NT election outcome signals new era

Follow @rollom38 
A new approach is likely to economic development in remote Aboriginal communities as a result of the resounding victory of the Country Liberal Party (CLP) election held last weekend.
It now looks as though the CLP have won 16 seats in the 25 seat Parliament with one seat held by the Independent Gerry Wood and the balance by the outgoing Labor Party with eights seats – down from the previous 12 seats.

Picture courtesy NT News

The significant element to the result was the success “in the bush” – all those seats outside of Darwin and Alice Springs – now held by CLP members of Parliament and which were previously Labor held seats.
The gains have seen the following significance Aboriginal people being elected to the Parliament:
Alison Anderson – Seat of Namatjiraa - previous Labour Minister under leader and Chief Minister Paul Henderson who defected to the cross benches in 2009 and then joined the CLP. Ms Anderson has been outspoken in her views on the Federal Intervention, that 12 maxi Shires replaced some 80 Community Government Councils and the new Stronger Futures legislation for the next ten years from Canberra.

Francis Xavier Maralampuwi – Seat of Arafura – a local Traditional Aboriginal man from Nguiu, Bathurst Island where he has lived all his life with distinction as a leader in the Community Government Council, Land Council and more recently the Shires. Maralampuwi has a good record in sport as a footballer and in charity work helping people with alcohol and drug problems for the past 30 years. He has won the Seat of Arafura by a 58 seat margin – a seat formerly held for 11 years by popular ALP member Marion Scrymgour who also had a strong local following. It was the people of Nguiu that have put Maralampuwi into Parliament with an 80% support from that polling booth.
Bess Price – Seat of Stuart- has ousted former Henderson Government Minister Karl Hampton. Ms Price has developed her own strong personal profile as a person who will say it as it is and not resort to politically correct verbage when describing how she sees the major issues confronting Aboriginal people in the “bush”. Her views are well known in the National sphere through appearances in shows such as ABC Q & A and SBS Insight. Her margin was a mere 187 votes in an electorate that is larger that most countries in Europe and spans from the centre around Alice Springs through the Tanami Desert to places like Timber Creek on the main highway to WA.
Larissa Lee – Seat of Arnhem – has won from popular Government Minister for Indigenous Affairs Malandari McCarthy – a former ABC journalist in Darwin and well known traditional Aboriginal person from Borroloola. The seat had been uncontested in 2008 and the selection of Larissa as the candidate was a stroke of brilliance by the CLP given her powerful family background being the daughter of the late Jawoyn Aboriginal Elder Robert Lee. An Aboriginal Health Worker from Barunga, Larissa won the seat with a 10.6% margin.

The above four persons have brought about the change in Government and the strength of the effort means that a 100% commitment has been made for doing things better for the “bush”.
One of the key elements of any improvement program will be more jobs and developing real economies in places (towns) that have up until now relied on no competition, welfare handouts and a static work environment with unemployment being the main occupation.

And this is where pharmacy comes in on two fronts.
The first is bringing into the community money that is currently going to the main centres of Alice Springs and Darwin by way of surpluses made on trading with Medicare for the supply of Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme medicines. This could all be going to these towns with the strategic placement of local pharmacy businesses in the Growth Towns. There are many young pharmacists keen to establish there own businesses and what better or more challenging place to do it than a remote Aboriginal community classified as a “Growth Town” and with the support of a Government committed to creating economies.
The second contribution pharmacy (or pharmacists) can make is the provision of a “point of sale” for all things that will lead to a healthy lifestyle – food, activities, exercise programs, books, DVDs, motivational programs and the many many things that are taken for granted in “mainstream” culture way but denied of these people by a governance that has seen no reason for competition or no more that one store.

A comparison between an Aboriginal Growth Town and a mainstream country town shows that there are 15 retail outlets in the mainstream town compared with five in Aboriginal land and yet a disposable income far higher with the Aboriginals than in mainstream. This is because they pay very little rent for fewer houses and are not likely to own a car. If the cost of these is taken out of a family budget it is not hard to find and extra $500 a fortnight and yet have nothing useful to spend it on. In one store there is 35% of purchases spent on tobacco products and this has increased over the past 20 years by 2%. Quite unlike the downward spiral in mainstream where tobacco products have gone down from around 60 % of the population smoking to 15% in the same period (20 years). Problem – no point of sale for health promotion – just messages through print and media.

