Kimberley Appropriate Economics Interim Report - Australian ...

Address by Pat Lowe,
Founding Member, Environs Kimberley
This is a very special and unusual gathering. People present here come from an extraordinary diversity of
backgrounds and experience. I dare say that no government department would be able to assemble such a
group. To bring all these people together requires an ability to reject the usual categories and boundaries, to
think broadly and inclusively. It also requires a depth and breadth of local and regional knowledge, which is
worth more than gold.
We are meeting for two simple reasons: a shared love of country and a desire to see the Kimberley prosper.
And we want to see our region prosper, not plundered. Ever since this continent was first colonised and settled,
the main interest of the colonisers has been how to exploit it as extensively and quickly as possible. They have
been like kids in a sweetshop: greedy for the glittering goodies before them and unable to know when enough is
enough. In their excitement, they have not considered leaving anything for those who will come after them, and
have taken little notice of natural limitations. The trail of wreckage they have left is described vividly by Jared
Diamond in his recent book, ‘Collapse’
The Kimberley is special because, although parts of it have been badly and carelessly exploited, and some
species are in decline, much of it is unspoilt. As the world becomes ever more crowded and envronmentally
impoverished, places like the Kimberley become rarer and, through rarity, priceless. And, because the region
has not yet been over-developed, we are in the happy position of being able to avoid the worst mistakes made
elsewhere. We must never become another wheat belt. Our rivers must never turn into Murray-Darlings.
We are meeting in Fitzroy Crossing rather than somewhere else in the Kimberley because this is the town that
straddles the Fitzroy River, which in recent years has attracted so much outside interest from those who want
to take its water. The Fitzroy means many things to the people who live along its banks. It means livelihood,
respite from the heat, renewal, recreation. And it means abundance: abundance of water during the wet
season, abundance of fish and food, abundance of birds and other wildlife. To its indigenous people it means
much more even than all this, as can be seen from the many sites and stories that run its length. Even at its
mouth, where it discharges into King Sound, each year the Fitzroy adds abundance in silt and nutrients to the
ecosystems of the Sound. The Fitzroy is a system of natural prosperity, and any serious interference with its
flow could only reduce its abundance.
I said earlier that I doubted the capacity of government departments to assemble a group of people like this one.
Government departments tend to look inwards or upwards: in at their own workings or up at their ministers,
who in turn are looking at the press, with a view to remaining in office. Government departments and their
ministers seldom really look outwards, towards the people they are supposedly serving.
Another thing that governments cannot do is to motivate people. In attempting to solve problems, they so often
make them worse. They throw money around and think that is enough.
I remember when Bob Hawke was Prime Minister and was going to put an end to poverty. Representatives
of the World Council of Churches came to Australia and visited Aboriginal communities. They came away
shocked at what they saw, and wrote a report that exposed Australia’s failures to the world. Mr Hawke was
offended. ‘My government has just given X millions of dollars to services for Aboriginal communities,’ he said.
The spokesman of the WCC was very polite. ‘I am happy to hear that the government is spending money on
services to Aboriginal people,’ he said. ‘But perhaps Mr Hawke does not understand that money cannot solve
social problems.’
Companies wanting to establish a big business in the Kimberley have a predictable way of behaving. Because
nowadays they can no longer get away with ignoring Indigenous people’s rights and needs, they do two things.
One is to consult Indigenous people - not always with the results they had anticipated - the other is to assure the
world at large that their enterprise will benefit Aboriginal people by providing employment for them.
A
43