What are we going to do?
A reflection on ways forward for non-Indigenous South Australians to respond to Indigenous South Australian concerns
Wednesday 19 October 2005
Presented by
The Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre, UniSA and the International Human Rights Day SA committee
Speakers
- Dr Peter Ford, Vice President of the Australian Medical Association (SA)
- Professor Michael Rowan, Pro Vice Chancellor: Education, Arts and Social Sciences, UniSA
- Ms Jane Sloane, State Manager (SA/NT), World Vision Australia
- Commissioner Ted Mulligan, Children in State Care Commission of Enquiry
- Mr Elliott Johnston, Former Commissioner of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (1988-1991)
Speaker information
Dr Peter Ford, Vice President of the
Australia Medical Association (SA)
Dr Peter Ford is a general practitioner in Adelaide. He is Vice President of
AMA (SA), AMA Federal Councillor, and a member of its Taskforce on
Indigenous Health. He is Chair of the Aged Care Advisory Committee of the
Adelaide North East Division of General Practice, clinical lecturer for the
Department of General Practice, University of Adelaide, and clinical
examiner for the Royal Australian College of General Practice.
Summary of presentation
The health disadvantage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is
undeniable with their lifespan twenty years fewer than non indigenous
Australians. Low birth weight is an issue of fundamental importance, having
lifelong repercussions. There are examples of dramatic improvement in health
outcomes for indigenous people. For sustained achievement it is essential
that we attend to the social factors of education and employment to enhance
the destiny of our indigenous children. We have the means; we only need the
will.
Professor
Michael Rowan, Pro Vice Chancellor: Education,
Arts and Social Sciences, UniSA
Professor Michael Rowan is the Pro Vice Chancellor, Division of
Education, Arts and Social Sciences and a member of the Senior Management
Group. His management portfolio includes the Schools of Communication,
Information and New Media, International Studies, Psychology, Social Work
and Social Policy, The Unaipon School, Louis Laybourne Smith School of
Architecture and Design, South Australian School of Art, and Education.
Professor Rowan studied philosophy at Flinders University and the University
of Adelaide. He began his career as a lecturer in philosophy before becoming
the Head: School of Communication and Information Studies at the University
of South Australia. He was appointed foundation Dean of the Faculty of
Humanities and Social Sciences at the University of South Australia in 1994
and foundation Director of the Bob Hawke Prime Ministerial Centre in 1997.
As the senior manager responsible for the Indigenous College of Education
and Research since 1998, Michael has placed a particular focus on improving
educational outcomes for Indigenous people in Australia as well as raising
non-Indigenous people’s awareness of the Indigenous culture and community.
He has actively supported the Statement of Commitment to Australian
Reconciliation through his leadership. Implementation of the College
Indigenisation Policy in employment attests to this fact. Michael has had a
central role in the dialogue with Indigenous leaders and academics in key
working groups and committees established to further these goals (Chair:
Indigenous Education Working Group; Chair: Indigenous Content in
Undergraduate Programs Working Group, Member: University Northern Areas
Partnership (UNAP)).
Michael will be speaking on the history of UniSA’s engagement with
Indigenous higher education, their current work and prospects for the
future.
Jane Sloane, State Manager, SA/NT, World
Vision Australia
Jane Sloane has had broad experience across government, the corporate and
community sectors in Australia, North America, Europe and Asia.
Jane co-wrote the South Australian Government’s first Cultural Tourism Plan when she was General Manager, Marketing Communications with the South Australian Tourism Commission. Later, as Director of her own eco/cultural tourism business, she worked with Goolari Media (Aboriginal media and event company) in Broome, Tandanya National Aboriginal Cultural Institute in Adelaide and Paperbark Woman in Darwin to develop indigenous products, events and experiences for tourism markets.
As General Manager, Sydney Media Centre for the 2000 Olympics, Jane oversaw the showcasing of Australian and indigenous tourism experiences to the worlds’ media together with a daily program of briefings on issues including indigenous culture.
Inspired by time spent with Nelson Mandela discussing social change just prior to the Olympics, Jane integrated her experience to become CEO of the Social Entrepreneurs Network for Australia New Zealand. This network was designed to support social entrepreneurs such as Noel Pearson in the Cape York community who had assumed leadership roles to catalyse social and economic change within their communities.
Prior to joining World Vision, Jane was Strategic Marketing Manager with Austrade, the Federal Government’s Australian Trade Commission. During her time in this position she developed a strategy for economic and social renewal through successful indigenous exporters sharing their knowledge with other indigenous operators with the potential to export products and services.
In her current role as State Manager, World Vision, Jane has been
involved in developing a new model for engagement by World Vision in
indigenous communities.
Jane is a recipient of a Vincent Fairfax Ethics in Leadership Fellowship and
is a past Queens Trust recipient. She has a BA (Hons history), a Masters in
Peace and Conflict Studies and is undertaking a PhD in the same field. She
was awarded a 2005 Woman of Distinction Award by the Asia Pacific Business
Women’s Council for her humanitarian work. Jane was also awarded a 2005
Churchill Fellowship to undertake research in North America and Europe in
order to develop a model for a Humanitarian Emergency Response Team for
Australia and the region.
Summary of presentation
We are all seekers in this world and the opportunity to spend time with an
Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander community, or to experience an
indigenous event, suggests its own rite of passage. To many it offers the
promise of a deep experience of culture, a connection to mystery and magic
and a different lens through which to view the world and ourselves.
Increasingly people across the globe are seeking out encounters with
indigenous cultures, often through the specialist nature and cultural clubs
and societies to which they belong, in the hope that they may return
informed or perhaps transformed by such an experience.
Jane Sloane will explore some of the challenges in creating indigenous
product and experiences for the tourism market, in terms of consumer demand,
cultural context and economic and social sustainability. She will outline
the opportunities for a new approach for developing appropriate cultural
immersion experiences using the Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yunkunytjatatjara (APY)
Lands to illustrate her response to the question ‘What’s to be done?’
Commissioner Ted Mullighan
Ted Mullighan was admitted to the Roll of Practitioners of the Supreme Court
of South Australia in 1962. Since then he has been a member of the
Commonwealth Legal Aid Review Committee, President of the Law Society of
South Australia, and was appointed Judge of the Supreme Court of South
Australia in 1989. He has been chair of the Organising Committee of the
Aboriginal Cultural Awareness Programme for the Judiciary in South Australia
and co-chair of Reconciliation SA. He was appointed as Commissioner of the
Children in State Care Commission of Inquiry in 2004.