Remote Wisdom

Innovation for remote Australia

and its relevance to policy Friday, 7 November 2014

Ninti One is a not-for-profit company that builds opportunities for

people in remote Australia through research, innovation and

community development.

Ninti One also manages the CRC for

Remote Economic Participation and

external consultancy projects.

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Introducing Ninti One

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Precision Pastoral Management Tools Project

Northern Beef Industry Analysis

• In the last decade (1998-2008)

• Costs have escalated

• Debt levels have doubled

• Returns on Assets have been only

0.3 - 2%

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• In 2013, no further improvement

• Poor business performance due to

poor herd productivity

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Research Questions • What new technologies can

assist the beef industry?

• Can we add technologies to the

RLMS to benefit producers?

• Can we build an integrated

decision-making tool?

• How much benefit is there for

beef producers in using this

tool?

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Benefits for beef producers

• Better matching of stocking rates to

available pasture

• Improved liveweight gain and calving rates

• Improved land condition

• Increased ability to make strategic

decisions

• Improved profitability

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How are we doing it?

1. Stakeholder consultations

2. Feasibility/Scoping Study

3. Prototype development

4. Business Plan

5. Focus Groups

6. Research & Demonstration Sites

7. Commercialisation

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Progress to date

• Stakeholder discussions

• Literature review of 62

technology products

• 35 shortlisted & 4 selected

• Human & Animal ethics

approval

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Progress to date

• Advisory committee appointed

• PPMS Prototype developed

• Business plan undertaken

• Student project

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Progress to date

• Developed our PPMS prototype

Progress to date

• Expressions of

Interest (n=25)

• First three sites

selected

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Current Research Sites

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Research Methodology

• Quantitative and qualitative

methodology

• Validation of technology products

• Business analysis and economic

evaluation

• On-going feedback and

development of PPMS

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How are the research sites going?

• “Tarrina”, Qld, drought &

destocking

• Newcastle Waters Station, NT,

well above average wet season

• Glenflorrie Station, WA, average

to above-average summer

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For further information, please contact:

Sally Leigo

Email – sally.leigo@nt.gov.au

Phone – 08 8951 8144

Questions?

Remote Education Systems Project

Remote education: A ‘problem’ in search of solutions

• Numerous reviews and policy responses but little to show for the

effort and investment.

• Responses so far have focused on:

• English language, literacy and numeracy

• Compliance measures

• Attendance strategies

• Residential boarding schools

• More Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander teachers

• Teacher retention, recruitment, incentives

• Programmatic approaches to pedagogy (e.g. DI, AL)

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No significant change over 6 years

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-

10

20

30

40

50

60

70

80

90

100

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Attendance rates, very remote schools

-

100.00

200.00

300.00

400.00

500.00

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Year 5 numeracy results, very remote schools

-

50.00

100.00

150.00

200.00

250.00

300.00

350.00

400.00

2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013

Year 3 reading results, very remote schools

Very remote schools with…

Up to 80% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

>80% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students

RES project aim

To find out how remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

can get the best benefit from the teaching and learning happening in and

out of schools.

Research questions

• What is education for and what can/should it achieve?

• What defines ‘success’ from the remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait

Islander standpoint?

• How does teaching need to change to achieve ‘success’?

• What would an effective education system in remote Australia look

like?

Important focus

• Amplifying the voices of remote community stakeholders

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RES Project data sources

• Derived from analysis of publicly available datasets (my school

and Census)

• Community surveys in 10 remote communities

• Observations from site visits in 3 jurisdictions (WA, SA, NT)

• Engagement of over 190 remote education stakeholders in formal

qualitative research processes (20 Thinking Outside The Tank

sessions)

• Dare to Lead Snapshots in 31 Very Remote schools

• Reading of the relevant research literature

• 6 Post-graduate research projects in progress (topics include

technology, curriculum, health-wellbeing-interplay, year 12

completions, boarding schools)

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3 years in, here are some key learnings from RES

• Success isn’t necessarily what we think it is.

• Nor is the concept of ‘aspiration’.

