Suchergebnisse

This volume comprises papers delivered at the North Australia Research Unit's annual conference held in Darwin on 22-24 February, 1989. The title of the conference, 'Small Towns in Northern Australia', attracted not only a wide range of speakers from state government departments, non-government organisations and from other universities, but also a lively and appreciative audience over the three days. Topics discussed included those social, economic and political issues that have both determined the existence, and continue to influence the future development, or small and remote settlements north of the 26th parallel.

"Anticipating the future is uniquely human. We strive constantly to anticipate trends and great events to seek opportunity and avoid disaster. So what will drive the future of tropical Australia? The four authors of this book, all of whom have a close association with the Cooperative Research Centre for Tropical Savanna Management, identify ten major drivers that will shape the north: population, social function, property rights, Commonwealth policy, the global economy, resource use, oil futures, climate change, invasive organisms and technological innovation. For each they identify the risks, uncertainties and the extent to which they can be controlled by the people of the north. Then they describe seven possible futures: chronic underdevelopment, degeneration, a northern ricebowl, an industrial powerhouse, environment first, an Indigenous community Utopia and dynamic urbanization. These are not predictions. They are scenarios to make readers think and realize that the decisions being made today will have a profound influence in the future. Whereas for the rest of the world, the future has largely been set by unplanned development and the irrevocable contingencies of history, northern Australia can be moulded by deliberate and considered choices. Our generation has the opportunity and frightening responsibility to make those choices."--Provided by publisher

"The White Paper is a vision to unlock the great potential and opportunities of the north. It focuses on building priority roads, developing water resources, removing red tape, building a sustainable workforce and ensuring effective governance arrangements"--Publisher's website. ; Made available by the Northern Territory Library via the Publications (Legal Deposit) Act 2004 (NT). ; Forward -- Developing the North -- Simpler land arrangements to support investment -- Developing the North's water resources -- Our business, trade and investment gateway -- Infrastructure to support growth -- A Northern workforce for growth -- Good governance for Northern Australia -- Implementation plan -- Profile of Northern Australia -- Selection of existing policies and programmes -- Abbreviations -- List of tables and figures -- Bibliography. ; Creative Commons licence With the exception of the Coat of Arms, this publication is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Australia Licence.

