A better way: building healthy, safe and sustainable communities in the Northern Territory
Jacqueline Phillips | October 6, 2011
At this critical juncture in planning the future of the Northern Territory Intervention, ANTaR calls on both major parties to learn from the international development experience and work with Aboriginal people to plan the transition from intervention to sustainable futures.
“There is a Third World in every First World… and vice-versa” — Trinh Minh Ha
In June 2011 the Federal Government released a discussion paper, Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory, to consult with Northern Territory communities on the future of Northern Territory Emergency Response (NTER), acknowledging that there is “still much to be done” to close the gap in the Northern Territory.
Encouragingly, the Government commits itself to rebuilding trust with Aboriginal communities by working in partnership with them. But many of the policy positions taken remain premised on a top-down approach, without adequate regard for Aboriginal histories, cultures, languages and social structures.
Fundamentally, the NTER involved a transfer of control — away from communities and community-controlled organisations and into the hands of government departments, newly formed regional councils and government appointed business managers. This top-down approach, endemic across many parts of Australia in Aboriginal affairs, does more to sustain Aboriginal disadvantage than to address it.
Australians for Native Title and Reconciliation (ANTaR) believes that there is a more viable alternative. In our recent submission to Government, we advocated for a community development approach, informed by international development experience, to empower communities to develop sustainable solutions to the challenges they face.
A great deal has been written about the design, implementation and effect of the NTER and the myriad of reforms and complex policy changes that accompanied it — in Community Development Employment Projects (CDEP), remote service delivery, housing, education, local government and governance. Aboriginal communities and organisations in the Northern Territory have faced serious challenges in adjusting to these often hastily, externally imposed policy changes without having a say in how they were developed, let alone their underlying objectives.
Against this background, there is little empirical data on which to analyse just how effective the NTER and its accompanying reforms have been. What is clear, however, is that the NTER alienated many Aboriginal communities and organisations with its coercive approach. It was imposed without consultation, causing anger, fear and distrust amongst Aboriginal communities and people. This much has been acknowledged by the Government.
In A Better Way: building healthy, safe and sustainable communities in the Northern Territory, we make the case for a community development approach to building sustainable futures in the Northern Territory.
Community development emphasises increased self-reliance, decision making and capacity-building at a community level. In a community development approach, Aboriginal people would own, participate in and shape their own development. Governments work with, rather than for, Aboriginal people by supporting community-centred initiatives, recognising that “initiatives are most successful where communities feel a sense of ownership and pride”.
Community development has long been central to international aid and development efforts. It has been championed by leading international development agencies, including the World Bank through its Local and Community-Driven Development program.
Organisations, such as the Harvard Project on American Indian Economic Development, have conducted extensive research showing the benefits of increased self-reliance, collaboration and capacity-building that are central to a community development approach.
We know from such empirical research, and from real-world examples, that a community development approach works. And it can work in Australia too. In our earlier paper, A Better Way: Success Stories in Aboriginal community-control in the NT, we showcased 13 successful Aboriginal community-controlled organisations that featured Aboriginal management and administration, were responsive to local community needs and priorities, and worked in company with other organisations.
It’s time for both major parties to learn from successes in Australia and overseas, and work in partnership with Aboriginal communities towards futures that are both stronger andsustainable. As stated by Stephen Cornell, co-founder of the Harvard Project:
“Give [Indigenous] people substantive power in their own affairs, encourage and support them in taking responsibility for themselves, offer them assistance as they design tools for the exercise of power – and the chances are good that they will do remarkable things”.
Jacqueline Phillips has been the National Director of ANTaR, a national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people's rights and reconciliation advocacy organisation since April 2010. She has previously worked as a Policy Officer at the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), on social security, housing and Indigenous policy issues. Jacqueline has a First Class Arts/Law degree from the University of Sydney and a Masters in Law from McGill University, Canada. Her Masters Thesis was on native title law.
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