The CLP Government comes into office with the following policy commitments:
o The creation of a commercial environment so that businesses can earn decent profits and grow.
o The creation of a strong and growing economy by allowing and encouraging private industry to thrive.
o Expanding the Small Business Advisory Service across the whole Territory will help more Indigenous people in remote communities get into real jobs and off welfare.
o Shires and Regional councils will be assisted to pursue new business opportunities to expand their service and revenue base.
o Regional Councils will give a greater say to local people on where money is spent and how services are delivered in their region.
o The Country Liberals are committed to delivering a stronger local voice, better services and a safer, more prosperous future for our regions.
No better climate could have been created for emerging pharmacy businesses but it is now for the industry to get behind and back such a progression. The present profile in the NT shows that for a population of 220,000 there are 28 pharmacies – one per 7.900 persons compared with a National figure of one per 4,200.
The difference is in the persons in remote communities NOT being served by a pharmacy meaning that the profits from their communities is going to the big stakeholders in Alice Springs and Darwin.
Now is the time to jump and a consortium started that will seize the opportunity and allow many young pharmacists to make a contribution which although not being the most rewarding financially will certainly be rewarding in health outcomes through professional satisfaction.
Ends
Comments welcome to Rollo Manning, PO Box 98 Parap NT or rollom@iinet.net.au or 0411 049 872

GET A JOB AND A LOT OF SOCIAL PROBLEMS WILL DISAPPEAR

This may be a simplistic few words but let’s think it through – how relevant is this in today’s remote communities?

One indication to the drastic social problems confronting young Indigenous Australians living in remote communities is the fact that there are two references before Parliamentary Committees in Canberra that have a direct bearing on two major social problems. They are:
1. Indigenous youth and the criminal justice system

2. Early intervention programs to prevent youth suicide

The population in jails in the Northern Territory for Aboriginal people is 82% of all inmates and over 50% of them are under the age of 30 years. There are around 900 Aboriginal people in gaol with 95% being males.

In the NT there has been a concerning increase in suicides in recent months. The NT news typifies the situation in the following Editorial on 29^th September 2010:

AT least seven Territory children have killed themselves in the past month.

That bald statistic masks unfathomable pain - the hopelessness that leads young people to give up on life, the never-ending anguish of the loved ones left behind.
As revealed in the NT News yesterday, the problem is not confined to remote Aboriginal communities, although the suicide rate among indigenous youth is far higher than among non-indigenous children.
Most young Territorians are drunk or stoned - or both - when they kill themselves, proving that alcohol and ganja (Marijuana) can turn someone who is depressed suicidal.

The unemployment rate where these young men come from is around 30%, although an exact figure is hard to know due to the various reporting processes and Centrelink definitions that include people on disability pensions as not being employable. A person may be classed as disabled for Centrelink because they are illiterate.

The social scene and degree of cohesion and strength of social capital is weak on all counts and the greatest thing missing for young people is hopes, dreams and ambitions for the future.

When life in a community is a struggle to exist from day to day due to the indicators of poverty there is no time to think about or plan for the future. The future around them is bleak, the facilities are non existent and there is no encouragement for developing personal micro economic enterprises that might create a job.

The manner in which these social problems have been dealt with in other Third World situations revolves around enterprise facilitation and that means self help and initiative.

Why can’t Aboriginal people be encouraged to do this?

There is one simple barrier–money – money from heaven for doing nothing. A tempting gift to resist.

In the meantime employment opportunities must be considered as a solution to social malaise.

A reason to get up in the morning.

A reason to be pleased to come home at the end of the day and eat a good meal satisfied that life is good.

And then a good nights sleep.

Should that be too hard? – well it is – so lets work through the barriers together with the Aboriginal people and stop blaming them, the Government or other external factors.

Get a job – give a job – make a job – it is good for your health and then you live longer.

IE CLOSE THE GAP!

Aboriginal towns stark contrast to mainstream

Governments must open their eyes and do something to create the infrastructure needed to have a thriving economy in remote Aboriginal towns across the north of Australia. There is no need to keep thinking that one store, a couple of takeaways and a fuel outlet is all that is needed and then say the people must move to the jobs if they want to work for a living!

Indications are something is going to happen - it is a matter of when and how!
There is no reason to believe that Aboriginal people do not need the retail outlets and service facilities that the rest of Australia takes for granted. Regrettably that is all many people know because that is all they have seen living in isolation to the rest of the population.

A comparison of an Australian country town, Boorowa in NSW, with Galiwin’ku on Elcho Island shows up some sharp contrasts.

