This report provides guidance to IP Australia on the best
approaches to estimating the market va... more This report provides guidance to IP Australia on the best approaches to estimating the market value of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) now and in the future, along with consideration for IK’s value in the context of patents, trade marks, designs and plant breeder’s rights.
In Australia national concerns about climate change, biodiversity loss, water quantity and qualit... more In Australia national concerns about climate change, biodiversity loss, water quantity and quality and land degradation have high priority on the government's environment agenda. With this comes the opportunity to strategically integrate Indigenous land and sea management into plans for tackling these challenges, not least because the Indigenous estate—which includes some of the most biodiverse lands in Australia—continues to increase as a result of successful land and native title claims and the declaration of more Indigenous Protected Areas. This paper explores government support for Indigenous land and sea management focusing on the Commonwealth government's Working on Country program. The paper outlines the development of formalised Indigenous cultural and natural resource management, and the emergence of the Working on Country program is discussed in the past and current policy context. The opportunities and challenges for the future of the program, and formalised Indig...
What we know • Without genuine engagement of Indigenous people it will be difficult to meet the t... more What we know • Without genuine engagement of Indigenous people it will be difficult to meet the targets of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). • The United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples calls on states to obtain free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous people through their representative institutions before adopting legislative or administrative measures that would affect them; it provides an international framework of best practice for engagement. • Engagement requires a relationship built on trust and integrity: it is a sustained relationship between groups of people working towards shared goals; on the spectrum of engagement, a high level of participation works better than lower levels (such as consultation) where problems are complex. • Compared with the experience in similar developed settler countries, Indigenous engagement in Australia is not based on a comprehensive legal framework or treaty that enshrines certain rights for Fir...
The first few years of the new century saw major change in the Australian Government’s approach t... more The first few years of the new century saw major change in the Australian Government’s approach to Indigenous affairs. These developments combined with simultaneous policy shifts in State and Territory jurisdictions to create a period of enormous flux and uncertainty in Indigenous communities and organisations. This chapter aims to help readers understand these changes and the resulting challenges facing the Indigenous community governance bodies involved in our research. Subsequent chapters will indicate that Indigenous people and their organisations actively engaged through this period, trying to manoeuvre their way through these new arrangements towards their own goals. The changes presented opportunities as well as constraints, but this chapter will argue that there is an underlying contradiction that the organisations confront. They are, in a sense, between a rock and a hard place: the assumptions and principles of self-determination underlying the policy environment in which m...
This the second research report exploring the nature of Indigenous community governance in Austra... more This the second research report exploring the nature of Indigenous community governance in Australia - aiming to understand what works, what doesn’t work, and why. This report brings together findings from the fieldwork conducted during 2006, based on evidence drawn from case studies of Indigenous governance in action within differing community, geographical, cultural and political settings across the nation. It focuses on six major governance issues that have come to the fore in the 2006 research. The report identifies a number of practical program and governance development responses that, if adopted, should result in improved and more sustainable outcomes in Indigenous governance at the local level.
There is a high prevalence of disengagement from the labour market among prime-age Indigenous Aus... more There is a high prevalence of disengagement from the labour market among prime-age Indigenous Australians (aged 25-54 years). People in this demographic group are at their most productive in terms of working lives. They have generally finished their schooling and are well before their retirement, and their absence from the labour market has important implications. However, little is known about the underlying factors influencing their decision to participate or not in the mainstream labour market. Drawing on data from a relatively recent nationally representative survey, this study finds that disability, education and history of incarceration are the three most important driving factors for both male and female labour force participation. Education and incarceration experiences have greater associations with female labour force participation, whereas disability has a greater association with male labour force participation. We also find that the factors affecting the labour force pa...
In July 2006 the Queensland Auditor-General issued a report on the thirty two Aboriginal Shire an... more In July 2006 the Queensland Auditor-General issued a report on the thirty two Aboriginal Shire and Torres Strait Island Councils in his jurisdiction2. These Councils had received a total of A$156 million in grant funding from governments to provide infrastructure, planning and a range of community services to around 16,000 Indigenous people, most of them in North Queensland and the Torres Strait Islands. The report was not good. Eleven of the Councils had qualified 2004–05 audit reports, and eight had audit reports still outstanding, of which four were considered likely to be qualified. In one further case, an audit opinion could not be formed because of poor financial record keeping, and less than half (13) had unqualified audits completed. Indigenous Councils in Queensland and the Northern Territory (NT) developed in the 1980s, in the latter case following self-government for the NT as whole. By the year 2000, there were 32 community government councils under the Local Government ...
This paper explores some of the factors that appear to be supporting the growth and success of th... more This paper explores some of the factors that appear to be supporting the growth and success of the Central Land Council's multimillion-dollar Aboriginal community development program that operates across Central Australia. The program has driven a major change in the way that Aboriginal groups across Central Australia apply a significant amount of their income. It has introduced a facilitated process that supports Aboriginal groups to set and achieve development objectives using income earned from collectively owned land. The program is premised on empowerment, ownership and control at the group level. Establishment of this process has taken time and commitment, in a context where participants are generally focused on individual autonomy and decision making at the family or very local level. However, the program is showing signs of real success in delivering Aboriginal control and empowerment, and a range of social, cultural and economic benefits. The paper explores the factors ...
This report provides guidance to IP Australia on the best
approaches to estimating the market va... more This report provides guidance to IP Australia on the best approaches to estimating the market value of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) now and in the future, along with consideration for IK’s value in the context of patents, trade marks, designs and plant breeder’s rights.
