Origins Edition 1 2007

8/8/2019 Origins Edition 1 2007

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6Northern watersin ocus

The water crisis in the south hasimplications or the way the vastrivers and wetlands o the north

are managed.

20Bill oRights

The age o terrorism has usheredin a new debate about humanrights in Australia.

26Cleaningup the Act

Heritage legislation in the

Northern Territory is creatingcontroversy rather than clarity.

24Indigenous

suicide

Research will try to nd why

young Indigenous men commitsuicide in clusters.

22Statehoodand equality

The Northern Territory move

towards equality with the rest othe country intensies as theSteering Committee on Statehood

unolds its arguments.

News

4-5 Indigenous sea anges ean te at onavigation, a new dea o eite atetes

and a specia jeyfs.

Proled

14 Vietnamese eseace Bin Tai isbeeding te peect cap.

34 Foensic scientist Kate Poad discovesnew ways o deaing wit DNA.

Opinion

12 Poitica scientist Aan Patience oes apovocative view o te couption tat

engus Papua New Guinea.

Limited Edition

46 Eubena Nampitjins ig-key pint depictste soakwates and sand dunes a to

te sout o te Geat Sandy Deset

using 34 sepaate coou sceens in

te pinting pocess.

Q+A

16 Wakabout Ce Steve Sunk eveas tesecets o is past.

Charles, My Hero

19 Pau Wiis on te adicay unotodox ideaso one o te wods tuy oigina tinkes.

Environment40 Te maveous maine ie o te Teitoys

coastine wi be potected unde pans o

maine paks.

History

44 Suveyo Geoge Goyde set up te fstsettes camp in Dawin in apid time.

Global Territorian

30 One o Ameicas most successu cemicaexecutives was once a Dawin scoo boy.

Arts

43 Some o te biggest names in te wod ocassica guita wi peom at te Dawin

Intenationa Guita Festiva in Juy.


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rigins is produced by Charles Darwin

niversitys Corporate Communications.

anaging Editornthony Smith

ditoron Banks

oject Managementeaghan Bryant

Writerson Banks, Sue Bradley, Kathy De La Rue,aren Edyvane, Nathan Franklin,

Will Martin, Jason McIntosh, Allan Patience,obyn Smith

hotographerarry Ledwidge

ontributing Photographersavid Hancock, Michael Douglas,son McIntosh, The Northern

erritory Library

esignetterbox

internsbury Green Printing

rporate Communications is grateul to thelowing people or their contributions andsistance in compiling this edition.

hris Austin, Sheree Cairney, Michael Douglas,lie Carmichael, Christine Edward, Liz Evans,

mma Fowler-Thomason, Leonore Hanssensndrew Liveris, Will Martin, Kate Pollard,rant Rubock, Penny Shirras, Rachel Carey,

eve Sunk, Eric Valentine, Merrilyn Wasson,nh Thai, Adrian Walter, Paul Willis

pinions and views expressed in this editiono not necessarily refect those o Charlesarwin University. Reproduction o anyaterial appearing in this edition requiresritten permission rom Anthony Smith

[email protected]

ublished May 2007

his edition is also available atww.cdu.edu.au/newsroom/origins/

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esign and Pinting Notes

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allan patience was Proessor o Political Science atthe University o Papua New Guinea or three years

beore taking up the same post last year at CDU.He has studied the politics o this troubled countryor many years and written extensively on its ate

or both the national media and political journals.In his rst story or Origins he gives his personalimpressions o a country that he nds is sliding

deeper into economic chaos and corruption.

robyn smith is a Darwin-based writer and historian

who has been observing the behaviour o politicians inregard to heritage laws or many years. She revealshow the ormer Country Liberal Party Government

subverted the notion o heritage preservation by abizarre amendment to the Heritage ConservationAct and how Labor, despite its promises, has yet

to x the problem.

jason mcintosh is CDUs media man in Alice Springs,responsible or the stories that come out o this central

desert region. His eature story or Origins ollows thedelivery o VTE education to the remote community

o Laramba, where students are being introducedto literacy and numeracy through the medium ohorticulture studies with remarkable success.

ron banks is a ormer journalist with The West

Australian newspaper in Perth, having covered arts,politics and eature writing or 28 years. He was thenewspapers arts editor or 15 years and a regularreviewer o theatre, music and lms beore relocating

to Darwin. He has written several articles or thisedition o Origins, based on interviews with CDU

researchers, lecturers and students whose areas ointerest provide ascinating material or a good story.

Contributors

cover Mataranka Swamp, Northern Territory Photograph Barry Ledwidgeinside front cover Daly River, Northern Territory Photograph Michael Douglas

CrEDITS Origins

gins is printed with vegetable based ink, no isopropylohol and ninety ve per cent o all waste products

ed in the process are recycled.

a carbon neutral printing process, using the worldsst practice ISO 14001 environmental managementtems, this edition oOrigins has been printed on

pression Satin paper comprised o sustainable orestre. Finsbury measures and osets its C02 ootprintplanting trees.


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Origins FEATUrES

This edition also introduces a neweature Global Territorian a prole

o a Darwin-born success story on theinternational stage. Our rst prole isAndrew Liveris, who now heads the

international Dow Chemical Companyin Michigan, USA, which has more than130 plants and oces scattered around

the world.Recently CDU has taken on a new

strategic ocus, which aims to build onour eorts over the past three years inbringing together the institutions that

now make up CDU and in enhancingrelationships with the community.This new strategic plan 1st in 5 in 10

identies ve areas o ocus that theuniversity commits to being bench-marked in the top band o Australian

public universities, progressively overthe next 10 years. These areas are:

Indigenous participation and relevance

pathways or learning

proessional, globally oriented education

and training

knowledge to solve complex problems

o importance to the communities o

our regions

expanding our capacity through

partnerships.

I hope you enjoy this edition, whichI believe refects this new strategiccommitment by CDU as well as the

diversity o opinion and activitythat underpins contemporary lie,not only in a university environment,

but also in the wider communitywith which we engage.

Since the water crisis leapt into the public consciousness,barely a day goes by without extensive media coverage

o this complex, multi-aceted issue.

Late last year, Charles Darwin University (CDU), in

partnership with the Northern Territory, Government,held a two-day seminar to canvass the issues in regardto northern waters.

Experts rom across the Northern Territory, WesternAustralia and Queensland were invited to express theirviews on water resource management across the northern

part o the country.

Ater a series o stimulating papers, the experts came up

with a series o strategies and recommendations to helpGovernments decide on the best ways to overcome or atleast minimise what has become a national crisis.

Northern waters is the major theme o this edition oOrigins.We hope the space devoted to the topic will be a valuable

contribution to the current debate on water management.

In May CDU holds the rst Charles Darwin Symposiumor the year, inviting international and national experts

to discuss human rights and Statehood or the Territory,issues that are linked by a resurgence o interest in the

movement towards equality with the other Australianstates. The Symposium will explore the issues on manylevels and Origins complements the debate with stories

examining whether a national Bill o Rights is needed andwhether the time is nearing or Statehood to be declared.No doubt both these issues have some way to run beore

conclusions are reached, but the Symposium will play itspart in clariying the issues.

This edition also covers other regional topics o contemporary

relevance ranging rom a story on the troubling phenom-enon o suicide contagion in young Indigenous men to

the development o new ways to breed the perect carpin Vietnam.

Our sense o history is not orgotten either, with PhD student

Robyn Smiths remarkable story o how heritage laws in theNorthern Territory need to be revised.

Another PhD student, Kathy De La Rue, takes us urther backin history with her story o the rst waterront settlement,known as Goyders Camp, on the sliver o land where the

new convention centre is being built.

Origins VICE-ChANCEllOr EDITOrIAl

Northern waters

Poesso heen Ganettpsm


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NEWS Origins

In Semester One CDU signed a Memorandum o Understand-ing (MOU) with the Northern Territory Institute o Sport(NTIS), which will see athletes given special dispensations

when their sporting commitments interere with study.

It has always been a bit o a struggle when exams and

assignments coincided with sports carnivals, said hockeyplayer Simone Liddy, who will be one o the beneciarieso the scheme.

Simone is in the third year o her Bachelor o Pharmacydegree while representing the Territory in her chosen sport.

Now well be able to get extensions on our assignmentsand reschedule our exams whenever they confict withour sporting commitments, she said.

CDU Vice-Chancellor Proessor Helen Garnett said arelationship had existed or some time with elite athletes,

who had been encouraged to continue their academicstudies while undertaking their sports program at NTIS.

Now that relationship was being ocially recognisedwith the signing o the MOU.

The MOU means the athletes can undertake their studies

with the ull understanding that they will have advisersto talk to whenever it is likely their studies will interrupt

their sport, Proessor Garnett said.We aim to encourage elite athletes to progress both theirsporting and academic careers, she said.

