21 Attracting and retaining skilled and professional staff in remote locations Attracting and retaining skilled professional staff Report ‘Walking together, working together’: Jocelyn Davies Aboriginal research partnerships 26 April 2007 Fiona Haslam McKenzie DKCRC Partners ‘Walking together, working together’: Aboriginal research partnerships Jocelyn Davies April 2007 Contributing author information Jocelyn Davies leads the Livelihoods inLand™ project for Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre. She works as a geographer and principal research scientist for CSIRO Sustainable Ecosystems, based in Alice Springs. Desert Knowledge CRC Report Number 26 Information contained in this publication may be copied or reproduced for study, research, information or educational purposes, subject to inclusion of an acknowledgement of the source. ISBN: 1 74158 052 8 (Online copy) ISSN: 1832 6684 Citation Davies J 2007, ‘Walking together, working together’: Aboriginal research partnerships, DKCRC Report 26, Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, Alice Springs. The Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre is an unincorporated joint venture with 28 partners whose mission is to develop and disseminate an understanding of sustainable living in remote desert environments, deliver enduring regional economies and livelihoods based on Desert Knowledge, and create the networks to market this knowledge in other desert lands. For additional information please contact Desert Knowledge CRC Publications Officer PO Box 3971 Alice Springs NT 0871 Australia Telephone +61 8 8959 6000 Fax +61 8 8959 6048 www.desertknowledgecrc.com.au © Desert Knowledge CRC 2007 II Desert Knowledge CRC ‘Walking together, working together’: Aboriginal research partnerships Contents List of boxes IV List of shortened forms V Acknowledgements VI Key messages VII Summary IX 1. Introduction 1 2. Drivers for Aboriginal research partnerships 5 3. Learning lessons from elsewhere 23 4. What is partnership? 25 5. Research 31 6. CSIRO 37 7. Desert Knowledge 41 8. ‘Baseline’ research 45 9. Regions 49 10. Settlements 55 11. Country 59 12. Engagement 87 13. Developing partnerships 93 14. References 97 ‘Walking together, working together’: Aboriginal research partnerships Desert Knowledge CRC III List of boxes Box 1: Ngaanyatjarra Council and the Shire of Ngaanyatjarraku 10 Box 2: CAT partnership with Rio Tinto 11 Box 3: Strong Families project – a good partnership 12 Box 4: Partnerships as outcomes – the CAT perspective 14 Box 5: Example of MOU between CAT and ------Council 16 Box 6: Tangentyere Council – a problem solving culture 20 Box 7: Policy change based on research – Bushlight 22 Box 8: Who does what? Consultation about a research proposal on Aboriginal land 26 Box 9: Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands biological survey 37 Box 10: Research on the Aboriginal role in the Alice Springs economy 40 Box 11: Indigenous Protected Areas in the desert 53 Box 12: Why work on country? 60 Box 13: Kuka Kanyini – management for healthy people, healthy country 65 Box 14: Non-monetary benefits to Aboriginal harvesters from wild harvest research 89 Box 15: Training Nintiringjaku 91 IV Desert Knowledge CRC ‘Walking together, working together’: Aboriginal research partnerships List of shortened forms ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics ADEH Australian Government Department of the Environment and Heritage AIATSIS Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Studies Anangu, Yarnangu ‘People’ in Western Desert languages [Anangu is Yankunytjatjara, Pitjantjatjara; Yarnangu is Ngaanyatjarra] ANU Australian National University AP/APY Anangu Pitjantjatjara, also referred to as Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara APYLM APY Land Management ATSIC Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission ATSISJC Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner AWS Australian Wildlife Services CAO Combined Aboriginal Organisations CAT Centre for Appropriate Technology CAZR Centre for Arid Zone Research, Alice Springs (part of CSIRO) CBD Convention on Biological Diversity CDEP Community Development Employment Projects programme (Australian Government) CDU Charles Darwin University CLC Central Land Council COAG Council of Australian Governments CRC Cooperative Research Centre CRCAH CRC for Aboriginal Health CSIRO Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation DEH Department of the Environment and Heritage (Australian Government) DKA Desert Knowledge Australia DKCRC Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre DPC Desert Peoples Centre IAD Institute for Aboriginal Development ICC Indigenous Coordination Centres IPA Indigenous Protected Area IRRA Indigenous Research Reform Agenda LWA Land & Water Australia MOU Memorandum of Understanding