tag:theconversation.com,2011:/global/topics/northern-territory-2532/articlesnorthern territory – The Conversation2024-03-06T04:45:50Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2185182024-03-06T04:45:50Z2024-03-06T04:45:50ZThe ‘No’ Voice result showed us we need to prioritise truth-telling in Australia<p>The Indigenous Voice to Parliament could have been a chance to address issues First Nations people often face, such as domestic and family violence, racism and discrimination, and inequalities in education, health, and the flaws in the justice system. A lot of us saw the Voice as a potential forum where future generations could step up as advocates and drive meaningful change on many issues that impact First Nations communities in the Northern Territory. </p>
<p>These hopes were dashed by the referendum’s result. “No” was disheartening for many, but left a particularly deep emotional impact on individuals and communities here in the NT. Virtually <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/15/indigenous-communities-overwhelmingly-voted-yes-to-australias-voice-to-parliament">all remote Aboriginal communities</a> in the NT voted with a profound “Yes”, so the feeling of being unrecognised and unheard was painful. For us, the result was especially heartbreaking and we felt a sense of disillusionment with broader Australia.</p>
<p>The result symbolised a missed opportunity for recognition and understanding. We feel the “No” vote exposed a part of Australia that has a history of being ignorant to issues impacting First Nations people. We wrote of this with the <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-some-context-missing-from-the-mparntwe-alice-springs-crime-wave-reporting-199481">alleged crime wave</a> in Mparntwe Alice Springs and the <a href="https://theconversation.com/it-cannot-be-normal-that-men-hurt-us-women-what-we-can-learn-from-the-inquest-into-4-aboriginal-womens-deaths-in-the-nt-211738">silence</a> surrounding Blak women being murdered.</p>
<p>Despite this, strong Indigenous-led movements have held a mirror up to the injustices faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. These include movements calling for an end to <a href="https://dhadjowa.com.au/">Blak Deaths in Custody</a>, to commit to truth-telling, and to end violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women through dedicated initiatives and plans led by First Nations women.</p>
<p>These movements have faced often extreme backlash, often from people and politicians who out of discomfort would rather erase the history of Australia in preference of something more serving to the nationalist sentiment.</p>
<p>This is why it’s an important time to revisit the <a href="https://ulurustatement.org/">Uluru Statement’s</a> call for <a href="https://www.indigconlaw.org/home/australian-voters-confirm-history-is-calling-nxly7">Truth</a>. Government and policy bodies need to engage with First Nations organisations and communities as this is essential for understanding and addressing the needs of First Nations peoples’ needs and concerns. If Australia wants to walk with us on this journey, the truth must first be told – and it must be heard. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/the-political-subjugation-of-first-nations-peoples-is-no-longer-historical-legacy-213752">The political subjugation of First Nations peoples is no longer historical legacy</a>
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<h2>The role of truth-telling</h2>
<p>The impact of such a loud “No” on communities in the NT has been significant. Many First Nations community organisations and people responded to the result with a <a href="https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2023/10/15/indigenous-australians-call-for-week-of-silence-after-referendum-failure">week of silence and mourning</a>, with some turning their social media profile pictures black and refraining from posting. </p>
<p>Some organisations closed their doors to respect a mourning period. Others raised their voices even louder, continuing their advocacy and fight for First Nations justice. For instance, <a href="https://www.snaicc.org.au/about-snaicc-who-we-are/">SNAICC</a> - National Voice for Our Children continued its tireless work to advocate for First Nations children and young people. </p>
<p>In the absence of the Voice, First Nations communities and organisations continue to work. While we didn’t get a representative body in federal parliament, government and policy bodies could still do more to collaborate with First Nations voices. A recent example of this is First Nations women’s advocates and organisations pushing the government to commit to a separate national plan to address the high rates of violence against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children. </p>
<p>This resulted in the government appointing a <a href="https://ministers.pmc.gov.au/burney/2024/expert-first-nations-steering-committee-advise-reducing-rates-family-violence-and-abuse">steering committee</a> of First Nations women to lead these efforts. To change the political landscape in this country so it is more representative and just, this requires deep listening and truth-telling with First Nations organisations and communities.</p>
<p>Many First Nations organisations in the NT continue to drive forward positive change in our communities. This includes organisations such as <a href="https://www.galiwinkuwomenspace.com/">Galiwin'ku Women’s Space</a>, <a href="https://www.caaflu.com.au/">Central Australian Family Legal Unit</a>, <a href="https://www.ntcommunity.org.au/organisations/darwin-aboriginal-islander-womens-shelter/">Darwin Aboriginal & Islander Women’s Shelter</a>, and <a href="https://www.npywc.org.au/">NPY Women’s Council</a>. </p>
<p>Through this work, we are so often reminded it is First Nations women who lead their communities through troubled times, and many go unacknowledged. Our group, The Tangentyere Women’s Family Safety Group, continues to focus on ending family violence and creating visibility for Aboriginal women’s experiences. We do this in our home, Mparntwe Alice Springs.</p>
<p>Truth-telling and <a href="https://www.creativespirits.info/aboriginalculture/education/deep-listening-dadirri">deep listening</a> offers a pathway for addressing the issues with and alongside First Nations communities. Most of our elected representatives have spent very little time in Aboriginal communities like ours - this must change. Governments must dedicate more meaningful time to spending time and truly listening to First Nations communities. First Nations justice cannot be done from the concrete of Canberra, it must be done from the red dust of communities. </p>
<p>Truth-telling makes a pathway for <a href="https://www.batchelor.edu.au/about/both-ways-learning/">two-way learning</a>. Yolŋu use the metaphor of <a href="https://livingknowledge.anu.edu.au/html/educators/07_bothways.htm">Ganma</a> to explain two-way learning - Ganma is where the salt and fresh water meet and mix, and it is in this environment that unique flora and fauna thrive. Similarly, two-way learning brings people together as equals to listen, share, and bring together the strengths of two worlds. </p>
<p>The current approach of regarding First Nations peoples and communities as blank slates, upon whom knowledge is bestowed and whose capacity is “built”, is the complete opposite of two-way learning, which is a practice of reciprocity and collaboration.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-some-context-missing-from-the-mparntwe-alice-springs-crime-wave-reporting-199481">Here's some context missing from the Mparntwe Alice Springs 'crime wave' reporting</a>
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<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>Looking ahead, we need increased collaboration and support between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people and communities. To bring this country together requires a commitment to two-way learning, deep listening and a national commitment to truth-telling. </p>
<p>The referendum also showed the strength and resilience of First Nations communities. There are so many upcoming voices who are ready to shape our futures. We look to our own young women’s group, and we know the future is bright. Aboriginal people and communities will guide the way forward and we will determine our own futures.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/218518/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shirleen Campbell is an Employee of Tangentyere Council and receives funding from NTG and federal funding for Tangentyere Programs. She is affiliated with Tangentyere Council as an Employee. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chay Brown is affiliated with Her Story Mparntwe, Alice As One, and Tangentyere Council. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Connie Shaw is an employee of Tangentyere council and receives funding from the NTG and federal funding for Tangentyere programs she is affiliated with Tangentyere council as an employee. </span></em></p>The Northern Territory’s Indigenous population predominantly voted ‘Yes’ to a Voice to Parliament. Despite the referendum’s ‘No’ outcome, the Northern Territory is making moves to self determination.Shirleen Campbell, Co-coordinator of Tangentyere Women’s Family Safety Group, Indigenous KnowledgeChay Brown, Managing Director, Her Story Consulting & Postdoctoral fellow, Australian National UniversityConnie Shaw, Co-cooridinator of the Tangentyere Youth Safety Group, and Northern Territory Aboriginal domestic, family, and sexual violence advisory group, Indigenous KnowledgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2201372023-12-19T04:50:22Z2023-12-19T04:50:22ZNorthern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles has resigned. How did we get here?<p>When it was announced this afternoon that the Northern Territory’s Chief Minister Natasha Fyles had resigned, few could say it was unexpected.</p>
<p>She has been under increasing pressure on several fronts, chief among them the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-16/nt-chief-minister-divests-woodside-shares-after-scrutiny/103114812">failure to disclose</a> shares she held, prompting accusations of having a conflict of interest.</p>
<p>In the role for around 18 months, Fyles’ Labor government has been in the spotlight for everything from <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-18/a-dangerous-game-youth-crime-crisis-alice-springs/101735492">increased crime rates</a> in Alice Springs to the controversial decision to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-05-03/beetaloo-basin-fracking-given-go-ahead-explainer/102295840">approve fracking</a> in the Beetaloo Basin.</p>
<p>So what’s behind Fyles quitting the territory’s top job, and what’s next for the government?</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/high-court-then-what-nt-remote-housing-reforms-need-to-put-indigenous-residents-front-and-centre-216908">High Court, then what? NT remote housing reforms need to put Indigenous residents front and centre</a>
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<h2>A surprise ascent to leadership</h2>
<p>Fyles was sworn in as chief minister in May 2022, following <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/10/northern-territory-chief-minister-michael-gunner-resigns-saying-head-and-heart-no-longer-in-job">the resignation</a> of Michael Gunner.</p>
<p>She won the leadership against expectations, despite being Gunner’s protege. The right faction, which has a majority of two in the party caucus, had backed Nicole Manison. But two members defected and voted for Fyles instead, securing her victory in the leadership ballot.</p>
<p>Fyles has been the member for Nightcliff since 2012 and held a range of important portfolios before her promotion, including health and Attorney-General.</p>
<p>Her leadership style has been not unlike most of the new generation of politicians: speaking in short, sharp sentences with authoritative confidence.</p>
<p>But she’s overseen some odd and sometimes unpopular decisions.</p>
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<p>The $11 million Nightcliff Police Station was built in her electorate, despite being just a seven-minute drive from Casuarina station. Allegations of <a href="https://www.ntnews.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=NTWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ntnews.com.au%2Fnews%2Fnorthern-territory%2Fnew-nightcliff-police-station-operating-at-half-planned-capacity%2Fnews-story%2Fda28cb3fb239b5f4f80589f1471af90d&memtype=registered&mode=premium">pork-barrelling</a> were quick to follow, especially after reports emerged of the facility having half the staff promised.</p>
<p>There was also the matter of the Palmerston Hospital, which opened in 2018, when Fyles was health minister. It’s since been plagued by <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-07/nt-health-darwin-apology-for-letter-junior-doctors/100519640">understaffing</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-05/palmerston-regional-hospital-budget-attorney-general/10201108">underfunding</a>.</p>
<h2>Two key undoings</h2>
<p>Smaller controversies aside, there have been two main pressure points for Fyles’ leadership.</p>
<p>The first is crime in remote communities, especially the much-publicised plight of Alice Springs.</p>
<p>While the issue is hardly unique to the city, the national interest generated by the removal and reinstatement of the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/jun/23/incredibly-noticeable-alcohol-bans-have-cut-family-violence-and-in-alice-springs-advocates-say">alcohol bans</a> shone a large and often unflattering light on crime rates across the Northern Territory.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/cheap-police-four-corners-shows-the-dangers-of-private-policing-in-the-nt-and-why-first-nations-people-are-more-at-risk-216442">'Cheap police': Four Corners shows the dangers of private policing in the NT and why First Nations people are more at risk</a>
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<p>The fact the federal government <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-24/pm-albanese-announces-appointment-of-central/101889078">intervened</a> to create the role of the Regional Controller – a role the Commonwealth funds and manages – shows how little confidence they had in the territory government.</p>
<p>The second, more recent problem is the revelations around Fyles’ potential conflicts of interest.</p>
<p>It was revealed earlier this week the chief <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-18/nt-chief-minister-natasha-fyles-south32-shares-gemco-mine/103243578">owns shares</a> in South32, a company that owns a manganese mine on Groote Eylandt. She hadn’t disclosed this, despite appearing to have owned them since 2015.</p>
<p>Locals have been lobbying for years for the mine <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-04-18/nt-government-air-monitoring-manganese-mine-groote-eylandt-dust/102130316">to be tested</a> for its potential impact on human health, but to no avail.</p>
<p>It wasn’t even the first instance in the past month of undisclosed shares coming to light. In November, Fyles divested her <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-16/nt-chief-minister-divests-woodside-shares-after-scrutiny/103114812">minor stake</a> in gas company Woodside Energy.</p>
<p>But the final nail in the coffin came last week, when matters swirling around Fyles were referred to the territory’s corruption watchdog.</p>
<p>One of her senior political advisors, Gerard Richardson, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-13/natasha-fyles-referred-to-icac-by-mark-turner/103220822">co-owns a company</a> that lobbied on behalf of mining company Tamboran – a company that has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2023-06-09/middle-arm-precinct-tamboran-resources-fortescue/102461860">large stakes</a> in multiple projects in the NT.</p>
<p>While she dug her heels in, the news went down like a lead balloon in the electorate, and likely in the party room too.</p>
<h2>A salvagable government?</h2>
<p>Politics in the Top End is a strange beast. Fyles stepping down as leader doesn’t necessarily mean she takes the government down with her.</p>
<p>The way politics plays out in the territory has long been down to the happiness or unhappiness of key interest groups.</p>
<p>With some electorates containing just 5,000 people or so, the blessing (or lack thereof) of recreational fishers or the police association, for example, can have a disproportionate affect.</p>
<p>So in choosing its next leader, the Labor party will be considering who appeals most to the most important groups.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-havent-got-anybody-new-research-reveals-how-major-parties-are-dying-in-remote-australia-203124">'We haven't got anybody': new research reveals how major parties are dying in remote Australia</a>
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<p>That’s why the current Minister for Recreational Fisheries (among many other things), Joel Bowden, might be in with a shot. The former Richmond footballer might have the right appeal with those who are most electorally influential. </p>
<p>But the government will have to contend with an increase in environment-focused politics in the lead-up to the next election in 2024.</p>
<p>Conservationist issues have gathered momentum in the past few years and their potential impact should not be underestimated. Greens and conservationists appear to be gaining increasing Indigenous support.</p>
<p>The next leader will need to be agile enough to deal with these newer forces, but compelling enough to win the party a third term in government.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/220137/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Rolf Gerritsen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The leader has been under increasing pressure on a number of fronts, chief among them the failure to disclose shares she held, prompting accusations of having a conflict of interest.Rolf Gerritsen, Professorial Research Fellow, Northern Institute, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2117382023-11-23T04:23:48Z2023-11-23T04:23:48Z‘It cannot be normal that men hurt us women’: what we can learn from the inquest into 4 Aboriginal women’s deaths in the NT<p><em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names of deceased people. Some names have been changed to honour Sorry Business. This article also mentions violence against and killings of First Nations women.</em></p>
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<p>Kumanjayi Haywood.</p>
<p>Ngeygo Ragurrk.</p>
<p>Miss Yunupingu. </p>
<p>Kumarn Rubuntja.</p>
<p>These are the names of the four Aboriginal women at the centre of Australia’s largest and longest-running <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-08/domestic-violence-in-the-nt-coroner-explosion-inquest/103077118">coronial inquest</a> into women killed by their intimate male partners that adjourned on November 10. Over the past six months in the Northern Territory, Judge Elisabeth Armitage <a href="https://www.ourwatch.org.au/resource/coroners-inquest-into-the-deaths-of-four-aboriginal-women-is-a-wake-up-call-to-commit-to-stopping-violence-before-it-starts/">heard evidence</a> about the shocking circumstances surrounding each woman’s death.</p>
<p>Each of the women had experienced years of severe abuse from their male partners, some of whom had served lengthy jail terms, and some of whom had long histories of violence, sometimes against multiple partners.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-16/nt-dv-inquest-police-officer-apologises-for-bail-recommendation/102489068">Kumanjayi Haywood</a> died after her partner poured petrol under the door of the bathroom she was hiding in and set her alight. She sustained burns to 90% of her body. She was a loving mother.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-29/nt-domestic-violence-inquest-mindil-beach-darwin/102540052">Ngeygo Ragurrk</a> was killed by her partner on Darwin’s Mindil Beach after a brutal attack lasting several hours. She was a Warddeken ranger and is remembered as a loving aunty.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-15/miss-yunupingu-domestic-violence-inquest/102726622">Miss Yunupingu</a> endured over a decade of abuse by her partner, who ultimately ended her life by stabbing her three times in the chest. She was much loved by her family.</p>
<p><a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-25/nt-dv-inquest-kumarn-rubuntja-ejected-from-alice-springs-club/102772110">Kumarn Rubuntja</a> was killed after <a href="https://www.ntnews.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-nt/central-australian-man-who-drove-over-partner-repeatedly-in-hospital-carpark-pleads-guilty-to-murder/news-story/d2664c3378b13973d73d70c95a6ca29e">her partner</a> deliberately hit her with his car, reversing over and hitting her several times. She was a well-known anti-violence advocate and beloved by her friends and family.</p>
<p>These women were failed repeatedly by the systems and institutions set up to protect them. They slipped through the gaping cracks in an overstretched and overburdened system. One of the women had called police 22 times. Another was herself arrested after calling police for help. The family of another was unaware of the exact nature and circumstances of her death and the sentence of her perpetrator because there were <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/30/this-is-our-horror-nt-coroner-investigates-deaths-of-women-at-hands-of-their-partners">no interpreters</a> in court when he was sentenced.</p>
<p>The coroner dedicated time to hearing about the individual circumstances surrounding each women’s death, as well as two weeks for institutional responses.</p>
<p>I was called to give evidence in the inquest twice. The first time was to provide testimony in relation to Kumarn Rubuntja’s death, as she was my friend and colleague. I spoke about the <a href="https://www.ntnews.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=NTWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ntnews.com.au%2Ftruecrimeaustralia%2Fpolice-courts-nt%2Fnt-cop-zachary-rolfe-responses-to-domestic-violence-call-out-exposed-in-inquest%2Fnews-story%2Fd99f0074865d66a4769de26680306ac7&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium&offerset=nt_truecrime_premium">rates and drivers</a> of violence in the territory. </p>
<p>The second time was part of the institutional responses, where I gave expert evidence due to my research into violence against women in the territory. I presented evidence about the development of different initiatives to improve the response to domestic, family and sexual violence in the territory, such as <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-11/domestic-violence-training-for-nt-police-revamped/101225002">improved training</a> for police. </p>
<p>I believe the inquest was extraordinarily important, but it was also immeasurably difficult and painful. It was hard for all of us who loved, knew and worked with these women. </p>
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<h2>Inquest findings</h2>
<p>Armitage, the judge, characterised extreme violence in the Northern Territory as an “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-16/nt-coroner-domestic-violence-epidemic-inquest-summary-evidence/103108464">epidemic</a>”, an “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-08/domestic-violence-in-the-nt-coroner-explosion-inquest/103077118">explosion</a>”, and a “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/30/this-is-our-horror-nt-coroner-investigates-deaths-of-women-at-hands-of-their-partners">horror</a>”.</p>
<p>The inquest heard domestic violence has increased by 117% in the past ten years, and is projected to increase a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-08/nt-domestic-violence-inquest-halfway-reveal-system-in-crisis/102569464">further 73%</a> in the next decade. As a result, police callout times to domestic violence incidents have more than doubled. </p>
<p>In the Northern Territory, domestic, family and sexual violence services are chronically under-funded and under-resourced. Women’s shelters from across the NT gave evidence that they had to turn women away because they did not have enough beds. Some were having to reduce staff pay due to lack of funding. Some had to rely on vacancies, while others were running their budgets in deficits. </p>
<p>However, the inquest also heard about several promising initiatives, including a co-response model for police and specialist services. But this initiative had only been given funding of $240,000 from the government. Queensland, by comparison, has funded its own co-response model with <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/nov/11/northern-territory-coroner-brought-to-tears-by-testimony-as-she-adjourns-domestic-violence-inquest">$22 million</a>. </p>
<p>Another promising initiative is improved and specialist domestic, family and sexual violence (DFSV) <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-07-11/domestic-violence-training-for-nt-police-revamped/101225002">training for police</a> and health care workers. But the <a href="https://doyourpart.com.au/">Prevent.Assist.Respond.Training</a> program had only been funded to develop training, and there was no money for implementation or delivery. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-some-context-missing-from-the-mparntwe-alice-springs-crime-wave-reporting-199481">Here's some context missing from the Mparntwe Alice Springs 'crime wave' reporting</a>
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<h2>A national crisis</h2>
<p>Through the inquest, the specialist domestic, family and sexual violence sector learned that the Northern Territory government had rejected its own working group’s recommendation for funding of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-10/nt-coroner-domestic-violence-inquest-closes/103089156">$180 million over five years</a>, instead committing to only $20 million over two years. Professor Marcia Langton, in her testimony, labelled this decision “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/oct/31/gobsmacking-marcia-langton-criticises-nt-government-for-rejecting-plan-for-family-violence-funding-boost">gobsmacking</a>”.</p>
<p>Upon learning of the inadequate funding for essential services, the DFSV sector organised a “day of action” on September 26. <a href="https://www.ntnews.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=NTWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ntnews.com.au%2Fnews%2Fpolitics%2Fnt-domestic-violence-advocates-call-for-180m-in-funding%2Fnews-story%2F4e6971b3317a75b7564e16f20cb4e29f&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium">Hundreds of people</a> gathered across the territory, in regional centres and remote communities, to call on both the NT and federal government to commit to <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-09-26/nt-advocates-rally-for-domestic-violence-federal-funding/102901096">needs-based funding</a> for the territory.</p>
<p>The NT’s family violence sector called for:</p>
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<li> an immediate injection of a minimum additional $180 million over five years, per the government’s own recommendation</li>
<li> the immediate establishment and ongoing funding of a NT-specific domestic, family and sexual violence peak organisation</li>
<li> the allocation of 50% of new public housing to victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence.</li>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/49-women-have-been-killed-in-australia-so-far-in-2023-as-a-result-of-violence-are-we-actually-making-any-progress-217552">49 women have been killed in Australia so far in 2023 as a result of violence. Are we actually making any progress?</a>
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<h2>Action is needed before more women die</h2>
<p>Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has not yet responded to multiple requests from the Northern Territory DFSV sector to visit the territory to meet with the family violence sector and see the level of need firsthand. </p>
<p>Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth said the Albanese government had already funded the NT government for family and domestic violence services with <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-07/needs-based-domestic-violence-funding-appeal/103070406">$147 million over four years</a>. </p>
<p>But the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-10/domestic-violence-inquest-nt-leanne-liddle-urges-more-funding/103083146">breakdown</a> of this funding included many general services – several of which run no domestic violence programs and one that was not based in the NT. She also failed to include a single women’s shelter in the <a href="https://www.ntnews.com.au/subscribe/news/1/?sourceCode=NTWEB_WRE170_a_GGL&dest=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.ntnews.com.au%2Fnews%2Fnorthern-territory%2Ffeds-accuse-nt-govt-of-blameshifting-in-fight-against-domestic-violence%2Fnews-story%2F1453cebb9d594d49f967aeca2831fdd3&memtype=anonymous&mode=premium">territory</a>. </p>
<p>Recommendations will now be put to the coroner by counsel assisting and submissions will close in March. The coroner will then lay down her findings in November. </p>
<p>Kumanjayi Haywood, Ngeygo Ragurrk, Miss Yunupingu, Kumarn Rubuntja. These women rarely made the national news. The nation did not honour their lives or mourn them. Their lives did not spark marches or social media campaigns or speeches in parliament. Four more people <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-11-11/analysis-domestic-violence-in-the-northern-territory/103078538">have died</a> in what police believe are domestic violence incidents in the NT since the inquest began. </p>
<p>This inquest was an incredibly important opportunity to hear from the women’s friends and families, who recounted beautiful memories about them and told of their heartbreak. It’s important all of us hear the words of these grieving families – we need to do better. </p>
<p>As Ngeygo Ragurrk’s sister, Edna, said on the last day of the inquest: “It cannot be normal that men hurt us women. Everyone must do more from the start, not just after women get hurt or killed.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/211738/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kumarn Rubuntja was a friend of mine and I worked alongside her for many years.