Among the elite athletes to attend the signing ceremony wasten-pin bowler Robert Kennedy who is in the third year o

his Inormation Technology degree, sprinter Narelle Long who began her sports science degree this year and ootballerTom Frawley who is studying Certicate III in Sport while

still in year 11 at high school.

O

above Elite athletes ten-pin bowler Robert Kennedy, sprinter NarelleLong, hockey player Simone Liddy and ootballer Tom Frawley show theirenthusiasm or the new partnership at CDU.

Sport and study do mix

But that is what the holiday resort became or a

month when Charles Darwin Universitys maritimelecturers oered the sea rangers the opportunityto gain their coxswains certicate.

With the assistance o the Northern Land Council,CDUs maritime lecturers set up camp, literally on

the beach, to teach about 15 Indigenous men andwomen the ner points o navigation, boat

maintenance, water saety and even rope splicing.For the rst ew days o the course the students,drawn rom coastal regions across the Territory,

got to grips with the mathematics involved incalculating speed and distance, times o arrival,uel consumption, marine navigation and many

other points o how to successully skipper a boat.

The undercrot o Crab Claw Island Resorts maindining hall with its tropical-style verandahs served

as the classroom, with lecturer Grant Rubockand colleague Aaron Fogarty moving amongthe clusters o students to help with problem

solving activities associated with calculations

and chart readings.It is the second time CDU has run the courseor sea rangers and builds on last yearssuccessul experiment in providing training

or the Indigenous rangers.

These are the people who will help guard our

coastlines rom illegal shing and manage theenvironmental issues that spring up in some othe Territorys most beautiul, i inaccessible areas,

says course coordinator Milton Miller who iserrying supplies to the group on Crab Claw Island.

Shore patrols

Cab Caw Isand resot sounds moe ikean exotic ideaway tan a cassoom o agoup o Indigenous sea anges eaningabout boats.

Caes Dawin Univesity is going out o its way to

ep eite atetes o te Noten Teitoy combinetei spoting powess wit tei tetiay studies.


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Origins NEWS

Proessor Currie has studied box jellysh or the past17 years and has been honoured by having a new speciesnamed ater him.

It is the multi-tentacled box jellysh that will now becalled the Chiropsella bart.

Its a great honour and Im really very excited about it,he said.

The Chiropsella bart is about the size o a tennis balland is not potentially lie-threatening to humans.

As ar as jellysh go this one isnt such a baddie.It wouldnt kill people, but i a child had a lot otentacle contact it could be very serious, he said.

The jellysh, common only around Nhulunbuy onthe Gove Peninsula, is prevalent in the dry season.This is unlike all other known species, which are

common in the wet.

Its extremely interesting and unique to the Territory,

he explained.

CDUs Vice-Chancellor, Proessor Helen Garnett, said the

naming o a species ater Proessor Currie was ttingrecognition or his many years o research in the eld.

Proessor Currie and the Menzies School o Health

Research have been keeping Territorians sae byresearching the prevention o jellysh deaths overthe past two decades, she said.

A specimen oChiropsella bart is being lodged in theMuseum and Art Gallery o the Northern Territory,

where it will have a special designation that sets itapart rom other species.

O

Bart goes to jellyProessor Bart Currie rom the MenziesSchool o Health Research is the latestresearcher to have a newly discoveredspecies o marine lie named ater him.

Such a training scheme is based on the concept thatthe best people to patrol the remote coastal ringes

are the people who live on the coast the saltwaterpeople or traditional owners whose ancestors havebeen managing the environment in their own way or

hundreds o years.But now management involves the use o boats,

provided either by Customs or unded rom ederalschemes designed to encourage coastal management.

During the dry season Crab Claw Island comes into its

own as a holiday resort and weekend destination orDarwin residents who ancy a spot o shing, boating,or just relaxing around the chalets that an out rom

the central dining-hall.

In the wet season though, when no one else is around,

it is the ideal situation or some concentrated learning.

The coxswains course is being run in blocks o two

weeks, with a gap o one week between each block.It means the students stay or those periods inthe chalets, provided with meals and accommodation

under a deal struck with the Crab Claw IslandResorts owner.

At the end o the training period those with reason-

able skills in mathematics are most likely to qualiyor their coxswains certicate. Other students aimto reach the competency levels to pass their small

boat saety certicate.

The ormal training o sea rangers in boating skills

is part o the long-term plan to pass as muchresponsibility as possible or the policing and

management o coastlines to the dwellers on theocean ringes.

Many o those who pass their qualications will

get jobs with Customs and join the rontlinein patrolling the vast expanses o coast acrossthe Territory.

CDUs maritime lecturers plan to run the courseagain later this year and hope to continue the

program or many years.

O

opposite Classroom on Crab Claw Islandabove Splicing on the beach


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WATEr rESEArCh Origins

Northern watersWater in the north is plentiul, but will climate change and development proposals leadto the kind o crisis that troubles the bottom hal o Australia? ron banks examines thecurrent debate about the divide that has opened up between north and south over thebest ways to manage and use this vital resource.


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Origins WATEr rESEArCh

Since the water crisis leapt into the national consciousness

last year the waterways o northern Australia have becomean integral part o the debate.

Its rivers and wetlands were seen as one o the potentialsolutions to the problems o the south. All that was needed,argued the most idealistic o the southern water uturists,

was to adopt one o two solutions; either pipe or transportthe water o the north to irrigate the armlands o thedrought-stricken south, or bring the armers up north

to plant their own crops.

These verdant, empty lands would fourish under careul

husbandry, plentiul seasonal rains and the well-maintaineddams that could be built.

Not so ast, said the water experts with a better knowledge

o the norths climate, rainall, water supplies and agricul-ture. The north was not some watery El Dorado that couldsimply be plundered or the benet o southern armers,

or anyone else who wanted to escape the drought in therest o the country.

For a start, said the northern experts, the north was subjectto climate change as much as the south and the seasonaldeluges that brought its bounty o water across the Top

End were subject to fuctuations. A couple o bad seasonsand the north could be in trouble with its water supplies,too. They also delivered the alarming statistic that rom

1961 to 2005 sea level rises in northern Australia exceededthe global average o 30mm, as reported in the technicalsummary o the Fourth Report o the International Panel

on Climate Change.

Another actor against the idea was simply the lack o

knowledge about how the waterways, lakes, billabongs and

other wetlands unctioned. No one knew or certain howthe pressures o draining o water, sending it elsewhere or

trying to store it in dams would impact on the wildlie andthe bushland fora, not to mention the water table. Theonly ones who knew something about the wetlands were

the Indigenous communities, whose knowledge gainedrom traditional ownership needed to be tapped into.Nor did they really know much about which crops would

grow best in the sub-tropical climate.

A pointer to the ailure o previous agriculture schemes lay

some 50km rom Darwin at Fogg Dam, which had been thesite o the ill-ated scheme in the 1950s to grow rice on thewetlands that seemed to resemble the rice paddies o Asia.

This was the Humpty Doo rice-planting

experiment, which ended in ignomini-ous ailure.

The northern experts appear to be inaccord that much more research needsto be undertaken to ensure scientists,

environmentalists and engineers areworking rom the same sound baseo knowledge.

While many millions o dollars arebeing spent on projects such as TRACK

(Tropical Rivers and Coastal Knowledge)through its hub at Charles DarwinUniversity, much o the research is

in its inancy.

Proessor Eric Valentine, who holds theFoundation Chair o Civil Engineering

at Charles Darwin University, says oneo the big issues in the debate is theenvironmental fow o rivers, that is,

what is let in the river ater water hasbeen taken out or resource uses suchas irrigation.

Some people in the Territory regard theenvironmental fow as what was there

in the rst place and that nothingshould be taken out, he says. Clearlythis is not always practical. Down

south, they have taken too much.

He says that engineers and not just

scientists have a vital role to play in

managing water resources and riversystems. Engineers attempt to do

the best or society within dicultconstraints. They are much moreenlightened than in the past and they

must interact with all other disciplinesto solve the problems.

The other grand scheme or water onthe visionary scale o an engineeringnature involves pumping water down

canals or pipes to the dry gulches othe cities and into the homes o thirstycitizens. This was a scheme much in

leftWagiman Hot Springs

aboveDaly River,

Northern Territory

photographsMichael Douglas


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avour in Western Australia two yearsago when Liberal politician Colin

Barnett, then leader o the Opposition,boldly announced, i elected his

government would build a canal tobring water rom the Kimberley to Perth.

It was breathtaking in its vision, mainly

because Mr Barnett had not costed theproposal. The WA Government immedi-ately ridiculed the idea and set up its

own taskorce to examine such aproposal as Colins Canal. Its task-orce duly reported that to build a

pipeline o any sort rom the Kimberleywould cost around $14 billion placingwater in the champagne category in

terms o its delivery to households.