Population of both places 2,000 people

If it looks as though Boorowa is the bigger

of the two – it is - in terms of number of houses. 950 for 2,000 people compared to Galiwin’ku with 152 houses.

Then you really know what over crowding” means! 8.5 persons per house at Galiwin’ku compared with 2.4 in Boorowa.

The biggest contrast in terms of retail opportunities is the number of
businesses - be they retail or service.

Galiwin’ku has just five retail outlets. One store, three takeaways and a fuel bowser.
Boorowa on the other hand has 15 retail outlets as well as three

hotels - (none at Elcho), three motels (none at Elcho), eight café/restaurants (none at Elcho) other retail stores including a pharmacy - pictured right - and the gathering of service clubs, special interest groups and supporting organisations mainstream Australians take for granted.
Overall the strength of social capital in Boorowa is huge compared with Galiwin’ku where it has been decimated over the past 100 years as a result of colonisation. There were people living in North East Arnhem Land in the 1930s who did not know the “south” had been settled by the British. They thought Japanese (from pearling) and Asians (from trepang) were the only other people on the planet.(1)
The people of Galiwin’ku are from 15 different clan groups that were at loggerheads years ago and have been thrust together in a “community” with no help in developing their alternative social networks, activities or sporting opportunities. There is football club run by a group under the auspice of the Council but with little opportunity for the player to have a say in how it is run.
The clan groups are the focus of social gatherings.
The 24 page booklet (pictured left) lists all the shops, services, clubs, festivals, history and attractions of Boorowa.
Galiwin’ku does not have ONE motel. Only a “guest house” that many walk away from on first sight. (Pictured right)
The following table gives a comparison of other indicators (2) :

It does not have to be this way and yet for some reason governments over the past 30 years have believed remote living Aboriginal people only need the most fundamental of services to make their communities thrive.
It is shameful that in 2009 these towns have chronic unemployment, illiteracy among children, poor health through overcrowded houses and phenomenal amounts of boredom that leads to domestic violence, drug abuse and general anti social behaviour.
This is the profile of a town where only 10% of the population has reached Year 10 level at school.
The retail store - with no competition - is under no commercial pressure to do better - although the one at Galiwin'ku is community controlled and does its best (pictured right).
It is hard to expect a child to want to go to school when all they see is chronic unemployment and no industries that attract their desire

as a future career path.

As Noel Pearson put it in an article in The Australian in August 2008:
"You can educate people as much as you like, but if they've got no jobs to go into, as a young Aboriginal 10 year-olsd told me"Why do we need to be educated if there's nothing for us, there's no future"."

The answer lies in developing enterprises which the people themselves want to see happen and where they are responsible for that development.

In the world of “Enterprise Facilitation”, and as promoted by Ernesto Sirolli through his Sirolli Institute (3) based in Canada, the facilitator has no original ideas of their own – they all come from the people – and – only work with people who want to be helped. It remains to be seen whether this approach will work in remote Aboriginal towns but it is worth a try.

Let’s face it – nothing else has worked over the past 100 years so why not ENTERPRISE FACILITATION a la Sirolli.

Remote living Aboriginals need some dreams. The dreams they had have been destroyed by Governments with a passion to have them be like us.

What needs to be done is foster and facilitate their dreams so success can come and by example the children will at last see a reason to want to go to school.
The Enterprise Facilitator helps people to live their dreams and provide them with the answers they need to achieve their goals.
Aboriginal people in the main have been to Darwin, they spend a lot of money at stores of all types and sizes. K-Mart and Target are popular as is The Good Guys and Harvey Norman. The amount of money being spent is mind boggling for people who are allegedly living in a state of poverty. For the ones that do not waste their money on grog, gunja and drugs there is plenty of disposable income left for clothing, electrical goods and gadgets, sporting accessories and music.
The big retailers are benefitting but there is no reason why a wider variety of shops in the town would not succeed given the obvious demand.
A concerted effort on the part of the Australian society (including government) is needed to bring these Aboriginal towns up to the same level of services as the towns mainstream Australians call home.

This has to happen so the playing field is level when a comparison is made between the two cultures.

References:
1. Mcintosh, I., & Burrumarra, D. (1994). The whale and the cross: conversation with David Burrumarra MBE. Darwin, Historical Society of the Northern Territory.

2. Australian Bureau of Statistics: 2006 Census QuickStats. Boorowa and Galiwin’ku

3. Ernesto Sirolli: Ripples from the Zambezi: Passion, Entrepreneurship, and the Rebirth of Local Economies. New Society Publishing, British Columbia, Canada