Over the last decade, Australia's tropical north has featured front and centre in big national debates about the nation's future. As in the past, the north has again been cast as the nation's frontier saviour through bold new resource and agricultural developments, both real and imagined. Yet others have dreamt of the north's expansive landscapes being secured as an iconic wilderness. Big human rights-centred debates have raged about the success or otherwise of Commonwealth, State and Territory interventions in Indigenous communities. Quick-draw policy responses on complex issues like the live cattle trade have had devastating impacts on the confidence of northern industries and communities. Finally, the daily media images of refugees heading to the coast keep the north's strategic importance on centre-stage, raising unresolved tensions about relationships with our Asian-Pacific neighbours. With some exceptions, these national debates have played out across southern Australia's media, policy-making and academic institutions and think-tanks; a debate largely crafted by, and for, a southern audience. For those of us in the north, it is forgivable to think that the south looks upon northern Australia as one might look upon their own troubled child; a youngster on the precipice between adolescence and adulthood. There seems to be, on one level, that great hope and expectation of a gifted life ahead; the north stepping forth into untold prosperity and longevity. At the same time, there remains a fear that, left to its own devices, the north will spiral into delinquency; a failed state perhaps. While it could be too easy to cast a discussion about the future of northern Australia in simple north-south terms, the south does have the political power, money and population to deliver big changes in the north. Many in the north, however, would argue that, on a daily basis, they experience flaws in the south's contribution to its governance. There is a common perception that major policy decisions are often made in the interest of a southern electorate without real concern for the rights and interests of those in the north. Other concerns relate to programs that are too short term, fragmented and restrictive to make any genuine changes for the better. Without further extending the "troubled youth" analogy, this might just be a sign that the north is maturing and is champing at the bit to be more in control of its own destiny. The north, however, is indeed different to the south. It has a far thinner human and institutional capacity. Its land tenure foundations are largely public or communal versus private. It is primarily an Indigenous domain. Its climate and annual cyclonic risk is beyond the typical experiences of those in the south. Much of the north is closer to populous Asian and Pacific capitals than to Perth, Brisbane or Canberra. As such, northerners, by and large, are looking for different governance models. There is a desire to cast existing models aside and to at least explore, in partnership with State and Federal Governments, innovative new approaches. Northern Australians want people in the south to better understand this unique, majestic land and its importance to the nation. Over recent years, several columnists and academics have had a go at building a narrative about the north, but few have tried to start a genuine dialogue between northern and southern Australia; a dialogue focused on how the nation as a whole might work towards a better future for northern Australia through governance reform. This discussion piece aims to start a national debate about the purpose and direction for such reform. It is not, however, a return to Theodorian-style calls for political separatism. Northern Australia needs southern Australia and vice versa. This means that, at the very least, the nation needs a bolder and united north Australian narrative that takes us from being the post-colonial backwater of three separate governments to a more northern-driven but nationally integrated governance system. It is about Australian and State/Territory Governments radically and collectively reconfiguring their current fragmented and geographically distant approach, to one that negotiates big policy decisions in the north and that manages government policy and programs in radically different ways. With mature economies in the south, fresh opportunities for major national economic, social and environmental advances rest in the north. Southern powers need to explicitly support the emergence of these opportunities from within the north itself for the benefit of the nation as a whole. This could emerge through a stronger northern Australian policy, fiscal and delivery architecture; perhaps one directly integrated into the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) framework. Such an architecture and associated processes, however, must be powerfully engaged with a cohesive and strong pan-tropical alliance of northern Australia's sectoral interests, inclusive of traditional owners, local government, industry, human service, conservation and other sectors. It must also be independently informed by a cohesive and engaged knowledge-based relationship with the north's key research institutions. If this approach recasts the way decisions are made for the north, then there are several big reform agendas that need to be the foundational focus of attention. First, as the foundation for both economic development and rights protection, the north needs real innovation in the efficient resolution of land use and tenure conflicts across the landscape. This requires a long-term, cohesive and regionally-driven approach to planning of the north's strategic land use and infrastructure needs. This contrasts the current approach, driven both by either high profile southern conservation campaigns or major development projects that emerge in bull markets. On the economic front, we also need a more targeted and consistent approach to negotiating major project development in ways that lift investor-confidence while not trashing our crown-jewel environmental and cultural assets; approaches that also can build the long-term foundations for regional community development. Alongside this, we have an opportunity to create the basis for an eco-system services economy specifically designed for, and focussed on, northern Australia; one that delivers land owners/managers real economic reasons for managing landscapes explicitly for their cultural, conservation and wilderness values while also keeping the economic foundations for remote communities intact. At the community-scale, over the past 30 years, the core government model for Indigenous policy and program delivery shifted from assimilation to self-determination, but the policy failures of both have culminated in (the largely top-down) interventions of the last decade and their focus on service normalisation. While addressing critical needs, the new normalisation-based approaches continue to disempower and deliver stop-start progress. The architecture for government delivery largely remains welfare-oriented, inflexible and annualised. Such approaches simply do not build lasting human capacity and often do not work for a region with a rugged landscape, limited human resources and a cruelling wet-dry seasonality. Similarly in that time, local governments across the north have been gradually lumbered with big new policy and delivery responsibilities without linked improvements in revenue. To shift the whole economy from an historically boom-bust cycle, however, the nation must build the foundations for a tropical knowledge-driven economy that both underpins productivity improvements in our existing industries (mining, agriculture, fishing, tourism) and creates real export-oriented engagement. This outward looking engagement needs to be not just into the Asia-Pacific, but right across the globe's tropical latitudes. This will rely on Australia investing in tropical knowledge development (e.g., tropical health, agriculture, environmental and disaster management, tropical design and energy) within the north. These strengths then need to be brokered into the wider tropical region via long-term partnership building, trade and innovation clusters and the strategic attraction of foreign investment. This palette of reforms could deliver a progressive and productive northern Australia with a strong identity and lifestyle values to-die-for. Despite the challenging climate, the north could become a place where a great diversity of people (with a wide skills base) want to live, escaping our reputation as the southern hemisphere's salt mines. The cost of failure would be great: a permanent boom and bust economy with more bust and less boom, whole regions of multi-generational disadvantage and the nation's environmental and cultural jewels degraded. If progressed through the right governance reforms, however, securing these opportunities in the north may hold the keys to the whole nation's future. This paper outlines first why good governance for northern Australia is important to the nation. It details how things actually function in a pan-tropical sense, in northern Western Australia (WA), the Northern Territory (NT) and northern Queensland, and at regional and local scales. It then looks at how the north has been governed through the lens of major conflict themes from our recent history. It also looks at the outcomes that might emerge from a business-as-usual scenario; what happens if the flaws in the governance of the north continue unabated into the future? Finally, it explores (or perhaps dreams) of some of the alternative possibilities for northern governance.

