KIMBERLEY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE CONFRONT THEIR FUTURE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PERTH 000055

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

STATE FOR EAP/ANP

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI AS
SUBJECT: KIMBERLEY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE CONFRONT THEIR FUTURE

REF: PERTH 51

THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED




1. (U) Summary: This is the second of two cables reporting on
a visit by ConGen staff to the north west Kimberley region. In
the face of enormous challenges, advancement programs are making
headway to improve living conditions in the far north Kimberley
region of Western Australia (WA) for the Indigenous people who
form a large proportion of the Kimberley's population. During a
visit to Broome, Fitzroy Crossing and One Arm Point, the Consul
General and CG staff members, traveling with four WA State
members of parliament, engaged with Indigenous leaders about the
challenges posed to the community by development, including the
proposed A$43 billion (US$40 billion) Browse Basin liquefied
natural gas (LNG) gas project near Broome. Invitations to
non-public events -- the annual general meeting of the Kimberley
Land Council that sets economic and social policy, an evening of
"corroboree" songs and dances celebrating traditional culture,
and a meeting of the Fitzroy Futures Forum community group with
state and federal officials - provided evidence of how
Indigenous advancement programs are seeking to align economic
development with traditional practices. Communities are seeking
explicitly to cope with educational, medical, social, and
substance-abuse challenges in innovative ways. End Summary.



Resources Development Pressures in Broome




2. (SBU) During ConGen Perth's visit to the Kimberley region of
WA September 28-October 2, government and community
representatives from Broome, Fitzroy Crossing and One Arm Point
presented us with their local solutions to confront and overcome
past crises and face present concerns. High among these issues
is the community response to resources-linked development,
including housing availability; long-standing challenges
associated with alcohol abuse and related problems; high
Indigenous mortality rates; and low educational achievement.
Citing the advent of the LNG gas hub development at James Price
Point 60 kilometers north of Broome (Perth 51),a
nationally-prominent Indigenous community elder, Professor
Patrick Dodson, raised with the Consul General his concerns
about the effect of the influx of population into the region.
He expects an additional 7,000 people will add to the already
accommodation-stressed population of around 36,000 people (about
half of whom are Indigenous). Serious housing and accommodation
shortages will require concerted efforts by both the state
government and local entities to provide for the anticipated
swell in numbers. Any development proposal, Dodson stressed,
must take into account Indigenous heritage issues and be
implemented in a way that allows the people to maintain their
law and culture.



How and How Not to Share the Benefits




3. (SBU) Broome Shire President Graham Campbell similarly
insisted that such infrastructure issues must be addressed by
the gas hub developers before the Shire offers its support to
the project. "We don't want to repeat the Pilbara experience" he
said, alluding to the mineral-rich region to the west, where the
recent boom in resource development caused outlying districts to
be crammed with displaced poor people as the cost of living
soared in mining towns. A visit to the Broome Regional Prison
with one parliamentarian, the Shadow Minister for Corrective
Services, emphasized the imbalance of benefits flowing to the
local community, as reflected in local incarceration rates: of
a total of 160 prisoners, only three were non-Indigenous. To
provide young people in Broome with other alternatives, the
Goolarri Media Centre provides access for school children to a
room with a few dozen computers for learning and play; about
1,000 children have used the room since it opened almost a year
ago.



Fitzroy Faces its Future




4. (SBU) Fitzroy Crossing, about 400 kilometers east of Broome,

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provided an impressive model of effective Indigenous community
participation to confront many challenges. The town's Fitzroy
Futures Forum provides a framework to build a partnership
between government and Indigenous people, who comprise more than
80 percent of the local population of the surrounding Fitzroy
Valley. This partnership was established in 2007 by the women
in the Fitzroy community with a campaign for restrictions on
full-strength alcohol sales in response to the crisis of alcohol
consumption. Alcohol abuse was the chief cause of dysfunctional
behavior, school truancy, disease, violence, and suicide. Local
Forum participant and community leader Emily Carter highlighted
the brutal legacy of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) on
children and families: "We have lost two generations. Old
aunties are raising grandkids and great grandkids, but they are
dying off." While early indications suggest the restrictions
have been positive for the isolated town, with significant
improvement across-the-board in health and well-being, further
assistance is still required, particularly medical assistance
for children suffering from FASD trauma, estimated at more than
a quarter of the population between two and forty years of age.



Establishing a Model of Indigenous Governance




5. (SBU) Fitzroy Crossing is one of 29 Australian Indigenous
community sites, and one of only four locations in WA, selected
by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 2008 to
participate in a "Closing the Gap" initiative to achieve common
Indigenous development targets throughout the nation. The
program provides a new model to close the life expectancy gap,
improve the mortality gap for children under five, and improve
educational standards. A site visit by COAG operatives
coincided with our September visit to Fitzroy Crossing, where
they met with members of the Fitzroy Futures Forum to outline
the new program framework for federal/state and community
delivery of services. The Federal Indigenous Affairs Department
Head, Dr. Jeffrey Harmer, stated that in contrast to the
intervention programs in the Northern Territory, the government
will implement more "bottom up", instead of "top down,"
approaches to elicit greater community involvement and local
ownership. "If it works," he said, "it won't go back."
Negotiated agreements with local communities, he assured the
meeting participants, will be long-term and go beyond the life
of the incumbent government.



Kimberley Land Council - a Key Player




6. (SBU) The CG, Consulate staff, and parliamentarians also
attended the annual general meeting of the Kimberley Land
Council (KLC),a regional representative body, where Indigenous
communities from all parts of the Kimberley come together for
meetings and celebrations of traditional culture. KLC leader
Wayne Bergmann advocated for reforms in literacy education, and
was adamant that the entire Kimberley community should benefit
from the multi-billion-dollar Browse Basin gas development
(Reftel),not just the traditional owners of the land
immediately affected at James Price Point, where the industrial
facilities will be located, and in nearby Broome. Local elder
Kevin George told us he feared, however, that people living in
outlying regions would be further isolated and possibly
overlooked in the new model of service delivery and resources
development priorities.



Indigenous Employment Opportunities Link with Traditions




7. (SBU) Employment and educational opportunities are coming
into sharp focus for the region. Local communities and
governmental environment agencies have collaborated to establish
the Kimberley Ranger Initiative -- a significant group from
local regions to manage the land according to traditional custom
and land management practices, and to provide youth employment,
termed "Looking after Country." Elder Kevin George, who is also
Head Ranger, told us he was the last of his age group to be
involved with the Rangers and that he looked forward to handing
off to the next generation to look after their traditional
lands. The KLC says it wants to ensure that resources-linked
job opportunities flow through to, and benefit, the entire

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Kimberley region.



Comment: Positive Steps Amidst Major Challenges




8. (SBU) Western Australia's far north Kimberley Indigenous
groups are taking significant steps to better their conditions.
In contrast to strongly negative reporting in the mainstream
urban media, the reality is mixed, and includes active pursuit
by local communities of initiatives to confront long-standing
issues and resolve current problems. These communities are
establishing projects, both independently and with business and
government, to manage economic development in the region in an
effort to benefit the Indigenous population within the framework
of their traditional law and culture. Although many impediments
remain, impressive community participation is being presented as
an alternative to the model of federal intervention. End
Comment.
CHERN