I work as the Family Violence Prevention Manager at the Tangentyere Council Aboriginal Corporation and Managing Director of Her Story Consulting. I was also called to give evidence in the inquest.</span></em></p>The landmark inquest is investigating how four women killed by their partners were failed by systems meant to protect them. How can we stop this from happening?Chay Brown, Research and Partnerships Manager, The Equality Institute, & Postdoctoral fellow, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2169082023-11-06T22:59:48Z2023-11-06T22:59:48ZHigh Court, then what? NT remote housing reforms need to put Indigenous residents front and centre<p>The relationships between tenants and landlords are often fraught, but it’s fair to expect a house to meet basic standards, like having a back door.</p>
<p>That wasn’t the case for an Aboriginal woman in a remote community, who was part of a successful class action to sue the landlord for failing to provide a habitable house.</p>
<p>Last week, the High Court <a href="https://eresources.hcourt.gov.au/showCase/2023/HCA/31">ruled</a> residents of the community of Santa Teresa (Ltyentye Apurte) could be compensated for the “distress and disappointment” caused by the poor state of their government-managed houses.</p>
<p>So how can such housing be better managed? And what needs to be done to ensure houses in remote communities do not just meet the legal standard, but exceed it?</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/no-back-door-for-5-years-remote-communitys-high-court-win-is-good-news-for-renters-everywhere-216821">No back door for 5 years: remote community's High Court win is good news for renters everywhere</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Big result, but ongoing problems</h2>
<p>Seventy public housing residents in Santa Teresa commenced the legal action against their landlord, the NT government, in <a href="https://www8.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdoc/au/cases/nt/NTCAT/2019/12.html">2016</a>.</p>
<p>By the time the High Court decision was handed down in 2023, both lead applicants had died. Just as remote housing tenants must wait prolonged periods for repairs, the lengthy delay for housing justice outlasted them. </p>
<p>Elsewhere in the NT, residents of Laramba have also been pursuing compensation for the landlord’s failure to undertake housing repairs, and arguing for a right to safe drinking water in their homes. </p>
<p>In October this year, the <a href="https://arena.org.au/safe-drinking-water-in-nt/">NT Supreme Court</a> found the landlord, the NT government, is responsible for ensuring safe drinking water at those premises. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1652427646574243840"}"></div></p>
<p>The Santa Teresa High Court decision is <a href="https://theconversation.com/no-back-door-for-5-years-remote-communitys-high-court-win-is-good-news-for-renters-everywhere-216821">potentially significant</a> for tenants across the country. </p>
<p>However, a right to seek compensation for distress and disappointment is not a silver bullet for housing justice. </p>
<p>The challenge is to maintain housing and essential services at such standards that render these types of lawsuits unnecessary.</p>
<h2>When your landlord is the government</h2>
<p>The NT government has not always been responsible for remote community housing.</p>
<p>Most remote communities are located on Aboriginal land owned under the <a href="https://www.austlii.edu.au/cgi-bin/viewdb/au/legis/cth/consol_act/alrta1976444/">Aboriginal Land Rights (Northern Territory) Act 1976</a>. </p>
<p>Through the NT Intervention, the Commonwealth government compulsorily acquired five-year leases over entire communities. </p>
<p>A policy of “secure tenure” made subsequent housing and infrastructure investment contingent on long-term remote community leases to governments. </p>
<p>Indigenous Community Housing Organisations were effectively <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0016718522001944">dismantled</a>, and the introduction of “mainstream” tenancy arrangements under a public housing system followed. </p>
<p>One of the unanticipated consequences of this change was the ability of tenants to use the <a href="https://legislation.nt.gov.au/en/Legislation/RESIDENTIAL-TENANCIES-ACT-1999">Residential Tenancies Act</a> as a “<a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/INFORMIT.062772924394473">tool of empowerment</a>”.</p>
<p>Residents could now push back against <a href="https://www.academia.edu/44672286/2021_Housing_waste_in_Remote_Indigenous_Australia_In_The_Temporalities_of_Waste_Out_of_Sight_Out_of_Time_eds_F_Allon_R_Barcan_K_Eddison_Cogan_75_86_Routledge_New_York_and_London">entrenched low expectations</a> for the timeliness and quality of remote housing repairs.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/think-private-renting-is-hard-first-nations-people-can-be-excluded-from-the-start-192392">Think private renting is hard? First Nations people can be excluded from the start</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Current programs falling short</h2>
<p>In response to the cases at Santa Teresa and Laramba, the NT government has sought to reform its remote housing maintenance program. </p>
<p>In 2021, the NT government introduced its <a href="https://tfhc.nt.gov.au/housing-and-homelessness/healthy-homes">Healthy Homes</a> program. It aims to prioritise cyclical and preventive maintenance to improve the quality of houses as well as health outcomes for tenants.</p>
<p>The reforms reflect many <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/resource-centre/indigenous-affairs/remote-housing-review">reviews</a> that have recommended such measures.</p>
<p>If implemented effectively, Healthy Homes can improve <a href="https://www.healthabitat.com/">housing hardware</a> and increase the lifespan of existing housing.</p>
<p>An <a href="https://www.menzies.edu.au/page/Research/Indigenous_Health/Preventive_health/Healthy_Homes_Monitoring_and_Evaluation_Project/#:%7E:text=Healthy%20Homes%20is%20framed%20as,undertake%20'healthy%20living%20practices'">evaluation of Healthy Homes</a> found the average maintenance spend per house to be about $6,000 per year.</p>
<p>While seemingly significant, this is much less than is spent <a href="https://www.ahuri.edu.au/research/final-reports/368">by Housing SA</a> on housing on the Aṉangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in northwest South Australia, where expenditure in 2021 exceeded $10,000 per house.</p>
<p>The key mechanism that underpins the NT’s Healthy Homes is a yearly condition assessment requirement, generating maintenance work without relying on tenant reporting. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.menzies.edu.au/page/Research/Indigenous_Health/Preventive_health/Healthy_Homes_Monitoring_and_Evaluation_Project/#:%7E:text=Healthy%20Homes%20is%20framed%20as,undertake%20'healthy%20living%20practices'">The evaluation</a> found that from July 2021 to February 2023, only 1,315 such inspections had been undertaken across a total of 5,498 houses included in Healthy Homes.</p>
<p>This is equivalent to an inspection of only 23.9% of houses. </p>
<p>The Santa Teresa case also laid bare significant issues with the NT government’s record-keeping, which don’t appear to have been fixed.</p>
<p>The evaluation found:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>NT government datasets cannot distinguish between preventive and responsive maintenance</p></li>
<li><p>reporting requirements mean maintenance data is unreliable for determining how quickly repairs were undertaken</p></li>
<li><p>a significant proportion of maintenance work is coded miscellaneous, meaning it is not possible to determine the proportion of works by trade type.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>The combination of these factors makes it very hard to assess whether and how approaches to remote community maintenance might be improving.</p>
<h2>Bringing remote housing up to scratch</h2>
<p>So a High Court case has reaffirmed the rights of Santa Teresa tenants and the current remote housing maintenance program is inadequate. What happens to NT remote housing now?</p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/land-and-housing/national-partnership-remote-housing-northern-territory-2018-23#:%7E:text=On%2030%20March%202019%2C%20the,for%20Aboriginal%20Territorians%20in%20remote">National Partnership for Remote Housing Northern Territory</a> expired in July 2023.</p>
<p>Commonwealth funding was extended for another year. A new agreement is currently being negotiated.</p>
<p>To meet the needs of remote communities, this agreement must be tripartite. The peak body <a href="https://ahnt.com.au/">Aboriginal Housing NT</a> and Northern Territory land councils require rights to determine funding allocations and policy directions, as well as the territory and federal governments.</p>
<p>This is necessary for the meaningful participation and empowerment of those Aboriginal organisations in key decision-making under the agreement, and to enshrine their place as equal partners in the ongoing governance of remote housing in the NT. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/aboriginal-housing-policies-must-be-based-on-community-needs-not-what-non-indigenous-people-think-they-need-162999">Aboriginal housing policies must be based on community needs — not what non-Indigenous people think they need</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>Federal funding of remote housing is required into the long term. A ten-year funding agreement should support all of remote communities, town camps and homelands.</p>
<p>Because of historical underfunding and neglect, this funding also needs to increase and the Commonwealth Government must remain on the hook.</p>
<p>The Santa Teresa case has shown the ongoing legacy of underinvestment and neglect. </p>
<p>Aboriginal residents of remote communities and their representative organisations must be supported to play a central role in determining the future of the places they call home.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216908/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Liam Grealy receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, and the NT Department of Territory Families, Housing and Communities. He is affiliated with Menzies School of Health Research and the University of Sydney. Details related to specific projects are available on his public profiles. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kyllie Cripps receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Government and State Governments to conduct research and evaluations. Details related to this are on her public profiles.</span></em></p>Last week, the High Court ruled the community of Santa Teresa could be compensated for the “distress and disappointment” caused by their poor housing. So how can such housing be better managed?Liam Grealy, Research fellow, Menzies School of Health ResearchKyllie Cripps, Professor, Director Monash Indigenous Studies Centre, School of Philosophical, Historical & International Studies (SOPHIS), School of Social Sciences (SOSS), Faculty of Arts, Monash UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2164422023-10-31T03:34:36Z2023-10-31T03:34:36Z‘Cheap police’: Four Corners shows the dangers of private policing in the NT and why First Nations people are more at risk<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556750/original/file-20231031-23-5sy12e.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C4%2C1396%2C801&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MRzqNvIZ-nU">Screenshot ABC YouTube</a></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised this article contains names of deceased people and mentions of discrimination and violence against First Nations people.</em></p>
<p>The most recent ABC Four Corners episode, <a href="https://help.abc.net.au/hc/en-us/articles/8219499961871-Four-Corners-Guarded-Private-security-policing-the-public-">Guarded</a>, investigates the increase of private policing and security in the Northern Territory. It also shows scenes of First Nations people being deprived of their liberty, searched and assaulted by private security. </p>
<p>The prevalence of private police in the Northern Territory is on the pretence that crime has increased, although statistics from the Australian Bureau of Statistics based on public safety surveys between <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/personal-safety-australia/2021-22">2005 and 2023</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-02/nt-crime-police-data-assault-domestic-violence-property-offences/102663284">police data</a> show mixed trends.</p>
<p>Despite the large scale of this kind of policing in the NT, there is a lack of legislation controlling what powers and authority private security guards actually have. There is also a lack of legislation regulating their conduct and responsible use of force and weapons. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-some-context-missing-from-the-mparntwe-alice-springs-crime-wave-reporting-199481">Here's some context missing from the Mparntwe Alice Springs 'crime wave' reporting</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>The 4 Corners program documents instances of First Nations women, men and children being moved on, manhandled and pushed to the ground for prolonged periods by private security. In one month alone, 283 people were moved on. First Nations rough sleepers were especially targeted as part of a street sweeping agenda. One First Nations man described being thrown to the ground so badly he <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-30/private-security-policing-darwin-city-four-corners/103013202">couldn’t breathe</a>.</p>
<p>The report showed in 2013, Yanyuwa and Garrwa man Mr King died from positional asphyxia after security guards pushed him to the floor face down for seven minutes, during which he screamed “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-10-31/i-cant-breathe-mr-king-four-corners/103035218">I can’t breathe</a>”. The <a href="https://justice.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0006/258972/styles-isaac-king.pdf">coroner</a> into Mr King’s death found the security guards had insufficient training to understand the risks of their work. The guards were acquitted of manslaughter in 2014.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1719117445640913267"}"></div></p>
<h2>Private policing in Australia</h2>
<p>In 2023, the federal government and Northern Territory government announced <a href="https://10play.com.au/theproject/articles/governments-pledge-14-2-million-to-fund-safety-initiatives-in-alice-springs/tpa230505xtnqi">$14.2 million</a> in funding for additional police and private security, including ten security guards in public places in Alice Springs (Mparntwe), such as around youth centres.</p>
<p>Private police and security exercise enforcement roles, including apprehending, searching and detaining members of the public. In recent years across the country, the functions of private security have expanded from commercial and private spaces into patrolling <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-19/nt-government-private-security-patrols-police-shortage/101542286">public spaces</a>, schools, transport platforms and interchanges, and on-board buses.</p>
<p>In the Northern Territory, private security patrols supplement the <a href="https://www.pc.gov.au/ongoing/report-on-government-services/2023/justice/police-services">highest</a> police-to-public ratio in the country.</p>
<p>This increase of private security in public spaces has not been accompanied with legislative authority to stipulate their powers. Rather, the increase of this mode of policing has transpired through government announcements and answers to <a href="https://parliament.nt.gov.au/business/written-questions/wq/14th-assembly-written-questions">questions in parliament</a> in relation to their role. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two security officers walk with a dog with a muzzle." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556756/original/file-20231031-27-jmo8aw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556756/original/file-20231031-27-jmo8aw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556756/original/file-20231031-27-jmo8aw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556756/original/file-20231031-27-jmo8aw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556756/original/file-20231031-27-jmo8aw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556756/original/file-20231031-27-jmo8aw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556756/original/file-20231031-27-jmo8aw.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Recently, private security in the Northern Territory carry pepper spray and patrol with dogs.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://iview.abc.net.au/show/four-corners">Screenshot from ABC Iview.</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What’s happening in the Northern Territory</h2>
<p>In Darwin (Garramilla), community lawyers <a href="https://search.informit.org/doi/pdf/10.3316/informit.739300418772392">have said</a> that racism was evident in the operations by private security guards, noting their particular surveillance of First Nations people.</p>
<p>In Alice Springs, private security have taken a front-line role in the management of First Nations young people. In 2019, the Northern Territory government introduced its <a href="https://revitalisingalice.nt.gov.au/initiatives/breaking-the-cycle-of-youth-crime">Breaking the Cycle of Youth Crime</a> program, which included funding nightly security patrols operated by Talice Security throughout the CBD. </p>
<p>Doctoral research by <a href="https://arena.org.au/breaking-the-cycle/">Lora Chapman</a> finds that in Alice Springs, private security patrols are “stand-ins for police” and make it difficult for First Nations young people to be free from surveillance. First Nations young people could not enter the weekly youth disco, for instance, without providing their names and addresses to security officers and being scanned by metal detectors. They were then locked in the disco, where Chapman described First Nations kids feeling under siege.</p>
<p>Private security guards in the Northern Territory also possess restricted weapons. In Alice Springs, private security transit officers and crowd controller licence holders can carry oleoresin capsicum spray (also known as “OC” or “pepper spray”), while <a href="https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/politics/capsicum-spray-rollout-to-nt-private-security-questioned-by-union-ntcoss/news-story/5ae12a968161935f0ce497d8a2cfb37a">lacking</a> necessary training. This weapon can <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-makes-pepper-spray-so-intense-and-is-it-a-tear-gas-a-chemical-engineer-explains-140441">cause</a> coughing fits, breathing difficulties and fatalities. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-cant-go-shopping-without-police-coming-north-queenslands-at-risk-youth-feel-excluded-and-heavily-surveilled-211885">'We can’t go shopping without police coming': north Queensland's at-risk youth feel excluded and heavily surveilled</a>
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</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What are the risks of private policing?</h2>
<p>There is no legal framework to restrain the power of private security guards, and the scope of their powers is completely obscure. The detail is often buried in contractual agreements or licences between private security contractors and the government. </p>
<p>It was shown on 4 Corners that people experiencing homelessness in Darwin submitted to the authority of security officers without being told of the scope of their powers.</p>
<p>When violence is inflicted by a Northern Territory security officer, the complaints procedure, at best, provides for the suspension of licences, rather than referrals to police. The 4 Corners program reported that many security officers shown in videos to be manhandling First Nations people were able to retain their licences.</p>
<p>In the NT, there is a <a href="https://legislation.nt.gov.au/en/Legislation/PRIVATE-SECURITY-ACT-1995">private security act</a> that seeks to regulate security services, but it only relates to the provision, review and suspension of licences, rather than the powers exercised by private security guards. When this act was first introduced to parliament, it was <a href="https://protect-au.mimecast.com/s/kAklCD1v07H4EKplt5kQLv?domain=urldefense.com">envisaged</a> a legislative amendment would be required to address this. This has not yet occurred. </p>
<p>Police powers and authority are governed by <a href="https://legislation.nt.gov.au/en/Legislation/POLICE-ADMINISTRATION-ACT-1978">legislation</a>, which has been sorely tested by ongoing <a href="https://nit.com.au/15-12-2020/1633/footage-emerges-of-nt-police-officer-threatening-to-knock-the-fk-out-young-aboriginal-boy">police assaults</a> and <a href="https://theconversation.com/kumanjayi-walker-murder-trial-will-be-a-first-in-nt-for-an-indigenous-death-in-custody-why-has-it-taken-so-long-148922">deaths in police custody</a>. </p>
<p>Governments need to not only better regulate policing and private security guards, they should also establish independent oversight of all policing. Governments should also consider alternatives to policing, such as <a href="https://larrakia.com/outreach-services/">Aboriginal night patrols</a> that promote care and safety for community.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Security guards are fighting with patrons outside a nightclub." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556758/original/file-20231031-21-t3sdwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/556758/original/file-20231031-21-t3sdwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556758/original/file-20231031-21-t3sdwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556758/original/file-20231031-21-t3sdwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556758/original/file-20231031-21-t3sdwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556758/original/file-20231031-21-t3sdwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/556758/original/file-20231031-21-t3sdwn.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=425&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption"></span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://iview.abc.net.au/show/four-corners">Screenshot from ABC Iview</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Profits before people</h2>
<p>The privatisation of public order management and policing creates a law enforcement system driven by profits. Profits are a deterrent to investing in staff training, employing qualified guards and providing compliance systems. Providers in the Northern Territory, for instance, can meet the <a href="https://nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/1010609/s20.pdf">competency standards</a> for a security officer within <a href="https://www.asset.edu.au/security-guard-course/">eight days</a>.</p>
<p>Repeatedly on 4 Corners, First Nations people and security officers referred to the officers as “cheap police”. The <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/journals/canadian-journal-of-law-and-society-la-revue-canadienne-droit-et-societe/article/abs/policing-postmodern-canada/A6694855B8927298B3D66593CBE29B8E">commodification of public policing</a> is based on cost efficiency, rather than a legislative framework and protection for the public. </p>
<p>The possession of weapons also opens the gates to unchecked violence. As the harms of Northern Territory policing <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/may/06/more-police-in-remote-nt-areas-is-a-direct-threat-to-aboriginal-community-elders-say">mount</a>, the focus should be on retracting rather than expanding the policing net.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/216442/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thalia Anthony receives funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>The ABC Four Corners episode ‘Guarded’ shows an increase of private policing and security in the Northern Territory. These privatised security measures need legislation to ensure community safety.Thalia Anthony, Professor of Law, University of Technology SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2127032023-09-18T20:04:26Z2023-09-18T20:04:26ZState and territory ballots will be counted differently at the Voice referendum – is that fair?<p>When Australians vote on the Voice to Parliament referendum on October 14, ballots from the Northern Territory and the ACT will be treated differently from those of the states. The same goes for votes cast by residents of Norfolk Island, Christmas Island and the Cocos (Keeling) Islands.</p>
<p>In fact, for most of Australia’s history, territory voters haven’t had a say in referendums at all.</p>
<p>To many, this seems unfair and hard to justify. So, how did we arrive at this point? And should we change the rules so territory voters are treated like everybody else?</p>
<h2>Not all referendum votes are equal</h2>
<p>The Australian Constitution can only be changed if the people agree to it at a referendum. <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/Constitution/chapter8">Section 128</a> says a proposal for constitutional amendment must obtain “a majority of all the electors voting” and a majority of electors “in a majority of the States”. This is sometimes called a “double majority”.</p>
<p>But state and territory ballots are not treated equally. Votes cast by territory residents count only towards the first half – the national majority. Territory ballots are set aside when it comes to working out whether a proposal has won enough support “in a majority of the States”.</p>
<p>As a result, territory voters don’t have a huge influence over referendum outcomes. Territory populations are small, so any ballots cast are subsumed into the national count. A referendum would have to be very close for territory votes to make a difference.</p>
<p>History helps to explain how we settled on this approach to the referendum franchise. When the Constitution came into being at federation in 1901, the regions we know as the Northern Territory and the ACT did not exist. They were part of South Australia and New South Wales, respectively, and the people living there were able to vote at referendums. The Constitution guaranteed this – it required that proposals for constitutional change be submitted to electors “in each State”.</p>
<p>But in 1911, when both of those regions became federal territories, the people living there lost their referendum voting rights.</p>
<p>Over the next few decades, territory residents had no say on a whole raft of constitutional reforms. The inequity of this arrangement was highlighted at <a href="https://handbook.aph.gov.au/Referendums/469">the 1967 referendum</a>, which asked Australians to give the Commonwealth power to make laws about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and include them in the population count.</p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/right-wrongs-write-yes-what-was-the-1967-referendum-all-about-76512">‘Right wrongs, write Yes’: what was the 1967 referendum all about?</a>
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<p>More than 90% of electors voted “yes” in a moment of national consensus that is rightly celebrated. But that milestone is blemished by the fact that the many Indigenous people living in the NT (and the ACT) at the time were unable to cast a ballot on this measure.</p>
<p>It took a <a href="https://handbook.aph.gov.au/Referendums/478">referendum in 1977</a> for residents of the territories to finally be given the right to vote at referendums. Prime Minister Malcolm Fraser asked Australians to vote “yes” to a proposal to require referendum questions to be put to electors “in each State and Territory”.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547937/original/file-20230913-21-dn6yfu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/547937/original/file-20230913-21-dn6yfu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547937/original/file-20230913-21-dn6yfu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547937/original/file-20230913-21-dn6yfu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=548&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547937/original/file-20230913-21-dn6yfu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547937/original/file-20230913-21-dn6yfu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/547937/original/file-20230913-21-dn6yfu.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=689&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">In 1977, Malcolm Fraser asked Australians to vote on whether referendum questions should be put to voters ‘in each State and Territory’.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.naa.gov.au/explore-collection/australias-prime-ministers/malcolm-fraser/during-office">National Archives of Australia</a></span>
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<p>This reform was met with almost unanimous approval in the parliament. The only opposition came from Liberal Party senators Ian Wood and Reg Wright. They argued the Constitution was a compact between the Commonwealth and the states, and that it was inappropriate for territories to have a say on whether changes should be made to it.</p>
<p>On the other side, the “yes” case argued it was unfair for residents of the Northern Territory and the ACT to have no say in referendums that could affect their lives. It said a “yes” vote would ensure territory residents were “given the same basic democratic right as other Australians”.</p>
<p>In the end, Fraser’s proposal passed easily. It received 77.7% of the national vote and won majorities in all six states.</p>
<p>This amendment cleared the way for voters in the NT and the ACT to cast their first referendum ballots <a href="https://handbook.aph.gov.au/Referendums/481">seven</a> <a href="https://handbook.aph.gov.au/Referendums/480">years</a> later. But, as has been the case for every ballot since, their votes only counted for the purposes of calculating the national majority.</p>
<h2>But is it fair?</h2>
<p>As we prepare to vote in our first referendum in more than two decades, some are asking if it is time to change the rules so territory ballots are finally counted the same as state ballots.</p>
<p>There are at least two arguments for keeping the status quo.</p>
<p>One is that the states and territories have different constitutional status.</p>
<p>Under the Constitution, the states are recognised as independent entities with guaranteed powers. They are sovereign bodies with full powers of self-government.</p>
<p>The territories, on the other hand, have a far more limited constitutional status. They are ultimately under the control of the Commonwealth.</p>
<p>The NT and the ACT owe their powers of self-government to a Commonwealth law. And the federal parliament can legislate for the territories, and even override territory laws. In 1997, for example, the federal government <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-01/parliament-lifts-ban-on-territory-euthanasia-laws/101692028">nullified voluntary euthanasia laws</a> that had been passed by the NT legislature.</p>
<p>This can be easy to forget on a day-to-day basis because the territories have their own parliaments and courts, and tend to operate a lot like states. But from a legal standpoint, there is a difference between a state and a territory, and for some that justifies giving territory voters less say over changes to the national constitution.</p>
<p>A second argument for keeping the status quo is that a change to the amendment procedure would give territory voters too much influence over constitutional reform.</p>
<p>The populations of the NT and the ACT are about <a href="https://nteconomy.nt.gov.au/population">250,000</a> and <a href="https://www.treasury.act.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/644813/ERP.pdf/_recache">461,000</a>, respectively. All up, the combined territory populations come to approximately 710,000 people – noting that, for the purposes of elections and referendums, Norfolk Islanders count towards the ACT’s total, while residents of the other external territories are tallied for the NT.</p>
<p>If the votes of the territories were included when calculating both parts of the double majority, this would see a relatively small fraction of the population have a very big say on whether the Constitution should be changed.</p>
<p>These arguments have a sound logic to them. But in 2023, when Australians are voting on recognising First Nations people through establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice, not everyone will find them convincing.</p>
<p>The NT is home to the highest proportion of First Nations people of any jurisdiction – <a href="https://nteconomy.nt.gov.au/population#:%7E:text=Aboriginal%20population,-The%20ABS%20estimates&text=Based%20on%202021%20Census%3A,of%20the%20national%20Aboriginal%20population">about 30.8%</a>. Given the question on the ballot paper, some will ask whether it is fair they have a lesser vote than most other Australians.</p>
<p>And if we are worried about giving small jurisdictions an outsized say over constitutional change, the Constitution already sets a precedent for that. Ballots cast by residents of Tasmania, currently home to <a href="https://www.treasury.tas.gov.au/Documents/Population.pdf">572,000 people</a>, count towards both parts of the double majority.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/changing-the-australian-constitution-was-always-meant-to-be-difficult-heres-why-119162">Changing the Australian Constitution was always meant to be difficult – here's why</a>
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<h2>The path to change</h2>
<p>If Australians decide it is time to put state and territory voters on an equal footing at referendums, there are two possible pathways to take.</p>
<p>One is to change the amendment procedure in <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/Constitution/chapter8">section 128</a> of the Constitution. It could be altered to require that proposals for constitutional change must win a national majority of votes, plus a majority of votes in at least five of the six states and two mainland territories. Doing this would involve holding and winning a national referendum.</p>
<p>A second pathway involves the Commonwealth parliament <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/Constitution/chapter6">conferring statehood</a> on the NT and the ACT. That would automatically include them in both parts of the double majority. This would be a potentially easier path because it could be achieved without a constitutional referendum.</p>
<p>But statehood is a complex issue in itself, not embraced by everybody. In 1998, the NT government put the question to a <a href="https://ntec.nt.gov.au/elections/about-elections/referendums">referendum</a>. In a tight result, 51.9% of territorians voted against statehood.</p>
<p>Whatever happens with the statehood question, the Voice referendum has cast a spotlight on a peculiar and enduring inequality between the voting rights of state and territory residents. Whether it is something that needs addressing is a question not only for people who live in the territories, but all Australians. </p>
<p>And who knows, one day we may find ourselves voting on it at a future referendum.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/212703/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Paul Kildea has previously received funding from the Australian Research Council.</span></em></p>From a legal standpoint, there is a difference between a state and a territory, and for some that justifies giving territory voters less say over changes to the national constitution.Paul Kildea, Associate Professor, Faculty of Law & Justice, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2060002023-08-08T20:04:13Z2023-08-08T20:04:13ZDarwin’s ‘sustainable’ Middle Arm project reveals Australia’s huge climate policy gamble<p>Protesters <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/live/2023/aug/08/australia-politics-live-doctors-rally-gas-northern-territory-beetaloo-middle-arm-teals-greens-fracking-anthony-albanese-peter-dutton-indigenous-voice-question-time?page=with:block-64d16ac58f082f4d589154d7#block-64d16ac58f082f4d589154d7">rallied</a> at Parliament House in Canberra on Tuesday, railing against Darwin’s controversial <a href="https://middlearmprecinct.nt.gov.au/about-the-precinct">Middle Arm venture</a> which critics say would benefit the gas industry.</p>