Since then, similar pipeline schemes have been foated

by the more visionary uturists with an eye to northernrivers, but all o them have been debunked or ridiculedby the experts.

Not only are they regarded as too dicult an engineering

and environmental challenge, but the cost o any schemewould simply be too prohibitive. So, pipelines are o theagenda or the oreseeable uture even i some politicians

still harbour dreams o one last grand engineering schemeinvolving water on a scale to rival the Snowy Mountainsproject o the 1950s.

In a summit organised by Charles Darwin University andthe Northern Territory Government late last year, the experts

laid out their ideas and more clear-sighted visions or theuture o northern waters.

Over two days o debate and discussion a rat o environ-mental scientists, academics, engineers and public waterauthority experts pooled their ideas on how to plan or the

uture, raising warnings about the dangers as complacency,ignorance or impracticality, while stressing the urgency onew management strategies and the need to gain more

knowledge through research.

These warnings, strategies and plans or action were drated

into an executive summary, which has since been put to ameeting o the Government Ministers responsible or watermanagement across the north those jurisdictions in the

Northern Territory, Western Australia and Queensland.

Pomoting te sit o souten

agicutue not is not ecommended

o te oowing easons:

S Water availability in the north ishighly seasonal.

S Climate change is reducing rainall,notably in the north eastern wet

tropics. It is causing sea levelrises and saline excursions into

reshwater bodies and increasingevaporation rates.

S The poor quality o much o the soils

places severe limitations on theavailability o land or agriculture.

S Climatic conditions and the shortgeneration times o many potentialnuisance plant and animal species

will (and in act already do) posemajor problems or any expansiono northern agriculture.

S The allocation o land undercommon law and legislation

to Indigenous Australians andtheir pressing needs or water.

S The northern savannah is animportant carbon sink in Australia.

Moving wate sout to addess uban

demands is not ecommended o te

oowing easons:

S Water pipelines, pipes and canalsare not cost eective or energyecient in comparison with

improved water conservation,seawater desalination andwater recycling.

S This strategy ignores the growingindustrial, community and environ-

mental needs or water in the north.

What the waterexperts havetold the ministerialsummit

The northern waters summit broughttogether key players in the water

debate. Their recommendationswere sent in a brieng paper to theCouncil o Ministers responsible or

northern waters. Key policy issuesor governments are:

aboveLillies at Knuckey Lagoon.

Northern Territory


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The strategies were prepared and recommendedby: Proessor Stuart Bunn Director Centre orAustralian River Futures Queensland, ProessorPeter Cullen National Water Commissioner& Wentworth Group Chair, Mr Daryl Day

President Australian Water Association,Mr James Donaldson Manager Landscapes:Land & Water Australia, Mr Peter Gilbey

Director - Regional Water InrastructurePlanning Queensland Department o NaturalResources and Water, Mr Chris Higgs WaterPolicy Adviser - Oce o the Minister or Water

Resources Government o Western Australia,Dr David Jones Director ERISS Departmento Environment and Water Resources, MsSally Robinson Director - Auriga Consulting,Proessor Robert Wasson Deputy Vice Chancellor(Research) Charles Darwin University, Mr RussellWilling Editor The Runny Stu.

One o the keynote speakers at the summit was National

Water Commissioner, David Trebeck, who said there werealready promising signs o rigorous water managementplanning throughout northern Australia.

He said Western Australia was nalising a comprehensivenew ramework or water planning, while in Queenslandwater resource plans had been put out or public consultation.

In the Northern Territory, the Government was makinglegislative changes to acilitate the development o water

management plans in priority areas such as the Daly River,Katherine, rural Darwin and Alice Springs.

However, he sounded a note o caution. The science owater, water planning processes, water markets andwater policymaking are all immature right across

Australia, he said.

Stategies o utue wate use poicies:

S Address the perception that water is

going to waste in northern Australia.

S Address the perception that the

north is under-developed, bydemonstrating why the opportunityor intensive agriculture is very

limited.

SEnsure northern water data isnot considered in a vacuum,but is always coupled with dataon cultural issues, land use

suitability, climate trends anddistance to market.

S In sum, there is an urgent need orimproving the understanding o themedia and the public on northern

water issues. This can be achievedwith the assistance o credible,independent communicators.

Stategies ecommended o medium

tem impementation:

S Develop coordinated water resourceplanning approaches across thenorthern jurisdictions that are

linked with land use suitability,within the National Water Initiative.

S Allocation o water resources bystate and ederal authorities should

take into account uture climatechange patterns and consequentchanges to land-use suitability.

The quality o our data is poor, orthe data we do have contains crucial

gaps. For example, many river gaugingstations (to measure the fow) were

closed down as a result o stategovernment budgetary cuts overthe past 15 to 20 years.

With the caution though, came a noteo optimism in Mr Trebecks situationalsummary. Admittedly, there is little

evidence to suggest that any o therivers in Northern Australia have comeunder too much pressure to date,

although we are approaching whatappears to be a ull allocation in acouple o systems. It is ortunate

that there does not appear to be

over-allocation problems in thenorth on a scale that exists in large

areas o southern Australia. We needcollectively to strive to ensure thisdoesnt happen in the uture.

Equally, we need to nd ways toacilitate sensible economic develop-

ment o northern water resourcesthat respect the environmentand the preerences o the relevant

communities.

In other words, it appears that it is not

yet too late to pre-empt problems in


10/48


Dozens o research projects will providethe kind o inormation that will help

governments, communities andindustries make their decisionson water use and management.

TRACK stands or Tropical Riversand Coastal Knowledge and comprisesresearchers rom 12 organisations rom

across Australia, with its research hubon CDUs Darwin campus.

The research, stretching out over thenext our years, will ocus on majorriver catchment regions rom the

Kimberley to Cape York such as theDaly River in the Northern Territory,

Ove te next ew monts te new wate eseac consotium track wibe oing out pojects acoss te noten ives and estuaies o Austaia.

On track

the north, gather the knowledge and

to plan or the uture unlike thesituation in the south where thedire lack o water has led to

crisis-management strategies.

Mr Trebeck also sounded a warning

to those in the Darwin communitywho spread a lot o water on theirgardens they must not take thebounteous wet season or granted.

In Darwin there is a determination tomake the city look like a wet tropical

paradise, he said. So much so that theprice o water is so low it does notrecover the ull cost o providing it.

Mr Trebeck oreshadowed that urbanwater pricing will come increasingly

under the microscope in northernAustralia, as elsewhere.

His predictions that the consumer in Darwin might have to

pay more or water immediately attracted the local media who quizzed Mr Trebeck about how much more. Hesuggested the price paid or a kilolitre o water would have to

double and even predicted this issue may have to begrappled with again in two to three years.

It would be a pity i price-sensitivity was the only way thatthe average water-user in the north was to become awareo the issues surrounding the precious fuid that sustainsour planet. But with scientists and engineers increasingly

engaged in gaining new knowledge about northern river andlake systems and that knowledge eeding into new manage-ment systems and strategies, discussion over the next months

and years is likely to reach more sophisticated levels ounderstanding than mere sel-interest in the cost o a shower.

O

Fitzroy in the Kimberley and the Mitchell River in northernQueensland. It will also study Darwin harbour.

TRACK has been unded by an investment o more than$16 million rom the major water agencies such as Landand Water Australia and the Commonwealth Environmental

Research Facility, with strong support rom the NT,QLD and WA governments.

TRACK will bring together more than 50 o Australiasleading researchers rom social, cultural, environmentaland economic disciplines. An important component will

be tapping into Indigenous knowledge.

O

below leftDoctor Brad Pusey

below right

Measuring sh,Daly River


11/48

The ar reaches o the Daly River willbe an electriying sight in the next dry

season thats the time when the TRACKresearch team returns to the river togauge water fow and calculate sh stocks

as part o their on-going exploration othe river system.

And when we talk about electriying,the term is meant in the literal ratherthan the metaphorical sense.

Researchers will send electric shocksinto the water rom their boat to stun the

sh, scooping them up in nets to quicklyidentiy the species, weigh and measurethem beore releasing them back into

the water, unharmed.

The electric shock could probably kill aman i he ell into the water, says TRACK

executive director Michael Douglas. It alldepends on the length and mass o theobject being stunned, so the small size o

any sh means they are sae rom harm except being stunned or a ew seconds.

The stun technique is widely acceptedin marine research and or shallow waterswhere boats cannot venture researchers

take to the water with a backpack stunner protecting themselves rom shock withgloves and boots as they wade about

with their nets.

Measuring the size and quantity o the

sh stocks on a seasonal basis is part oTRACKs extensive work in gaining thekind o waterways knowledge that will

help develop appropriate managementsystems across the north o Australia.

Down the Daly


The measurements will be taken each year in the dryseason and will help to gauge the eect o climate and

resource use on the Daly River system rom year to year.The rst measurements were taken last year and theproject will run over the next three years.

