Thanks Amanda. I too spend time in your beautiful part of the world; in fact some of my partner’s family until recently lived in Eden, and I have several good friends who have retired to the Bega valley and Wallaga Lake areas. I once worked briefly for the koorie community in that area, and worked (voluntarily) with Marcia Langton and many others, including the late Ted Thomas & others from your region, in organising the first NSW land council meetings and conference in 1976 and 1977, which led later to the formation of the NSW Land Council and land rights legislation.
With respect, I would like to point out that the naively utopian ‘Rebuilding From the Ground Up, an alternative to NTER’ document was put together primarily by non-Aboriginal activists in Sydney based around the UTS/STICS/WGAR axis, and its IRAG offshoot in Alice Springs. It undoubtedly reflects the beliefs of those few Aboriginal people who are actively involved in those groups. It has been endorsed by a few others, some of whom could be easily predicted to do so, as they come from the relatively small group of NT Aboriginal leaders who consistently and publicly opposed the NTER. This does not, however, mean that they are necessarily reflective of mass grass roots opinion in the majority of affected communities. It has also been endorsed by a lot of non-Aboriginal, non-NT organisations and individuals who have no grass roots presence in the NT communities, and probably know very little about the realities of a lot of the issues involved.
Some politicians and bureaucrats may imagine assimilation is desirable and feasible, but I agree with you that it is neither. However I don’t agree that the NTER as it has developed to date is either very assimilationist or capable of becoming so. It is simply endeavouring to achieve the minimal settings required for a lot of remote NT people to have a decent chance of growing up reasonably healthy and educated. It is not attempting to dispose of or significantly modify people’s remaining elements of traditional culture and social structures.
(TBC)

The NTER has not removed Aboriginal control from large areas of land, as only a fraction of 1% of Aboriginal-owned land has been placed under the (temporary) Commonwealth 5 year leases over town areas, and Macklin has organised rent to be paid for these small patches. No sacred sites are alienated from use or control, as they remain protected by the sacred sites protection legislation under arrangements between the Commonwealth and NT Governments via the Aboriginal Areas Protection Authority. (One ceremony ground was desecrated at Numbulwar, where rogue contractors placed a pit toilet, and they were prosecuted for having done so. This behaviour was not entirely unknown before the NTER).
Just over 50% of the NT land mass remains Aboriginal inalienable freehold, with Land Councils assisting traditional owners in the stewardship of all this land and all negotiations with mining companies about resources on this land, as was the case before the NTER.
The resources and authoritarianism needed for a seriously assimilationist project would be far more than either the Australian tax payers or Aboriginal people are likely to be willing to tolerate. The ‘answer’ is probably for lots of us to continue to muddle through ways of co-existing, working together in good faith to overcome inequalities and problems by ensuring good education of the present and future generations of Aboriginal kids (including large elements of traditional knowledge and language), whilst leading fulfilling lives as possible under these difficult circumstances. If enough of us unite around achievable institutional changes such as improving the constitution, and improving government policies and programs and services, then so much the better. But we are not going to get there by being unrealistic about what is possible at the present time, or being overly romantic about Aboriginal culture and society, aggressive towards each other, misinformed about the facts or too negative about the possibility of change. Some more balance, better access to factual information and better communication at all levels would help too. Respect and truth can’t appear out of the blue by magic, but they may be aided and abetted by balanced, factual communication.

Dan, you obviously have a wealth of experience and have thought deeply about issues and believe NTER is a good thing. However I can't read what Rosalie Kunoth-Monks says and accept that so we'll have to agree to differ.

"Fast forward to 2007, we had the visit from departmental staff, the army and the police, who told us we were now under the Intervention. Suddenly there was a policy in the Northern Territory that took away our rights. It was assault. It traumatised all of us, so we looked around to see what made sense. What made sense was at all costs to hang onto the land.

As we go into 2012, we see that there are certain Aboriginal communities earmarked as growth towns. Let me assure anybody who cares for the Aboriginal people of Australia that once we are moved from our place of origin, we will not only lose our identity, we will die a traumatised, tragic end.