<p>The project has been thrust into the headlines of late. Northern Territory Chief Minister Natasha Fyles <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/aug/01/natasha-fyles-national-press-club-northern-territory-nt-middle-arm-development">drew the ire</a> of critics last week in a speech to the National Press Club where she insisted her government was “not for turning” on the project.</p>
<p>Fyles describes Middle Arm as a “sustainable development precinct”. But that claim is highly questionable. The site is already home to two gas facilities, and more are planned. Meanwhile, the NT is pursuing a goal of net zero emissions by 2050 and has committed to “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/04/nt-government-accused-of-failing-to-address-climate-risks-before-approving-beetaloo-basin-gas-project">no net increase</a>” in emissions from fracking. So what’s going on?</p>
<p>It comes down to a new buzz-term in policymaking: “circular economy”. We’ve heard it applied to realms such as plastics and food waste. It’s increasingly being <a href="https://www.cceguide.org/guide/">applied to carbon emissions</a>, to describe an imagined scenario where carbon released from one source is used or stored by others to create a “closed loop” system.</p>
<p>But as our <a href="https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/area.12893">new research</a> finds, this path is a massive gamble. Such offsetting relies on projects and technologies that do not yet exist, or are not yet feasible at scale. In effect, the Middle Arm project, and others like it, are grand experiments with our climate.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1688766163537248256"}"></div></p>
<h2>The ‘circular’ economy</h2>
<p>Over the past two decades, international climate policy has increasingly shifted towards a circular model of managing carbon emissions. We’ve seen this happening not just in Australia, but places such as Canada, the United Kingdom, the European Union and Saudi Arabia.</p>
<p>The strategy doesn’t seek to reach net-zero simply by pumping less carbon into the atmosphere – for example, by deploying renewable energy. It also involves activities that remove, capture, store or use carbon, therefore “offsetting” or cancelling out emissions from other sources.</p>
<p>Proponents of the strategy characterise it as a simple matter of inputs (emissions) and outputs (offsets) cancelling each other out. But implementing the model is actually very messy, as our <a href="https://rgs-ibg.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/area.12893">new paper</a> shows. </p>
<p>We analysed how the federal and NT governments have sought to implement circular carbon policies, including through the Middle Arm development. </p>
<p>Due to its existing gas infrastructure and proximity to Darwin, this peninsula has long been the target of grand development plans. In July 2020, the NT government announced it would create an <a href="https://ntrebound.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/908314/terc-first-report.pdf">industrial petrochemical precinct</a> there to use gas from the Beetaloo and offshore fields. </p>
<p>The following year, the hub was rebranded as a “sustainable development precinct”. References to “petrochemicals” were <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-26/nt-petrochemicals-deleted-middle-arm-website-greenwashing/101700374">abandoned</a>. The NT government now frequently talks up the site’s potential for hydrogen and carbon-capture facilities, and <a href="https://middlearmprecinct.nt.gov.au">says</a> the precinct will be:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>largely powered by renewables, master-planned to achieve a circular economy approach of sustainable and responsible production and will use technology to achieve low-to-zero emissions.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>The federal government has <a href="https://minister.infrastructure.gov.au/c-king/media-release/25-billion-infrastructure-boost-northern-territory">committed</a> more than A$1.5 billion to the development.</p>
<h2>‘Sustainable’ claims called into question</h2>
<p>There are serious doubts over Middle Arm’s environmental credentials.</p>
<p>For example, internal government documents <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/18/darwins-sustainable-middle-arm-development-is-key-to-huge-fossil-fuel-projects-documents-show">make clear</a> the precinct is “seen as a key enabler” of the gas industry.</p>
<p>One confirmed future tenant will be Tamboran Resources, which plans to frack and drill for gas in the Beetaloo Basin. Tamboran intends to build a gas plant in the precinct. Federal crossbenchers, including Warringah MP Zali Steggall, have <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/may/18/darwins-sustainable-middle-arm-development-is-key-to-huge-fossil-fuel-projects-documents-show">questioned why</a> public money is being spent on infrastructure “for a private gas company to make record profits from exports”.</p>
<p>What’s more, low-emissions projects planned for the precinct rely on highly speculative technologies.</p>
<p>A carbon-capture and storage facility has been mooted at the site. Announcing the project in 2021, the NT government <a href="https://innovation.nt.gov.au/news/2021/world-class-low-emissions-hub">called it</a> a “a game-changer”. But it neglected to mention that the project relies on unproven technology and has no timeline or guarantee of delivery. </p>
<p>For examples of this, we need only look to Chevron’s Gorgon gas project in Western Australia. The project was supposed to capture at least 80% of CO₂ from the gas it produces. After a three-year delay, carbon capture and storage began in 2019 but has <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jul/16/gas-giant-chevron-falls-further-behind-on-carbon-capture-targets-for-gorgon-gasfield">consistently</a> <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2023/apr/21/emissions-wa-gas-project-chevron-carbon-capture-system-pilbara-coast">failed</a> to reach its targets.</p>
<p>Claims that Middle Arm would substantially be powered by renewable energy are also in doubt. The Sun Cable solar project – once billed as the largest solar energy development in the southern hemisphere – was <a href="https://industry.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0003/935382/sun-cable-ess-ip-submission.pdf">planning</a> a battery at the site. But in 2023 the company went into <a href="https://suncable.energy/sun-cable-enters-voluntary-administration-strong-development-progress-and-portfolio-provides-opportunity-for-refreshed-alignment-between-company-and-investor-objectives/">administration</a> and its future is unclear. </p>
<p>Questions also surround Middle Arm’s two proposed green hydrogen projects. Neither company involved has ever built a green hydrogen facility. One of the companies, Total Eren, intends to use <a href="https://energyclubnt.com.au/news/12883669">solar energy</a> from a facility that has not yet been assessed let alone approved for construction.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/opening-10-new-oil-and-gas-sites-is-a-win-for-fossil-fuel-companies-but-a-staggering-loss-for-the-rest-of-australia-189374">Opening 10 new oil and gas sites is a win for fossil fuel companies – but a staggering loss for the rest of Australia</a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="A map of the proposed Middle Arm precinct on Darwin Harbour." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541625/original/file-20230808-15-axllu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/541625/original/file-20230808-15-axllu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541625/original/file-20230808-15-axllu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541625/original/file-20230808-15-axllu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=346&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541625/original/file-20230808-15-axllu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541625/original/file-20230808-15-axllu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/541625/original/file-20230808-15-axllu7.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=435&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A map of the proposed Middle Arm precinct on Darwin Harbour.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Land Development Corporation</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Offsets won’t save us, either</h2>
<p>As part of its “decarbonisation” plan, the NT is <a href="https://ntrebound.nt.gov.au/publications/final-report">set to grow</a> its carbon offset industries.</p>
<p>And in 2021, the then Coalition government released a <a href="https://www.dcceew.gov.au/climate-change/publications/australias-long-term-emissions-reduction-plan">climate plan</a> in which more than half the carbon savings would be achieved via carbon offsets, as well as unspecified “technology breakthroughs”.</p>
<p>Carbon offsets are used by polluters to compensate for their emissions. It involves buying “carbon credits” from organisations that have undertaken activities to reduce emissions.</p>
<p>Carbon offsets are contentious because they allow companies to keep pumping out carbon. And ensuring carbon credits represent genuine emissions reduction can be <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41558-022-01592-2">difficult</a>.</p>
<p>We’ve seen this in Australia, where the integrity of certain carbon methods has been <a href="https://theconversation.com/we-blew-the-whistle-on-australias-central-climate-policy-heres-what-a-new-federal-government-probe-must-fix-185894">questioned</a>. An independent review of the overall scheme concluded it was essentially sound, but critics <a href="https://theconversation.com/chubb-review-of-australias-carbon-credit-scheme-falls-short-and-problems-will-continue-to-fester-197401">say</a> key questions remain. Further, there are <a href="https://www.thesaturdaypaper.com.au/news/politics/2022/03/19/angus-taylors-35-billion-carbon-blunder/164760840013513">signs</a> we do not have enough credits to meet market demand.</p>
<h2>Looking ahead</h2>
<p>The goal of Australian governments to reach net-zero emissions by 2050 increasingly relies on gambits such as the Middle Arm precinct and speculative methods for offsetting and burying emissions. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, the world has just experienced its hottest month on record. And in temperate Australia, a hot, dry El Nino summer is approaching. </p>
<p>At a time like this, we must focus on achieving genuine emissions reductions, rather than playing risky games with our climate. </p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/limitless-energy-how-floating-solar-panels-near-the-equator-could-power-future-population-hotspots-210557">'Limitless' energy: how floating solar panels near the equator could power future population hotspots</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/206000/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Timothy Neale receives funding from the Australian Research Council, Natural Hazards Research Australia, and the Country Fire Authority.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kari Dahlgren receives research funding from CitiPower, Powercor, and United Energy. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Kearnes receives funding from the Australian Research Council. He is affiliated with the NSW Geographical Society. </span></em></p>The project’s environmental credentials rely on highly speculative technologies, making Middle Arm a grand experiment with our climate.Timothy Neale, Senior Research Fellow, Deakin UniversityKari Dahlgren, Research Fellow Emerging Technologies Research Lab, Monash UniversityMatthew Kearnes, Professor, Environment & Society, School of Humanities and Languages, UNSW SydneyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2098632023-07-19T20:00:25Z2023-07-19T20:00:25ZThe Northern Territory does not have a crocodile problem – and ‘salties’ do not need culling<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538192/original/file-20230719-27-ek02my.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C4260%2C2831&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Last week, a 67-year-old man was bitten on the arm by a saltwater crocodile at a waterhole in the Northern Territory’s Top End. Predictably, the incident has prompted debate over whether a crocodile cull is needed. </p>
<p>The incident occurred in Litchfield National Park at Wangi Falls, a popular tourist spot. The man was hospitalised with non-life threatening injuries. Authorities later removed and killed the 2.4 metre crocodile responsible for the attack.</p>
<p>Fatal crocodile attacks in the NT <a href="https://www.ntnews.com.au/news/northern-territory/record-year-for-fatal-crocodile-attacks-in-northern-territory/news-story/e71d7ee8dd4b30641447d9b114cb1039">peaked in 2014</a> when four people died. The last fatal incident in the territory occurred in 2018 when an Indigenous ranger <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2018/oct/12/indigenous-ranger-attacked-and-taken-by-crocodile-in-northern-territory">was killed</a> while fishing with her family.</p>
<p>Despite the low number of fatal attacks in recent years, NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said last week the territory’s crocodile population had risen dramatically in recent decades and “it’s time for us to consider” if culling should be reintroduced.</p>
<p>This is an over-reaction to a fairly isolated incident. Data suggest the saltwater crocodile population in the NT does not need to be culled and their management does not need changing. </p>
<h2>Getting to grips with ‘salties’</h2>
<p>Saltwater crocodiles, fondly known in Australia as “salties”, are the <a href="http://www.iucncsg.org/365_docs/attachments/protarea/18%20--8088e67a.pdf">largest</a> in the crocodilian order of reptiles and can grow to six metres.</p>
<p>Hundreds of saltwater crocodile attacks on humans are reported globally each year. This, as well as demand for <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-12/should-crocodile-culling-be-reintroduced-in-the-nt/102588160">crocodile skins</a>, has resulted in the species being eradicated from much of its former range. </p>
<p>The saltwater crocodile was once found <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/372405960_Sideleau_and_Nguyen_2021">widely</a> across the Indo-Pacific region. Now, there are no saltwater crocodiles in <a href="http://www.iucncsg.org/365_docs/attachments/protarea/18%20--8088e67a.pdf">several countries</a> including Cambodia, China, Seychelles, Thailand and Vietnam.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537799/original/file-20230717-184356-pfat4r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537799/original/file-20230717-184356-pfat4r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537799/original/file-20230717-184356-pfat4r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537799/original/file-20230717-184356-pfat4r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=359&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537799/original/file-20230717-184356-pfat4r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537799/original/file-20230717-184356-pfat4r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537799/original/file-20230717-184356-pfat4r.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=451&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Current and historical distribution of the saltwater crocodile. Green = present, yellow = possibly present, orange = extinct.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">CrocAttack: The Worldwide Crocodilian Attack Database</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Elsewhere, saltwater crocodile populations declined dramatically last century. In the Northern Territory, crocodile numbers dropped to <a href="https://nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/443581/crocodile-management-program.pdf">about 5,000</a> before a culling ban was introduced in 1971. The species’ numbers have since rebounded to <a href="https://nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0007/202579/crocodile-populations.pdf">more than 100,000</a>.</p>
<p>In some areas, recovering crocodile populations come into conflict with humans. This can occur when, for example, humans destroy the species’ habitat or their prey becomes scarce due human activity such as overfishing and poaching. This can force the species to relocate, bringing them closer to people.</p>
<p>Saltwater crocodiles have long been known to enter Wangi Falls during the wet season, when the location is closed to the public. In fact, a 3.4 metre crocodile <a href="https://7news.com.au/news/crocodile/massive-croc-caught-at-popular-swimming-spot-c-9622519">was captured</a> there in January this year. </p>
<p>It’s never 100% safe to swim at locations within the natural range of saltwater crocodiles. However, Wangi Falls is considered reasonably <a href="https://becrocwise.nt.gov.au/crocodiles-and-me/stay-safe-while-swimming">safe</a> for swimming during the dry season (May to October) because park officials survey and remove crocodiles before it opens to the public each year. </p>
<p>So what went wrong in this case? We don’t know for sure. The crocodile in question was relatively small: perhaps it wasn’t spotted during surveys. Or it could have just arrived after surveys were conducted.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/friday-essay-reckoning-with-an-animal-that-sees-us-as-prey-living-and-working-in-crocodile-country-160260">Friday essay: reckoning with an animal that sees us as prey — living and working in crocodile country</a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="a saltwater crocodile" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537798/original/file-20230717-219717-qhspp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/537798/original/file-20230717-219717-qhspp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537798/original/file-20230717-219717-qhspp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537798/original/file-20230717-219717-qhspp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537798/original/file-20230717-219717-qhspp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537798/original/file-20230717-219717-qhspp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/537798/original/file-20230717-219717-qhspp8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A saltwater crocodile incident last week has reignited the debate about culling.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Brandon Sideleau</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>The current approach works</h2>
<p>Following last week’s crocodile attack, Fyles said culling may be needed, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-11/natasha-fyles-saltwater-crocodile-culling/102585956">telling the media</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>I think it’s time for us to consider: do we need to go back to culling considering the significant increase in the crocodile population, and the impact it’s happening, not just on our tourists and visitors, but also locals?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These comments are surprising. Recent data for the Top End <a href="https://depws.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0005/437639/SW-Crocodile-Monitoring-Report-2014.pdf">suggests</a> crocodile populations are stabilising. And the rarity of fatal attacks on humans indicates the territory’s <a href="https://becrocwise.nt.gov.au/crocodile-management/crocodile-management-program#:%7E:text=The%20NT%20Government%20uses%20a,techniques%20appropriate%20to%20the%20location">crocodile management plan</a> is effective.</p>
<p>The plan involves, among other measures, removing problem crocodiles, raising public awareness around safely co-existing with the animals, and monitoring their impact. </p>
<p>Since 2018, the NT has experienced one fatal saltwater crocodile attack while <a href="https://environment.des.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0022/227434/crocodile-attacks-queensland.pdf">Queensland</a> has experienced <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/03/human-remains-found-in-euthanised-crocodile-believed-to-be-missing-queensland-fisher">two</a>. That’s despite an average saltwater crocodile density in the territory <a href="https://environment.des.qld.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/244613/qld-estuarine-croc-monitoring-program-2016-19-report.pdf">of 5.3 individuals per kilometre</a> – three times more than in Queensland. </p>
<p>This, coupled with data from outside Australia, suggests the frequency of crocodile attacks depends more on human behaviour and population density than how many crocodiles are in a given area.</p>
<p>In Indonesia, crocodiles <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/may/02/crocodile-catch-conservationists-warn-against-proposed-queensland-cull">killed at least 71 people</a> last year alone. Yet the crocodile population there is likely small and recovering, based on the limited number of surveys conducted.</p>
<p>In the Indonesian province of East Nusa Tenggara, for example, crocodiles killed <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/mf/MF20237">at least 60 people</a> between 2009 and 2018. Yet surveys suggest their average density is <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1755-1315/591/1/012044">only 0.4 per kilometre</a>. The situation is similar on <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/320990083_Impacts_of_anthropogenic_pressures_on_the_contemporary_biogeography_of_threatened_crocodilians_in_Indonesia">the island of Sumatra</a>, as well as <a href="https://www.thestar.com.my/news/environment/2023/07/15/culling-sabah039s-crocodiles-will-not-reduce-croc-attacks?fbclid=IwAR0Jn_Dn-wOc9X5CXDsI7ucgZi_ost8WJ5WNCSaPeH2bNP9D1fBURfK9Y2Q">parts</a> of <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/358152489_Human-Crocodile_Conflicts_in_Sarawak_Malaysian_Borneo_An_analysis_of_crocodile_attacks_from_2000_until_2020">Malaysia</a>.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/curious-kids-how-did-crocodiles-survive-the-asteroid-that-killed-the-dinosaurs-172390">Curious Kids: how did crocodiles survive the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs?</a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="saltwater crocodile swimming underwater" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538197/original/file-20230719-23-su836y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/538197/original/file-20230719-23-su836y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538197/original/file-20230719-23-su836y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538197/original/file-20230719-23-su836y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538197/original/file-20230719-23-su836y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538197/original/file-20230719-23-su836y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/538197/original/file-20230719-23-su836y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles said crocodile culling may be needed.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>The downsides of culling crocs</h2>
<p>Culling saltwater crocodiles isn’t just bad for the species. It can also have negative consequences for humans.</p>
<p>The public could be <a href="https://theconversation.com/crocodile-culls-wont-solve-crocodile-attacks-11203">lulled into a false sense of security</a> and think a location is safe for swimming, even though crocodiles remain. </p>
<p>And seeing saltwater crocodiles in the wild is <a href="https://www.kindnessproject.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/Crocodile-Transition-Plan-final.pdf">important to the NT’s economy</a>. Culling them could damage the NT’s reputation as an ecotourism destination.</p>
<p>Lastly, culling dominant male crocodiles can be dangerous. Saltwater crocodiles are the <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Cm-Gienger-2/publication/319502789_Patterns_of_human-crocodile_conflict_in_Queensland_A_review_of_historical_estuarine_crocodile_Crocodylus_porosus_management/links/5c4a0b87a6fdccd6b5c59d4a/Patterns-of-human-crocodile-conflict-in-Queensland-A-review-of-historical-estuarine-crocodile-Crocodylus-porosus-management.pdf">most territorial</a> of all crocodilians. When one is removed, other large crocodiles <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article/file?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0126778&type=printable">begin to compete</a> for the newly available territory. This can present a threat to public safety. </p>
<p>The crocodile population in the NT does not need to be culled. Indeed, the territory’s current crocodile management plan is an example of large predator conservation done right.</p>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-living-alongside-crocodiles-can-teach-us-about-coexisting-with-wildlife-139144">What living alongside crocodiles can teach us about coexisting with wildlife</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209863/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brandon Michael Sideleau is a member of the IUCN Crocodile Specialist Group</span></em></p>A non-fatal crocodile attack on a tourist last week made headlines. But talk of culling is an over-reaction to a fairly isolated incident.Brandon Michael Sideleau, PhD student studying human-saltwater crocodile conflict, Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2093352023-07-12T20:04:03Z2023-07-12T20:04:03ZAnother assault on Country and its precious species has begun at Binybara/Lee Point<p>In federal Environment Minister Tanya Plibersek’s <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/speeches/national-press-club-address">first major speech</a>, she said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>If we continue on the trajectory that we are on, the precious places, landscapes, animals and plants that we think of when we think of home may not be here for our kids and grandkids. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Yet, as you read this, the bulldozers are poised to destroy habitat for threatened species, subvert traditional cultural values and jeopardise a fabulous aspect of Darwin’s natural environment at Lee Point/Binybara. The government’s decision to approve this loss shows a continuing disregard for nature, cultural heritage and the legacy our descendants will inherit.</p>
<p>The battle to protect Binybara – as it is known to its Traditional Owners – has galvanised the local community. But the issues at stake are much broader and expose the tick-a-box nature of our <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/">unsatisfactory environmental laws</a>.</p>
<p>The clearing of over 100 hectares of savanna woodland at Binybara for a defence housing development was first approved in 2019. When <a href="http://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=413">endangered Gouldian finches</a> turned up <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-24/lee-point-darwin-gouldian-finches-defence-housing-development/101452040">in their hundreds</a> last year, Plibersek agreed to reconsider the approval. </p>
<p>But <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-06-20/tanya-plibersek-lee-point-defence-housing-project-gouldian-finch/102493770">in June</a> this year the minister <a href="https://epbcpublicportal.awe.gov.au/all-referrals/project-referral-summary/project-decision/?id=89308a9b-85aa-e811-bae0-005056ba00a8">decided</a> the development could proceed with a few more conditions. Last week, Traditional Owners, Darwin locals and <a href="https://www.ecnt.org.au/scientific_expert_open_letter">ecologists from a nearby conference</a> watched as the first trees were felled.</p>
<p>On Friday there was a reprieve: a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-07-08/lee-point-land-clearing-cultural-heritage-application/102577448">ten-day pause</a> to consider the Larrakia people’s concerns.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1676830296170455047"}"></div></p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/97-of-australians-want-more-action-to-stop-extinctions-and-72-want-extra-spending-on-the-environment-207811">97% of Australians want more action to stop extinctions and 72% want extra spending on the environment</a>
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<h2>What’s at stake?</h2>
<p>The conflict between conservation or destruction at Binybara has global, national and local contexts.</p>
<p>The shoreline near the proposed housing is a <a href="https://ntepa.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/460802/draft_eis_lee_point_urban_dev_appendixN_migratory_shorebirds.PDF">globally significant</a> site on the flyway of many shorebirds that migrate from eastern Asia to Australia each year. These birds face threats from habitat loss and degradation across their range. Their numbers are <a href="https://researchonline.federation.edu.au/vital/access/services/Download/vital:10675/SOURCE2">in steep decline</a>. </p>
<p>Northern Australia has to date provided some respite from disturbance for these travellers. But an 800-home development would increase human activity and disturbance at a site already under pressure. </p>
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<img alt="eastern curlews taking flight" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536736/original/file-20230711-29-ln4ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536736/original/file-20230711-29-ln4ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536736/original/file-20230711-29-ln4ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536736/original/file-20230711-29-ln4ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=338&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536736/original/file-20230711-29-ln4ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536736/original/file-20230711-29-ln4ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536736/original/file-20230711-29-ln4ks.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=424&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Critically endangered eastern curlews, which are highly sensitive to disturbance, are among the shorebirds found near the site.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The national context is that most of our threatened species continue to decline. It’s often a result of an ongoing <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/csp2.117">series of small losses</a> – a patch of bushland cleared here, a population lost there. We cannot reduce the risks of extinction, let alone restore biodiversity, if these losses continue.</p>
<p>Binybara’s incredible richness of birds is valued by locals and tourists alike. Regarded as one of the world’s most beautiful birds, the Gouldian finch’s presence on the outskirts of Darwin is a particular blessing. The proposed development will jeopardise this population, particularly by destroying trees whose hollows provide potential nest sites. </p>
<p>The project’s environmental impact statement acknowledged it would also have a <a href="https://ntepa.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0009/460773/draft_eis_lee_point_urban_dev.PDF">significant impact</a> on another endangered species, the <a href="https://www.environment.gov.au/cgi-bin/sprat/public/publicspecies.pl?taxon_id=87618">black-footed tree-rat</a>. Tree felling would likely cause deaths of individuals and loss of hollows on which the species depends. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/land-clearing-and-fracking-in-australias-northern-territory-threatens-the-worlds-largest-intact-tropical-savanna-208028">Land clearing and fracking in Australia's Northern Territory threatens the world's largest intact tropical savanna</a>
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<h2>A deep cultural significance</h2>
<p>The Larrakia people’s deep and rich cultural ties to this area stretch back millennia. For them, Binybara is a sacred place. </p>
<p>It’s here that their ancestor Binybara transforms into a bird to fly out to see her husband <a href="https://dtc.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0020/249041/ccr-management-plan2016.pdf">Darriba Nungalinya</a>. </p>
<p>The birdlife, from the migrating shorebirds to the owls, kites, eagles and Gouldian finches, is integral to the ecosystems and to the cultural fabric and story of this place. Generations of Larrakia people have lived, hunted, gathered foods, sourced materials and performed ceremonies here.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536430/original/file-20230710-187724-seno86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/536430/original/file-20230710-187724-seno86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536430/original/file-20230710-187724-seno86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536430/original/file-20230710-187724-seno86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536430/original/file-20230710-187724-seno86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536430/original/file-20230710-187724-seno86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/536430/original/file-20230710-187724-seno86.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Binybara Traditional Owners speak at a rally on site.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Martine Maron</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
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</figure>
<p>The woodlands provide foods such as the <em>bowit-jba</em> or bush potato (<em>Brachystelma glabriflorum</em>), <em>datbing-gwa</em> or sugarbag, green plum (<em>Buchanania obovata</em>), milky plum (<em>Persoonia falcata</em>), emu berry (<em>Grewia retusifolia</em>), possum (<em>gutjgutjga</em>), wallaby (<em>milulu-la</em>) and goanna (<em>damiljulberreba</em>). </p>
<p><em>Eucalyptus miniata</em> timber is used for didjeridoo, harpoons, walking sticks, digging sticks and good firewood. <em>Eucalyptus tetrodonta</em> provides medicine and bark canoes. The bark and timber are also used for traditional houses. <em>Erythrophleum chlorostachys</em> (<em>delenyng-gwa</em>) leaves are used for smoking ceremonies and the inner bark for medicine to treat sores and deep wounds.</p>
<p><em>Hibiscus tiliaceus</em> (<em>lalwa</em>) is a source of string for ropes, nets and harpoons. Its straight stems are used for fishing spears. <em>Casuarina equisetifolia</em> provides digging sticks for turtle eggs, firewood and beach shade. The paperbark from Melaleuca species (<em>gweybil-wa</em>) is used for cooking, bedding and roofing material, dugout canoes and rafts, while the leaves have medicinal uses. </p>
<p>Timber from the calendar plant, <em>Acacia auriculiformis</em> (<em>gwalamarrwa</em>), is used for clapsticks, while the pods are used medicinally. Dance practice for funerals happens here, using <em>gwalamarrwa</em> leaves.</p>
<p>It’s likely shell middens, artefact scatters and clay pits will need to be surveyed. There is a possible burial site in the area, a well and a <a href="https://www.dha.gov.au/docs/default-source/default-document-library/ehp_7793_eisleempud_final_02082018_part1.pdf?sfvrsn=22c96b22_0">registered sacred site</a> at the tip of Lee Point. Tree burials, where the deceased was placed in a tree, may have taken place, so there may be scarred trees here. </p>