TRACKs team o researchers works closely with thetraditional owners o the land through which the river

fows, relying on them or advice about fow conditions,the best spots to nd sh and what dangers may beencountered under the water and on the river banks.

Indigenous custodians o the land have also been recountingtheir stories about sh an important emblem in salt and

seawater cultures to produce what in eect will be acultural and historical component o the aquatic research.

The project is basically about determining the reshwater

fow o the river and what will happen to the sh idevelopment changes the fow, says Dr Douglas.Once we have the inormation we will be able to make

inormed decisions about management systems andsustainable development.

O

text

Ron Banks

photographs

Michael Douglas

above

TRACK researchers


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The day beore I let Melbourne or PortMoresby, early in 2004, to take up anappointment in the University o Papua

New Guinea, The Age newspaperpublished a report identiying the

best and worst cities in the world.

Melbourne came out on top. Its virtueswere extravagantly listed: ne wining

and dining; stylish architecture;internationally acclaimed culturalinstitutions; world class universities;

a cosmopolitan population; greatsporting venues MarvellousMelbourne indeed.

Who in his right mind my amily andriends wondered would leave this

Shangri-la just to the north o theSouth Pole, to work near the equator,in a place where heat and mud and

malaria made lie less than salubrious?

They had a point. The Age ranked

Port Moresby as the worlds worst city.Daily power blackouts, requent watersupply ailures, no cinemas, poor

public transport, the high cost oliving the picture was bleak.

Worst o all was Port Moresbys crime

rate. Murders occurred at doublethe pre-Giuliani rate in New York,burglaries and muggings every ew

hours, rape even o small children appearing to be de rigueur.

Its true that Port Moresby deservesits bad reputation. Many o the publicbuildings are ramshackle and swathed

in rusty razor wire. Streets are potholedand dangerous. Rubbish rots in heapsalong the roads. Crimson betel spit-

stains spread lurid patterns acrosswalls and paths.

In the markets tired-looking men andwomen with skinny kids in their waketry turning their ew small coins into a

amily meal. Business is brisk in the sleazier parts othe squatter settlements encroaching on the city.

Policing is mostly ineectual, oten brutal and ollowsa simple ormula: blame the victims, avoid the realperpetrators especially the politicians and their wealthy

backers. The Waigani swamp where crocodiles lurk is auseul place to dispose o those who dont survive thebashings or interrogations.

Moresby is anything but marvellous. So why did I go there?

Ive always been ascinated by the state that central

locus o power in modern society. Im especially interestedin what happens when states cease to unction eectively.

There is much academic and media talk these daysabout problems posed by ailing states.

States ail because they lack the human capacity andeconomic resources needed to provide essential services

such as hospitals, aid posts, schools, roads and bridges,security and sustainable growth.

There are three things that we can note about ailing states.

First, their leaders lose heart and go bad the people areabandoned. Crime and violence increase. Lie, or themajority, becomes a Hobbessian nightmare solitary,

poor, nasty, brutish and short.

Without doubt these things are happening in PNG and

have been or most o the past three decades.

Second, ailing states are believed to be easy targets orcross-border crime syndicates wanting to peddle drugs,

and smuggle people and guns, launder money, buy and

sell politicians and conduct shady businesses.There is disturbing evidence that many o these things arehappening in PNG. This is particularly true in the loggingindustry. Foreign companies are extending tentacles into the

highest levels o government as they exploit the magnicentrain orests o PNG at horriying cost to traditional owners,the environment and the countrys political system.

Third, some ailing states are believed to harbour growingbands o international terrorists or example in Mindanao

in the southern Philippines.

There is little evidence to suggest terrorist groups are

active in PNG. That doesnt mean to say this wont happenin the uture.

Where ailure turns to ruin

Since Independence in 1975 Australia has spent $15.5 billion on aid to Papua New Guinea.allan patience argues that not a cent o this money has stopped the country becoming abasket case.

OPINION Origins

photographBarry Ledwidge

OPINION


13/48

PNG is a ailing state though one is not supposed to saythis in public.

Its population growth is rising above its small and arguablyunsustainable levels o economic growth some expertsbelieve that there has been no real growth over the whole

period o Independence. Literacy is declining at an alarmingrate. Unemployment is a serious and growing problem inthe squatter settlements and urban centres.

In major public hospitals more than hal the womenpresenting or treatment are the victims o rape and/or

bashings. Disease pandemics are cutting swathes acrossthe population HIV/AIDS, TB, malaria. One report suggestsHIV/AIDS could wipe out a third o the PNG population in

the next couple o decades.

Late in 2005 Human Rights Watch International publisheda horriying report on increases in crimes, including rape

and murder, against children in PNG crimes committed

by the police!Annual United Nations reports show that PNG is movingsteadily down the Human Development Index (HDI).In 2005 Australia ranked number three in the world,

PNG ranked 137, just above Sudan, Congo and Zimbabwe,but behind the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Fiji.

Perhaps the saddest thing about PNG, however, is thetsunami-like wave o corruption inundating the country.The Chie Ombudsman in PNG has warned, corruption is

rie throughout PNG, at all levels even in the churches.Transparency International publishes data showing thatPNG is among the most corrupt countries in the world.

Former Prime Minister, Sir Mekere Morauta claimed that

corruption in PNG is endemic, systemic and systematic.

All o this refects very badly on successive PNG govern-ments. The evidence points to a political leadership thatis mostly incompetent, over-whelmingly dishonest, venal,

sel-aggrandising, criminally corrupt and irresponsible.

The next general election in PNG is due in July this year.Already the orms o leadership highlighted in this article

are all too obviously being played out. Bribes, bullying, lying,deaming opponents, threats - these realities have becomethe norm in PNG politics.

Moreover, PNG is becoming a ruinedstate. This means it is a ailing statewhose leaders have started cannibalis-

ing its resources. Such leaders have noconcern or compassion or the people

they govern. Theyre simply in it orthemselves. Robert Mugabe in Zimba-bwe is an especially ugly example oa leader who is ruining his state. The

military junta in Myanmar, Burma isthe same. So are the leaders o stateslike North Korea and Haiti. PNGs

political leaders are in grave dangero joining this grim brotherhood.

How may this be remedied? The answersare not simple or immediately at hand.But they will almost all involve Australia.

In the years since 1975 when PNGachieved Independence, Australia has

spent more than $15.5 billion proppingup successive PNG governments. Nota cent o this money has prevented

state ailure nor has it stopped theruining o the PNG state. Indeed someo it might have contributed to the

tragedies that we see estering awayin that sad country.

How may we imagine a new role orAustralia in dragging PNG out o itscurrent crisis? This will involve a

very dierent kind o policy imagining

to that being pursued by the HowardGovernment. It will require a new

commitment by Australia to worksensitively with its ormer colony,to cultivate the prosperity and security

that we take or granted, but which thevast majority o Papua New Guineanscould never even dream o today.

O

Origins OPINION

antennae

Allan Patience isProessor o PoliticalScience at CharlesDarwin University.He was Proessor o

Political Science andAsian Studies atVictoria University inMelbourne rom 1994-2004 and Proessoro Political Science atthe University o PNG

rom 2004-2006.


14/48

A bright idea can sometimes emerge byremembering something rom the past even rom your childhood.

Take the case o Vietnamese aquacul-ture scientist at CDU, Binh Thai, whoremembered that his mother used to

tenderise steak by marinating it withpineapple juice rom local trees.

Binh was looking or a cheap, simple

chemical that could reduce eggstickiness when breeding the commoncarp, arguably the countrys most

important sh species used or aquacul-ture, especially in rural areas in the

north where it is essential or oodsecurity and income.

Fish propagation is a pretty complex

task, involving catching and selectingthe best broodstock and stripping andmixing sperm with eggs at just the

right time and in just the right quanti-ties, then articially incubating thedeveloping eggs.

In the past peasant armers weretaught they must use a complicated

blend o chemicals to reduce the egg stickiness that resultsater ertilization this stickiness seriously hinders eortsto articially incubate the eggs.

But Binh, a researcher with an impressive record o improv-ing the quality o carp raised using articial breedingmethods, was looking or a cheaper and less complex

alternative to the expensive chemicals involved inunstickying the eggs so that the incubation processcould proceed switly and successully.

He reasoned that his mother used pineapple juice on themeat in the amily kitchen to break down protein andhypothesised that this may work with the protein associated

with the egg stickiness in common carp. He knew rom hisstudies as a scientist that pineapple juice contained an

abundance o proteolytic enzymes, which can digest protein.

Binh conducted a series o experiments that neatly sup-ported his hypothesis and now Vietnamese armers can

propagate their sh with a cheap, quick and easy method using the pineapples that grow in abundance around theirvillages. This meant doing away the need or large vats o

imported chemicals and enabling the process to be com-pleted or just US$1 instead o the previous US$30.

