Aboriginal self determination and autonomy
A high number of Australian tourists want to interact with Aboriginal people and learn about their culture. This seems to match with what Aboriginal people want—the tourist industry is what they felt was compatible with their cultural, economic and social goals [2].
Tourism is a good way to [pass on cultural knowledge] and it helps to build pride in our young people and help them to have confidence when talking with whitefellas.—Dillon Andrews, Bungoolee Aboriginal Tours [2]
Imparja Television
Imparja Television is an Aboriginal-owned broadcasting station in Alice Springs, NT, operating since June 1988. Its services include National Indigenous Television (NITV) which was launched in mid-2007, and eight Aboriginal radio stations [3].
Nine Imparja has the largest broadcast area in Australia, covering 3.6 million square kilometres across six states and territories with an estimated audience of 430,000 people. It comes free-to-air and competes with the national market for advertising revenue.
Indigenous Business Australia (IBA)
Indigenous Business Australia is a government agency which
- assists and enhances Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander self-management and economic self-sufficiency and
- advances the commercial and economic interests of Indigenous people by accumulating and using capital assets.
One of the tasks of IBA is to help Aboriginal people achieve home ownership. In 2001 Indigenous home ownership was at 32% while the national non-Indigenous average was 68% [1]. IBA wants to raise this rate to 40%. Its customers come from NSW (29%), QLD (27%), NT (16%), VIC (10%) and WA (8%).
Self-determination: Are you an Aboriginal person? Get involved!
For this project I'd like to involve Aboriginal people as much as possible. It should also become a platform for your voice and your story.
If you think you can contribute to any of these areas on the left-hand side, I am happy to listen to your advice. If necessary I can help you to put it into words, an audio file or an image for this site.
Contact me and we can find a way how your story helps towards true reconciliation.
[1] 'Homing in on an untold story', NIT 10/7/2008 p.24 [2] 'Tourism on the agenda', Koori Mail 429 p.37 [3] 'Imparja's new Alice studios officially open', Koori Mail 427 p.50
The author of this site wishes to recognise the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the traditional custodians of the land in which we live and work.