<p>The ten-day reprieve is due to an emergency application sought by the Traditional Owners under the federal <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/resource-centre/indigenous-affairs/protection-indigenous-cultural-heritage-commonwealth-level">Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Heritage Protection (ATSIHP) Act</a>. They ask for a management plan to protect their cultural heritage to be developed with their input and that of experts and Darwin locals who value this place.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/recognising-indigenous-knowledges-is-not-just-culturally-sound-its-good-science-184444">Recognising Indigenous knowledges is not just culturally sound, it's good science</a>
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<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1677222188917850112"}"></div></p>
<h2>A(nother) failure of national environment law</h2>
<p>The main change to the approval was to require plans be developed to offset the loss of 94 hectares of Gouldian finch habitat. What those offsets are – or whether they are even possible – is not yet known. </p>
<p>This kind of “<a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-8500.12581">backloading</a>” of offset conditions is highly risky. By the time the difficulty of finding a suitable offset site becomes clear, it is often too late – the habitat is gone. </p>
<p>Just two weeks ago, Plibersek ordered <a href="https://minister.dcceew.gov.au/plibersek/media-releases/government-launches-environmental-offsets-crackdown">an audit</a> of 1,000 environmental offset sites. “It’s not clear whether offset arrangements prevent environmental decline,” she said. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/developers-arent-paying-enough-to-offset-impacts-on-koalas-and-other-endangered-species-208587">Developers aren't paying enough to offset impacts on koalas and other endangered species</a>
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<p>What we do know is that old-growth habitat features, such as tree hollows, are irreplaceable. And inherently place-based cultural values cannot be offset. This is ever more important as the Northern Territory moves to <a href="https://theconversation.com/land-clearing-and-fracking-in-australias-northern-territory-threatens-the-worlds-largest-intact-tropical-savanna-208028">ramp up land clearing</a> for cotton growing and gas development.</p>
<p>Another new condition is to maintain a 50-metre buffer zone around a dam where the finches drink. It’s a tokenistic measure, as the finches disperse hundreds of metres to feed and further to nest in old-growth hollow trees, like those in the areas to be cleared. </p>
<p>The case of Binybara exemplifies many of the failings of the Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (EPBC) Act identified by the <a href="https://epbcactreview.environment.gov.au/">Samuel review</a>. The test of the government’s <a href="https://theconversation.com/our-laws-fail-nature-the-governments-plan-to-overhaul-them-looks-good-but-crucial-detail-is-yet-to-come-196126">promised reforms</a> to the EPBC Act will be whether decisions like this continue to be made, leading to the loss of irreplaceable habitats and sacred cultural heritage.</p>
<p>Right now, the future of Binybara hangs by a thread.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/get-the-basics-right-for-national-environmental-standards-to-ensure-truly-sustainable-development-201092">Get the basics right for National Environmental Standards to ensure truly sustainable development</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/209335/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>John Woinarski receives has received funding from the Australian government's National Environmental Science Program. He is a councillor with the Biodiversity Council and a member of the board of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lorraine Williams is an elder of the Larrakia Danggalaba clan, the Traditional Owners who sought an emergency application under the federal ATSIHP Act to halt the development.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Martine Maron has received funding from various sources including the Australian Research Council, the Queensland Department of Environment and Science, Bush Heritage Australia, and the Australian government's National Environmental Science Program. She is a member of the Wentworth Group of Concerned Scientists, a councillor with the Biodiversity Council, a member of the board of the Australian Wildlife Conservancy and BirdLife Australia, and a governor of WWF-Australia.</span></em></p>The Darwin woodland is home to endangered species and important for the Larrakia people. The development approval requires habitat offsets – yet the minister herself has publicly doubted offsets work.John Woinarski, Professor of Conservation Biology, Charles Darwin UniversityLorraine Williams, Larrakia Traditional Owner, Indigenous KnowledgeMartine Maron, Professor of Environmental Management, The University of QueenslandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2073122023-06-21T02:20:41Z2023-06-21T02:20:41ZCOVID didn’t change internal migration as much as claimed, new ABS data show<p>At its height, the COVID-19 pandemic <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/articles/population-change-2020">disrupted</a> well-established patterns of migration within Australia. Reports of a <a href="https://newsroom.kpmg.com.au/covid-19s-impact-population-growth-regional-renaissance-melbourne-sydney-decline/">regional renaissance</a> suggested city dwellers were <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-02-02/abs-data-confirms-city-exodus-during-covid/13112868">moving to regional areas</a> in droves. The governments of Tasmania, South Australia and the Northern Territory were also keen to promote new migration flows to reverse long-standing declines in their shares of the national population.</p>
<p>Advice from the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) that internal migration numbers were “<a href="https://population.gov.au/data-and-forecasts/key-data-releases/national-state-and-territory-population-september-2021">implausibly high</a>” received less attention. The ABS suspended these data releases due to this concern. Its latest <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/national-state-and-territory-population/dec-2022#states-and-territories">population data release</a> uses a revised model for <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/detailed-methodology-information/information-papers/2021-census-update-net-interstate-migration-mode">net interstate migration</a>. </p>
<p>These data indicate a new normal rather than a renaissance for South Australia, the Northern Territory and Tasmania. </p>
<p>Internal migration losses for capital cities have also slowed.</p>
<iframe title="Components of population change by state and territory" aria-label="Grouped Column Chart" id="datawrapper-chart-dV3D1" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/dV3D1/2/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="400" data-external="1"></iframe>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/lets-just-do-it-how-do-e-changers-feel-about-having-left-the-city-now-lockdowns-are-over-188009">'Let's just do it': how do e-changers feel about having left the city now lockdowns are over?</a>
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<h2>So what was going on?</h2>
<p>In reality, the data present a different story to the popular narrative. Pandemic-era <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/regional-internal-migration-estimates-provisional/latest-release">ABS data</a> for 2020 showed increased growth in non-metropolitan areas was due more to retaining residents than attracting new ones. </p>
<p>This is unsurprising. Much of Australia was in lockdown, restricting movement, and case numbers were highest in the capital cities. The historical main reasons for leaving regional areas – education and/or jobs – were no longer viable options. </p>
<p>In 2020, interstate migration fell by 29%. In 2021, it increased on paper by 45% compared with 2020. </p>
<p>However, the ABS advised this large increase was mainly due to people updating their addresses with Medicare during mass vaccination rollouts. The distorting effect of these belated updates prompted the ABS to suspend the release of regional internal migration estimates. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/2021-census-overcount-and-undercount/latest-release">under-counts and over-counts</a> identified from the 2021 census show just how far off estimates of population and migration were for some areas. The ABS has <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/detailed-methodology-information/information-papers/2021-census-update-net-interstate-migration-model">revised its methodology</a>, based on the census findings and updated Medicare data. </p>
<p>Last week, the ABS released details of its new assumptions for modelling interstate migration with the <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/national-state-and-territory-population/dec-2022#states-and-territories">latest population data</a> for the last quarter of 2022. Under this model, total interstate migration for 2022 fell 21%, compared with 2021, to levels similar to those of 2016. </p>
<p>As for movement between capital cities and regional areas within states, we have <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/population/regional-population/latest-release#key-statistics">data for four quarters</a> since March 2022 when the ABS resumed releases. (“Regional areas” include large centres like the Gold Coast, Geelong and Newcastle.) The numbers moving to greater capital cities have been increasing, and the numbers leaving have been declining. Even so, more people are still leaving capital cities than arriving (excluding overseas arrivals). </p>
<iframe title="Population changes by capital city for year to June 30 2022" aria-label="Grouped Column Chart" id="datawrapper-chart-ByYH4" src="https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ByYH4/2/" scrolling="no" frameborder="0" style="border: none;" width="100%" height="400" data-external="1"></iframe>
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<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/has-covid-really-caused-an-exodus-from-our-cities-in-fact-moving-to-the-regions-is-nothing-new-154724">Has COVID really caused an exodus from our cities? In fact, moving to the regions is nothing new</a>
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<hr>
<h2>What does this mean for state and territory populations?</h2>
<p>The revised data allow us to assess migration flows between states and territories for the last quarter of 2022 as well as back through time, including the pandemic. </p>
<p>In the peak pandemic year of 2020, South Australia recorded a net gain from interstate migration. The then premier <a href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/brain-drain-from-south-australia-reverses-again-abs-figures-show/news-story/3c7ebb08c67603a5f050dbcab2368d26">attributed</a> the reversal of the state’s brain drain to its “performance in containing COVID, accelerating industrial transformation and strong jobs growth”. </p>
<p>A closer look at the data shows the upward trend began well before the pandemic. The net loss due to interstate migration had decreased from -7,693 in 2017 to -2,885 in 2019. </p>
<p>The pandemic did accelerate this trend. Early in the pandemic, the net gain of 2,348 people in SA was driven by retention of people. Arrivals fell by 21.7%, but the decrease in departures was larger at 35.4%. In 2021, the net gain of 2,310 people was slightly smaller as arrivals increased by 43.6% and departures by 48.5%. </p>
<p>In 2022, however, the net gain was only 670 people. This suggests a return to net interstate migration losses is possible. </p>
<p>The revised data for the Northern Territory show a consistent net population loss to interstate migration of about 2,100 in the five years leading up to the pandemic. Then, in 2020, interstate arrivals fell considerably but departures fell even more. The result was a small net gain of 110. </p>
<p>When the territory’s borders reopened in 2021, both arrivals and departures surged to 1.5 times the average of the five years to 2020 at 16,992 arrivals and 19,298 departures. But in 2022 both figures wound back to 14% below the five-year pre-COVID average. Departures once again outstripped arrivals, by 2,120, very close to the average net loss of 2,306 for those five years.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/you-cant-boost-australias-north-to-5-million-people-without-a-proper-plan-125063">You can't boost Australia's north to 5 million people without a proper plan</a>
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<p>The Tasmanian government is refreshing its <a href="https://www.stategrowth.tas.gov.au/policies_and_strategies/populationstrategy">2015 Population Growth Strategy</a> and plans to appoint a <a href="https://www.premier.tas.gov.au/speeches/state-of-the-state-address">state demographer</a>. In November 2021, the then premier <a href="https://www.premier.tas.gov.au/speeches/ceda_state_of_the_state_address3">declared</a> people were “knocking on the door, and knocking loudly” to move to the state. This was not the case. </p>
<p>In 2020, interstate arrivals fell by 18% and departures by 28%. The state’s net gain was 2,633. For 2021, at the time of the vaccination rollout, arrivals increased by 39% and departures by 53%, resulting in a smaller net gain. For 2022, arrivals fell by 30% and departures by 16%, for a net loss of 941 people. </p>
<p>This reverses a seven-year period of interstate migration gains for Tasmania. With the lowest growth since 2015, the state has returned to the times before a population growth strategy. The level of natural increase (births minus deaths) is the lowest on record. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/tasmania-cant-only-rely-on-a-growing-population-for-an-economic-boost-91236">Tasmania can't only rely on a growing population for an economic boost</a>
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<hr>
<h2>Getting the numbers right matters for us all</h2>
<p>Claiming a <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/business/property/covidinduced-renaissance-for-regional-property-spikes/news-story/2a2dc5295aa0c28decc3a76579668bea">population resurgence</a> may help promote confidence for regions experiencing challenges from population ageing, economic performance and/or remoteness. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-small-rural-communities-often-shun-newcomers-even-when-they-need-them-199984">Why do small rural communities often shun newcomers, even when they need them?</a>
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<p>The problem with such populist narratives is they may also jeopardise the development of good policy, programs and infrastructure for key services such as housing, health and education. Funding could end up going to areas with less relative need. </p>
<p>These narratives may also muddy the already <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/andrews-fires-warning-at-albanese-over-sweetheart-gst-deals-20230314-p5cryx.html">contentious distribution</a> of GST revenue to the states and territories. In addition, population numbers affect how many seats each state and territory has in the House of Representatives. </p>
<p>We need reliable and robust data to make informed decisions. This is why we should all take personal responsibility for promptly updating our home addresses with Medicare when we move. Although this might not seem urgent for individuals, not doing so may mean their share of services and infrastructure falls short of what it might otherwise be.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/207312/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lisa Denny has received funding from the Tasmanian Department of State Growth in the past. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Andrew Taylor receives funding from the Northern Territory Department of Treasury and Finance. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>George Tan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The latest revised data challenge the popular narrative about a population renaissance for regional Australia and for states and territories that were losing residents to other parts of the country.Lisa Denny, Adjunct Associate Professor, Institute for Social Change, University of TasmaniaAndrew Taylor, Associate Professor, Northern Institute, Charles Darwin UniversityGeorge Tan, Lecturer in Population Geography, University of AdelaideLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2040322023-06-14T03:49:04Z2023-06-14T03:49:04ZMany First Nations communities swelter without power. Why isn’t there solar on every rooftop?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531846/original/file-20230614-29-zdp3hb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=30%2C24%2C3995%2C2993&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Original Power</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Over 3.4 million <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-03-01/rooftop-solar-to-overtake-coal-as-australias-main-power-source/102033740#:%7E:text=A%20new%20report%20from%20industry,business%20roofs%20across%20the%20country.">Australian houses</a> now have rooftop solar, often subsidised by <a href="https://www.cleanenergycouncil.org.au/consumers/buying-solar/government-programs">government incentives</a>. </p>
<p>But in remote First Nations communities in the Northern Territory, you don’t see solar on any rooftops. That’s a real problem. This part of Australia is dangerously hot in summer. And many people don’t have enough power to run vital appliances like the fridge and air conditioner. </p>
<p>Solar would be an ideal solution. Tennant Creek has over 300 days per year of sunshine with some of the clearest skies in the world, for instance. </p>
<p>Only recently, co-author and Warumungu elder Frank Jupurrurla took part in the <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-022-02831-4">first NT rooftop solar trial</a>, supported by <a href="http://originalpower.org.au">Original Power</a> and installed rooftop solar on his house. </p>
<p>As our new research found, <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00049182.2023.2214959?src=">this pilot</a> worked well, supplying a third of the house’s power and ending the problem of power disconnecting. Previously, the power would go out once a month on average. After solar, it never went off. </p>
<p>So why isn’t this widely available? The main problems are red tape, such as getting approval for work on public housing, securing feed in tariffs and metering requirements. As Mr Jupurrurla’s experience demonstrates, they can all be overcome – but not easily. </p>
<p>As Frank Jupurrurla says:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We call the sun Kilyirr […] Right now he’s shining on my panels, he’s giving me power, and he looks after us. So that Kilyirr, he gonna be there forever. </p>
</blockquote>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="solar trial tennant creek" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=508&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=638&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=638&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531851/original/file-20230614-27-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=638&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Sun after red tape: Frank Jupurrurla (centre), with family members Serena and Nina-Simone (left) and Lauren Mellor (Original Power).</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Original Power</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>How do remote communities get power at present?</h2>
<p>Prepaid electricity is used in many remote First Nations households across Australia, and in almost all town camps. In this model, people “top up” the meter with credit. When credit runs out, the electricity disconnects until more credit is purchased. The electricity here is often produced by diesel generators. </p>
<p>Despite the risk of sudden disconnection, this model is often preferred by many communities as it gives residents fewer surprise bills. The downside is it often leads to an unenviable choice – power or food. </p>
<p>For residents of Tennant Creek’s <a href="https://www.wilyajanta.org/warlinginchi-apa">town camps</a>, it is not uncommon to run out of credit on a hot day. The hotter the day, the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1038/s41560-021-00942-2">higher the chance</a> people will lose power. That’s because hotter weather forces air conditioners and fridges to work harder. </p>
<p>When the power goes off, food inside fridges starts to spoil. Essential medical devices such as oxygen concentrators stop operating. Medications can become inactive or even <a href="https://journals.lww.com/nursing/Citation/2019/08000/Can_medications_become_harmful_after_the.4.aspx">toxic</a>. </p>
<p>Air conditioners stop working and temperatures rise. On very hot days, the inside of a house gets well over 40°C. Children and adults can’t sleep. Going to school gets harder. Not only are these conditions unsafe, they can drive <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanplh/article/PIIS2542-5196(21)00210-2/fulltext">social disharmony</a>. </p>
<p>As Frank Jupurrurla says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We struggle every day. Our people, they’re not healthy. Lots of people in this town are on renal [dialysis]. Solar should be talked about in parliament and put on the table.</p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Did the trial help?</h2>
<p>A 6.6 kilowatt solar array was installed on Mr Jupurrurla’s house and switched on in November 2021. The house kept its grid connection and no battery was installed. Household residents received a crash course from the installers, First Nations organisation <a href="http://originalpower.org.au">Original Power</a>, on making the most of the solar for example by running the washing machine during daylight hours. </p>
<p>The result? Solar generates a third of the total power use in any given month. But more importantly, through reducing energy costs, disconnections stopped entirely. This removed a huge source of stress and made the home safer and more enjoyable, according to the family. </p>
<p>As Mr Jupurrurla says: “We used to put a lot of power cards in nearly every day, second day. Now we got money all the time since we’ve got solar.” </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="solar install trial tennant creek" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531849/original/file-20230614-28-7916dl.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Installation took a fraction of the time to get approvals.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Original Power</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Solar is a great solution – but only if it’s made easy</h2>
<p>It sounds simple: install a 6.6kW array and see what difference it made. After all, people in the cities can do this routinely. </p>
<p>But it’s harder far from the cities, and harder still when different government departments have to sign off. As Mr Jupurrurla describes: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>The barriers was from the day we started. Before that, we’d argue with [Department of] Housing, and they said we have to check inside and check if the house is strong enough. Once we had the panels on, then it took us a while to [turn] it on. It was pretty frustrating. It took Power and Water more than three months just to switch the switch on. It was so hard. I rang the housing minister but nothing happened. So one day I just went out there to the box and switched it on myself </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Installing solar here meant overcoming regulatory barriers such as securing feed-in tariffs for excess power produced, ensuring the public housing is high-quality enough to host solar, and the question of ownership of the panels. </p>
<p>The NT housing department required an engineer’s sign off on the roof’s structural integrity, as this can’t be assumed for remote public housing. </p>
<p>As Mr Jupurrurla’s experience demonstrates, these barriers can be overcome – but not easily. </p>
<h2>What’s stopping a wider rollout?</h2>
<p>Our trial shows solar can work well for remote communities. The timing is good, as the ongoing roll-out of smart prepay meters means most remote First Nations houses in the NT are able to <a href="https://www.securemeters.com/au/product/smart-prepayment-electricity/direct-connected-meter-smart-prepayment-electricity/liberty-120/">handle solar</a>. </p>
<p>For this to gain momentum, the NT government must find ways to overcome these barriers. The Territory government has <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-04/nt-supreme-court-finds-for-santa-teresa-public-housing-tenants/100804718">responsibilities</a> as both the landlord for <a href="https://tfhc.nt.gov.au/housing-and-homelessness">housing</a> and as the <a href="https://www.powerwater.com.au/">monopoly energy provider</a>. </p>
<p>A key first step would be to smooth the path with clear paperwork and incentives for prepay households to install solar. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="northern territory remote community" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/531850/original/file-20230614-4630-exhvab.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=502&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">No solar to be seen: remote communities in the Northern Territory often lack reliable power.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Just as in the cities, encouraging solar will require financial incentives to offset the upfront cost, with <a href="https://www.highwaylearning.com/translation/powerstory/videos/PowerStory-Luritja.mp4">culturally appropriate</a> resources available in First Nations languages to explain the process. </p>
<p>Feed-in tariffs have long driven demand for solar for many homeowners. Ensuring remote communities are eligible will be vital. </p>
<p>Australian households are world leaders in taking up solar. But for too long, the ability to generate your own power from the sun has been off limits to many of the people who would benefit the most. </p>
<p>This year is an excellent time to correct this, as the federal government works towards a co-designed <a href="https://www.energy.gov.au/government-priorities/energy-and-climate-change-ministerial-council/priorities/national-energy-transformation-partnership/first-nations-clean-energy-strategy">First Nations Clean Energy Strategy</a> and the NT government’s plans for <a href="https://territoryrenewableenergy.nt.gov.au/strategies-and-plans/electricity-system-plans#Remote-power-system-strategy">better power solutions</a> in remote communities. </p>
<p>As Frank Jupurrurla says: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>I’d like to see government fund […] panels on homes. Especially in the Community Living Areas [Town Camps] in places like Alice Springs, Tenant Creek, and Katherine.</p>
</blockquote>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-climate-change-is-turning-remote-indigenous-houses-into-dangerous-hot-boxes-184328">How climate change is turning remote Indigenous houses into dangerous hot boxes</a>
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</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204032/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Simon Quilty is affiliated with a community project, Wilya Janta, that is progressing better housing design with greater Indigenous agency in Tennant Creek. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brad Riley is a Research Fellow at the ANU Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research working on the ANU Zero-Carbon Energy for the Asia-Pacific Grand Challenge.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Some of the data referenced in this article (specifically mapping locations where prepayment is not prohibited) was collected as part of a project funded under grant ARFEB22001 by Energy Consumers Australia Limited (<a href="http://www.energyconsumersaustralia.com.au">www.energyconsumersaustralia.com.au</a>) as part of its grants process for consumer advocacy projects and research projects for the benefit of consumers of electricity and natural gas. The views expressed in this document do not necessarily reflect the views of Energy Consumers Australia.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Norman Frank Jupurrurla does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>It’s 2023 and residents in remote First Nations communities still suffer from regular power disconnections. The fix is simple: put solar on every roof. But there are challenges to overcome first.Simon Quilty, Senior Staff Specialist, Alice Springs Hospital. Purple House Medical Advisor. Honorary ANU., Australian National UniversityBrad Riley, Research Fellow, Australian National UniversityLee White, Fellow, Australian National UniversityNorman Frank Jupurrurla, Warumungu Elder and Director of the Julalikari Council Aboriginal Corporation, Tennant Creek, Indigenous KnowledgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2027312023-05-05T01:22:54Z2023-05-05T01:22:54ZAfter decades of trying, how can we deliver more effective alcohol regulation in the NT?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524261/original/file-20230504-22-xyvydo.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C29%2C3677%2C2691&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Kristen Gelineau/AP</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The Northern Territory continues to report the <a href="https://nt.gov.au/wellbeing/health-conditions-treatments/alcohol-drugs-and-your-body/alcohol-and-your-health">highest levels of alcohol consumption</a> and harm in Australia, despite <a href="https://bmcpublichealth.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/s12889-021-11957-5">decades of reform</a>. </p>
<p>As we’ve seen over the years, there’s been a concerning link between alcohol consumption and domestic violence, crime and antisocial behaviour. When federal laws restricting access to alcohol <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-23/nt-chief-minister-blames-former-federal-government-alcohol-harm/101801900">lapsed</a> last year, it led to a surge in crime that <a href="https://nacchocommunique.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/05/Media-Release-CAAC-concerns-re-end-APAs-3.5.22.pdf">many had warned about</a>. The alcohol ban was <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2023/03/12/world/australia/alice-springs-alcohol.html">swiftly reinstated</a>.</p>
<p>But NT-based and Indigenous communities have long argued that banning alcohol is only part of the solution to a complex problem. The challenge is to find a more long-term, sustainable solution to alcohol consumption that incorporates a mix of policy, legislative, industry and community strategies.</p>
<p>Here are three possible strategies for the NT:</p>
<h2>1) Controlling supply and distribution</h2>
<p>The simplest way governments can reduce alcohol-related harm is to <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/alcohol/fact-sheets/prevention.htm">decrease supply and access</a> to alcohol. </p>
<p>The NT has done this by regulating alcohol outlet availability and density in cities, limiting the hours and days when alcohol can be sold, and enhancing enforcement of laws restricting or banning alcohol. The <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-04-30/dan-murphys-darwin-woolworths-nt/100105088">public anger over the planned opening of a Dan Murphy’s</a> near three dry communities in 2021 indicates that Territorians understand the link between supply and harm. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/just-ask-us-come-and-see-us-aboriginal-young-people-in-the-northern-territory-must-be-listened-to-not-punished-199297">'Just ask us, come and see us'. Aboriginal young people in the Northern Territory must be listened to, not punished</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<p>There is also compelling evidence that restrictions on Good Friday and Christmas Day – which are common throughout Australia - are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0955395915003497">associated with a decreased incidence of alcohol-related harm</a>. </p>
<p>In addition, the NT government has recently announced plans to buy back liquor licences, which <a href="https://fare.org.au/community-organisations-welcome-nt-governments-voluntary-buy-back-of-grocery-store-liquor-licences/">has been welcomed</a> by health, First Nations and other community groups. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1641285820161335296"}"></div></p>
<p>We can also learn from other countries how to take a more comprehensive approach. </p>
<p>In Norway, for instance, the government controls production and distribution through <a href="https://www.vinmonopolet.no/social-responsibility">a state-owned monopoly</a> called Vinmonopolet, which decides where outlets will be located, the hours of operation and stock. </p>
<p>These measures are combined with targeted and adequately resourced alcohol-related public health campaigns, such as a recent one aimed at <a href="https://www.vinmonopolet.no/content/om-oss/pressemelding/2021/langingskampanje">reducing the supply of alcohol to minors</a>.</p>
<h2>2) Changing purchasing and consuming behaviour</h2>
<p>The NT was the first jurisdiction to introduce a <a href="https://industry.nt.gov.au/publications/business/policies/floor-price">minimum unit pricing scheme</a>, a policy that sets a minimum price at which alcohol can be sold per unit of alcohol, <a href="https://industry.nt.gov.au/publications/business/policies/floor-price">currently at $1.30</a>. This has proven <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1753-6405.13055">effective in reducing alcohol consumption</a> – especially for wine products.</p>
<p>However, <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953621000228">recent research from the UK</a> shows that when higher-percentage alcohol products go on sale (which happens more frequently than for lower- or zero-percentage alcohol products), minimum unit pricing can be less effective. </p>
<p>More broadly, there have been calls to <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S095539591500016X">increase regulations on retail alcohol outlets</a>. Currently, alcohol regulation is more extensive for hotels, pubs and clubs than retail outlets. </p>
<p>As a result, consumers may be motivated by the cheaper cost and reduced scrutiny when buying alcohol from a bottle shop. This dynamic can also facilitate risky patterns of consumption, such as <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10865-014-9573-6">pre-drinking</a>.</p>
<p>Another way of changing behaviour is through health messaging. Most alcohol labelling is covered under Australia’s food standards code – <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/F2020C00723">with a strong pregnancy focus</a>. </p>
<p>However, a <a href="https://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0276189">recently published study</a> found that using both words and images on health warning labels can better informs people about the health risks associated with alcohol (including cancer). This would be <a href="https://theconversation.com/cheers-to-health-warning-labels-for-alcoholic-drinks-2891">similar</a> to the warnings used on tobacco labels.</p>
<p>These enhanced warning labels also lead people to form stronger intentions to reduce consumption, compared to text or photograph warnings alone. </p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-bans-and-law-and-order-responses-to-crime-in-alice-springs-havent-worked-in-the-past-and-wont-work-now-198427">Alcohol bans and law and order responses to crime in Alice Springs haven't worked in the past, and won't work now</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>3) Empowering community-led approaches</h2>
<p>Another way governments and communities can manage alcohol-related harm is to promote drink-free activities and one-month alcohol abstinence campaigns, such as “dry July”. These types of campaigns have <a href="https://academic.oup.com/alcalc/article/55/4/433/5835641">lasting positive effects</a> on health, wellbeing and maintaining control over drinking. </p>