Solving the problem o egg stickiness in the common carpmight not excite the imagination o the layman, but it doesillustrate the lateral-thinking o researchers such as Binh.

Vietnamese scientist binh thai, an expert sh breeder, is using sophisticated DNA analysisat CDU to develop a management program to help genetically improve the common carp,a species that is a staple o the Vietnamese diet and the worlds oldest domesticated sh.

rESEArCh PrOFIlE Origins

The perect catch

turning point

Remembering traditional

tenderising methods usedby my mother in Vietnam.

right now

Analysing carp DNA

to identiy betterbreeding stock.

ultimate wish

To improve the quality

and breeding eciency ocarp to help eed Vietnamsexpanding population.



15/48

Given that the amount o common carp

grown in Vietnam alone exceeds theentire aquaculture production oAustralia, Binhs simple research-based

solution will make a big dierence.

The Hanoi-born researcher is dedicated

to improving the quality o the carp

a sh much underestimated inAustralia but making up a signicant

part o the diet o millions o Vietnam-ese, Chinese and many others romAsian countries. It is also on the menu

in many European countries, wherepeople consider them a speciality.

But try oering carp at a dinner partyin Australia and you will get a verydierent response. For some reason,

Australians just will not wear thetaste o this abundant sh.

The Australians strange distasteor carp has not stopped Binh romcontinuing his research rom his base

at the Araura Timor Sea ResearchFacility in Darwin under the supervi-sion o Charles Darwin Universitys

Proessor Chris Austin, Head o theSchool o Science and Primary Industries.

One o Binhs key tools in researching

ways to improve the quality o thecommon carp is the $250,000 genomeanalyser unded by the NT Government

to support advanced genetic research.

Over the past our years Binh has beencollecting tissue samples taken romthe n o the carp ound throughoutVietnam or DNA analysis.

By analysing the DNA he can identiygenetic variations among dierent

strains o carp in the search or abetter breeding stock. By nding thebest strains scientists can develop a

genetically improved strain o carpthat can breed aster, live longer,taste better and survive in sh ponds

and the rice elds o Vietnam.

The aim o getting the best broodstock is getting a sh

that has all these qualities, explains Binh. He says theVietnamese not only love to eat the carp, but the shpossesses symbolical value at Vietnamese New Year,

when each amily choose the most perect specimenthey can nd and oer it on a plate to the kitchen gods.

We buy the sh at New Year, put it on a plate, pray or

the kitchen gods to bless it and then release it backinto the river, Binh explains.

The rest o the year, though, the Vietnamese eat the carpin their millions, with villagers breeding them in their sh

arms that are an extension o the rice paddies. Unortu-nately, in the past, the breeding programs have been troubledby in-breeding, which has lead to low survival rates and slow

growth o the sh.

When he is not at his desk and computer in Darwin, Binh

can be ound at the Research Institute or AquacultureNumber One outside Hanoi one o our research stations innorthern Vietnam. It is rom these stations that the research

work rom Australia eeds into the breeding programs thatare now producing the desired results in the rice-eldso Vietnams inland waterways. The carp ngerlings are

supplied to the armers, who are able to watch as theygrow to a weight o about 1.5kg within six months.Its very ast, says Binh.

Fish arming in the shallow waters o the paddy elds alsohas its advantages or the armers tending their rice crops.The carp eat insects on top o the water and in the roots o

rice, as well as pests on the bottom, says Binh. So there isno need to use pesticides its a riendly environment allround or the armers.

Binh studied aquaculture in Hanoi or his bachelors degree

and completed a diploma in aquaculture at Deakin Univer-sity beore moving to Darwin to complete his doctorate onthe carp. His PhD and postdoctoral research has largelybeen unded by AusAID grants to his supervisor Chris Austin

and represents a highly successul research collaborationbetween Australian and Vietnamese institutions that willbring tangible benets to small-scale armers.

Binh hopes to continue his postdoctoral research withhis Australian colleagues and contribute to Vietnams

constant search to nd ecient ways to eed itsburgeoning population.

O

Origins rESEArCh PrOFIlE

photographsCourtesy o Binh Thai


16/48

TEAChING AND lEArNING EDUCATION Origins

Under the griller

Wen did you decide you wanted to

become a ce? Id always helped mymother around the kitchen rom about

the age o eight and I knew I had a fairwith ood. When I was 14 I saw an ad inthe paper or a ches apprenticeship

and decided to apply. But you had to be15 to get the job so I lied about my age.It took me about month ater starting

my apprenticeship to tell my parentsthat I had let school. I was working as

an apprentice at Deccas, which wasthe top restaurant in Adelaide.

Wat was one o te igigts o

you caee? One that sticks in mymind came early when I was namedApprentice o the Year ater only about

a years experience. I was still 15 ormaybe just 16 and I won the SouthAustralian Gas Companys cooking

competition to be named top appren-tice. It was a big deal in those days andI was competing against ches many

years older. I still remember whatI cooked or the competition itwas a baked snapper that had been

marinated, a pancake dish and astrawberry fambeau.

Ate many yeas woking in majo estauants and otes

aound te wod you decided to come to te Teitoy 12yeas ago. Wy? Mainly because my wies amily comes

rom there and she wanted to be close to her mother.I went into vocational training as a lecturer in cookingand have never really looked back. I had previously

worked in the Regency in Adelaide, which was one othe top training schools in the country or young ches.

You spend a ot o you time deiveing cooking couses to

women in emote Aboigina communities. Wat ave you

eaned om tat expeience? The course I run is called

Back to Basics and it aims to show the women and increas-ingly the men, how to take advantage o the bush tuckeravailable to them so that they lead healthy lives. What Ive

learned is they are eager to learn and Aboriginal health isslowly improving. Its not easy to go into remote communi-ties, but once youre there it can be a lot o un. Ive also

learned that youve got to speak out when you see somethings happening that shouldnt be.

Youve aso made connections wit Si lanka. Wat is tat

about? I used to go there to do menu preparation and statraining or the Galadari Hotel in Colombo and when the

tsunami happened I wanted to help out. Im now sponsoringthe training o 16 orphaned young Sri Lankans at a privatecookery school in southern Sri Lanka. Ive ound sponsorship

steve sunk is the Territorys own celebrity che, dubbed the Walkabout Che or his cookingclasses in remote Aboriginal communities as a VTE lecturer or Charles Darwin University.He recently published a book, complete with recipes, about his eorts to bring nutritioneducation to the communities by re-introducing bush tucker to their diet.

interviewRon Banks

photographsDavid Hancock


17/48

Origins TEAChING AND lEArNING EDUCATION

rom Araura Catering and Spotless inDarwin so we can provide the youngpeople with uniorms and personal

equipment such as knives and otherkitchen utensils. I hope to go backthere later in the year to check on

their progress.

Wy did you decide to pubis a book

about you wok in emote communi-

ties? Well, it wasnt really me butMiriam Rose Bauman, rom the Daly

River community, who kept saying Ishould write a book about my experi-ences. Miriam was the rst community

leader I met when I started my Back toBasics courses. Weve been riends ora long time and I love going back to the

community its where it all startedand it was Miriam who gave me thename The Walkabout Che.

You suname Sunk is unusua.

Is it Geman? Well, no. My ather was

Yugoslavian and my mother Spanishand they met in Scotland just ater thewar. My athers amily name is really

Shunka. He had been in the Germanarmy and in 1946 was being taken to aprisoner o war camp in Siberia. That

wasnt a very good idea, so he jumpedo the train and made his way toScotland. Dont ask me how. Anyway,

he met my mother in Scotland shewas rom a big Spanish amily that hadmoved there to work in the coal mines.

I was born in Dumries and we migratedto Australia in 1956 when I was two.We were given the name Sunk by an

immigration ocial who couldnt

pronounce or spell the name Shunka. And my athersEnglish wasnt very good, so he couldnt explain. The ocial

just said to my ather: Well, your name can be Sunk.

All the other Sunks in Australia are related to me.

You ave a busy scedue ectuing in emote communities.

how do you eax at ome in Dawin? Ive got a bigblacksmiths workshop at home and I like to make myown presentation knives and even swords. I love working

as a blacksmith. I even made a samurai sword or theSingapore consul on his retirement.

Wats you avouite oiday destination? Funnily enough,

its Melbourne. We go there quite oten on holiday. Mainlyor the ood. I love the variety you can nd and I love themarkets where you can buy resh produce.

Ae tee any oods tat you wi not cook? No, not really.Ive cooked just about everything rom snake to dugong.

Trust me. Ive even cooked mangrove worms as a salad dish,but its not a delicacy you could eat all day. I would probablydraw the line at preparing dishes with insects grasshoppers

and those kinds o things oten eaten in Asia. Cockroachesand crickets would be o the menu. Witchetty grubs are noproblem , though. Ive got a recipe or them in my book.

