our country. We face significant pressures to allow development, sometimes at any cost. Some people even want to take Kimberley water for Perth people to keep their lawns green! 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. I would like firstly to give you a quick rundown of the Kimberley Land council. 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 form the basis of all the decisions we make and all the activities we do. I can break this down a bit further for you. The Kimberley covers about 420,000 square kilometers. That’s pretty big! Kimberley Indigenous people have clear, recent, and provable connection to country. We know this, but it is also shown through the Native Title courts. There are people alive who remember first contact events. So when we say we belong to country, it is not just some idea, it is a real part of our lives. Native Title has been recognised over more than 120,000 square kilometers ( 30%) of the Kimberley. The determination of present native title areas makes us confident that other claims will also be successful. All the names on this map represent Traditional Owner groups. We expect a large portion of the Kimberley to come under native title in the future. Native title gives us certain rights about how country is managed and developed. Part of our vision is to look after country. We set up a Land and Sea unit to do this, with the following 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.” The goals of the Land and Sea Unit are: • To look after and protect indigenous traditional knowledge and practice, and pass it on to future generations • To promote, protect, and maintain a healthy Kimberley natural, cultural, and social environment. • To help get positive outcomes for the lives of Kimberley Aboriginal people, in relation to using and managing country This map shows some of the projects run by our Land and Sea Unit. Some of our staff and some of the people who are part of those projects are here today. As well as projects ‘on country’, Kimberley Traditional Owners are assisted by the KLC’s Land + Sea Unit to provide representation on: 41
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 10 and 11: We have won some battles, at least
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: Ian Lowe President, Australian Cons
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,
Page 61 and 62: Woirnarski, J.C.Z. (1992).Introduct
Page 63: 4. Recent photo of the same locatio
Page 73: APPENDIX C KIMBERLEY APPROPRIATE EC
Page 78 and 79: 74 Don Henry ......................
Page 80 and 81: 76 APPENDIX F TABLE OF PRESENTERS
Page 82 and 83: 78 APPENDIX H ROUNDTABLE SPONSORS A
Page 84: KIMBERLEY APPROPRIATE ECONOMIES ROU

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