<p>Some Darwin locals have also formed a <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-07-26/socially-sober-club-forms-amid-coronavirus-pandemic-in-darwin-nt/12425060">social sober club</a>, where socialisation without alcohol is emphasised.</p>
<p>However, such efforts often go against <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/16066359.2020.1820491">entrenched drinking norms</a> in Australia. </p>
<p>And many people drink not for socialisation, but to cope with <a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-its-tempting-to-drink-your-worries-away-but-there-are-healthier-ways-to-manage-stress-and-keep-your-drinking-in-check-134669?gclid=Cj0KCQjwla-hBhD7ARIsAM9tQKvwbCU3Wl__5Uk81SdSoNuN799TwQAFawcAB1FTF5bQtPQEhVhyTosaAqjmEALw_wcB">broader social problems and stressors</a>. Issues such as <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3609661/">unemployment</a>, <a href="http://www.naaja.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2014/05/NAAJA-Alcohol-Review-Submission.pdf">housing stress</a> and <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/dar.12448">mental health</a> are linked to alcohol use, which are <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2468266721001596">especially relevant</a> in regional and remote areas in the NT. </p>
<p>Similarly, the continued effects of colonisation and intergenerational trauma experienced by First Nations people necessitate an approach that <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12961-022-00813-6">emphasises the right to self-determination</a> in addressing alcohol-related issues. </p>
<p>We need to provide adequate resources and support to help communities alleviate these sources of stress and trauma, which will hopefully have an impact in reducing alcohol-related harm. </p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1624118111543898114"}"></div></p>
<h2>A way forward</h2>
<p>Ultimately, effective reform will require deep reflection on what alcohol means to us as individuals, and as a society. </p>
<p>In the NT, we need a <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-northern-territory-is-about-to-ease-alcohol-restrictions-but-more-consultation-from-first-nations-community-members-is-needed-first-184844">consultative, co-design process</a> that brings together the territory and Commonwealth governments, representatives from the alcohol industry, the alcohol rehabilitation community, tourism providers, pub owners and leaders from Indigenous communities. </p>
<p>By learning from the successes and failures elsewhere, we can deliver a tailored approach for the NT that will have a better chance of success in the long term.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/202731/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Restricting access to alcohol has proven successful, but it’s only part of the solution. There are other strategies that can lead to a longer-term, more sustainable approach.Elizabeth Crawford Spencer, Professor of Law, Charles Darwin UniversityGuzyal Hill, Senior Lecturer, Charles Darwin UniversityKim M Caudwell, Lecturer - Psychology | Chair, Researchers in Behavioural Addictions, Alcohol and Drugs (BAAD), Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2013942023-05-04T20:03:03Z2023-05-04T20:03:03ZRemarkable new tech has revealed the ancient landscape of Arnhem Land that greeted Australia’s First Peoples<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519170/original/file-20230404-21-omaerx.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=793%2C0%2C4626%2C3794&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The view from the Arnhem Land escarpment over the floodplains that contain a hidden landscape.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Moffat</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Many visitors to Arnhem Land in the Northern Territory are struck by the magnificent cliffs, stunning bird life and extraordinary rock art. Some may know this landscape includes the earliest evidence of human occupation in what is now Australia, at Madjedbebe, where signs of habitation have been dated to 65,000 years ago.</p>
<p>Most people, however, ignore the expansive floodplains surrounding these sites, especially when they are covered by water during the wet season.</p>
<p>Our research, recently published in <a href="https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0283006">PLOS One</a>, shows these floodplains hide a complex landscape buried deep underground critical to understanding the deep history of the region. We have mapped the cliffs and rivers, more than 15 metres below the current surface, which would have greeted the first people to arrive here.</p>
<h2>Red Lily Lagoon</h2>
<p>This landscape has been transformed by a sea-level rise of more than 120 metres, which brought the coastline from more than 200 kilometres away to lap directly on the cliffs in the Red Lily Lagoon area in Western Arnhem Land. </p>
<p>Since then, the East Alligator River has filled this region with sediment and the coast has retreated 60 kilometres to the northeast, leaving the current landscape of jagged sandstone cliffs surrounded by flat floodplains, which are seasonally flooded.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519171/original/file-20230404-17-14454r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519171/original/file-20230404-17-14454r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519171/original/file-20230404-17-14454r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519171/original/file-20230404-17-14454r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519171/original/file-20230404-17-14454r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519171/original/file-20230404-17-14454r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519171/original/file-20230404-17-14454r.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Arnhem Land is home to an extraordinary array of rock art.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Moffat</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The buried landscape we have mapped contains a sandstone escarpment, now buried underground, which has great potential to contain archaeological sites. This overlooked a deep valley that contained a river system, which is now buried by more than 15 metres of sediment. </p>
<p>Eventually, around 8,000 years ago, this river system was flooded by sea-level rise, leading to mangroves filling the valley and levelling it with marine sediments built up between the roots of the mangrove trees.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524276/original/file-20230504-20-my8xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="Two photos: the top one shows a flat plain with a rocky escarpment in the background, the bottom shows the same view but with the foreground filled with brackish water and mangrove trees." src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524276/original/file-20230504-20-my8xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/524276/original/file-20230504-20-my8xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524276/original/file-20230504-20-my8xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524276/original/file-20230504-20-my8xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=698&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524276/original/file-20230504-20-my8xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524276/original/file-20230504-20-my8xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/524276/original/file-20230504-20-my8xg.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=877&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A digital reconstruction shows a view of the Red Lily Lagoon area today (top) and the same view around 7,000 years ago (bottom), when the ocean lapped against the rocky escarpment.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Jarrad Kowlessar</span>, <span class="license">Author provided</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>These major changes in the local environments are also visible through materials excavated from Madjedbebe and other sites in the area. </p>
<p>The excavations show people in the area ate land animals and freshwater fish before the valley flooded. But afterwards, diets changed to take advantage of the ample supply of shellfish.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/buried-tools-and-pigments-tell-a-new-history-of-humans-in-australia-for-65-000-years-81021">Buried tools and pigments tell a new history of humans in Australia for 65,000 years</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>Modern maps of an ancient landscape</h2>
<p>Previous work in Arnhem Land using drilling has provided some information about the history of the landscape, but our research achieves much greater detail.</p>
<p>Our work used a technique called electrical resistivity tomography. This is when we pass an electrical current through the ground to measure the nature of the sediments and rocks beneath the surface. This method can map more than 50 metres below the surface, and because it doesn’t involve digging or drilling, we could work right up to existing archaeological sites.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519167/original/file-20230404-27-qweuse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519167/original/file-20230404-27-qweuse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519167/original/file-20230404-27-qweuse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519167/original/file-20230404-27-qweuse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519167/original/file-20230404-27-qweuse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519167/original/file-20230404-27-qweuse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519167/original/file-20230404-27-qweuse.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Electrical resistivity tomography equipment used to image the subsurface of the floodplains near Red Lily Lagoon, Arnhem Land.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Moffat</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>We combined this data with aerial mapping of the modern landscape undertaken with a drone and an airborne laser. This allows us to compare the subsurface results to the contemporary land surface and get a good understanding for just how much change has occurred up to the present day.</p>
<p>While geophysics techniques like these are often used to find and map archaeological sites, we instead focused on reconstructing the ancient landscape itself. Knowing how landscapes have changed provides important context for understanding choices people may have made about where to live, what to eat and how to move around.</p>
<h2>What lies beneath?</h2>
<p>This research paints a new picture of the landscape that greeted the First Peoples on their arrival. This older buried landscape, which is so different to the modern one, was occupied for most of the history of human activity in the area – starting over 60,000 years ago and lasting until just 8,000 years ago. </p>
<p>The past 8,000 years have seen dramatic changes, from a dry river valley to a mangrove forest to today’s seasonally inundated flood plains. These changes would have had important implications for people, including in terms of what they could eat and drink, and where they could live.</p>
<p>Some archaeologists have questioned the accuracy of the dates of occupation determined from the Madjebebe site. Criticism has focused on possible disturbance to the site by <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1002/gea.21822">termite activity</a>, and also the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/doi/full/10.1073/pnas.1808385115">lack of other sites of a similar age</a> in the region.</p>
<p>Our research shows why a lack of other sites may not be surprising: the most likely places for people to have lived when they first occupied this area are now buried more than 10 metres beneath the floodplain. </p>
<h2>‘We want people to see’</h2>
<p>Beyond Red Lily Lagoon, the methods we have used will give archaeologists a low cost, non-invasive way to understand ancient landscapes on a broad scale. Better models of how the environment has changed let us ask new questions about how people lived. </p>
<p>This is useful, not just as a tool for understanding why sites are where they are but also how people may have responded to the landscape around them. For example, we may have a different view of a rock art panel if we can understand what the artist could see around them when they painted it.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519168/original/file-20230404-26-dp02ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519168/original/file-20230404-26-dp02ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519168/original/file-20230404-26-dp02ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519168/original/file-20230404-26-dp02ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=450&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519168/original/file-20230404-26-dp02ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519168/original/file-20230404-26-dp02ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/519168/original/file-20230404-26-dp02ls.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=566&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The research provides a new perspective on the history of the Arnhem Land region, which is important for First Nations people.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Ian Moffat</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>This research also has important implications for First Nations people. Alfred Nayinggul, a senior Erre Traditional Owner from Arnhem Land and co-author of this research, said: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>We want people to see and want people to know what’s been happening many thousand years ago in the past. We need to know where those other places in Australia are, and that it was different before, and how it was formed, and we didn’t know what it was. We need to know, us Bininj, and everyone in the world with this new technology, bringing that up to our country. I need to know, and the rest of the world would see, what was in the past.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/201394/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Jarrad Kowlessar receives funding from Flinders University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Daryl Wesley receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory, National Geographic Research Scheme and Flinders University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ian Moffat receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation, the Museum and Art Gallery of the Northern Territory and Flinders University. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Alfred Nayinggul does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Beneath the floodplains of Arnhem Land lies a hidden landscape that has been transformed over millennia as seas rose and fell.Jarrad Daniel Kowlessar, Associate Lecturer, Flinders UniversityAlfred Nayinggul, Senior Erre Traditional Owner, Indigenous KnowledgeDaryl Wesley, Senior research fellow, Flinders UniversityIan Moffat, Associate Professor of Archaeological Science, Flinders UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2041292023-04-20T05:27:07Z2023-04-20T05:27:07ZPolitics with Michelle Grattan: Labor MP Marion Scrymgour on the Voice and the need for a new NT jobs program<p>With the Liberal Party formally opposing the Voice, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton last week kicked off his no campaign in Alice Springs. His claim that child sexual abuse is rife was quickly under attack from the government and others who accused him of politicking, using the issue as a political football.</p>
<p>Marion Scrymgour, a former deputy chief minister in the Northern Territory, is the federal Labor member for the seat of Lingiari, an electorate covering almost all the NT outside Darwin. </p>
<p>Scrymgour says Dutton is taking up the same theme as was heard in the Northern Territory intervention. “The same campaign that was done to justify the intervention is the same campaign that’s been happening with the Leader of the Opposition. </p>
<p>"I’m not saying that he doesn’t have a commitment to getting this issue dealt with,” she says. But she rejects the “excuse” by Dutton, his new shadow minister for Indigenous Australians, Jacinta Price and others that “he can’t put forward the names”. </p>
<p>“That’s a complete abrogation of their responsibility. Those stories and the names of people putting forward those stories could be done in a confidential way.”</p>
<p>Scrymgour has proposed a statutory Family Responsibility Commission, as operates in Queensland. “I think that the important part of the Family Responsibility Commission is that it’s Aboriginal community-controlled, that you get Aboriginal people, Aboriginal leaders that go through a vetting process.</p>
<p>"The families are brought before the commission: they look at school attendance, they look at all of the wellbeing of the child […] but also what are the supports that the family needs to be wrapped around.</p>
<p>"The family has to sign a family responsibility agreement and then those agreements get entered into by both the commissioner, who has legal standing, as well as the family”.</p>
<p>There has been a push lately, including from Senate crossbencher Jacqui Lambie, to reinstate a former employment program to bring jobs, skills and pride back the communities in the NT.</p>
<p>Scrymgour tells the podcast: “We need to get beyond talking about this […] and actually get this program rolled out. I agree with Jacqui Lambie.</p>
<p>"This is a program that was in the Northern Territory almost 15 years ago. Everyone in a lot of the communities were employed and communities were happy and healthy and we need to hurry up […] and we need to move on that.”</p>
<p>Scrymgour, who immediately before the podcast had been talking about the Voice in remote communities, admits there is a vast array of opinion on the ground, and more information and clarity is needed.</p>
<p>“Look, you’ve got people who’ve got different views in a lot of the communities and I’ve just come back from my own community on the on the Tiwi Islands, and there was some great discussion and support for the Voice. But before that support came, people needed to know about it.”</p>
<p>She does, however, believe the “vibe is good” on the ground and in the community.</p>
<p>“The vibe was really good. I found the vibe really, really interesting yesterday. It was good. There were people who weren’t convinced, but people who sort of didn’t understand it. And then when I talked about what was different about constitutional recognition and how that would apply, it generated the discussion about ATSIC [Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission], because a lot of communities still remember ATSIC, and often people talk about ATSIC and they say that they got rid of it and that was their voice. So it then generates another discussion about that. But this Voice won’t be able to be got rid of like that because it’ll be embedded in the Constitution.</p>
<p>"A lot of the Land Council men, you know, sort of stood up and said, Oh, well, we don’t agree with what you’re saying. We think that we’ve just got to talk about this. And, you know, this is a good thing. Let’s talk about how this could be something that we can all get behind.</p>
<p>"So I’m going to set another time where I can go back and sit down with my mob and go through it. But I’ll do that with all the communities.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/204129/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In this podcast, Michelle Grattan and Marion Scrymgour discuss Alice Springs, the Voice and other issues facing the Northern Territory.Michelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2031242023-04-04T20:20:50Z2023-04-04T20:20:50Z‘We haven’t got anybody’: new research reveals how major parties are dying in remote Australia<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/519221/original/file-20230404-24-aiedni.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=44%2C1%2C978%2C680&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Wikimedia Commons</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>On the eve of the 2019 federal election, a Labor Party politician made a panicked phone call to someone they knew in Kununurra, a remote town of over 5,000 people in Western Australia. As the person later recalled to us during an interview for <a href="https://academic.oup.com/pa/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pa/gsac026/6966531">our research</a>, the conversation went something like this:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We haven’t got anybody [there]. We just forgot about Kununurra. There’s a bunch of brochures on a Greyhound bus. Can you go and pick them up? Can you go and set up the booths? Can you go and round up some people to bloody pamphleteer?</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Once upon a time, such a call wouldn’t have been necessary. In decades past, Labor had an active grassroots branch in Kununurra that would have taken care of everything. But by 2019, this was long gone and the party’s closest branch was nearly 1,000 kilometres away in Broome. </p>
<p>Without a permanent presence on the ground, the ALP had simply forgotten about the town during the election campaign.</p>
<h2>Why party membership at the grassroots level matters</h2>
<p>This was one of the more striking tales we heard during <a href="https://academic.oup.com/pa/advance-article/doi/10.1093/pa/gsac026/6966531">our study</a> of political parties in remote Australia. </p>
<p>Given that most of what we know about the <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/dec/13/party-hardly-why-australias-big-political-parties-are-struggling-to-compete-with-grassroots-campaigns">decline of party membership</a> over the past 40 years in Australia and other Western democracies is based on what happens in cities and towns, we wanted to find out what the situation was like outside of these areas.</p>
<p>This wasn’t just to settle an academic curiosity. Whatever one thinks of political parties and their members, democracies depend on them and need them to be present at the grassroots level.</p>
<p>There are several reasons for this. The grassroots party members link political elites with citizens on the ground, informing those in office about the issues that are important to them. The grassroots membership also provides the party with a pool of potential candidates to stand in elections, as well as a group of local people who can help the party choose the right one. </p>
<p>And, at election time, grassroots members carry out key volunteer activities like distributing how-to-vote cards and staffing election booths.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/how-big-ideas-for-regional-australia-were-given-short-shrift-111817">How big ideas for regional Australia were given short shrift</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<h2>What we found in the Barkly and the Kimberley</h2>
<p>We focused on two remote electorates in our research – <a href="https://northernterritory.com/tennant-creek-and-barkly-region">Barkly</a> in the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly and <a href="https://www.australia.com/en/places/broome-and-surrounds/guide-to-the-kimberley.html">Kimberley</a> in the Western Australian Legislative Assembly. </p>
<p>To understand how the parties were faring on the ground, we spoke to grassroots members of the Labor and Liberal parties in the Kimberley, and the Labor and Country Liberal parties in the Barkly.</p>
<p>Our findings uncovered a mixture of party engagement and disengagement, but the general picture was of decline. Compared to the past, the numbers of members were low everywhere and most people were not active between elections. Grassroots members were almost always middle-aged or older.</p>
<p>In some areas, the parties had let branches die off, since they felt they were no longer worth the effort. In others, members continued meeting but were largely ignored by the party hierarchies in far-away capitals. </p>
<p>And, even where we did encounter well-functioning grassroots branches that had regular activity, this depended heavily on a handful of willing individuals.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1609391795536031746"}"></div></p>
<h2>A few dedicated members keeping things afloat</h2>
<p>For example, in the Barkly, the now-retired Labor representative, Gerry McCarthy, and his electorate officer had worked to keep regular branch activities going in the main town of Tennant Creek. </p>
<p>They had also created a sub-branch in the very remote town of <a href="https://ropergulf.nt.gov.au/our-communities/borroloola">Borroloola</a>, although the rigidity of the party’s rules about branch operations, combined with problems of distance and telecommunications, made it hard to keep the sub-branch members involved. </p>
<p>In fact, to get around the party’s outdated rules – designed for towns and cities rather than the outback – grassroots members from Tennant Creek had even travelled the 800km to Borroloola to fulfil Labor’s quorum for branch meetings.</p>
<p>The Country Liberal Party in the Barkly was also highly dependent on the efforts of a few dedicated members and had risked losing its autonomy as a branch in 2016 due to its tiny numbers. </p>
<p>This reflected the party’s problems with falling membership more generally, which saw its formal federal registration as a party <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-21/clp-nt-political-party-under-review-by-electoral-commission/100846232">investigated</a> by the Australian Electoral Commission in 2022.</p>
<p>As the story about Kununurra in the 2019 election illustrates, Labor’s operations on the ground in the Kimberley have also withered. </p>
<p>Labor has disappeared in Kununurra and appeared to take little notice of its grassroots members in Broome. According to the members we interviewed, the party’s state representative rarely met them and they were not consulted about candidate selection. </p>
<p>The Liberals in the Kimberley seemed a happier and more engaged group, but again, this was mainly due to a couple of very active people.</p>
<p>Finally, with the exception of Labor in the Barkly, the parties only seemed interested in having “supporters” in remote Indigenous communities who would help them at election time, rather than grassroots members who would be continuously involved with the party. </p>
<p>This contributed to the fact that the party grassroots memberships remained overwhelmingly comprised of non-Indigenous people, despite <a href="https://kdc.wa.gov.au/our-region/live-kimberley/demographics">half of the Kimberley’s</a> and <a href="https://www.barkly.nt.gov.au/region/cultural-information">70% of the Barkly’s</a> population being Indigenous.</p>
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<h2>What happens when parties are disengaged</h2>
<p>There are several implications of party disinterest and disengagement with remote areas. </p>
<p>First, not having a significant presence on the ground exacerbates the growing feelings of antipathy towards mainstream parties and <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1057/s41269-021-00221-8">dissatisfaction with democracy</a> we see in non-urban areas across Western democracies.</p>
<p>Second, in the specific case of Australia, not adapting party organisations to fit the realities of remote areas presents additional problems. The arcane rules about branch meetings are a good example.</p>
<p>Indeed, at a time when efforts are being made to bring Indigenous people closer to the national political process through the Voice, it seems ironic that, in areas where Indigenous people constitute a significant proportion of the population, parties are moving further away.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/people-and-issues-outside-our-big-cities-are-diverse-but-these-priorities-stand-out-110971">People and issues outside our big cities are diverse, but these priorities stand out</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/203124/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Duncan McDonnell receives funding from the Australian Research Council</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bartholomew Stanford does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In two remote electorates in WA and the NT, the major parties are being kept afloat due to the efforts of a handful of willing individuals.Duncan McDonnell, Professor of Politics, Griffith UniversityBartholomew Stanford, Lecturer (Indigenous Knowledges) , Charles Darwin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1997832023-03-02T23:42:40Z2023-03-02T23:42:40ZAs Australia’s military ties with the US deepen, the Top End becomes even more vital to our security<p>There are several challenges making Australia’s national security strategy more complicated these days – Russia’s invasion of <a href="https://theconversation.com/a-year-on-russias-war-on-ukraine-threatens-to-redraw-the-map-of-world-politics-and-2023-will-be-crucial-197682">Ukraine</a>, the impacts of climate change, our green energy transition and economic uncertainty. </p>
<p>But at the top of this list is the increasing influence of China in the region and intensifying competition between China and the United States. </p>
<p>In this context, the nine-month-old Albanese government is soon to release a <a href="https://www.defence.gov.au/about/reviews-inquiries/defence-strategic-review">defence strategic review</a>. It is unclear if this review will be followed by a more holistic examination of Australia’s national security interests, such as the <a href="https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/the-integrated-review-2021">integrated review</a> conducted in the United Kingdom two years ago, or the regular <a href="https://history.defense.gov/Historical-Sources/National-Security-Strategy/">national security strategy</a> in the US.</p>
<p>But it does not take a formal document like this for Australia to further invest in the kind of grand strategic thinking demanded by contemporary challenges. Grand strategy can capture, as the UK scholars <a href="https://warontherocks.com/2020/05/grand-strategy-is-no-silver-bullet-but-it-is-indispensable/">Andrew Ehrhardt and Maeve Ryan argue</a>, </p>
<blockquote>
<p>a conscious attempt to look beyond the confines of short-term requirements of national defence or day-to-day, immediate foreign policy, and to the pursuit of national interests in a more systematic and synchronised way. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>Developing this type of thinking requires a focus on the long-term place of our key alliances – such as the new AUKUS partnership with the US and UK - as well as regional partners. But it must also consider the domestic context of our security, such as the role of important regional centres around Australia. </p>
<p>One such priority for longer-term strategic thinking: the opportunities and costs of our growing defence investment and partnerships in the Northern Territory.</p>
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<h2>Growing defence investment in the Northern Territory</h2>
<p>The NT is already the focus of significant defence investment – and a sizeable US military presence. </p>
<p>Over the past 11 years, the NT has hosted annual rotations of the US Marine Rotational Force–Darwin (MRF-D) <a href="https://www.lowyinstitute.org/the-interpreter/future-us-marines-darwin">during the dry season</a>. Last year, 2,200 US personnel also conducted combined training with the Australian Defence Force in the NT, including crisis response exercises and engagement with regional partners. </p>
<p>And for the first time, US Army personnel were deployed to work alongside and support their marine counterparts.</p>
<p>Given <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-31/china-tensions-taiwan-us-military-deploy-bombers-to-australia/101585380">geopolitical priorities in the region</a>, Australia’s north will continue to be seen as strategically important. </p>
<p>The US and Australian governments have committed to sharing more than US$1.52 billion <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2016/oct/07/us-agrees-to-share-cost-of-american-military-presence-in-australias-northern-territory">(A$2 billion)</a> in infrastructure investments and upgrading military assets across the Top End, including the construction of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-01-19/work-begins-on-us-jet-fuel-facility-outside-darwin/100764194">11 giant jet fuel storage tanks in Darwin</a>.</p>
<p>The Tindal air base expansion, which will include a permanent parking apron for up to six US Air Force bombers, is forecast to cost up to A$149 million alone. </p>
<p>Other US aircraft, such as the B-52, B-1 and B-2 bombers, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-15/defence-wont-confirm-if-us-bombers-carry-nuclear-weapons/101978596">already visit</a> northern Australia. But the RAAF’s ability to host the aircraft and train alongside them will mark an important milestone toward the integration of the two air forces. </p>
<p>The possible rotation of other US aircraft in the NT under the AUKUS partnership, including the upcoming <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-07/long-range-b-21-bombers-could-be-sent-to-australia/101936772">sixth-generation B-21 bomber</a>, may even offer an alternative to Australia developing its own costly <a href="https://www.aspi.org.au/report/impactful-projection-long-range-strike-options-australia">long-range strike capability</a>. </p>
<p>These ties with the US military may help create a meaningful deterrent against a potential attack from an adversary in the region. But beyond this, the NT is becoming increasingly important for other reasons. </p>
<p>For example, it has the potential to serve as a <a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/why-darwin-should-be-the-crossroads-of-the-quad/">crossroads</a> for future cooperation between the <a href="https://www.dfat.gov.au/international-relations/regional-architecture/quad">Quad security grouping</a>, which brings together the US, Australia, Japan and India. </p>
<p>The proximity to Australia’s important Southeast Asian partners in Indonesia, Malaysia, <a href="https://www.defence.gov.au/news-events/releases/2021-09-10/singapore-military-training-australia#:%7E:text=Singapore%20military%20training%20in%20Australia%2010%20September%202021,part%20of%20Singapore%E2%80%99s%20annual%20military%20training%20in%20Australia.">Singapore</a>, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea is also significant. This provides opportunities to further develop military, diplomatic and economic links. </p>
<p>These links are crucial in a region already becoming the focus of strategic competition and facing the impacts of climate change. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-and-the-us-are-firm-friends-on-defence-now-lets-turn-that-into-world-beating-climate-action-195905">Australia and the US are firm friends on defence – now let's turn that into world-beating climate action</a>
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<h2>Domestic implications of a more militarised Top End</h2>
<p>All of this drives home why Australia’s north is such a vital consideration in any grand strategy for the nation’s security. And yet, there are important domestic implications that must be addressed, as well. </p>
<p>With the Top End having <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-02-19/nt-wwii-veteran-brian-winspear-darwin-bombing/100818572">direct experience</a> as a military target in the past, it’s natural that <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/darwin/programs/breakfast/no-b52-house/101615792">concerns have been heightened</a> by the widening footprint of the US military.</p>