O

antennae

Steve Sunks book Walkabout Ches is published by Skyscans Australia.Available at major book stores.

rightSteve Sunk with

Daly River communitystudents


18/48

SOCIAl rESEArCh Origins

Darwin residents are great gamblers.Theyre also big losers, a recent CDUstudy has revealed.

In the period rom 1996/97 to 2004/05the total amount lost by Territorians on

poker machines increased rom $45million to $114 million per annum.

Considering the number o machines in

casinos and pubs across the NorthernTerritory increased rom 1,074 to 1,802in the same time period, it is not

surprising to discover on averageeach resident loses $562 per annumon the pokies.

These startling statistics come rom astudy on the prevalence o gambling in

the Northern Territory conducted by DrMartin Young and a team o research-ers rom Charles Darwin Universitys

School or Social and Policy Research.

While poker machines were by no

means the most popular orm ogambling, they accounted or a largeproportion o the expenditure on all

orms o gambling, which totalled$272.4 million in 2005/06.

Based on the results o a telephonesurvey, the research team ound 73 percent o the adult population gambled

at least once a year, with 53 per centparticipating only in lottery games.

The next most common orms o

gambling included instant scratchtickets (29 per cent), poker machines(27 per cent), keno (23 per cent) and

horse or greyhound races (19 per cent).

Considering gambling is a orm o entertainment or most

people, an average expenditure o $562 per person on thepokies appears to be a reasonable amount o loss to sustainin the course o a nancial year. But this gure is misleading

to the extent that it distributes the losses o a small numbero people across the entire population.

The report estimates approximately 1.1 per cent o thepopulation can be classed as problem gamblers. As agroup problem gamblers account or 31.3 per cent o

total gambling expenditure in the NT, reporting an averageloss o $30,913 per annum, with an estimated $15,800 spenton pokies alone.

What these gures show is a signicant proportion othe revenue generated by the gaming industry every year

is derived rom the nancial hardship o a small numbero individuals.

The gures also highlight an apparent insatiable appetite

Territorians have or playing the pokies. The study oundprots rom gaming machines tend to increase in proportionto the number o machines in venues. This is what the

researchers call a concentration eect, a disturbing trendthat has seen prots rom poker machines double over thelast 10 years.

Concern was also raised over the increasing numbers oIndigenous gamblers spending money on poker machines,

a trend which sees money fowing rom the unregulated cardgames in communities into the regulated gambling industry.

While Indigenous card games have historically been seenas a benecial social activity, which acilitates the equitabledistribution o community unds, a scoping study provides

evidence that money is now fowing rom the remote

communities into gambling venues in bigger centres.It is dicult to assess the true social costs o problemgambling and more research is needed to determinewhether or not the social and economic benets o

gambling outweigh the costs. It is clear rom the survey,however, that those who play poker machines are at amuch higher risk o becoming a problem gambler.

The authors o the report recommend the current practiceo capping the number o poker machines in pubs, clubs,hotels and casinos be retained and noted the need or

more research into the nature o Indigenous gamblingwith a specic ocus on gaming venues.

O

text

Will Martin

Darwin residents are great gamblers.Theyre also big losers, as the resultso a recent study has revealed.

The biggest losers


19/48

Charles, My Hero

photograph courtesy Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Charles Darwin image sourced rom the British Librarys website.

paul willis is a presenter with theABCs Catalyst program.

Have you ever wondered what it would be like to have a truly

original idea? Think about it. Virtually every thought thatgoes through your head has probably been through someoneelses at some time in the past. Considering the vast number

o human brains on the planet today and add to them allthe brains that have ever existed and original thoughts arevanishingly rare.

Now lets qualiy that rarity o original thought with a newdimension; suppose your original thought was radically

unorthodox and potentially damaging to the status quo othe society that you live in. Would you tell anyone about it?Would you still cherish that thought and nurture it over

decades, working in isolation, building up an impressivearmada o evidence in support o your idea and doing allthis in secret? Would you have that degree o condence

in your dangerous idea that you would eel compelled tocommit your lie to it?

While most o us would like to think that we could havean original thought and that we could rigorously deend it,in truth I suspect that very ew people can do so. History

bears me out. So ew people have derived and deendedtruly original and radical thoughts, most o us can namethem. Galileo, Copernicus, Newton and Einstein spring

to mind and all dealt with cosmology and physics. I youknow your geology, you would add Hutton, Smith and

Lyell to this pantheon o thinking gods. And in biologyone name stands above all others as the cornerstone ooriginal thought upon which the whole science is built.Charles Darwin.

His contribution to mankind is natural selection as amechanism or evolution and through that powerul

thought, all o biology makes sense. Its an idea thatgives us a place within nature, a heritage that is embeddedwithin the history o our planet and a perspective on how

we should operate as part o nature rather than its master.In correctly identiying us as an animal, Darwin gave us anew perspective on our humanity.

Origins ChArlES, MY hErO


20/48

BIll OF rIGhTS AND STATEhOOD SYMPOSIUM Origins

Would Australia be better o with aBill o Rights? Would we eel morecomortable with an over-riding law

that protected us against the excesseso government as it makes new lawsin the war against terror?

What would happen i these anti-terrorist laws could be checked against

a general law or statement o principlesthat protected basic human rightsand reedoms?

These are the kinds o questions beingraised since Prime Minister Howards

Government began to get tough on

terrorism. The debate over the needor a Bill o Rights, however, dates

back to the ounding athers andtheir constitutional ramework, whichrejected the kind o Bill adopted by

their American cousins in the struggleor independence.

What would happen i we had a Bill oRights written into the Constitution that tested new anti-terrorist laws,

which in eect erode public reedomssuch as the right to assembly, reedomo speech, the right to privacy rom

government intrusion?This is the kind o question that isdicult to answer. What is certain,

however, the Howard Government isrmly opposed to introducing a Billo Rights, a stand that echoes through

history rom the conservativeconstitution ramers at the turn o

the 20th century, down to Sir RobertMenzies and the Coalitions presentspokesman on the issue, Attorney-

General Philip Ruddock.

Is a Bill o Rights in a time o terrorism a luxury we cannot aord? Or is it needed morethan ever as new anti-terrorism laws restrict reedoms. ron banks reviews the debatethe Howard Government does not want to have.

Over the past ew years Mr Ruddock has consistentlyopposed a Bill o Rights, arguing the Governments linethat human rights are protected through the rule o law

and the strength o its democracy.

Australias strong democratic institutions, underpinned by

the constitution, the common law and anti-discriminationlegislation, in my view, do protect and promote humanrights, Mr Ruddock told a Human Rights and Equal

Opportunity Commission orum in November, 2006.

His statements were an echo o Sir Robert Menzies declara-

tion in 1967 that, the rights o individuals in Australia are asadequately protected as they are in any other country in theworld. Menzies added that Australias basic reedoms were

not only adequately protected by the common law, but by

the common sense o those elected to Parliament as theramers o our laws.

Prime Minister Howard responded to the debate in 2000with the statement Australias reputation (on human rights)

compared with the rest o the world is quite magnicent.

That statement, o course, was beore the war on terrorbegan and since then proponents o a Bill o Rights have

been able to argue that many o the anti-terrorism lawshave been excessive, trampling on human rights in waysnever beore imagined.

But in the recent Human Rights and Equal Opportunityhearing Mr Ruddock downplayed community concerns over

tough anti-terrorism laws, saying there was a need to strike

balance between the protection o human rights and theneed to protect Australians rom terrorist attack.

He said Australia risked lumbering itsel with an infexibleset o principles i it ollowed countries like the United States

and Canada in adopting its own Bill o Rights.

The danger with a statutory Bill o Rights is it is an infexibleset which can rustrate the implementation o necessary

polices aimed at protecting the saety o the community,Mr Ruddock said.


21/48

Origins BIll OF rIGhTS AND STATEhOOD SYMPOSIUM

He argued Britains own Bill o Rights, enacted as the HumanRights Act, had made lie dicult or Prime Minister Tony

Blairs Government in dealing with terror suspects anddeporting anyone who was a risk to national security.

One o those in avour o a Bill o Rights is University o

NSW Law Proessor George Williams, who published hisviews in his 2004 book The Case or An Australian Bill o

Rights: Freedom in the War on Terror, (UNSW Press).

Proessor Williams says Australia is now the only Westernnation without a national Bill o Rights. He acknowledges

that possessing a Bill o Rights does not mean these othercountries protect their citizens better than governments inthis country. He says other eatures o a society matter a

great deal in regards to human rights, such as the wealth oa nation and its capacity to meet the basic demands o its

people. However, he suggests, A Bill o Rights can providea way o answering some o the important questions thatace a society and the lack o one makes it dicult to ndadequate answers to these questions in Australia.

