Topical Issues
What’s the catch? The criminalisation of Aboriginal fishing in New South Wales
Author/editor: Hunt, J & Ridge, K
Paper no: 04/22
Category: Topical Issues
Year published: 2022
A recent Parliamentary Inquiry in NSW concerning the non-commencement of s21AA of the Fisheries Management Amendment Act 2009 (NSW) which would give First Nations fishers a state based statutory right to ‘cultural fishing’ has highlighted two key concerns about the way the Department of Primary...
Simplifying the System or Deepening Poverty? The New Remote Rent Framework in the Northern Territory
Author/editor: Markham, F & Klerck, M
Paper no: 3
Category: Topical Issues
Year published: 2022
In early 2022, the Northern Territory published a new Remote Rent Framework, to come into effect from 5 September 2022. This radical new policy abolishes income-based rent setting in public housing in remote Aboriginal communities and Town Camps in Alice Springs and Tennant Creek. Urban public...
Indigenous electoral power in the 2022 federal election: A geographic snapshot of latent potential
Author/editor: Markham, F. & Williamson, B.
Paper no: 2
Category: Topical Issues
Year published: 2022
Comprising only 3.3% of the Australian population, Indigenous people are often assumed to have limited electoral power outside of the remote Northern Territory. This short paper reveals the geography of the Indigenous population focusing on federal electoral divisions where the Indigenous...
Remote Indigenous housing requires ongoing policy focus: Submission to the Review of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement
Author/editor: Dillon, M
Paper no: 1
Category: Topical Issues
Year published: 2022
This Topical Issues paper identifies remote Indigenous housing as a structural gap in the nation’s overarching housing policies. The paper reproduces a submission to the current Productivity Commission review of the National Housing and Homelessness Agreement (NHHA) which argues for a much stronger...
Policy responses to food insecurity in remote Indigenous communities: Social security, store pricing and Indigenous food sovereignty
Author/editor: F Markham & S Kerins
Paper no: 4
Category: Topical Issues
Year published: 2020
The proportion of remote-living Indigenous people who lived in a household that ran out of food, and could not afford to purchase more, increased from 32.8% to 38.6% between 2012–2013 and 2018–2019. This paper outlines policy options to respond to the increasing prevalence of remote Indigenous food...
Cultural Vandalism: Regulated Destruction Of Aboriginal Cultural Heritage In New South Wales
Author/editor: J Hunt
Paper no: 3
Category: Topical Issues
Year published: 2020
The destruction of a cultural site of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people, which has evidence of 46,000 years of continual human occupation, by mining giant Rio Tinto has attracted national and international condemnation. The company’s actions at Juukan Gorge were lawful, though wrong, due...
Evaluating the Cashless Debit Card: How will it solve poverty and unemployment?
Author/editor: J Hunt
Paper no: 2
Category: Topical Issues
Year published: 2020
This paper explores data from two early reports related to an evaluation of the trial of the Cashless Debit Card (CDC) roll-out in the Electoral Division of Hinkler, Queensland, which began in January 2019. This trial, which includes residents of Bundaberg and Hervey Bay, is the first in a...