<p>Environmental concerns have also <a href="https://apo.org.au/sites/default/files/resource-files/2017-02/apo-nid73869.pdf">been expressed</a> for some time and are <a href="https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q=Cotton+farm+land+clearing+in+NT+criticised&docid=603506689668437049&mid=5CBF00C9292112D205BD5CBF00C9292112D205BD&view=detail&FORM=VIRE">not confined to military activity</a>. </p>
<p>The establishment of any new training areas and expansion of existing facilities – combined with an influx of troops, vehicles and equipment – can lead to serious issues like soil erosion, water contamination and habitat loss.</p>
<p>These legitimate concerns may be partly offset by the direct and indirect employment opportunities <a href="https://www.theaustralian.com.au/special-reports/defence/may-2022/darwins-strategic-position-provides-great-opportunity/news-story/37501b6524d11f015a008840e2109fad">created by the ongoing investments</a>. </p>
<p>The communities in the Top End also have deep historical connections to Australia’s defence and there has been a general level of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-10-10/ten-years-us-marines-top-end/100523120">acceptance of the US Marine rotations</a>. </p>
<p>But national leaders will still need to present a compelling <a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/strategic-narratives-our-defence-white-papers-and-their-audiences/">narrative</a> to justify why this significant defence investment and our deepening ties with the US make us collectively more secure. </p>
<p>Crafting such a narrative won’t come easy, as leading strategist <a href="https://www.aspistrategist.org.au/aukus-and-australian-grand-strategy/">Lesley Seebeck argues</a>, given Australians tend to be “pragmatists, uncomfortable with soaring statements of aspirations and values”.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australia-and-us-take-realist-approach-to-regional-influence-196118">Australia and US take realist approach to regional influence</a>
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<h2>The NT in our grand strategy</h2>
<p>A challenging national security environment demands more robust ideas about how Australia can develop and coordinate its national power. </p>
<p>Regardless of whether these ideas are captured through a formal document like a national security strategy, there is benefit in fostering a larger community of strategic thinkers who can share and debate them. </p>
<p>A grand strategic vision for Australia’s security will naturally focus on the <a href="https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/0163660X.2021.2017645">place of the US alliance</a> and the role of China in shaping our regional order. But a compelling and practical narrative for Australia’s future must incorporate key regional centres such as the NT. And, importantly, this narrative must speak to them, not just about them.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199783/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The authors do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Grand strategic thinking about our future security must incorporate regional centres like the NT – and a compelling narrative for why our defence investment makes us more secure.John Garrick, University Fellow in Law, Charles Darwin UniversityMichael Hatherell, Associate Professor, Strategic Studies, Deakin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1992972023-02-14T05:11:25Z2023-02-14T05:11:25Z‘Just ask us, come and see us’. Aboriginal young people in the Northern Territory must be listened to, not punished<p>The media frenzy about the <a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-some-context-missing-from-the-mparntwe-alice-springs-crime-wave-reporting-199481">“crime wave”</a> in Mparntwe (Alice Springs), and the way the Northern Territory and federal governments are <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2023/feb/06/nt-reinstates-alcohol-bans-in-effort-to-curb-surge-in-alice-springs">responding</a>, are cause for serious concern.</p>
<p>Everyone has the right to be safe, and crime in Alice Springs must be addressed. But <a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-bans-and-law-and-order-responses-to-crime-in-alice-springs-havent-worked-in-the-past-and-wont-work-now-198427">alcohol bans won’t work</a>, nor will punitive, <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-nts-tough-on-crime-approach-wont-reduce-youth-offending-this-is-what-we-know-works-160361">tough-on-youth crime</a> laws.</p>
<p>Previous research <a href="https://www.monash.edu/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/1092671/03_Doel-Mackaway.pdf">interviewing</a> Aboriginal children and young people (aged between 10 and 17 years old) whom the Intervention was supposed to help and protect, about the 2007 Northern Territory Emergency Response, said the Intervention’s alcohol bans were ineffective and <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Indigenous-Childrens-Right-to-Participate-in-Law-and-Policy-Development/Doel-Mackaway/p/book/9781138564664">did little</a> to improve their lives, but the bans did shame their communities. </p>
<p>So far, government responses to the situation in Alice Springs echo the same rapid, non-consultative approach to law-making that occurred during the Intervention.</p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/heres-some-context-missing-from-the-mparntwe-alice-springs-crime-wave-reporting-199481">Here's some context missing from the Mparntwe Alice Springs 'crime wave' reporting</a>
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</p>
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<h2>Media moral panic led to the Northern Territory Intervention</h2>
<p>The media’s reporting on Alice Springs over the past few weeks is reminiscent of the role <a href="https://newmatilda.com/2017/06/23/bad-aunty-seven-years-how-abc-lateline-sparked-racist-nt-intervention/">the media</a> played in <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-29/what-was-the-northern-territory-emergency-response/101891110#:%7E:text=In%20September%202007%2C%20the%20Coalition,slated%20to%20last%20five%20years">garnering social and political support</a> for the Howard government’s 2007 Northern Territory Emergency Response, commonly known as the Intervention.</p>
<p>Six days after the release of the <a href="https://apo.org.au/node/8402">Little Children Are Sacred</a> report in 2007, the federal government rushed the passage of the Intervention legisation without warning and without consultation with Aboriginal people. Through <a href="https://www.hrlc.org.au/news/northern-territory-intervention-request-for-urgent-action-cerd">suspending</a> several <a href="https://www.monash.edu/law/research/centres/castancentre/our-areas-of-work/indigenous/the-northern-territory-intervention/the-northern-territory-intervention-an-evaluation/what-is-the-northern-territory-intervention#:%7E:text=In%20order%20to%20enact%20this,Title%20Act%201993%20">laws</a> including the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2016C00089">Racial Discrimination Act</a>, measures such as income management, and alcohol and pornography prohibition were implemented in <a href="https://www.monash.edu/law/research/centres/castancentre/our-areas-of-work/indigenous/the-northern-territory-intervention/the-northern-territory-intervention-an-evaluation/what-is-the-northern-territory-intervention">certain areas</a>.</p>
<p>Persistent governmental failure to uphold Aboriginal young people’s human rights is one of the core drivers of the social problems in Alice Springs. <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-30/alice-springs-youth-programs-close-lack-funding-nt-crime/101705914">Defunding youth and family support services</a> and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-13/youth-issues-in-alice-springs/101958042">ignoring</a> young Aboriginal people’s voices are key examples of this. </p>
<p>Yet blame for the problems in Alice Springs is being directed toward <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-31/alice-springs-residents-weigh-class-action-against-nt-government/101906552">young Aboriginal people</a> while the systemic drivers of the alleged “crime wave” are overlooked.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-bans-and-law-and-order-responses-to-crime-in-alice-springs-havent-worked-in-the-past-and-wont-work-now-198427">Alcohol bans and law and order responses to crime in Alice Springs haven't worked in the past, and won't work now</a>
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</em>
</p>
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<h2>What young people said</h2>
<p>Every young person in <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Indigenous-Childrens-Right-to-Participate-in-Law-and-Policy-Development/Doel-Mackaway/p/book/9781138564664">this study</a> said alcohol bans and the <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/local/stories/2011/05/05/3208735.htm">huge signs</a> placed at the entrance to select communities and town camps (that said “NO LIQUOR”) negatively impacted their lives.</p>
<p>A young woman (16 years old) said the signs “make communities look bad. They don’t respect the community”. Another young person (13 years old) said of the signs: “They’re racist”.</p>
<p>Several young people said the “NO LIQUOR” signs were erected even though their community was a self determined “dry community”. Other young people spoke about the fact their parents did not drink alcohol and they had never seen alcohol consumed in their home. Yet these young people and their families were still subjected to the humiliating blanket alcohol regulations under the Intervention. </p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509682/original/file-20230213-3390-euhsg0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="A blue and white road sign that reads " src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509682/original/file-20230213-3390-euhsg0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509682/original/file-20230213-3390-euhsg0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509682/original/file-20230213-3390-euhsg0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509682/original/file-20230213-3390-euhsg0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=398&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509682/original/file-20230213-3390-euhsg0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509682/original/file-20230213-3390-euhsg0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/509682/original/file-20230213-3390-euhsg0.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=501&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">One of the prohibition signs as part of the 2007 Northern Territory Intervention.</span>
<span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?search=northern+territory+intervention&title=Special:MediaSearch&go=Go&type=image">Wikimedia Commons</a>, <a class="license" href="http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/">CC BY-SA</a></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>It’s time to listen to communities</h2>
<p>The Intervention was predicated on false and racist ideas about Aboriginal people, and in particular children, their families and communities. Yet even given its original objectives to “<a href="https://formerministers.dss.gov.au/3581/emergency_21june07/">protect</a>” Aboriginal children from harm, and reduce or eliminate alcohol use, it still <a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-years-on-its-time-we-learned-the-lessons-from-the-failed-northern-territory-intervention-79198">failed</a> to achieve these objectives.</p>
<p>What it did do was worsen intergenerational trauma for Aboriginal people and <a href="https://arena.org.au/nter-took-the-children-away-by-thalia-anthony/">enabled</a> the expansion of harmful policies against Aboriginal communities and their children, leading to <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/10-impacts-of-the-nt-intervention/vzia753tx">sharp increases</a> in the removal of Aboriginal children from their families into the child protection and juvenile detention systems in the NT.</p>
<p>The NT Chief Minister Natasha Fyles’ describes “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-06/nt-alice-springs-report-released-alcohol-bans/101934758">alcohol-related harm</a>” as the Northern Territory’s “biggest social challenge”. Yet Aboriginal children in this research said upholding Aboriginal people’s human rights, especially children’s rights, is the Northern Territory’s biggest social challenge, about which the <a href="https://www2.ohchr.org/english/issues/indigenous/rapporteur/docs/ReportVisitAustralia.pdf">United Nations</a> agrees.</p>
<p>The recent knee-jerk alcohol ban goes against the government’s <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-10/voice-peter-dutton-anthony-albanese-bipartisanship/101953888">messaging</a> about the Indigenous Voice to Parliament. If the government is serious an Indigenous Voice to Parliament will be more than a symbolic gesture, they must start listening to the voices of Aboriginal communities, including those not yet old enough to vote.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1622439080679325697"}"></div></p>
<h2>Law-making with Aboriginal young people</h2>
<p>Governments <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-peoples/census-population-and-housing-counts-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-australians/latest-release#:%7E:text=In%202021%3A,2016%20and%202.5%25%20in%202011">must consult</a> with Aboriginal people before making any laws that may impact them. More than half the Indigenous population in Australia is under 24 years of age, which makes consulting with young people even more urgent and significant.</p>
<p>The Aboriginal young people interviewed in this study <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Indigenous-Childrens-Right-to-Participate-in-Law-and-Policy-Development/Doel-Mackaway/p/book/9781138564664#:%7E:text=The%20participation%20of%20Indigenous%20children,Indigenous%20related%20legislation%20and%20policy">understood</a> how laws and policies will impact them and urged the government to support their <a href="https://aiatsis.gov.au/publication/34957">active participation</a> in these processes. </p>
<p>Young Aboriginal people in this study expressed a desire to be involved in making “white-fella law” and said their involvement could produce “better laws” that are more attuned to Aboriginal culture and their community’s needs. And yet, these same young people confirmed they had never been asked for their views about any proposed policy that will impact their lives (such as the Intervention and alcohol regulations) by any government official. Significantly, they said they felt valued, listened to and heard in their family, community and school.</p>
<p>Governments should respond to the call from a young person (16 years old) in this research, when she invited Australian governments to: “<a href="https://brill.com/view/journals/chil/27/1/article-p31_31.xml?language=en">Just ask us. Come and see us</a>”.</p>
<p>Continuing laws and policies that deepen racial discrimination against Aboriginal people will only do further harm to Aboriginal communities, impacting children and young people for generations to come.</p>
<hr>
<p><em>The authors thank Professor Susan Page, Professor Thalia Anthony, Dr Carolyn Adams and Teresa Somes for their feedback on this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199297/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Holly Doel-Mackaway received funding from Macquarie University to undertake the research reported in this article. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bhiamie Williamson does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Research has found Aboriginal children who lived through the 2007 NT Intervention saw little impact from alcohol restrictions, other than bringing shame to communities.Holly Doel-Mackaway, Senior lecturer, Macquarie UniversityBhiamie Williamson, Research Fellow, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1994812023-02-10T02:28:17Z2023-02-10T02:28:17ZHere’s some context missing from the Mparntwe Alice Springs ‘crime wave’ reporting<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/509088/original/file-20230209-16-302oke.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=693%2C108%2C13343%2C3249&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>Content warning: this article contains mentions of racial discrimination against First Nations people, and themes of domestic violence.</em></p>
<hr>
<p>Let us tell you about our town, our home. Mparntwe/Alice Springs is a small town on Arrernte Country in the red hot heart of the land now called Australia. Our town, our home, is a place of beauty: spinifex-speckled red sand dunes; black limestone after the rain; emerald waterholes nestled between the ranges; a wonderfully alive desert in one of the most remote places on Earth.</p>
<p>We hear more than 100 Indigenous languages being spoken on our streets every day, including Arrernte, Warlpiri, Luritja, Alyawarr and Pitjantjatjara. We are vibrant and multicultural. We are entrepreneurial. We love our sports, and our arts – and we cannot believe how much talent there is in our home. </p>
<p>But these are not the reasons our home has been plastered across <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-12-18/a-dangerous-game-youth-crime-crisis-alice-springs/101735492">national media</a> for the past month. These are not the reasons you have clicked on this article.</p>
<p>According to news reports, a “<a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/a-crime-wave-has-sparked-emergency-measures-in-alice-springs-heres-whats-going-on/3qcqvrkip">crime wave</a>” or surge of “<a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-06/nt-alice-springs-report-released-alcohol-bans/101934758">alcohol-fuelled violence</a>” is sweeping through our town. There was even talk of another <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-17/nt-alice-springs-mayor-calls-for-army-help-crime/101864740">military intervention</a>. </p>
<p>Sensationalised media headlines and political pressure seem to be what prompted Prime Minister Anthony Albanese to make an impromptu trip to Alice Springs to meet with a handful of people, and introduce yet more alcohol restrictions.</p>
<p>However, the media reports contain little to no context regarding the issues, and reinforce the same negative stereotypes that made the <a href="https://www.dss.gov.au/sites/default/files/documents/05_2012/nter_review.pdf">Northern Territory Emergency Response</a> (or what we call “<a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-years-on-its-time-we-learned-the-lessons-from-the-failed-northern-territory-intervention-79198">the Intervention</a>”) possible.</p>
<p><div data-react-class="Tweet" data-react-props="{"tweetId":"1622515552190095362"}"></div></p>
<h2>What was the Intervention?</h2>
<p>In 2007, in response to <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/sites/default/files/57.4%20%E2%80%9CLittle%20Children%20are%20Sacred%E2%80%9D%20report.pdf">allegations of child sexual abuse</a> in remote NT communities, the Australian government suspended the <a href="https://humanrights.gov.au/our-work/suspension-and-reinstatement-rda-and-special-measures-nter-0">racial discrimination act of 1975</a> to make special laws for Aboriginal people in prescribed areas in the territory, and the military was rolled in.</p>
<p>The Intervention included a raft of measures such as compulsory income management in the form of the <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/basicscard#:%7E:text=A%20reusable%20card%20that%20gives,like%20food%2C%20rent%20and%20bills.">BasicsCard</a>, imposing <a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/nitv-news/article/shameful-chapter-intervention-ends-in-the-nt-after-15-years/qsukseib7">alcohol prohibition</a> on Aboriginal communities (although many of these communities already had <a href="https://www.cis.org.au/publication/alcohol-restrictions-in-indigenous-communities-and-frontier-towns/">self-determined dry policies</a>), and mandatory health checks for Aboriginal children.</p>
<p>Many of these measures remain in place today – including <a href="https://www.servicesaustralia.gov.au/income-management-northern-territory?context=22416#:%7E:text=School%20Meals%20Programs-,Who%20it%20affects,last%2012%20to%2024%20months">compulsory income management</a>.</p>
<p>The Intervention caused <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304776100_Splitting_ourselves_down_the_middle_the_impact_of_the_Northern_Territory_Emergency_Response_on_violence_against_Indigenous_women_in_Alice_Springs%27_town_camps">long-term trauma and other harms</a> for some First Nations people, and shame and negative racial stereotypes <a href="https://irp-cdn.multiscreensite.com/d440a6ac/files/uploaded/2008%20NTER%20Tangentyere%20Research%20Report.pdf">that still persist today</a>. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/304776100_Splitting_ourselves_down_the_middle_the_impact_of_the_Northern_Territory_Emergency_Response_on_violence_against_Indigenous_women_in_Alice_Springs'_town_camps">Shame and stigma compound violence</a>, because they affect women’s <a href="https://www.tangfamilyviolenceprevention.com.au/uploads/pdfs/Why-women-dont-report.pdf">willingness to report</a> or seek help.</p>
<h2>Alcohol restrictions are not the answer</h2>
<p>Alcohol policy in the NT has been driven by the harmful stereotype that all Aboriginal people are alcoholics. This is despite evidence non-Indigenous people in the territory also consume <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20819044/">disproportionately high amounts</a> of alcohol. This is what the NT government means when it says it wishes to move away from “<a href="https://www.skynews.com.au/australia-news/politics/nt-will-not-have-racebased-policy-that-disempowers-aboriginal-territorians-fyles/video/a5974cb2006a51ef98f7f085abbe977d">race-based policy</a>”. </p>
<p>And while some Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations support alcohol restrictions, <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-01-25/nt-liquor-restrictions-alice-springs-punitive-aboriginal-council/101889336">many don’t</a>.</p>
<p>Alcohol restrictions <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/1467-8500.12471">never stopped drinking</a> in the NT. Instead, they prompted <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350098495_From_the_roots_up_Principles_of_good_practice_to_prevent_violence_against_women_in_the_Northern_Territory">on-selling</a> from within the NT and from other locations, or more harmful forms of drinking such as mouthwash and <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-02/hand-sanitiser-removed-shelves-pharmacies-alice-springs/101921674">hand sanitiser</a>.</p>
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<a href="https://theconversation.com/alcohol-bans-and-law-and-order-responses-to-crime-in-alice-springs-havent-worked-in-the-past-and-wont-work-now-198427">Alcohol bans and law and order responses to crime in Alice Springs haven't worked in the past, and won't work now</a>
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<h2>Alcohol and violence</h2>
<p>Police and governments often claim alcohol leads to domestic violence-related assaults. However, administrative data, like that captured by police, is very <a href="https://research.qut.edu.au/centre-for-justice/wp-content/uploads/sites/304/2023/01/Who-uses-domestic-family-and-sexual-violence-how-and-why-The-State-of-Knowledge-Report-on-Violence-Perpetration-2023.pdf">subjective and potentially unreliable</a>.</p>
<p>The classification of “alcohol-related assaults” and “domestic-violence related assaults” are determined at the <a href="https://www.pfes.nt.gov.au/sites/default/files/uploads/crime-publication/2022/NT_crime_statistics_January_2022_Website.pdf">individual discretion of the attending police officer</a>. In interviews we conducted for soon-to-be-published research, some police officers stated they determined these classifications on whether they could smell alcohol, others because the person was slurring their words, and others because there were alcohol bottles present.</p>
<p>When questioned about whether the perpetrator or victim had to be drinking in order to make the classification of “alcohol-related assault”, the answer was invariably “either”, meaning we do not know from police data whether the perpetrator was actually using alcohol. This begs the question: if the perpetrator is sober, should an assault against an intoxicated victim be included in alcohol-related statistics?</p>
<p>Alcohol alone does not cause domestic violence, although it can <a href="https://media-cdn.ourwatch.org.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2020/09/20231759/Changing-the-picture-Part-2-AA.pdf">exacerbate it</a>. As stated by Australia’s national violence prevention organisation <a href="https://media-cdn.ourwatch.org.au/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2021/11/18101814/Change-the-story-Our-Watch-AA.pdf">Our Watch</a>, alcohol is often used as an excuse for domestic violence, rather than blaming the perpetrator.</p>
<p>There are also <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/350098495_From_the_roots_up_Principles_of_good_practice_to_prevent_violence_against_women_in_the_Northern_Territory">reports</a> of women being breathalysed when they present with domestic violence assaults to hospital. This means many may choose not to go, to avoid the shame and blame.</p>
<p>Despite domestic, family and sexual violence rates in the NT being the highest per capita <a href="https://www.abs.gov.au/statistics/people/crime-and-justice/crime-victimisation-australia/2020-21">in Australia</a>, the Territory only receives a miniscule <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-08-19/nt-domestic-violence-sector-disappointed-federal-funding-boost/101348126">amount of funding</a> compared with other states. </p>
<p>In 2022 the Northern Territory <a href="https://budget.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0013/1103035/preventing-domestic-family-and-sexual-violence-and-aboriginal-justice-agreement.pdf">received about $14 million</a> in national partnership funding to address domestic, family and sexual violence. This was <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-25/missing-murdered-indigenous-women-four-corners/101556432">roughly 1.8%</a> of federal funding to address domestic or sexual violence.</p>
<p>And when shelters and specialist services such as Women’s Safety Services of Central Australia and Tangentyere’s Men’s Behaviour Change Program are chronically underfunded, understaffed and under-resourced, this leaves very few resources for prevention or early intervention.</p>
<p>Domestic, family and sexual violence intersects and worsens other issues that already disproportionately impact the NT, such as overcrowding, <a href="https://ntshelter.org.au/#:%7E:text=Alice%20Springs%20Homeless%20Response%20Group,-View%20Calendar&text=The%20NT%20has%2012%20times%20the%20national%20average%20rate%20of%20homelessness.&text=16.5%25%20of%20all%20Territorians%20under,of%2018%20are%20experiencing%20homelessness.&text=6%25%20of%20all%20people%20in%20the%20NT%20are%20experiencing%20homelessness.">homelessness</a>, poor infrastructure, and lack of access to goods and services.</p>
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<h2>More police won’t fix ‘youth crime’</h2>
<p>Over the past few months there has been an injection of <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-11-23/alice-springs-40-police-crime-second-cbd-shutdown-in-two-weeks/101686934">30-40 extra police officers on Alice streets</a>. This has led to more arrests, but few outcomes.</p>
<p>Children who interact with police often end up in out-of-home care, removed from family and culture, and some end up in youth detention. Children who end up in <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/oct/13/northern-territory-moves-to-raise-age-of-criminal-responsibility-from-10-to-12">youth detention are more likely to reoffend</a> and go on to have <a href="https://theconversation.com/locking-up-kids-has-serious-mental-health-impacts-and-contributes-to-further-reoffending-194657">further interactions</a> with police and the judicial system.</p>
<p>The issue of young people and sometimes very small children roaming the streets late at night is distressing, and Alice Springs has been calling for a <a href="https://ntindependent.com.au/more-than-2000-alice-springs-residents-want-a-youth-curfew-but-calls-ignored-in-parliament/">response</a> to this for years. </p>
<p>Many young ones travel in from the bush to stay in town to access services and visit family, and some get stuck here. And when unsupervised by adults, some young people do destructive things. Some of these children have grown up in <a href="https://ntshelter.org.au/#:%7E:text=Alice%20Springs%20Homeless%20Response%20Group,-View%20Calendar&text=The%20NT%20has%2012%20times%20the%20national%20average%20rate%20of%20homelessness.&text=16.5%25%20of%20all%20Territorians%20under,of%2018%20are%20experiencing%20homelessness.&text=6%25%20of%20all%20people%20in%20the%20NT%20are%20experiencing%20homelessness.">overcrowding and poverty</a>, and some are affected by <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-02-04/fasd-fetal-alcohol-aboriginal-youth-crime-alice-springs/101854566">foetal alcohol spectrum disorder</a>.</p>
<p>In Alice Springs, there’s basically nowhere kids can go and just bounce a ball with their mates that’s accessible to everyone at any hour. Facilities are locked up, fenced off or out of reach financially for many children.</p>
<p>In 2021, the NT government gave <a href="https://alicespringsnews.com.au/2021/04/29/council-dithers-over-alice-plazas-50m-plans/">$4 million to the local council to develop a water play park in Alice Springs’ town centre</a>. But it took the money back while the council was struggling to decide on a site, and because it might attract more “<a href="https://assets-astc.s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/files/files/meetings/25.%20TS%20Agenda%20Item%209.6%20-%20Report%20No%20195%20-%20Kwatja%20(Water)%20Play%20Space.pdf?fbclid=IwAR2AM2jkVoSrV1Bdu2VI8GW9k1NkRDEt6uPPT5ewp__TmwdMyuD93Bbe4lU">anti-social behaviour</a>”.</p>
<h2>Community support is needed, not punishments</h2>
<p>Alice’s problems are from years of successive government and policy failure, chronic underfunding and under-resourcing. <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-11719953/Brooke-Boney-clashes-Alice-Springs-business-owner-Facebook-page-highlighting-crime-wave.html">Harmful</a>, reductive and <a href="https://www.news.com.au/national/crime/alice-springs-nurse-leaves-karl-speechless-detailing-child-sexual-abuse/news-story/45110f8ecc7c5218350d7975f00d9521">racist reporting</a> has been detrimental to Alice and all who live here, particularly First Nations people.</p>
<p>We urge the federal and territory governments to invest in our remote communities. And to fund and support a community-led codesign of a response to the problems in Alice Springs. The response must be designed and led by local people. This must include the voices of young people, who have been unheard in all this noise. </p>
<p>Places such as <a href="https://www.parliament.nsw.gov.au/ladocs/submissions/59833/Attachment%20-%20KPMG%20Preliminary%20Assessment%20Maranguka%20Justice%20Reinvestment%20Project.pdf">Bourke</a> have successfully addressed similar problems through justice reinvestment (redirecting money for prisons to the community), and could inform local decision-making processes in Alice Springs, too.</p>
<p>Introducing a policy of needs-based funding would ensure the NT receives the funds it needs to begin to address domestic, family, and sexual violence, overcrowding, support for those struggling with addiction, and programs to engage young people.</p>
<p>The media needs to follow the guidelines in “<a href="https://genderinstitute.anu.edu.au/news/media-changing-story-media-guidelines-reporting-domestic-family-and-sexual-violence-northern">Media Changing the Story: Media Guidelines for the reporting of domestic, family, and sexual violence in the Northern Territory</a>” which outlines how to engage with experts, communities, and report on violence in ways that is victim-survivor-centred, culturally safe, and does no harm. Alice Springs can only be accurately reported through the voices of experts with experience of life here.</p>
<p>Alice’s story is a story about geographic disadvantage. Alice needs community-led solutions, rather than punitive responses that bring shame, stigma and trauma. It’s time we had the courage to do things differently. </p>
<p><em>Mandy Taylor from SNAICC - National Voice for our Children also contributed to this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199481/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chay Brown receives funding from ANROWS, Northern Territory Government, Department of Social Services, Australian Government, Gender Institute. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>You are affiliated with Tangentyere Women's Family Safety Group and Tangentyere Council, </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kayla Glynn-Braun works for the Equality Institute and owns shares in Her Story Consulting </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Shirleen Campbell receives funding from NTG and ANROWS. Shirleen is affiliated with Tangentyere Council. </span></em></p>Some reporting on Mparntwe/Alice Springs has perpetuated racial stereotypes, causing emotional harm for First Nations people. This article debunks the myths we keep seeing in the media.Chay Brown, Research and Partnerships Manager, The Equality Institute, & Postdoctoral fellow, Australian National UniversityConnie Shaw, Co-cooridinator of the Tangentyere Youth Safety Group, and Northern Territory Aboriginal domestic, family, and sexual violence advisory group, Indigenous KnowledgeKayla Glynn-Braun, Director of Her Story, project coordinator at The Equality Institute, lead on U Right Sis? project, Indigenous KnowledgeShirleen Campbell, Co-coordinator of Tangentyere Women’s Family Safety Group, Indigenous KnowledgeLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1993062023-02-07T01:32:34Z2023-02-07T01:32:34ZPolitics with Michelle Grattan: Senator Malarndirri McCarthy on Alice Springs and the Voice<p>Alcohol bans are being reimposed on Northern Territory Indigenous communities, as the federal and territory governments grapple with intractable problems in Alice Springs and elsewhere in the NT.</p>
<p>The situation in Alice Springs and the surrounding communities has come into the national news at the same time as debate ramps up about this year’s referendum for an Indigenous Voice to Parliament.</p>
<p>In this podcast, Michelle talks with Malarndirri McCarthy, Labor senator for the Northern Territory and Assistant Minister for Indigenous Australians. McCarthy is a former journalist and also served in the territory parliament, including as minister for children and families. </p>
<p>McCarthy argues for the bans, which the NT government previously described as “race-based”. “What we’ve witnessed over the last few weeks in particular are scenes that show us that the urgency that’s required does need a circuit breaker […] there is no doubt we do have issues with alcohol across the Northern Territory, but I’m also seeing it on our borders as well with Western Australia and also with Queensland.</p>
<p>"There’s a deeper issue here about what is the future for these Australians who require jobs, who require hope for what the future looks like, but also require a safe place for their children and families to grow up in.”</p>
<p>Asked her perspective, as a former minister for children, on the dilemma involved in deciding whether and when to remove Indigenous children at risk, McCarthy says: “One of the things I worked very closely on when I had the portfolio in the Northern Territory government as families minister was the absolute importance of the kinship structure. That when a child is in a dire situation with their mother, with their father, that they have other options within their family network […] It’s something I do. I look after three children in a very kinship environment. You know, an eight year old and twins who are nine.</p>