Proessor Williams points out, the lack o a Bill o Rights hasled many people, rustrated by the lack o legal recourse to

action under the Constitution, to all back on the treatiesand conventions o the United Nations to argue their case.

Most notable is the United Nations Universal Declarationo Human Rights, ollowed by similar international treatiesand conventions such as the UN Convention on the Rights

o the Child.

It was this latter convention, Mr Williams points out, thatwas used in the Northern Territory to oppose the Country

Liberal Partys mandatory sentencing laws enacted in 1997or minor property crimes.

The draconian nature o the law resulted in an alarmingincrease in the number o young Indigenous people being

jailed or petty oences. Calls or the NT law to be dropped

were articulated by reerence to the UN Convention o theRights o the Child, there being no human rights legislationto protect children in the Territory rom the excesses o

government decision-making.

But the Territorys Government was having nothing to do

with any United Nations treaty or convention. The then Chie

Minister, Denis Burke, told the United Nations to bugger o,a deant thumbing the nose at those who wanted to invoke

the moral power o international conventions.

Former Human Rights Commissioner Brian Burdekin hasbeen blunt in his assessment that the lack o human rights

legislation has disadvantaged minorities. It is beyondquestion our current legal system is seriously inadequate

in protecting many o the rights o the most vulnerableand disadvantaged groups in our community, he said.

One o the rst acts o the new Labor Government in theTerritory on gaining power in 2001 was to repeal mandatory

sentencing laws and there is now an argument in theTerritory that i it should attain Statehood it should beaccompanied by a Bill o Rights.

Only two places in Australia can boast a Bill o Rights,the Australian Capital Territory enacted its Human RightsActs in 2004 and in January this year the Victorian Govern-

ments Charter o Human Rights and Responsibilities Actcame into being.

Proessor James Allan, rom The University o Queensland,is among the critics o the Victorian legislation who say thatthe wording o the Act gives rise to doubts and concerns

about what will be achieved by its implementation.

Proessor Allan who lists among his research interestsBill o Rights scepticism has raised the spectre o judgeshaving the power under the Act to potentially rewriteother legislation to t in with their own interpretation

o human rights.

Even those who avour a Bill o Rights can still agree withthe conclusion that terrorism, as Proessor Williams puts it,

is an attack on our most basic human rights.

But he says our response to terrorism also raises important

human rights issues. It is these questions that continue tobe raised as the Federal Government enacts increasinglytough legislation in response to world events such as

bombings and suicide attacks.

Proessor Williams argues that since September 11 newlaws are being made and old ones amended with greathaste, putting a great strain on the legal system and itsnatural checks and balances.

Bills o Rights can play an important role at such a time,he says. They remind governments and communities o

a societys basic values and o the principles that mightotherwise be compromised at a time o grie and ear.

He says a Bill o Rights can allow courts to provide a nal

check on laws that, with the benet o hindsight, oughtnot to have been passed.

The absence o such a check is one reason why, in some

respects, Australian law ater September 11 has restrictedindividual rights more than the equivalent regimes in

Canada, the United Kingdom and the United States,he argues.

According to Proessor Williams, enacting a Bill oRights would not necessarily mean Australia had togo sot on terrorism, or that new laws could not be

justied. However, he says, we should not pass lawsthat undermine the very democratic reedoms we areseeking to protect rom terrorism.

O


22/48

BIll OF rIGhTS AND STATEhOOD SYMPOSIUM Origins

Every year we celebrate Territory Dayby letting o re crackers and enjoyingthe kind o pyrotechnics not available

to citizens o the states. Asked why weare celebrating, most will tell youTerritory Day recognises the milestone

o Sel-Government on July 1, 1978.

Few probably realise however, that

being a territory is a limited orm osel-government and does not oerthe ull privileges, powers or responsi-

bilities available in the states thatmake up the ederation known asthe Commonwealth o Australia.

In a country which prides itsel on

its democratic principles, Territoriansare not necessarily democraticallygoverned. As a territory, the Common-wealth Parliament, in which we have

no guaranteed voice, can override thelaws o our democratically electedNorthern Territory Government.

On Territory Day we are in actcelebrating our inequality with otherAustralians who reside in the states.

How has history led us to this question-able celebration?

In 1901 Territorians became citizens

o the Commonwealth o Australiaas residents o South Australia withtwo local members elected to theSouth Australian Parliament and

the same political rights as all citizenso Australia.

Soon ater Federation, South Australiaengaged in discussions with theCommonwealth to hand the Northern

Territory to the Commonwealth toadminister. The Northern Territory wasconsidered an administrative burden

or South Australia at the time.

Do Territorians eel like second-class citizens when it comes to ederal issues?sue bradley, a convenor o the Statehood Steering Committee, argues the caseor the Territorys transition to Statehood.

State o play

On January 1, 1911 the Northern Territory was transerred tothe Commonwealth and Territorians immediately lost allrights to vote at a state or Commonwealth level. Ater 1911

the Territory was run by a ederally appointed administrator a senior public servant answerable to the Commonwealth.

Territorians were increasingly unhappy with governmentrom aar and over a lengthy period lobbied or a greatersay in their own aairs.

In 1922, eligible Territorians (Indigenous people had no vote)were allowed by the Commonwealth Parliament to send

one representative, who had neither the right to vote orspeak, to sit in that parliament.

In 1936 the single representative in Canberra was given the

right to speak in Parliament and vote, but only on mattersspecic to the Northern Territory a restriction applying

to no other representative.1947 saw the election o the rst six elected members toa Northern Territory Legislative Council. Yet control was

maintained by Canberra as the six elected members werealways able to be outvoted by the seven Commonwealthappointed members in the Council o 13.

By 1968 our single representative in Canberra was allowedto speak and vote as other members o the Commonwealth

Parliament. The Northern Territory did not have and stilldoes not have a constitutional guarantee o representationin the Commonwealth Parliament a constitutional right

accorded to all states.

In 1978 the Northern Territory was granted sel-government.Some o the usual state like powers, such as ownership o

uranium and control over land rights, industrial laws andsome national parks were retained by the Commonwealth.

But what continues to annoy many Territorians is that theCommonwealth retains the right to override any Territorylaws. This was illustrated dramatically in 1996 when the

Territory passed its own law allowing or euthanasia a law not ormed capriciously, but with much soulsearching and anguish.


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It was a valid law made or the people o the NorthernTerritory by their democratically elected parliament.Not surprisingly, there was outrage when Kevin Andrews,

the Member or Menzies in Victoria, sponsored a privatemembers bill in the Commonwealth Parliament thatoverturned the Territory law and inserted a provision

which prevents the Territory making any law allowing orvoluntary euthanasia in the uture.

Whether you agreed with that particular Territory law ornot, you must ask what this has to do with a member othe Commonwealth Parliament in his capacity representing

a seat in Victoria? Canberra had fexed its muscles, makingTerritorians realise how vulnerable they were in regards to

their own legislation.

Since then the Territory has had to grapple with the issue oa radioactive waste acility being located inside its borders.

The Northern Territory Government decided it did not wantsuch a acility and introduced legislation attempting toprevent it being placed here.

The Statehood Steering Committee (SSC) understands thatunder the Australian Nuclear Science and Technology

Organisation Act 1987 the Commonwealth has the powerto store its waste in any state or territory. Commonwealthlegislation overrides territory law.

The Commonwealth Radioactive Waste Management

Act 2005 gives absolute power to the Commonwealth tomake decisions over territory land.

The radioactive waste acility issue has again remindedTerritorians about our vulnerability at the hands o the

Commonwealth and has provided an impetus or theStatehood debate to be back on the agenda.

In 1998 the Statehood movement received a serioussetback when a Territory reerendum on Statehoodwas lost. A post-mortem report ound this was because

o the way it was presented to the people.

The reerendum had been preceded by a short StatehoodConvention where the delegates were appointed under

a government process.

A new drat constitution was put orward which diered

signicantly rom a drat developed over the previous tenyears by a parliamentary committee. Territorians hadlittle opportunity to understand the ramications o the

new constitution.

The reerendum was held in conjunction with a Federal

election and the question o Statehood asked a multi-acetedquestion and was not posed in simple terms all actorsknown to conuse some voters.

The reerendum asked voters:

Now that a constitution or a state o the

Northern Territory has been recommended

by the Statehood convention and endorsed

by the Northern Territory Parliament, do

you agree that we should become a state?

The question assumed support or

the proposed constitution, support orthe convention process and supportor the Parliaments endorsement o

the process. It was all too conusing,there were too many unknowns andthose in doubt voted no.

It would be several more years beorethe Statehood debate would begin tore-emerge. In April 2005 the SSC was

established by the Northern TerritoryParliament to promote the principle o

Statehood and engage in communityconsultation on the model that mightbe suitable.

Since then the SSC has been active inpromoting the debate and canvassingthe issues that will determine when

or i the Commonwealth Government

will agree to allow the Territoryequality with the other states.