We cannot have identity if we are put into these reservations that are now called growth towns, we will become third-class, non-existent human beings.

This is a tragedy that is unfolding through the policies of an uncaring government. It seems sentimental and - I can't find the other word in English - about attachment to the land. It's not attachment to the land, it's survival of a cultural practice that is still alive in spite of what has been thrown at it.

We need to stop the destruction of the oldest living culture in the world."

Amanda,

Offering an emotive quote from a high profile activist who has apparently spent the bulk of her adult life in the heart of Australian urban culture is hardly an argument. No disrespect to you or to Rosalie, but 'Utopia' seems apt - in describing the dream, rather than the reality.

I'm going to get into hot water here, but the only way to truly preserve the 'oldest living culture in the world' is through total isolation from all outside influence. Obviously that formula is not possible (nor preferred by any, from all accounts, save for a few possible die-hard bushies - and even that is an illusion, if truth beknown).

We are all faced with compromise, but it would appear that some indigenous communities and people are being forced to walk a tightrope - between the attractions of westernisation and demands for adherence to a dying culture. It is no wonder young people are taking the ultimate opt-out under such pressure; what future is really being offered to them in such circumstances?

There are still some tribes living 'naturally' in the Amazon, and maybe in PNG. Is that what 'the people' want? Not on your Nelly! Everyone wants to have the cake and eat it, and therein lies the predicament. So, let's have it then - tenure of land plus teaching of culture and language, plus all modern amenities (including higher education) - and paid for by mining royalties. It could work - for those living in remote communities. As for urban (Southern and seaboard) 'communities', there's is a different path, and they should follow it. Many cultures, many languages, a host of diverse interests.

It is possible to maintain ritual, as evidenced in US, Canada and NZ, and some practices, in limited format (dugong and turtle harvesting, perhaps), but not lifestyle. (The oldest, is also the most backward - and that won't work for anyone.)

NTER seems to offer the best opportunity to solve dysfunction and inappropriate practices and attitudes. 'Tough love'.

No-one should be 'herded' anywhere against their will, but progress and change must be made, harmoniously.

As I have seen it personally, one of the problems with shifting people into larger communities is that they need to be taught the standards of cleanliness tidiness and propriety to which they should conform. It should be the individual responsibility to keep the surrounds tidy. It should not be the job of a paid employee. It shouldn't fall upon the army to come in and clean out overflowing toilets as happened in the NT a few years ago.

Hi Amanda,

Thank you for raising these crucial issues and teasing out some of their components.

I guess we all are a bit like the Seven Blind Men trying to understand what an Elephant is: we each have our experiences, which are necessarily partial, since we can't be everywhere and experience everything.

For example, my own working experience is limited to SA, to just a couple of communities within a couple of hundred kilometres of Adelaide, and to work in Indigenous student support at universities, and career workshops in schools, over about forty years. It's not much, but it has given some insight into major issues.

But the key here is surely: what can the Elephant do ? Not what - interminably - other ('partially-sighted') people can do for It, but what is it doing for itself ?

The Aboriginal people have a vast range of opportunities nowadays, and with nearly thirty thousand pioneering university graduates, (mostly in the cities of course) no-one can claim that the obstacles are insurmountable.

Yes, people in remote communities are in danger of drifting further away from genuine self-determination, from the ability to do anything for themselves - ironically, the more that outsiders do for them. But there is/are a multitude of mechanisms to bring people's skill levels along from the most basic, right up through TAFE basic study skills, trades and para-professional skills, and on to university. Yes, that can be a long journey, but it's one which people will have to take if there is ever to be any genuine self-determination in communities.

There is now a First Nations Education Advisory Group, a re-run of the old National Aboriginal Education Committee. This Group/Committee has the responsibility of devising effective Indigenous education policies. Much of its work has already been done for it, in the sense that urban people - particularly women - have grasped those opportunities for education and employment. So the bigger job now is how to reach out and recommend better mechanisms for genuine individual capacity-building in TAFE, universities andprivate education providers for remotecommunities.

Best of luck,

Joe