<p>"Of course, if a child is at risk, whatever that risk, they must be removed to be safe.”</p>
<p>Is this the right time for a referendum and how confident is she about its passing? “This is the right time, 2023, to embark on this journey. I know it’s going to be tough. It’s already started out that way […] but I do believe that in the goodness of our country. I have this deep abiding optimism that no matter how tough it gets, you know, I do essentially believe Australians are good people at heart and that we will get to the other side of this.”</p>
<p>“Treaty” was a theme of the recent Invasion Day protests. How quickly would the government pursue a treaty after it passed the Voice? “We’ve already begun conversations around a Makarrata Commission and what that may possibly look like, we’ve been engaging with state and territory ministers or premiers and chief ministers about the work they’re doing towards treaty in their respective jurisdictions.”</p>
<p>If the referendum succeeds, there has been a suggestion the Voice might not be operating until 2025. Pressed on the timetable McCarthy is blunt. “Well, it’s been a long time over the last ten years for this process, and I think people have been very patient and very particular about their research and about the work that they’ve done. I would think that 2025 would be better than 2035.”</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/199306/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Michelle Grattan does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>In this podcast, Michelle talks with Malarndirri McCarthy, Labor Senator for the Northern Territory and Assistant Minister for Indigenous AustraliansMichelle Grattan, Professorial Fellow, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1952912022-12-01T21:13:38Z2022-12-01T21:13:38ZTerritories free to make their own voluntary assisted dying laws, in landmark decision. Here’s what happens next<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/497296/original/file-20221124-14773-fuzdwi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C1%2C1000%2C664&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><a class="source" href="https://www.shutterstock.com/image-photo/focus-on-hand-patient-hospital-ward-589302497">Shutterstock</a></span></figcaption></figure><p>Voluntary assisted dying will soon be an option for the Australian Capital Territory and Northern Territory, now the Senate has just passed a landmark bill.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://amp.abc.net.au/article/101692028">passing</a> of the <a href="https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;query%3DId%3A%22legislation%2Fbillhome%2Fr6889%22">Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022</a> removes the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd2223a/23bd005">key legal barrier</a> for the ACT and NT to introduce their own voluntary assisted dying legislation, should they wish to do so.</p>
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<p>This could see the territories join all six Australian states, which already have voluntary assisted dying legislation.</p>
<p>After extensive consultation, the ACT <a href="https://amp.abc.net.au/article/101692028">will introduce</a> its voluntary assisted dying legislation, with debate expected in late 2023 or early 2024. The NT government has <a href="https://amp.abc.net.au/article/101692028">stated</a> it has no plans to follow suit, at least during this parliamentary term.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/voluntary-assisted-dying-will-soon-be-legal-in-all-states-heres-whats-just-happened-in-nsw-and-what-it-means-for-you-183355">Voluntary assisted dying will soon be legal in all states. Here's what's just happened in NSW and what it means for you</a>
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<h2>The territories once led reform</h2>
<p>Although the territories are now the only Australian jurisdictions without voluntary assisted dying laws, they once led reform in this area. </p>
<p>The ACT was the first Australian jurisdiction to attempt to legalise assisted dying, although its 1993 Voluntary and Natural Death Bill <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/221103/8/_Failed_voluntary_euthanasia_law_reform_in_Australia_Two_decades_of_trends_models_and_politics_NC.pdf">failed to pass</a>.</p>
<p>Shortly after, in 1995, the NT parliament passed the <a href="http://classic.austlii.edu.au/au/legis/nt/consol_act/rottia1995294/">Rights of the Terminally Ill Act</a> – the first operational voluntary assisted dying law, not only in Australia, but in the world.</p>
<p>However, it was the passing of this law that prompted the Commonwealth to remove the territories’ power to legislate in this field. </p>
<p>In 1997, the NT’s act was overturned by the Commonwealth parliament through the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2004A05118">Euthanasia Laws Act</a>, introduced by then Liberal backbencher Kevin Andrews. This act also aimed to prevent the territories passing such laws in the future. </p>
<p>The Commonwealth was only able to do this for the territories – not the states – because the Constitution gives the Commonwealth unlimited power to make laws “<a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Senate/Powers_practice_n_procedures/Constitution/chapter6#chapter-06_122">for the government of any territory</a>”. </p>
<p><a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/bd/bd2223a/23bd005">Nine previous bills</a> aiming to restore territory rights on this issue have been introduced into the Commonwealth parliament, but all had failed, until now.</p>
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<h2>The ACT and NT can learn from the states</h2>
<p>If the ACT and NT choose to legalise voluntary assisted dying, they must <a href="https://www.canberratimes.com.au/story/7362400/how-would-the-act-debate-voluntary-assisted-dying/">consider</a> the <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/134902/9/document_3_.pdf">evidence</a> and data from <a href="https://www.safercare.vic.gov.au/publications?f%5B0%5D=agency%3A751&search=voluntary%20assisted%20dying%20review%20board">states</a> where voluntary assisted dying <a href="https://ww2.health.wa.gov.au/%7E/media/Corp/Documents/Health-for/Voluntary-assisted-dying/VAD-Board-Annual-Report-2021-22.pdf">is operational</a>. There is also an opportunity to select the best aspects from each state law.</p>
<p>For instance, for all states <a href="https://theconversation.com/voluntary-assisted-dying-could-soon-be-legal-in-queensland-heres-how-its-bill-differs-from-other-states-161092">except Queensland</a>, for a person to access voluntary assisted dying, they must be expected to die within six months (within 12 months for neurodegenerative conditions). </p>
<p>Given <a href="https://theconversation.com/victorias-voluntary-assisted-dying-scheme-is-challenging-and-complicated-some-people-die-while-they-wait-162094">challenges with delays</a> in getting through the system, the 12-month period adopted by Queensland, or not imposing a specific time limit until death, <a href="https://eprints.qut.edu.au/211733/16/2022_Who_is_Eligible_for_VAD_9_Conditions_across_5_Frameworks_UNSWLJ_.pdf">may allow more time</a> for terminally ill people to navigate access.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/victorias-voluntary-assisted-dying-scheme-is-challenging-and-complicated-some-people-die-while-they-wait-162094">Victoria's voluntary assisted dying scheme is challenging and complicated. Some people die while they wait</a>
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<p>Similarly, all states require a person to live in the state for 12 months before requesting assistance to die. Now voluntary assisted dying is lawful throughout most of Australia, there is little need for this requirement.</p>
<p>The territories may choose to impose <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-happens-if-you-want-access-to-voluntary-assisted-dying-but-your-nursing-home-wont-let-you-183364">minimum legal obligations</a> for how health-care and aged care facilities who do not participate in voluntary assisted dying handle such requests. This is the case in <a href="https://end-of-life.qut.edu.au/assisteddying">Queensland, South Australia and New South Wales</a>.</p>
<p>The territories also may wish to allow eligible people to choose how the medication is administered – they can take it themselves or a health professional can administer it. This <a href="https://theconversation.com/voluntary-assisted-dying-will-soon-be-legal-in-all-states-heres-whats-just-happened-in-nsw-and-what-it-means-for-you-183355">choice is permitted in NSW</a>, whereas other states make self-administration the default method.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-happens-if-you-want-access-to-voluntary-assisted-dying-but-your-nursing-home-wont-let-you-183364">What happens if you want access to voluntary assisted dying but your nursing home won't let you?</a>
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<h2>What now for the rest of Australia?</h2>
<p>Of the <a href="https://end-of-life.qut.edu.au/assisteddying">six states</a> with voluntary assisted dying laws, those in Victoria, Western Australia and Tasmania are already operational. </p>
<p>Queensland’s laws will start on January 1 2023, with SA following on January 31. NSW, the final state to pass its laws, will start on November 28.</p>
<p>Should the territories propose their own legislation, we’d anticipate <a href="https://www.cambridge.org/core/services/aop-cambridge-core/content/view/613F5DA2C3BC3F3CD15ED4AE134710C9/9781108489775c12_250-276.pdf/international_perspectives_on_reforming_endoflife_law.pdf">wide consultation and debate</a>.</p>
<p>With territories now permitted to decide this matter for themselves, there is a real prospect for them to have access to voluntary assisted dying in the foreseeable future.</p>
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<p><em>Katherine Waller, Project Coordinator, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology, coauthored this article.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/195291/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben White receives funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council and Commonwealth and State Governments for research and training about the law, policy and practice relating to end-of-life care. In relation to voluntary assisted dying, he (with colleagues) has been engaged by the Victorian, Western Australian and Queensland Governments to design and provide the legislatively-mandated training for doctors involved in voluntary assisted dying in those States. He (with Lindy Willmott) has also developed a model Bill for voluntary assisted dying for parliaments to consider. Ben White is a recipient of an Australian Research Council Future Fellowship (project number FT190100410: Enhancing End-of-Life Decision-Making: Optimal Regulation of Voluntary Assisted Dying) funded by the Australian Government.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Katrine Del Villar has been involved in designing the legislatively-mandated training provided by the Western Australian and Queensland Governments for health practitioners involved in voluntary assisted dying. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lindy Willmott receives or has received funding from the Australian Research Council, the National Health and Medical Research Council and Commonwealth and State Governments for research and training about the law, policy and practice relating to end-of-life care. In relation to voluntary assisted dying, she (with colleagues) has been engaged by the Victorian, Western Australian and Queensland Governments to design and provide the legislatively-mandated training for doctors involved in voluntary assisted dying in those States. She (with Ben White) has also developed a model Bill for voluntary assisted dying for parliaments to consider. Lindy Willmott has also been appointed to the Queensland Voluntary Assisted Dying Review Board. She is a former Board member of Palliative Care Australia. </span></em></p>It’s been a long time coming. But this latest news means the ACT and NT could draw up their own voluntary assisted dying laws, bringing them into line with the states.Ben White, Professor of End-of-Life Law and Regulation, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of TechnologyKatrine Del Villar, Postdoctoral research fellow, Queensland University of TechnologyLindy Willmott, Professor of Law, Australian Centre for Health Law Research, Queensland University of Technology, Queensland University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1926262022-11-08T03:48:45Z2022-11-08T03:48:45ZMining vs rivers: a single line on a map could determine the future of water in the Northern Territory<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493421/original/file-20221104-17-ha3lz8.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C23%2C5176%2C3422&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>A water war <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-09-27/mining-water-rules-changed-nt-government-industry-beetaloo/101476414">is brewing</a> in the Northern Territory – and the battle centres around a line on a map.</p>
<p>Where the line is drawn determines how much groundwater is available for irrigation, mining and gas extraction. The line currently runs through the middle of the resource-rich Beetaloo Basin.</p>
<p>There are recent indications that the NT government will effectively move the line, potentially allowing for substantially more water to be extracted by gas and other industries.</p>
<p>This could cause long-term and irreversible damage to springs, wetlands and rivers upon which people and ecosystems depend. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493420/original/file-20221104-15-ohcw3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493420/original/file-20221104-15-ohcw3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493420/original/file-20221104-15-ohcw3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493420/original/file-20221104-15-ohcw3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=569&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493420/original/file-20221104-15-ohcw3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493420/original/file-20221104-15-ohcw3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493420/original/file-20221104-15-ohcw3y.jpeg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=715&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The battle centres around a line on a map separating two climatic zones: arid and top end.</span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A region rich in nature – and gas</h2>
<p>The <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/BeetalooBasin/Interim_Report/section?id=committees%2freportsen%2f024744%2f77341">Beetaloo Basin</a> lies around 500 kilometres southeast of Darwin. It’s in a region home to the abundant plant and animal life of the <a href="https://publications.csiro.au/rpr/pub?pid=csiro:EP116824">Roper River, Elsey National Park, Mataranka Springs</a> and Red Lily Lagoon, among other culturally and ecologically significant sites.</p>
<p>These ecosystems are fed by water stored beneath the surface in large aquifers, which are recharged by rainfall and seepage from rivers and lakes. Below these aquifers lie <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-05-06/beetaloo-basin-potential-katherine-oil-gas-conference-fracking/101043884">vast reserves of gas</a>. </p>
<p>Under NT law, “water allocation plans” must calculate how much water can be extracted sustainably. However, such plans are only in <a href="https://www-tandfonline-com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/doi/full/10.1080/07900627.2021.1882406">place for 5% of the NT</a>. </p>
<p>Elsewhere – where there is often great uncertainty about the impacts of groundwater extraction – water is licensed according to “contingent <a href="https://depws.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0011/476669/nt-water-allocation-planning-framework.pdf">rules</a>”. These rules divide the NT into two zones: the top end and the arid zone.</p>
<p>The top end zone allows groundwater extraction of up to 20% of the water that replenishes the aquifer each year. The northern part of the Beetaloo Basin is in this zone.</p>
<p>The arid zone permits much higher rates of extraction: 80% of the aquifer’s total groundwater storage capacity can be extracted over a century, as long as dependent ecosystems are not harmed. The southern part of the Beetaloo Basin sits in this zone.</p>
<p>In arid zones, not much water flows into aquifers due to limited rainfall and high evaporation rates. Extracting a large proportion of water from these aquifers will inevitably reduce outflows to rivers and springs. Arid zones therefore need a much more cautious approach to water licensing.</p>
<p>There are now strong indications that the NT government intends to use arid zone rules in the top end zone – effectively moving the line between the two zones. Alarmingly, this would increase the amount of water that industry could extract from aquifers, including those sitting on top of Beetaloo gas reserves.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="Two trees frame a shallow river" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493206/original/file-20221103-17-s2b01o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=17%2C0%2C5937%2C3943&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493206/original/file-20221103-17-s2b01o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493206/original/file-20221103-17-s2b01o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493206/original/file-20221103-17-s2b01o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493206/original/file-20221103-17-s2b01o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493206/original/file-20221103-17-s2b01o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493206/original/file-20221103-17-s2b01o.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Above-ground ecosystems are fed by water stored beneath the surface in large aquifers.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Enlarging the arid zone</h2>
<p>A company called Territory Sands plans to mine 110 million tonnes of sand near the small NT town of Larrimah. The sand would be sold to gas companies operating in the Beetaloo Basin, for use in the fracking process.</p>
<p>The sand would have to be washed. To do this, Territory Sands wants to take up to 1.2 billion litres of water each year from the Mataranka Tindall Limestone Aquifer. </p>
<p>The aquifer is currently classified as being in the top end zone. But the NT Department of Environment, Parks and Water Security <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2022-09-01/territory-sands-plan-to-mine-for-beetaloo-fracking-nt/101386946">says</a> the aquifer could be considered as being in the arid zone. </p>
<p>Asked by The Conversation’s editorial team why this was the case, the department said extraction rules were “based on the behaviour and characteristics of the aquifer [a project] is drawing from” in accordance with a technical classification <a href="https://territorystories.nt.gov.au/10070/843257/0/0">report</a>.</p>
<p>Territory Sands has used the arid zone rule to calculate how much water it should be allowed to take. The Conversation attempted to contact the company for comment, but had not received a response at the time of publication.</p>
<p>Official documents <a href="https://depws.nt.gov.au/__data/assets/pdf_file/0008/1049453/mataranka-tindall-wac-meeting-11-minutes-and-appendices.pdf">show</a> the NT government is considering using the arid zone rule for future water extraction in the same area. </p>
<p>Environment groups have <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/rural/2022-09-01/territory-sands-plan-to-mine-for-beetaloo-fracking-nt/101386946">expressed concern</a> about the harm excessive extraction from the aquifer could cause. So too have some <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2022-10-28/nt-ngukurr-traditional-owners-map/101588434">First Nations communities</a>.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/water-injustice-runs-deep-in-australia-fixing-it-means-handing-control-to-first-nations-155286">Water injustice runs deep in Australia. Fixing it means handing control to First Nations</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="people stand with sign reading 'don't frack the NT'" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493419/original/file-20221104-13-ohcw3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493419/original/file-20221104-13-ohcw3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493419/original/file-20221104-13-ohcw3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493419/original/file-20221104-13-ohcw3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493419/original/file-20221104-13-ohcw3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493419/original/file-20221104-13-ohcw3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493419/original/file-20221104-13-ohcw3y.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Fracking in the NT is controversial among First Nations communities.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>One of the NT’s most popular tourist attractions, the Mataranka thermal pools, depends on the Mataranka Tindall Limestone Aquifer. It also provides water for the Roper River, along which are many <a href="https://www-tandfonline-com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/doi/full/10.1080/14649357.2013.845684">sites significant to</a> Traditional Owners.</p>
<p>The NT government has in the past tried to apply arid zone rules in the top end zone. In 2020, it used the same rule to <a href="https://www-tandfonline-com.libraryproxy.griffith.edu.au/doi/full/10.1080/13241583.2022.2049053">grant a licence</a> to extract 10 billion litres of groundwater from the same aquifer.</p>
<p>This is despite a senior NT water bureaucrat <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/sep/29/northern-territory-government-was-warned-raising-industry-water-allocation-could-threaten-major-river">warning</a> it would threaten permanent flows to the Roper River.</p>
<p>The NT government withdrew the licence after an independent panel found using aquifer storage as a basis for assessing licences was not precautionary or sustainable.</p>
<p>In a statement provided to The Conversation’s editorial team, the department said there were a number of aquifers and management zones in the Mataranka and Larrimah area – some arid and most top end. </p>
<p>“The specific characteristics of these resources as well as the required environmental and cultural protections, determine how they are managed under a plan,” the statement said. </p>
<p>The department said springs, rivers and wetlands were features of a top end system, so arid zone rules would not apply to them. </p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="water flows over rocks in tropical river" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493699/original/file-20221106-25-pveimj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/493699/original/file-20221106-25-pveimj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493699/original/file-20221106-25-pveimj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493699/original/file-20221106-25-pveimj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=410&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493699/original/file-20221106-25-pveimj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493699/original/file-20221106-25-pveimj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/493699/original/file-20221106-25-pveimj.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=516&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">The arid zone rule would threaten the Roper River during dry times.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Shifting the burden of harm</h2>
<p>The arid zone rules are deeply problematic. In recognition of this, the 2017-18 <a href="https://frackinginquiry.nt.gov.au/inquiry-reports/final-report">Pepper Scientific Inquiry into Fracking</a> cautioned against using the rules in the Beetaloo, finding it would be “ecologically unsustainable”.</p>
<p>Using water storage volumes to calculate sustainable yield is out of step with sustainable management <a href="https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/cir1186">practices</a> in other Australian jurisdictions and many parts of the world. </p>
<p>In arid zones, it’s not possible to avoid <a href="https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1748-9326/ab1a5f">harm</a> to groundwater-dependent ecosystems if most water stored in an aquifer is extracted. Doing so inevitably reduces, or stops entirely, groundwater flows to the surface environment. </p>
<p>And aquifers take time to adjust to changes. So the 100-year time frame that applies under the arid zone rule shifts the burden of harm into the future. If new permits are issues to projects that deplete the aquifer, long-term damage is locked in.</p>
<p>Water extraction in the Northern Territory must be scientifically defensible. Otherwise, future generations and the ecosystems that depend on the water will suffer – and the damage may be irreversible.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/hidden-depths-why-groundwater-is-our-most-important-water-source-91484">Hidden depths: why groundwater is our most important water source</a>
</strong>
</em>
</p>
<hr>
<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/192626/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sue Jackson receives research funding from the Australian Research Council and from consultancies conducted for the Murray Darling Basin Authority, the Northern Land Council, and the Environment Centre NT.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Matthew Currell is currently being engaged by the Environment Centre NT for a consultancy to examine the hydrogeology of NT aquifers and make recommendations regarding sustainable groundwater management.</span></em></p>There are fears the Northern Territory government will allow gas and other industries to extract substantially more water from the environment than is currently allowed.Sue Jackson, Professor, Australian Rivers Institute, Griffith UniversityMatthew Currell, Professor of Environmental Engineering, School of Engineering, RMIT UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1909062022-09-20T05:47:00Z2022-09-20T05:47:00ZIn a win for Traditional Owners, Origin is walking away from the Beetaloo Basin. But the fight against fracking is not over<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485488/original/file-20220920-21-2euzzm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=23%2C17%2C3843%2C2567&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>What a difference six months makes. Before the federal election, the Beetaloo Basin in the Northern Territory was to have spearheaded Australia’s “gas-led recovery”. But Origin Energy this week <a href="https://www.originenergy.com.au/about/investors-media/origin-to-divest-beetaloo-basin-interests-intends-to-exit-upstream-exploration-permits/">announced</a> it would sell its share of the basin project ahead of a wider exit from new gas ventures. </p>
<p>The Beetaloo Basin holds a truly enormous amount of fossil carbon – prompting Greens leader Adam Bandt to describe it as a “<a href="https://reneweconomy.com.au/origin-announces-exit-from-gas-exploration-starting-with-beetaloo-basin/">climate bomb</a>”.</p>
<p>Origin’s exit is not a killing blow to the controversial project. But it shows increasing corporate jitters about investing in gas. And the announcement came as major iron miner Fortescue <a href="https://www.theage.com.au/business/companies/fortescue-to-spend-9-2b-to-eliminate-fossil-fuel-use-by-2030-20220920-p5bjfq.html">announced plans</a> to eliminate fossil fuel use within eight years. </p>
<p>Origin’s exit is a major win for the region’s Traditional Owners, many of whom feared the fracking would cause large-scale environmental damage, as well as harming the climate. But Origin has sold its rights to frack Beetaloo – so the fight is far from over.</p>
<figure class="align-center zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485479/original/file-20220920-376-22yjsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="fracking protests origin energy" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485479/original/file-20220920-376-22yjsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/485479/original/file-20220920-376-22yjsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485479/original/file-20220920-376-22yjsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485479/original/file-20220920-376-22yjsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485479/original/file-20220920-376-22yjsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485479/original/file-20220920-376-22yjsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/485479/original/file-20220920-376-22yjsk.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
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<span class="caption">Traditional Owner activists targeted Origin over its fracking plans, as in this 2019 protest outside Origin’s offices.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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</figure>
<h2>What is this basin and why does it matter?</h2>
<p>Oil and gas are usually found in geological basins – large, low-lying areas filled with rocks and sediment. The Beetaloo Basin covers 28,000 square kilometres and lies around 500 kilometres south-east of Darwin. Origin’s former exploration area lies near the town of Daly Waters. </p>
<p>Fracking the basin has been planned since 2004. The former Morrison Coalition government planned a so-called “<a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/17/scott-morrisons-gas-led-recovery-what-is-it-and-will-it-really-make-energy-cheaper">gas led recovery</a>” to accelerate its development, fuelled by <a href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2021-01-14/federal-government-road-funding-props-up-beetaloo-development/13057974">large amounts of taxpayer money</a> to encourage the fossil fuel industry to frack the remote area.</p>
<p>The move was unpopular with the region’s Traditional Owners, with fracking <a href="https://frackinginquiry.nt.gov.au/inquiry-reports?a=494297">described</a> by Traditional Owner Ned Jampijinpa Hargraves as “digging up my body, breaking my Tjukurpa (Dreaming)” in a government inquiry. </p>
<p>Local Traditional Owners formed the <a href="https://www.nurrdalinji.org.au/our_story">Nurrdalinji Native Title Aboriginal Corporation</a> to fight fracking, in partnership with local pastoralists.</p>
<p>Origin’s statement makes no mention of these tensions in its decision. Indeed, it talks of “<a href="https://www.originenergy.com.au/about/investors-media/origin-to-divest-beetaloo-basin-interests-intends-to-exit-upstream-exploration-permits/">strong support</a>” from the local community, including native title holders. </p>
<p>Despite this rhetoric, the work by Traditional Owners and pastoralists created enormous pressure for Origin to back out of the project. </p>
<p>This win demonstrates yet again how Indigenous people around the world are <a href="https://unfccc.int/news/indigenous-peoples-increasingly-engaging-in-climate-action">playing a key role</a> in warding off the worst of the climate crisis. </p>
<p>This occurs not only when Indigenous people oppose fossil fuel projects on their land, but through their management of 38 million square kilometres of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41893-018-0100-6">land</a> across 87 countries.</p>
<p>This is an enormous estate – one quarter of the Earth’s land surface – and often covers land rich in biodiversity. </p>
<p>Australia’s First Nations peoples hold rights and interests in land covering about <a href="http://www.nntt.gov.au/assistance/Geospatial/Pages/Maps.aspx">40% of the continent</a>, again land that has been sustainably managed by First Nations peoples for thousands of years and is therefore highly environmentally valuable. </p>
<p>Land management is central to combating climate change, through nature-based solutions such as storing carbon in trees, soils and mangroves and seagrass meadows. First Nations communities have at least 60,000 years of <a href="https://www.mdpi.com/2571-6255/4/3/61">knowledge</a> of how to care for Country in ways which can aid climate adaptation, mitigation and repair. </p>
<h2>What next?</h2>
<p>Origin has <a href="https://www.originenergy.com.au/about/investors-media/origin-to-divest-beetaloo-basin-interests-intends-to-exit-upstream-exploration-permits/">sold</a> its rights to a company half-owned by Tamboran Resources Limited.</p>
<p>Under the previous Coalition government, Tamboran subsidiary Sweetpea Petroleum <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/BeetalooBasin/Second_Interim_Report/section?id=committees%2freportsen%2f024928%2f79618">received A$7.5 million</a> of public money to drill exploration wells in the Beetaloo. Tamboran and Sweetpea <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/BeetalooBasin/Second_Interim_Report/section?id=committees%2Freportsen%2F024928%2F79618">refused to appear</a> at a 2021 Senate <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Environment_and_Communications/BeetalooBasin">inquiry</a> into oil and gas activities in the Beetaloo Basin – a move the Senate committee declared was “unacceptable”.</p>
<p>Tamboran is now trying to <a href="https://www.afr.com/street-talk/tamboran-gets-its-beetaloo-buy-now-for-133m-funding-package-20220919-p5bj62">raise $133 million</a> to pay Origin for the rights and invest the rest in developing the project. </p>
<p>As the International Energy Agency <a href="https://iea.blob.core.windows.net/assets/7ebafc81-74ed-412b-9c60-5cc32c8396e4/NetZeroby2050-ARoadmapfortheGlobalEnergySector-SummaryforPolicyMakers_CORR.pdf">has warned</a>, we cannot open new fossil fuel projects if we hope to limit global temperature rise to the crucial 1.5°C threshold.</p>
<p>For more than a decade, climate activists have called on institutions to divest themselves of their fossil fuel holdings. Origin has divested itself of Beetaloo and BHP is divesting its <a href="https://www.afr.com/companies/energy/woodside-bhp-ink-oil-mega-merger-20210817-p58jeq">oil and gas portfolio</a>. </p>
<p>But these are not true victories for the climate if the fossil fuel assets are sold to be extracted and burned by another company.</p>
<h2>Keeping it in the ground</h2>
<p>If we are serious about saving our planet we need to legislate to close down fossil fuel assets and force shareholders and investors to cop the losses.</p>
<p>In selling its share, Origin has taken an estimated loss of up to $90 million. But the fight against fracking in the Beetaloo is not over. </p>
<p>Still, it’s important to recognise what’s been achieved. As Johnny Wilson, Chair of Nurrdalinji Corporation <a href="https://www.nurrdalinji.org.au/mr_origin_divests">said</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>We hope this is the start of more companies turning their back on gas production where we live. Fracking is not what we want … The government should give up backing the industry with taxpayers’ money and invest in health, education and clean energy from the sun because that’s what will keep our future strong.</p>
</blockquote><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/190906/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Lily O'Neill has previously done consulting work in relation to fracking in the Beetaloo Basin for the Commonwealth Government. She was previously a PhD candidate on an ARC linkage project that received money from Santos, one of the companies still involved in the Beetaloo Basin. She has collaborated with Original Power, an organisation involved in supporting Traditional Owners in the Beetaloo who wish to protect Country.
