The first year of the Northern Territory intervention into Indigenous affairs will be discussed during a free public lecture at Charles Darwin University on Tuesday, July 8.
The Director of the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at the Australian National University, Professor Jon Altman, will consider the economic and environmental issues relating to the intervention at the lecture from 12noon to 1pm at the Mal Nairn Auditorium on the Casuarina campus.
The emergency response was set up with three broad objectives: to protect children, to make communities safe, and to create a better future for Aboriginal people in the NT.
During his lecture, Professor Altman will focus on the last of the objectives with special attention on the economic viability of remote communities.
He will consider the emerging distinction in policy thinking between different forms of labour market and between “on country” and “off country” prospects for Indigenous people. Professor Altman will discuss whether the Indigenous affairs policy framework post-intervention can accommodate such distinctions, as well as implications for the environmental management of the Indigenous estate in the NT.
Professor Altman, who is an Adjunct Professor at the School for Environmental Research at CDU, has a long association with Indigenous issues in the NT, dating back to the late 1970s when he undertook fieldwork for his doctorate in the Maningrida region, central Arnhem Land.
The lecture is being hosted by the School for Environmental Research.