ON LINE Opinion:  This past October, Olga Havnen, the Northern Territory Coordinator General for Remote Indigenous Services, released her annual report. The response of the NT Government was to sack her. It’s her story to tell the reasons why. What is clear from her report is that Olga doggedly asked government departments what proportion of their […]

ABC The Drum:  The recent Northern Territory election result goes beyond party and policy lines, to a system that does not afford Aboriginal people living in remote communities much influence. As Sara Everingham wrote in the Drum, people are “fed up with not being listened to”. Across the NT, it’s not uncommon for ‘community meetings’ […]

The Conversation:  Last week, the Stronger Futures legislation passed through the senate – laws which extend the Northern Territory Intervention for another 10 years. The relative merits and faults of the legislation aside, equally noteworthy is the policy’s duration. It was Howard who initiated the Intervention in 2007, but there is a longer tradition at […]

The Australian (Weekend Inquirer):  In these pages two weeks ago, Natasha Robinson laid bare the sheer number of small grants awarded to indigenous organisations and non-government organisations. According to a recent audit into capacity development for indigenous service delivery, the federal government administered more than 2000 funding agreements to more than 900 indigenous organisations in 2010-11. […]

ABC The Drum:  For almost every successful initiative in remote Aboriginal communities you will find a productive relationship(s) between an Indigenous leader and a competent development worker. Both are ambiguously located travellers from their respective domains. Both bring expert knowledge to achieving development outcomes of improved wellbeing, health, capacity, employment or education. This is not […]