</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ben Neville owns shares in Australian Ethical Investments. He receives funding from the ARC. </span></em></p>It’s great news Origin is walking away from fracking and gas. But other companies are still keen to frack the Beetaloo despite climate and environment concerns.Lily O'Neill, Senior Research Fellow, The University of MelbourneBen Neville, A/Prof and Deputy Director of Melbourne Climate Futures, The University of MelbourneLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1887172022-08-15T02:47:54Z2022-08-15T02:47:54ZIt’s time to give the ACT and NT stronger voices in parliament<p>With more independents, women, Indigenous Australians and MPs from a multicultural background than ever before, federal parliament seems ready to deal with issues that have been lying dormant for years. </p>
<p>And one of these – highlighted by the heavily contested Senate race in the national capital in May – is the right of the ACT (and the Northern Territory) to enact their own voluntary assisted dying legislation.</p>
<p>The anomaly is especially evident to Canberrans. A person living in the NSW town of Queanbeyan who drives ten or 15 kilometres to work in Canberra has more democratic rights than colleagues who live in the ACT. </p>
<p>At the border they encounter section 122 of the Australian constitution, with its legislative override of ACT democracy – despite self-representation for the ACT having been legislated in 1988 (and 1978 for the NT).</p>
<p>Before self-government, the federal territories minister made all decisions about the ACT. Since 1988, the locally elected ACT Legislative Assembly is responsible for making laws for the ACT, and its counterpart in Darwin makes laws for the NT.</p>
<p>It was section 122 that empowered Coalition frontbencher Kevin Andrews to champion the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2004A05118">Euthanasia Laws Act 1997</a>, which reduced the power of the ACT and NT assemblies to make laws permitting doctors to help a terminally ill person end their life. The <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6889">Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022</a>, passed in the house on August 3, is designed to reverse that legislation.</p>
<p>Debate on the bill resumes in the Senate on September 5. If it passes, as looks likely but not certain, it will restore the right of territorians to equality of self-government – at least in this respect, and at least for the time being, given the threat of override is always hanging.</p>
<h2>A long road to self-government</h2>
<p>The road to representation for residents of the ACT and the NT began with the <a href="https://www.foundingdocs.gov.au/resources/transcripts/act11-a1559-1974-39.pdf">Senate (Representation of Territories) Act 1973</a>, passed in August 1974, which allowed for two senators each from the Northern Territory and the ACT in the 1975 and subsequent elections. Each state was represented by ten senators (formerly six), a number that increased to 12 in 1983.</p>
<p>Comparisons make the anomaly obvious. Tasmania, with a population only slightly more than the ACT, has 12 senators while the ACT and the NT are still stuck on two. Back in 1975, the NT’s population was around 100,000; by 2021, according to the census, it was 233,000. </p>
<p>Over the same period the ACT’s population has grown from 200,400 to more than 454,000. In each state, population growth over those 46 years has merited two more senators, but each territory’s representation has stayed at two.</p>
<p>Section 40 of the Commonwealth Electoral Act allows the number of senators in the ACT or the NT to increase beyond two only when the number of House of Representatives seats in the jurisdiction grows to six or more. With the ACT’s House representation now on three, there is little prospect of this. (Tasmania, with 402,000 electors at this year’s election to the ACT’s 314,329, has five lower house seats.)</p>
<h2>A simple but effective change</h2>
<p>But the Commonwealth Electoral Act can be amended by the parliament under section 122 of the Constitution. Doing so would open the Commonwealth’s ear to the ring of Canberra and NT residents’ views about decisions that have a specific impact on the territories. It would also enable smaller parties and independents the same opportunities to reflect the diversity of the territories’ citizenry as they do elsewhere in the country.</p>
<p>Increased representation would also make a bill like the <a href="https://www.legislation.gov.au/Details/C2004A05118">Euthanasia Laws Act 1997</a> much less likely. How? Under the Senate’s proportional representation system, a candidate currently needs 33% of the vote to be elected in the ACT or NT. Increasing the number of Senators to four, but retaining the current three-year terms, would reduce that quota to 20%. </p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/view-from-the-hill-house-vote-on-allowing-territories-to-legalise-voluntary-assisted-dying-likely-this-week-188000">View from The Hill: House vote on allowing territories to legalise voluntary assisted dying likely this week</a>
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<p>This is still a significant threshold, but it would give smaller parties and independents a real chance at each election of obtaining representation.</p>
<p>This year’s serious contest for the ACT’s Senate places, with the surprise election of an independent candidate, David Pocock, means that the ACT’s needs are for the first time taken seriously by all parties. Labor’s <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Bills_Legislation/Bills_Search_Results/Result?bId=r6889">Restoring Territory Rights Bill 2022</a> is the striking result.</p>
<p>A simple doubling of territory representation in the Senate is nowhere near as dramatic as a proposal for the ACT or the NT to become a state, which would require constitutional change. It is a <a href="https://static1.squarespace.com/static/60dd3f62db3e1b4c462ed537/t/62fad7a4dd1fea44e250fbdb/1660606373077/Draft_Bill_for_Increased_Senate_Representation+Edit.pdf">modest change to legislation</a> that would have a similar practical impact while helping restore democracy in our federal system.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188717/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Kim Rubenstein received funding for earlier research projects from the Australian Research Council. In May this year she and Kim Huynh ran as “Kim for Canberra” candidates for the Senate in the ACT.</span></em></p>There’s a simple way to give territorians better representation – and the time is ripe.Kim Rubenstein, Professor, Academic Director, 50/50 by 2030 Foundation, University of CanberraLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1867782022-08-09T20:04:36Z2022-08-09T20:04:36Z‘Unacceptable costs’: savanna burning under Australia’s carbon credit scheme is harming human health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478203/original/file-20220809-20-woohko.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=5%2C5%2C3860%2C2347&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock </span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Savanna burning projects in northern Australia provide <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479721006307?via%3Dihub">economic benefits</a> to Indigenous communities and claim to <a href="https://esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1890/120251">reduce</a> greenhouse gas emissions. But our research suggests smoke from these projects is harming human health.</p>
<p>Northern Australia’s savannas cover <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/gcb.12686">about 25%</a> of Australia’s land mass. They’re among the most flammable regions in the world and <a href="https://theconversation.com/the-worlds-best-fire-management-system-is-in-northern-australia-and-its-led-by-indigenous-land-managers-133071">comprise 70%</a> of Australia’s fire-affected area each year.</p>
<p>Savanna fire management involves strategically burning grasslands early in the dry season, purportedly to reduce the chance of large, intense, more carbon-intensive fires later in the season. Under Australia’s Emissions Reduction Fund, land managers who undertake savanna burning receive financial rewards in the form of carbon credits.</p>
<p>But our research, focused on Darwin, has <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-022-01745-9">shown</a> savanna burning under the fund is making air pollution worse. A <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/jun/29/chris-bowen-to-announce-review-of-carbon-credits-system-after-expert-labelled-it-a">review</a> of the fund now underway must consider these unacceptable costs to human health.</p>
<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="aerial view of Darwin showing apartment buildings, trees and roads" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478197/original/file-20220809-26-8q92iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478197/original/file-20220809-26-8q92iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478197/original/file-20220809-26-8q92iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478197/original/file-20220809-26-8q92iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=405&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478197/original/file-20220809-26-8q92iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478197/original/file-20220809-26-8q92iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478197/original/file-20220809-26-8q92iq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=509&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">The research focused on air pollution in Darwin.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
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<h2>The Top End’s smoke problem</h2>
<p>Savanna fire management is currently a topic of substantial global interest – much of it stemming from its potential to reduce carbon emissions. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/ERF/Pages/Choosing%20a%20project%20type/Opportunities%20for%20the%20land%20sector/Savanna%20burning%20methods/Savanna-fire-management-emissions-avoidance.aspx">underlying premise</a> is that early dry season burning releases fewer emissions than late dry season burning. This is because the fuel is moister and weather conditions milder — hence fires will be less extensive, less fuel will combust and less carbon will be released.</p>
<p>In Australia, savanna burning programs for carbon abatement were developed in the mid-2000s and integrated into the carbon market. Land managers are offered financial incentives to burn large amounts of savanna before the end of <a href="https://www.cleanenergyregulator.gov.au/ERF/Pages/Choosing%20a%20project%20type/Opportunities%20for%20the%20land%20sector/Savanna%20burning%20methods/Savanna-fire-management-emissions-avoidance.aspx">July</a> each year. </p>
<p>The scheme has proved popular: registered projects now cover some <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0301479721006307?via%3Dihub">25%</a> of Australia’s 1.2 million km² tropical savannas, including <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-022-01745-9">55%</a> of land within 500km of Darwin. </p>
<p>Australia now touts itself as a <a href="https://www.minister.industry.gov.au/ministers/taylor/media-releases/emissions-reduction-fund-delivers-100-million-carbon-credits">world leader</a> in savanna burning. We are sharing the practice with other regions around the world, and savanna burning programs linked to carbon markets have been proposed <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41467-018-04687-7">elsewhere</a>. </p>
<p>Yet the smoke pollution consequences of such programs are rarely considered. In Australia’s Top End, for example, thick and prolonged smoke blankets communities every dry season. Darwin, a city of 158,000 people, regularly <a href="https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S001393512030918X#mmc1">exceeds</a> the Australian air quality standard for particulate matter. </p>
<p>In Darwin, smoky days bring more hospital admissions for <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s10653-012-9489-4">lung and heart disease</a>, and more emergency department presentations <a href="https://www.mja.com.au/journal/2002/176/11/exposure-bushfire-smoke-and-asthma-ecological-study">for asthma</a>. These impacts <a href="https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1476-069X-7-42">disproportionately</a> affect Indigenous people. </p>
<p>Almost all Darwin’s particulate pollution is caused by landscape fires. In the early dry season, almost all of this is generated by prescribed burning - and there’s been a marked increase in burning in recent years linked to carbon abatement schemes.</p>
<hr>
<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/we-blew-the-whistle-on-australias-central-climate-policy-heres-what-a-new-federal-government-probe-must-fix-185894">We blew the whistle on Australia's central climate policy. Here's what a new federal government probe must fix</a>
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<figure class="align-center ">
<img alt="sky filled with black smoke above grass and flames" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478183/original/file-20220809-20-bohate.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478183/original/file-20220809-20-bohate.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478183/original/file-20220809-20-bohate.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478183/original/file-20220809-20-bohate.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478183/original/file-20220809-20-bohate.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478183/original/file-20220809-20-bohate.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478183/original/file-20220809-20-bohate.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">Almost all Darwin’s particulate pollution is caused by landscape fires.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dean Lewins/AAP</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>What our research found</h2>
<p>Our research considered the relationship between prescribed burning and smoke pollution in Darwin from 2004 to 2019.</p>
<p>We first assessed the very small particles found in smoke known as PM2.5. We then analysed fire activity within a 500km radius, and assessed the links between pollution, weather and fire.</p>
<p>The <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s13280-022-01745-9">results showed</a> air quality worsened in Darwin in the early dry season (particularly in June and July), with an increase in the annual number of severely polluted days. </p>
<p>Perhaps surprisingly, air quality did not change substantially in other seasons. In other words, shifting savanna burning to the early dry season did not appear to lead to better air quality later in the season.</p>
<p>Our findings highlight a complex story. Despite a substantial expansion of savanna burning for carbon abatement over our study period, net annual PM2.5 concentrations in Darwin did not decline. In fact, there was an increase in the number of times the national air quality standard was exceeded.</p>
<p>So what’s driving these results? One important factor involves large areas of savanna burned for carbon abatement to the southeast of Darwin in the early dry season. At that time of year, a steady south-easterly trade wind hits Darwin, bringing much of the smoke from these fires with it.</p>
<p>Fuel dynamics may also be at play. Native and non-native grasses which are highly flammable in the early dry season have been <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4242569/">expanding</a> on frequently burned savannas. Higher temperatures may be drying fuel out earlier in the dry season. These factors may make early dry season fires as extensive and intense as savannas burnt later in the season. </p>
<p>Our research comes with caveats. For example, we drew only broad inferences about the geographic sources of smoke over Darwin. Notwithstanding this, our results clearly demonstrate Darwin’s already significant air quality problem is worsening, rather than improving, in association with increased early dry season burning. </p>
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<p>
<em>
<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/air-pollution-causes-more-than-3-million-premature-deaths-a-year-worldwide-47639">Air pollution causes more than 3 million premature deaths a year worldwide</a>
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<img alt="people sit and walk through leafy shopping street" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478198/original/file-20220809-18-n1hbii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/478198/original/file-20220809-18-n1hbii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478198/original/file-20220809-18-n1hbii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478198/original/file-20220809-18-n1hbii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=400&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478198/original/file-20220809-18-n1hbii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478198/original/file-20220809-18-n1hbii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/478198/original/file-20220809-18-n1hbii.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=503&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px">
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<span class="caption">Darwin’s already significant air quality problem is worsening, rather than improving.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>A balancing act</h2>
<p>None of this means savanna burning should cease, nor that traditional owners should not be paid to manage fire on country. But it does mean policies should be designed so unintended harm is minimised and the benefits are maximised. </p>
<p>Policymakers must consider how to regulate burning to avoid smoke pollution exposure. In Darwin, particular attention may be needed in locations southeast of the city. One solution may be to regulate how much smoke can be released in a specific area on a given day.</p>
<p>Other factors should be considered too. For example, savanna burning in Australia <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/35641570/">may</a> risk <a href="https://conbio.onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/conl.12685">harming biodiversity</a>. </p>
<p>But the Emissions Reduction Fund is a blunt tool which doesn’t consider these hidden costs and <a href="https://www.publish.csiro.au/wf/WF19031">other</a> <a href="https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/full/10.1111/gcb.14460">nuances</a>.</p>
<p>The new Labor government has ordered an independent review of the fund. For this review to fulfil <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2022/jun/30/former-australian-chief-scientist-to-head-review-of-carbon-credit-scheme-after-whistleblower-revelations">its brief</a>, all unintended harms must be taken into account. </p>
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<p>
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<strong>
Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/australias-central-climate-policy-pays-people-to-grow-trees-that-already-existed-taxpayers-and-the-environment-deserve-better-186900">Australia’s central climate policy pays people to grow trees that already existed. Taxpayers – and the environment – deserve better</a>
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<img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/186778/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Penelope Jones receives funding from the Northern Territory Department of Health and has previously received funding from the Northern Territory Environment Protection Authority. She also receives funding from ACT Health, the Tasmanian Department of Health, and the Commonwealth Department of Home Affairs, Asthma Australia and the Tasmanian Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Program. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Bowman has received funding to study fire ecology and management from the Australian Research Council (ARC), the NSW Bushfire Risk Management Research Hub, Bushfire and Natural Hazard CRC, Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) and Natural Resources and Environment Tasmania.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Fay Johnston receives funding from the National Health and Medical Research Council, the National Environment Science Program, the Health Departments of the Northern Territory, Australian Capital Territory and Tasmania, and the Tasmania Natural Disaster Risk Reduction Program.</span></em></p>Savanna grasslands are burnt early in the dry season to reduce the chance of large fires later. But it’s making air pollution worse.Penelope Jones, Research Fellow in Environmental Health, University of TasmaniaDavid Bowman, Professor of Pyrogeography and Fire Science, University of TasmaniaFay Johnston, Professor, Menzies Institute for Medical Research, University of TasmaniaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1880652022-08-03T04:01:09Z2022-08-03T04:01:09ZHas Labor learnt from the failure of the cashless debit card?<p>Legislation passed through the House of Representatives last night to wind down the cashless debit card (CDC), which was introduced into the East Kimberley and Ceduna in 2016 and since applied at other trial sites around Australia. The card compulsorily quarantines 80% of social security payments received by working-aged people.</p>
<p>Implementing the CDC has cost more than <a>$170 million</a>. </p>
<p>Yet <a href="https://www.uq.edu.au/news/article/2020/02/compulsory-income-management-disabling-study-shows">research</a> shows it does more harm than good to people forced to use it. First Nations organisations, social service organisations, and others have consistently <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/nov/03/cashless-welfare-card-fewer-than-10-of-senate-inquiry-submissions-back-bill">argued against its expansion</a>.</p>
<p>The Albanese government says winding back the CDC will “leave no one behind”. But its legislation leaves more than 23,000 mainly First Nations people in the Northern Territory – as well as people in other parts of the country – on the <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/FlagPost/2017/June/BasicsCard_and_Cashless_Debit_Card">BasicsCard</a>, a longer-standing compulsory income management scheme run by the Department of Social Services. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/i-dont-want-anybody-to-see-me-using-it-cashless-welfare-cards-do-more-harm-than-good-132341">'I don't want anybody to see me using it': cashless welfare cards do more harm than good</a>
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<p>We have known since 2014 that the BasicsCard <a href="https://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/highlights/evaluating-new-income-management-northern-territory-final-evaluation-report-and-summary">fails to meet its stated objectives</a>. Research published by the ARC Centre of Excellence for Children and Families over the Life Course found its use correlated with <a href="https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/research/journal-articles/working-paper-series/do-welfare-restrictions-improve-child-health-estimating-the-causal-impact-of-income-management-in-the-northern-territory/">reductions in birth weight</a>, falls in <a href="https://www.lifecoursecentre.org.au/research/journal-articles/working-paper-series/the-effect-of-quarantining-welfare-on-school-attendance-in-indigenous-communities/">school attendance</a> and other negative impacts on children. </p>
<p>These are significant findings. The research suggests several possible explanations for reduced birth weight, including income management’s potential role in increasing stress on mothers, disrupting financial arrangements within the household and creating confusion about how to access funds. </p>
<h2>Strong opposition</h2>
<p>Given the government’s talk of <a href="https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/anthony-albanese-s-speech-at-garma-festival-annotated-20220729-p5b5sp.html">respect and reconciliation</a>, it’s hard to know why it would continue a program introduced as part of the Howard government’s racially discriminatory and widely criticised <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/sep/02/northern-territory-intervention-violates-international-law-gillian-triggs-says">Northern Territory Emergency Response</a>. </p>
<p>When the Morrison government attempted to move people in the Northern Territory from the BasicsCard onto the CDC, <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/CashlessCardTransition/Submissions">First Nations</a> leaders were clear about how damaging the BasicsCard has been, and recommended <a href="https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Community_Affairs/CashlessCardTransition/Submissions">genuinely voluntary schemes</a> instead.</p>
<p>As shadow minister, Linda Burney supported that position. “Our fundamental principle on the basics card and the cashless debit card [is that] it should be on a voluntary basis,” she <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/apr/19/cashless-welfare-labor-vows-to-end-compulsory-use-of-basics-card">said</a> earlier this year, adding:</p>
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<p>If people want to be on those sorts of income management, then that’s their decision. It’s not up to Labor or anyone else to tell them what to do. At the moment it’s compulsion and that’s not Labor’s position.</p>
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<p>Yet the legislation introduced into the house last week maintains compulsory income management via the BasicsCard, promising only consultation. It leaves the door wide open for continued compulsory income management. As social security minister Amanda Rishworth said in her second reading speech, the bill allows her:</p>
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<p>to determine, following further consultation with First Nations people and my colleagues, how the Northern Territory participants on the CDC will transition, and the income management arrangements that will exist.</p>
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<h2>Policy from above</h2>
<p>We have learnt a lot from the CDC, including how government claims that communities can decide about who goes on and off income management are often used to legitimise the continuation of compulsory income management.</p>
<p>Both the CDC and BasicsCard are ideas that were developed and lobbied for by the Australian political and business elite. They never came from the “community”. </p>
<p>The BasicsCard was one of many measures implemented under the Northern Territory Emergency Response, which included the suspension of the Racial Discrimination Act and the use of the <a href="https://theconversation.com/ten-years-on-its-time-we-learned-the-lessons-from-the-failed-northern-territory-intervention-79198">Australian Defence Force</a>.</p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/what-happens-when-you-free-unemployed-australians-from-mutual-obligations-and-boost-their-benefits-we-just-found-out-157506">What happens when you free unemployed Australians from 'mutual obligations' and boost their benefits? We just found out</a>
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<p>The CDC, on the other hand, was a key recommendation of mining billionaire Andrew Forrest’s 2014 <a href="https://www.niaa.gov.au/resource-centre/indigenous-affairs/forrest-review">National Indigenous Jobs and Training Review</a>. Since it was introduced, Forrest and his Minderoo Foundation have advocated for its extension.</p>
<p>The government used much-needed funding for local services as a sweeetener to gain communities’ agreement for the CDC to proceed. In some cases, the threat of <a href="https://caepr.cass.anu.edu.au/sites/default/files/docs/Working_Paper_121_2017.pdf">funding cuts</a> was used in negotiations. In contrast, proposals from communities themselves for appropriate community- and Aboriginal-controlled services had long been overlooked.</p>
<h2>Real consultation?</h2>
<p>Governments routinely use “consultation” as a label for what are essentially information sessions, with no alternatives on the table, in an effort to signal broad-based support. In the case of the CDC, <a href="https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwi__I3yoKf5AhU9R2wGHSjBAuwQFnoECC8QAQ&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.aph.gov.au%2FDocumentStore.ashx%3Fid%3D9e59ccc9-b9e6-4fad-9fb6-2a992d84fd44%26subId%3D516467&usg=AOvVaw19C21P3oIBS4l5A1b2pr0R">calls for the program to be aborted</a> or changed dramatically were long ignored. </p>
<p>Those who were forced onto the BasicsCard as part of the intervention were not offered a consultation process by the Howard government. And now, the Labor government has also failed to embrace their views and opted for a path of more consultation.</p>
<p>If Labor forces people to stay on the BasicsCard, what has it learnt from the CDC? Governments have spent more than $1 billion implementing the two failed compulsory income management schemes, and the new government has implicitly committed to spending more. Imagine what else this money could be going towards.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/188065/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Elise Klein does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article. She is a member of the Accountable Income Management Network. </span></em></p>By keeping the BasicsCard, the federal government seems not to have taken on board the lessons from the soon to be scrapped cashless debit cardElise Klein, Associate professor, Australian National UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.