Many issues need to be debated andseveral years o consultations with

both the public and the Common-wealth Government will need to beplayed out.

It is very important or all Territoriansand all Australians to understand,

the Statehood process oers anopportunity to develop constitutionalstructures and controls which will

govern and protect us or generations

to come. It is also an opportunity tomake better arrangements with the

Commonwealth to create an ecientsystem to meet the needs o allTerritorians. These arrangements

may or may not be dierent to theCommonwealths arrangements withthe existing states.

Equality is the goal; but being equaldoesnt mean we have to be the same.

O

Origins BIll OF rIGhTS AND STATEhOOD SYMPOSIUM


24/48

In the decade rom 1996 to 2006 therewere 180 Indigenous suicides in theNorthern Territory, 91 per cent o them

young, usually married men. Not oneperson aged over 50 was discovered tohave committed suicide during that

decade, making it a young personsphenomenon.

In many cases a single suicide wouldseem to precipitate a series o copy-catsuicides other men who take their

own lives in similar circumstances,perhaps several months apart withinthe same community.

It appeared there was a contagioneect at work the eeling that one

death stimulated others to do thesame. It is called a contagion becauseit appears to be a linked series o

events that ed o each other, likesome sort o inectious disease.

Preliminary research evidence tends

to suggest these Indigenous men mayalready be clustering together in groups

o unemployed, disenranchised peoplewith little else to do with their time.

For Charles Darwin University doctor-

ate researcher Leonore Hanssens theriddle o why young Indigenous menwould commit suicide with such

requency that it could be called acontagion needed to be answered.

Whats surprising is the newness othis phenomenon in remote regions,says Hanssens. For reasons still

unknown suicides began to be commonrom the early 1990s.

Its been called suicide contagion or cluster deaths the phenomenon o Indigenous people,particularly men rom the same community taking their own lives at an alarming rate.CDU researcher Leonore Hanssens is driven to discover why this is occurring and how itcan be stopped.

INDIGENOUS hEAlTh rESEArCh Origins

Historically, it was uncommon to discover an Indigenoussuicide in any community across northern Australia andthe term suicide contagion is a term only recently coined

in Australia.

Among the rst media reports o such a phenomenon was

an incidence in the 1960s when evidence began to emergeo a series o suicides by members o the New York policeorce. It became apparent that the deaths were linked to

policemen under investigation during a wide-rangingcrackdown on corruption in the orce.

Since then, however, suicide contagion as a modern,

Western phenomenon has emerged as most prevalentamong impressionable and emotionally vulnerable teenag-ers, particularly those aected by the teen culture o lms,

music and the other entertainment ads o their age group.

For instance, when Marilyn Monroe committed suicide in

1962, the US suicide rate increased by 12 per cent, accordingto a report in the New York Times.

When the incidence o suicides in Indigenous communitiesbegan to rise in Australia, they caught the attention o themedia, who had already been on the alert or such news

since the extensive media coverage o the Aboriginal deathsin custody inquiry o the late 80s.

As the suicides continued, the ear grew that media report-ing o such deaths could even be a contributing actor. Thisled the more responsible media agencies to stop reporting

them. There are however, still occasional reports in themedia, usually o the suicide o a well-known Indigenousgure or someone linked to a particular event.

To gain a better understanding o suicides in Indigenouscommunities in Australia, Leonore Hanssens began byscouring through coroners records and was the rst

researcher in the Northern Territory to gain access to thereports o coronial inquiries, which are now contained on adigital database called the National Coroners Inormation

System (NCIS).

textRon Banks



25/48

Origins INDIGENOUS hEAlTh rESEArCh

This system allowed her to establisha rm statistical base on which tocontinue her research into the

phenomenon and the statisticsare worrying.

Suicides in the Northern Territory in2004 were double the national gure,with 24.3 suicides per 100,000 people,

compared to 12.4 suicides per 100,000o the rest o the population. It wasdown slightly rom 2002, when the

death rate rom suicide was 28 per100,000.

Even more worrying i you look purely

at male Indigenous suicide rates in2002 the Indigenous male suicide rate

was 66.3 per 100,000.

This inormation has provided a soundoundation o understanding, but it

really doesnt come close to providingan insight into the emotional actorsthat led many to end their lives,

explains Hanssens.

This year she will continue her research

at CDU, with a new phase o investiga-tion interviewing Indigenous amiliesto compile what are known as psycho-

logical autopsies. As the name impliesthe autopsy aims to uncover some othe social, emotional and psychological

roots o suicide.

Its a delicate area or any researcher to venture into, but atthe same time it can provide an emotional outlet or amiliesalready traumatised by losing a loved one.

The typical suicide victim in Indigenous communities isaged between 15 and 45 and is usually an unemployed

married man with children, she explains. In compiling thepsychological autopsies the grie o the amilies seems totumble out. It can be a therapeutic experience or many o

them, who may not have spoken beore about their grie.

What we do know already is that eelings o shame andhumiliation have led to many o the suicides. These are men

with a amily and they eel a sense o hopelessness becausethere is no work to support them in their community.

Imagine being a young, amily man with no job, nomoney and no uture and all there is to do is sit aroundand drink alcohol with your mates and maybe smoke ganja.

The devastating eect o alcohol and drugs cannot beunderestimated in cases o suicide. A recent study in theNT reported that in 71 per cent o suicide cases alcohol

and drug use was recorded.

Hanssens says suicide in communities should be seen as

a social issue with roots in the economic dispossession oIndigenous people. However, it had become medicalisedas a mental health problem in much o the previous

research, which prevented the problem being examinedin a wider context.

I want to explore the social actors, she says. I we donthelp the men or we ignore their problems and concentratemostly on support or women and children then the problem

will only get worse and will result in cultural disintegrationo these communities. We need strong Indigenous men tobe our next generation o athers, husbands and role models

to other younger men.

O

right

Tiwi Burial totems.

photograph

Courtesy oLeonore Hanssens


26/48

Protection o heritage in the NorthernTerritory has been something o analbatross or successive governments

since the granting o sel-government.

The ormer Country Liberal Party

Government, which was in power or 25years ater winning government in the

inaugural election or the LegislativeAssembly in 1978, showed scant regardor the concept o heritage legislationduring its long period o rule.

Various parliamentary debates arisingout o heritage crises during its time in

oce requently drew derision at theconcept o heritage preservation bythen government ministers.

Ministers would regularly scorn theidea o preserving historic buildings as

nave nostalgia or the past in a youngTerritory that should be orging ahead.

For example, ollowing the 1988 Marrons

Newsagency demolition in AliceSprings, the Minister or Lands andHousing, Daryl Manzie said, To propose

that heritage legislation is the absoluteanswer and then to demand a commit-ment is simply nave. It is, however,

typical o the Opposition which would like to see historystand still it wants to see the Territory go backwards.

Nevertheless, the concept o heritage legislation dideventually take hold and in 1991 Mike Reed, appointedMinister or Conservation, introduced the Heritage

Conservation Bill. It gives me much pleasure and agreat deal o satisaction to introduce a Bill to establish

a Heritage Conservation Act, he told Parliament.The purpose o the bill is to provide or the identication,assessment, recording and comprehensive protection o

places and objects which orm part o the natural andcultural heritage o the Northern Territory. The legislationwill bind the Crown.

While ar rom perect, the Territory nally had legislationto protect heritage places and objects.

Yet heritage scandals continued in the 1990s, includingthe planned demolition by the NT Government o theOld Alice Springs Gaol, which was listed on the NT

Heritage Register and thereore, theoretically protected.

In that case, the National Trust took action in theSupreme Court, being granted an injunction to stopMick Palmer, the Minister or Lands, Planning andEnvironment, rom allowing demolition on the site

to make way or development in 1997.

Heritage or damage?

It is hard to imagine that heritage legislation could actually legalise wilul destruction oold buildings. But that is exactly the situation in the Northern Territory, where cleaningup one o Parliaments most bizarre and contradictory Acts is unnished business.

textRobyn Smith

CUlTUrAl hErITAGE Origins

photographsBarry Ledwidge


27/48

Origins CUlTUrAl hErITAGE

Justice Dean Mildren ound the Minister had not actedin accordance with the Act and thereore his direction to

demolish the gaol was null and void.

Palmers response was breathtakingly brutal and bizarre

he introduced an amendment that eectively overturnedthe intention o the Act.

Beore the amendment any heritage order meant noconservation work such as repairs and maintenancecould be done without approval. Ater the amendment

the Minister could authorise work on a heritage-listedbuilding that would permit damage to, or the desecrationor alteration o a heritage place or object. Under this

bafingly illogical amendment the Minister could give

permission or a developer to tear down a heritage-listedbuilding. In other words, heritage conservation could

include heritage obliteration.

This high arce so radically altere

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