Indigenous poverty is clearly entrenched and often different in nature to that experienced by other Australian poor. This paper from the 2007 Australian Social Policy Conference examines recent evidence on Indigenous poverty and social exclusion and attempts to relate it to the Productivity Commission’s Framework for Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage. However, it is not sufficient to...

Through more contemporary demographic analysis, and some minor spatial analysis, the paper also explores the different relationships of these three types of local governments to Indigenous interests. Two important pieces of background information are that roughly one-quarter of the Northern Territory’s population of 200,000 is Aboriginal and that outside the major urban areas this proportion...

The West Kimberley region of Western Australia is the latest potential focus of the minerals boom currently sweeping many parts of remote Australia. There have been growing demands for a detailed profile of socioeconomic conditions in the region set within a framework of understanding the dynamics of Indigenous labour demand and supply. John Taylor provides...

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...

The Northern Territory has three categories of local government: municipal, community government and association councils. Will Sanders explores the historical development of these three categories, as well as their different relationships to Indigenous interests. The financial positions of the three types of local government are examined in relation to the very different service roles they...