NAILSMA North Australia Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance NHMRC National Health and Medical Research Council NHT Natural Heritage Trust (Australian Government) NLWRA National Land & Water Resources Audit NRM Natural resource management NRMMC Natural Resource Management Ministerial Council NT Northern Territory NT DIPE Northern Territory Department of Planning Infrastructure and Environment OH&S Occupational health and safety OIPC Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination (Australian Government) PIRSA Primary Industries and Resources South Australia RCIADIC Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody RTO registered training organisation SA DEH South Australian Department for Environment and Heritage SACOME South Australian Chamber of Mines and Energy SAMLISA Strategy for Aboriginal Managed Lands in South Australia SCRGSP Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision TAGAL Technical Advisory Group on Aboriginal Lands TSN Threatened Species Network ‘Walking together, working together’: Aboriginal research partnerships Desert Knowledge CRC V Acknowledgements Thanks to the many people who assisted me in this project and with the development of this report by providing information and advice, informally, at meetings, through specific consultations, and by commenting on draft material for this report. Mark Stafford Smith initiated the project and Margaret Friedel managed its development and implementation and supported me in countless ways. Margaret Friedel and Dermot Smyth provided valued and constructive input in reviewing the draft report. I am especially grateful to the following people for offering their personal and/or professional perspectives during the project: Chris Lloyd, Rose Lloyd, Charlie Antjipalya, Lexie Knight, Rick Hall, Bronwyn Hodgson and elders of Tjukurrpa Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Law and Culture Aboriginal Corporation, Geraldine Lee, Michelle Rodrigo, Rodney Edwards, Damien McLean, Chris Paget, Pam Collier, Ruth Raintree, Bruce Walker, Steve Fisher, Evelyn Schaber, Jenny Kroker, Yami Lester, Peter Copley, Adrian Winwood Smith, Jayne Weepers, Inge Kral, David Brooks, Margaret Friedel and other staff at CSIRO’s Centre for Arid Zone Research in Alice Springs. Disclaimer The work reported here was supported by funding from the Australian Government Cooperative Research Centres Programme through the Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre (DKCRC) and from CSIRO Division of Sustainable Ecosystems Internal Venture Capital Fund. The views expressed in this report do not necessarily represent the views of DKCRC or its participants, nor of CSIRO. VI Desert Knowledge CRC ‘Walking together, working together’: Aboriginal research partnerships Key messages In this report, I identify some considerations for partnerships between research organisations and Aboriginal organisations in desert Australia, and some directions for research. I cover only some issues and I focus on land management. My report is based on selective consultations and networks. A lot more consultation and negotiation has to happen to develop the research directions I identify here into partnerships and collaborative research projects. Research can bring benefit to Aboriginal people. Aboriginal organisations do a lot of research. Some Aboriginal organisations do this research in ways that build capacity among their own people. Outside researchers can bring new ideas, knowledge and networks to desert Aboriginal people. This can help support Aboriginal people to move from welfare dependency to being a strong part of regional economies. But researchers cannot do this alone. Partnerships with Aboriginal organisations and with government are needed for long-term support and outcomes. Partnerships between organisations start from trust between individuals. It is important for organisations to have a clear agreement about their partnership, what they will put into it and what they will work towards together. Partnership agreements are important for continuity and for conflict resolution, but as one participant in this research said: ‘It’s what is in the guts of the relationship that will produce outcomes, not the agreement papers’. To be effective partners with Aboriginal organisations, research organisations need to look at how they develop and scope research projects, how they involve Aboriginal people in research, and how they communicate their research. These research approaches need to suit the way that Aboriginal people and organisations do business. To develop projects that are valuable to Aboriginal people and organisations, researchers need resources to consult and negotiate with Aboriginal organisations and to consult with Aboriginal people ‘on the ground’ about research ideas and how to implement