Description - My Country, Mine Country by Benedict Scambary
Agreements
between the mining industry and Indigenous people are not creating
sustainable economic futures for Indigenous people, and this demands
consideration of alternate forms of economic engagement in order to realise
such ‘futures’. Within the context of three mining agreements in north
Australia this study considers Indigenous livelihood aspirations and their
intersection with sustainable development agendas. The three agreements are
the Yandi Land Use Agreement in the Central Pilbara in Western Australia, the
Ranger Uranium Mine Agreement in the Kakadu region of the Northern Territory,
and the Gulf Communities Agreement in relation to the Century zinc mine in
the southern Gulf of Carpentaria in Queensland.
Recent shifts in Indigenous policy in Australia seek to de-emphasise the
cultural behaviour or imperatives of Indigenous people in undertaking
economic action, in favour of a mainstream conventional approach to economic
development. Concepts of ‘value’, ‘identity’, and ‘community’ are key
elements in the tension between culture and economics that exists in the
Indigenous policy environment. Whilst significant diversity exists within the
Indigenous polity, Indigenous aspirations for the future typically emphasise
a desire for alternate forms of economic engagement that combine elements of
the mainstream economy with the maintenance and enhancement of Indigenous
institutions and ‘livelihood’ activities. Such aspirations reflect ongoing
and dynamic responses to modernity, and typically concern the interrelated
issues of access to and management of ‘country’, the maintenance of
Indigenous institutions associated with family and kin, access to resources
such as cash and vehicles, the establishment of robust representative
organisations, and are integrally linked to the derivation of both symbolic
and economic value of livelihood pursuits.
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