Using 2006 Census and Community Housing and Infrastructure Needs Survey statistics this paper critiques Working Future, a policy initiative of the Northern Territory Government announced in May 2009. It shows that the 20 proposed Territory Growth Towns (TGTs) in Working Future are geographically skewed towards the more densely settled, tropical savannah north of the Northern...

In the present era of evidence-based policy making in Indigenous affairs, where the monitoring and closure of socioeconomic gaps dominates the federal agenda, data have become paramount. Yet with regard to one of the cornerstones of the Labor government's 'Closing the Gaps' initiative-Indigenous education-the reliability of the evidence base has been repeatedly called into question...

Education is a key determinant at both a national and individual level for health, wellbeing and access to economic resources. What’s more, education has intrinsic benefits for those who undertake it, as well as for those around them. The standard human capital model has been used by many to understand the education decisions that individuals...

For most Indigenous people in central and northern Australia the encounter with the western world has been relatively recent. Yet even in the most remote Indigenous communities, global influences pervade everyday life and new forms of media and communications are reshaping youth culture. This paper draws on ethnographic case study data from research with Indigenous...

Indigenous Australians have often been described as highly mobile people--particularly in historical and remote ‘wilderness’ contexts. The literature paints a picture of regular, short-term population movement within and between desert, hinterland, and tropic regions of Australia, with significant implications for targeting and delivering a range of health, housing, and education services in these regions. To...