In Australia national concerns about climate change, biodiversity loss, water quantity and qualit... more In Australia national concerns about climate change, biodiversity loss, water quantity and quality and land degradation have high priority on the government's environment agenda. With this comes the opportunity to strategically integrate Indigenous land and sea management into plans for tackling these challenges, not least because the Indigenous estate—which includes some of the most biodiverse lands in Australia—continues to increase as a result of successful land and native title claims and the declaration of more Indigenous Protected Areas. This paper explores government support for Indigenous land and sea management focusing on the Commonwealth government's Working on Country program. The paper outlines the development of formalised Indigenous cultural and natural resource management, and the emergence of the Working on Country program is discussed in the past and current policy context. The opportunities and challenges for the future of the program, and formalised Indig...
What we know • Without genuine engagement of Indigenous people it will be difficult to meet the t... more What we know • Without genuine engagement of Indigenous people it will be difficult to meet the targets of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG). • The United Nations (UN) Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples calls on states to obtain free, prior and informed consent of Indigenous people through their representative institutions before adopting legislative or administrative measures that would affect them; it provides an international framework of best practice for engagement. • Engagement requires a relationship built on trust and integrity: it is a sustained relationship between groups of people working towards shared goals; on the spectrum of engagement, a high level of participation works better than lower levels (such as consultation) where problems are complex. • Compared with the experience in similar developed settler countries, Indigenous engagement in Australia is not based on a comprehensive legal framework or treaty that enshrines certain rights for Fir...
The first few years of the new century saw major change in the Australian Government’s approach t... more The first few years of the new century saw major change in the Australian Government’s approach to Indigenous affairs. These developments combined with simultaneous policy shifts in State and Territory jurisdictions to create a period of enormous flux and uncertainty in Indigenous communities and organisations. This chapter aims to help readers understand these changes and the resulting challenges facing the Indigenous community governance bodies involved in our research. Subsequent chapters will indicate that Indigenous people and their organisations actively engaged through this period, trying to manoeuvre their way through these new arrangements towards their own goals. The changes presented opportunities as well as constraints, but this chapter will argue that there is an underlying contradiction that the organisations confront. They are, in a sense, between a rock and a hard place: the assumptions and principles of self-determination underlying the policy environment in which m...
This the second research report exploring the nature of Indigenous community governance in Austra... more This the second research report exploring the nature of Indigenous community governance in Australia - aiming to understand what works, what doesn’t work, and why. This report brings together findings from the fieldwork conducted during 2006, based on evidence drawn from case studies of Indigenous governance in action within differing community, geographical, cultural and political settings across the nation. It focuses on six major governance issues that have come to the fore in the 2006 research. The report identifies a number of practical program and governance development responses that, if adopted, should result in improved and more sustainable outcomes in Indigenous governance at the local level.
There is a high prevalence of disengagement from the labour market among prime-age Indigenous Aus... more There is a high prevalence of disengagement from the labour market among prime-age Indigenous Australians (aged 25-54 years). People in this demographic group are at their most productive in terms of working lives. They have generally finished their schooling and are well before their retirement, and their absence from the labour market has important implications. However, little is known about the underlying factors influencing their decision to participate or not in the mainstream labour market. Drawing on data from a relatively recent nationally representative survey, this study finds that disability, education and history of incarceration are the three most important driving factors for both male and female labour force participation. Education and incarceration experiences have greater associations with female labour force participation, whereas disability has a greater association with male labour force participation. We also find that the factors affecting the labour force pa...
In July 2006 the Queensland Auditor-General issued a report on the thirty two Aboriginal Shire an... more In July 2006 the Queensland Auditor-General issued a report on the thirty two Aboriginal Shire and Torres Strait Island Councils in his jurisdiction2. These Councils had received a total of A$156 million in grant funding from governments to provide infrastructure, planning and a range of community services to around 16,000 Indigenous people, most of them in North Queensland and the Torres Strait Islands. The report was not good. Eleven of the Councils had qualified 2004–05 audit reports, and eight had audit reports still outstanding, of which four were considered likely to be qualified. In one further case, an audit opinion could not be formed because of poor financial record keeping, and less than half (13) had unqualified audits completed. Indigenous Councils in Queensland and the Northern Territory (NT) developed in the 1980s, in the latter case following self-government for the NT as whole. By the year 2000, there were 32 community government councils under the Local Government ...
This paper explores some of the factors that appear to be supporting the growth and success of th... more This paper explores some of the factors that appear to be supporting the growth and success of the Central Land Council's multimillion-dollar Aboriginal community development program that operates across Central Australia. The program has driven a major change in the way that Aboriginal groups across Central Australia apply a significant amount of their income. It has introduced a facilitated process that supports Aboriginal groups to set and achieve development objectives using income earned from collectively owned land. The program is premised on empowerment, ownership and control at the group level. Establishment of this process has taken time and commitment, in a context where participants are generally focused on individual autonomy and decision making at the family or very local level. However, the program is showing signs of real success in delivering Aboriginal control and empowerment, and a range of social, cultural and economic benefits. The paper explores the factors ...
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Books by Janet Hunt
approaches to estimating the market value of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) now and in the future, along with consideration for IK’s value in the context of patents, trade marks, designs and plant breeder’s rights.
Papers by Janet Hunt
approaches to estimating the market value of Indigenous Knowledge (IK) now and in the future, along with consideration for IK’s value in the context of patents, trade marks, designs and plant breeder’s rights.