Kimberley Appropriate Economics Interim Report - Australian ...

Why would you?
The first three words that came into my mind when I
heard about this forum, are ‘Why would you?’
Sometimes people like myself and others feel
powerless when we try to articulate change and
the needs of our communities, when our advice
and input into conferences like this one here, falls
on deaf ears.
And I see our communities struggling with
poverty, and agencies struggling with a diminishing
public sector resource base and an ever increasing
market driven economy that wants access to take
natural resources like iron ore, like uranium, and
like water out of this river.
And this market is demanding we use
our resources, and that’s the big conflict
I see in the Kimberley for our Elders
- fighting for a cultural asset, (while) the
market looks at that asset as an opportunity
to make money.
But Aboriginal people are supreme optimists,
they’re survivors. They’re here, they’re
not going to move from the Fitzroy Valley.
You’re not going to move the Miriuwung
people, the Karajarri people. That’s their
country.
That if you can start
with one person, it
can grow to two, it
can grow to three
and eventually,
hopefully, it will
grow to 600 people
— motivation for
Bunuba people to
start thinking about
their own wellbeing.
And suddenly everyone
realises after
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