The objectives of the Northern Australia aquaculture industry situational analysis project (A.1.1718119) were to identify key challenges and opportunities facing the northern Australian aquaculture sector, and to explore potential solutions and identify the most strategic research projects for further investment. The scope of the study included infrastructure, policy, investment, environmental, production, knowledge, training and human capital gaps. The study used a mixed methodology approach to data collection and analysis including a literature review, an online survey, face-to-face workshops, access to key production-related data reported to government, SWOT analysis and scenario planning tools. The opportunity for aquaculture industry development in Northern Australia is large, with estimates that north has 500,000 hectares and 700,000 hectares suitable for marine farming in earthen and lined ponds, respectively . For freshwater pond culture, suitable areas are up to 50-fold larger. Seven strategic recommendations addressing key identified challenges to industry development are included in this report.

The world has a growing appetite for seafood and Australia currently imports 70 per cent of its seafood needs. Aquaculture is Northern Australia could play key role in supplying this demand. This report has investigated the major concerns around aquaculture and the barriers preventing its growth. Water quality, fishmeal in feed, biosecurity and public perceptions were the major concerns that related to aquaculture. Mitigation strategies are continuing to develop to address these concerns. Regulations were the major barrier to development according to the industry however within different sectors there was differences in what level of government the burden came from. Prawn farming was significantly impacted by state and federal regulation. The barramundi sector descried their major frustrations coming from local and state government. Red claw crayfish sector was most affected by local government. In addition a variety of non-­‐regulatory barriers hampered development of the aquaculture. These included past practices that continue to have repercussions today, cultural perceptions making it difficult for one sector to attract new farmers and logistical considerations such as access to transport, power and labour. This report has taken a holistic approach to the barriers affecting aquaculture in Northern Australia. It provides a starting point from which other might investigate what can realistically be done to facilitate aquacultures development in Northern Australia.