• Local people often see these things differently from non-locals.

• Context complexity demands more than simplistic responses.

• Responses need to consider an advantageous education, rather than

focusing on ‘disadvantage’.

• Communities are strong influencers of educational outcomes.

• Pathways through school to economic participation are unclear.

• While early years learning matters, learning for teenagers and parents

also matters.

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An intentional strategy

• Education Departments, Independent and Catholic systems

• More than 900 stakeholders engaged

• Thinking Outside the Tank sessions: more than 190 engaged

• Community involvement and collaboration

• Academic writing (see http://crc-rep.com/remote-education-

systems/project-outputs)

• Dissemination (e.g. Garma)

Think differently

Talk differently

Respond differently

What do the findings suggest?

• Working with communities is essential.

• Strengthen local school governance.

• Investment in community development to complement investment

in schools.

• Recognise ‘success’ through alternative measures.

• Recognise the different ‘qualities’ of teachers needed for remotes.

• Build contextually relevant ‘red dirt curriculum’ which connects to

‘red dirt economies’.

• Offer a mix of local delivery and boarding options.

• Create knowledge exchange partnerships.

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Towards impact

• Connecting with current policy agendas (e.g. attendance,

boarding, community engagement, ‘teasing’)

• Filling evidence base gaps with a view to future trends (e.g.

‘Red Dirt Curriculum’, boarding schools)

• Engagement with university partners on quality teacher

preparation for remote contexts

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For further information, please contact:

John Guenther

Email – john.guenther@nintione.com.au

Phone – (08) 8959-6049

Questions?

Population Mobility & Labour Markets Project

Why worry?

• In Wadjela world view: Geography and mobility critical to

economic outcomes:

• Economic participation

• Labour supply & employment outcomes

• Income

• Consumption

• Access to services

• Education

• Health

• etc.

• Economics of delivering services and providing infrastructure

• Functions of Statehood

• Governing/policing

• Counting and measuring

• Taxing

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Policy can never be passive

• Government decisions inevitably shape where people are and

when:

• Infrastructure provision

• Zoning, planning, land release, etc

• Models of service delivery and housing provision

• Temporal dimensions – working week, school holidays, public

holidays

• Implications for remote vs. non-remote Australia

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander livelihoods in

remote Australia

Health

Employment Family & kin

connections

Education

Wellbeing Culture

Income

Country

Socio-economic outcomes

• Remote vs. non-remote

• Generally lower outcomes in remote vs. non-remote Australia

• Issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians

• Life expectancy 20 years lower - Infant mortality rate 2 to 3 times higher

• Suicide twice as prevalent

• Rate of incarceration 13 times higher - 23 times higher for juveniles

• Half as likely to complete high school

• etc …

• Only some of this disadvantage can be attributed to remoteness

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Underlying assumption of culture as a barrier

• Empirical evidence actually shows positive associations with cultural engagement and identity:

• Self-assessed health

• Completion of Year 12

• Probability of being employed

• Less likely to be arrested

• Lower alcohol abuse

• Mental health/subjective wellbeing

• Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander culture should be seen as

part of the solution to disadvantage, not part of the problem.

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Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Mobility

• From first engagement, mobility patterns have been seen as

‘problematic’:

• Initially seen as random and unproductive

• The many policies to ‘civilise’ and ‘assimilate’ had the

deliberate aim of sedentarisation

• To this day, mobility seen as inconsistent with mainstream models

of service delivery and attempts to ‘Close the Gap’.