Relations between the Philippines and northern Australia date back to the early years of European settlement. Filipinos made a significant contribution to the development of north Australia throughout the nineteenth century, while a small number of Australians were involved in commerce in the Philippines. In north Australia, where some Filipinos intermarried with Aboriginal people and European settlers, this heritage is reflected in the incidence of Filipino names in present-day northern communities. In more recent years the Northern Territory, and to a lesser extent northern communities in Western Australia and Queensland, have come to see their futures inextricably linked to developments in the countries to their immediate north, particularly Indonesia and the Philippines, and have sought increasingly to strengthen social, cultural and sporting, as well as commercial, ties. For Australians, some commonalities of language, predominant religion, Western cultural experience, and democratic traditions have contributed to making the Philippines especially attractive as a place to visit and to do business with; for Filipinos, Australia has been seen since the 1970s as a desirable destination for migration and, increasingly, as a source of education and training. Over the past decade, trade between Australia and the Philippines has grown substantially, if from a low base, and the Philippines has become the fourth largest recipient of Australian. development assistance. For north Australia, trade with the Philippines is still small, and dominated by live cattle exports to the Philippines. This is in large part due to the small market and relatively low level of manufacturing activity which north Australia represents, but the infrequency and high cost of shipping and lack of direct air links are also major inhibiting factors. Nevertheless, the possibilities for expanded trade and investment flows, particularly through the provision of services and through joint ventures in small and medium-sized enterprises, appear to be considerable. With the issue of expanded commercial relations primarily in mind, and with a delegation from the Northern Territory about to visit the Philippines in conjunction with Australia's 'All the Best from Australia' presentation in Manila, a workshop on 'North Australia-Philippines Relations' was held at the Australian National University's North Australia Research Unit on 25 September 1998, in association with the Northern Territory University's Centre for Southeast Asian Studies and the NT International Business Council. The workshop followed an earlier conference on 'Government-Business Relations Between Eastern Indonesia and the Northern Territory'. This volume is an outcome of the September 1998 workshop. An opening chapter by Philippines Minister and Consul General in Australia, Edwin Bael, provides an overview of relations between Australia and the Philippines, with particular reference to north Australia and the southern Philippine island of Mindanao (regions which share an interest in the development of the Brunei/ Indonesia! Malaysia/Philippines-East ASEAN Growth Area (BIMP-EAGA). Subsequent chapters by Dennis Shoesmith, R.J. May, and William Brummitt and Frances Perkins (the latter from the Department of Foreign Mfairs and Trade's East Asia Analytical Unit) review, respectively, the historical context of north Australia-Philippines relations and the political and economic contexts of the Philippines. Relations between the Northern Territory and the Philippines are surveyed in the chapter by Ian Watts, from the NT Department of Asian Relations, Trade and Industry (DART!). Darwin-resident businessman Pascual Tantengco then presents the viewpoint of a Filipino businessman operating in north Australia, while papers by Michael Kilgariff (of the NT International Business Council), William Cordingley, Steve Ellison, Chris Healey and Kym Handberg discuss various aspects of north Australian business and academic relations with the Philippines, including the live cattle trade, which has maintained its importance in the Australia-Philippines relationship notwithstanding the effects of the Asian financial crisis (which have severely affected the trade between Australia and Indonesia). Further chapters survey the role and functions of the Australia-Philippines Business Council, the principal features of trade relations between Australia and the Philipines, and the main components of Australia's development assistance programme in the Philippines. Finally, The Philippines Honorary Consul General for the Northern Territory, Robert Matthewson, provides an overview of the workshop proceedings and suggests some possible lines of future development. Collectively, the various papers give some indication of the extent and dynamics of north Australia-Philippines relations and point to the possibilities of a much more detailed study of the relationship. In organizing the workshop and bringing this volume to publication, I am indebted to my longstanding Filipinist NTU colleague, Dennis Shoesmith, and to the encouragement and support received from NARU director Christine Fletcher and NARU staff Janet Sincock, Melissa Sue and Paula Fennel; DARTI officers Ian Watts, Patrick Markwick-Smith, John McCue and Steve Sanderson; director of DFAT's Northern Territory office, Keith Gardiner(who presented the Brurmnitt and Perkins paper in the absence of the author) and Ross Ainsworth, of the Northern Territory Livestock Exporters Association, who was unable to attend the workshop due to commitments in the Philippines. Bill Cordingley, of Meat and Livestock Australia, though not present at the workshop, provided a paper at very short notice, and Aurora Quinn, of the Office of Ethnic Affairs, Department of the Chief Minister, Darwin, kindly agreed to the reproduction of sections of her 'Background on Philippines-born Territorians'. In Canberra, Claire Smith and Allison Ley carried the burden of converting a collection of written and recorded presentations into a publication, with characteristic efficiency.