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Limited contemporary evidence

• “…policy makers who contemplate the effects of temporary mobility on

the spatial pattern of demand for services do so in an information

vacuum.” (Taylor: 2006)

• Virtually all ‘representative’ studies based on Census data

• Known to undercount Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

peoples (eg. Alice Springs Town camps)

• Use of culturally inappropriate constructs

• Case study evidence – limited and dated

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The CRC-REP’s ‘Mobility Project’

• Methodology: surveys in 25 Remote communities in Central

Australia, to provide:

• A better understanding of the factors driving temporary

mobility

• Empirical estimates of the extent and patterns of temporary

mobility

• Development of a computer-based model with capacity for

prediction and scenario planning

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Key lessons from the literature

• The traditional drivers of kinship, culture and country have proven

to be extremely resilient

• “Attachment to place and community prevail, irrespective of a

history of changing government policies. There appears no

reason to expect that these attachments will change in the

foreseeable future.” (Memmott et al. 2006)

• “Even after 200 years of colonisation … involving radical

dispossession of Aboriginal groups and … severe curtailment of

their freedom to move around their country, nearly 70% …

recognised a homeland or traditional country” (Morhpy 2010)

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Engaging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people

• Like culture, mobility will

not be seen as a

‘problem’

• Seeing like a State

(James C. Scott

1998)

• Need for culturally

appropriate

constructs

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Some preliminary findings: 400 surveys completed across 25 communities

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0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Food &grocery

shopping

Othershopping

Banking Health Centrelink Carservice/parts

Ave

rage

tri

ps

pe

r ye

ar

Trips away from the community to access services

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Trips involving an overnight stay

- average of 15 per year

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0 5 10 15 20 25

For work

Cultural activities

See a doctor/other health svcs

Holidays

Football

Visit family and friends

Shopping

Percent of overnight trips

Main reason for going

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Issues of Vehicle Access Only 42% of respondents had a current driver’s licence

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0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

Yes Most of thetime

Sometimes Not very often Only in anemergency

No

Pe

rce

nt

Can you access a vehicle when you need to?

Issues of Vehicle Access

Major labour market implications

Proportion in employment

With driver’s licence 62%

Without driver’s licence 22%

High vehicle access (always/most of

the time)

50%

Low vehicle access 27%

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Mobility Project Outcomes

• Improved planning and decision making by:

• Remote communities

• Service providers/delivery

• Policy makers

• Employers and jobseekers

• Information reported back to communities for use in own planning

and representations

• Work with end users to improve models of service delivery in remote

Australia

• Forecasting and scenario modelling capacity for policy and planning

• Map labour stocks and flows for remote employers

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Questions?

For further information, please contact:

Mike Dockery

Email – mike.dockery@nintione.com.au

Phone – (08) 9266-3468

Enduring Community Value from Mining Project

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Why is research needed?

To understand the deeper push-and-pull affects of demographic

and economic change in remote communities.

To design responsive and responsible public policy.

To gain a deeper understanding of the impacts of mining.

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Project Research Questions

What constitutes enduring community

value from mining?

What are the enduring benefits and costs

during and beyond a mine’s life and for

who?

What strategies can assist communities

manage risk and resilience?

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Research locations and methodologies

• Collaborations with mining companies in the Pilbara (WA) and

Northern Territory and northern South Australia.

• Measuring the impacts of long-distance commuting on

communities including:

• The local economy & economic diaspora

• The commuting worker

• The family in the source community

• Community services

• Health and education services

• Gaps in service provision for long-distance commuting workers

and their families

• Long-distance commuting could be better managed and

understood. There are also benefits.

• Fundamental corporate reassessment about corporate social

responsibility is required.

• Life cycle planning must be responsive.

• Government has a vital role.

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Research results have found

Value for mining for Aboriginal people is much harder to achieve and

maintain.

• Push and pull factors

• Enduring cultural considerations

• Transience of business

• Legal frameworks do not always work in Aboriginal communities

favour.

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Research results have found

Policy implications

• Research results are informing government and community

policies and strategic plans:

• A pilot study conducted by the Western Australian Department

of Justice to more accurately track domestic violence, drug

and alcohol abuse and incidence of crime by employees who

identify as long distance commuters in the resources and

allied industries.

• Community strategies to embrace FIFO workers and their

families.

• Changes to the way some large mining companies:

• conduct their employee induction

• engage with employee families

• engage with local communities and enhance services

• Organise employee rosters

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For further information, please contact:

Fiona Haslam McKenzie

Email – fiona.mckenzie@nintione.com.au

Questions?

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