The clean energy transition has the potential to be very beneficial for the Australian First Nations people on whose Country much of it will occur. This paper documents results of interviews with legal and financial experts who have very particular insight into the contents of benefits agreements currently being negotiated with First Nations groups for large scale clean energy developments - agreements which are conventionally confidential. The results of our analysis give reason for cautious optimism in this space, confirming that First Nations people in Australia have the legal ability to veto clean energy projects on Country. We note the wider impacts of this emergent power of veto, which makes consent more valuable to developers, but also might encourage developers to avoid First Nations Country altogether. We further observe that as First Nations groups become key stakeholders, or co-owners, in these kinds of development, they also can become exposed to significant financial risk. The need to access excellent advice for First Nations groups in Australia who are navigating these projects - as developers, co-owners, shareholders, board members and contractors - is more urgent than ever.

In Australia, there is a significant gap between health outcomes in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, which may relate to inequity in health service provision, particularly in remote areas. The aim was to conduct a scoping review to identify publications in the academic and grey literature and describe 1) Existing health services for Indigenous children in remote Australia and service use, 2) Workforce challenges in remote settings, 3) Characteristics of an effective health service, and 4) Models of care and solutions. Electronic databases of medical/health literature were searched (Jan 1990 to May 2021). Grey literature was identified through investigation of websites, including of local, state and national health departments. Identified papers (n = 1775) were screened and duplicates removed. Information was extracted and summarised from 116 papers that met review inclusion criteria (70 from electronic medical databases and 45 from the grey literature). This review identified that existing services struggle to meet demand. Barriers to effective child health service delivery in remote Australia include availability of trained staff, limited services, and difficult access. Aboriginal and Community Controlled Health Organisations are effective and should receive increased support including increased training and remuneration for Aboriginal Health Workers. Continuous quality assessment of existing and future programs will improve quality; as will measures that reflect aboriginal ways of knowing and being, that go beyond traditional Key Performance Indicators. Best practice models for service delivery have community leadership and collaboration. Increased resources with a focus on primary prevention and health promotion are essential.

Many individuals and organisations have been involved in this research project, and have provided support, input and advice.We would particularly like to thank senior staff and Board members of the many Aboriginal organisations across the region who engaged actively with the research.We would also like to thank staff of the various

In Australia, large-scale renewable energy projects are being developed or proposed on lands over which First Nations hold rights and interests. Our review of the literature on renewable energy and First Nations peoples globally indicates that renewable energy projects are likely to present risks in the distribution of socio-economic and environmental impacts, as well as significant opportunities for First Nation benefit. This paper explores the conditions under which First Nations people with communal property rights and interests in their traditional land are likely to derive benefit from large scale renewable energy projects. We examine 'free, prior and informed consent' (FPIC), a widely-recognised international human rights standard that sets out a consent, information and consultation framework for proposed developments on First Nation land. In calling for the just economic inclusion and participation of First Nation people in large-scale renewable energy projects we propose that 'free, prior and informed consent' offers a suitable framework for approaching the development of these projects. Furthermore, we detail what is best, and worst, practice in agreement making, based on previous First Nations agreement making experience, predominately with the resource extraction sector.

Introduction : There is a significant gap between health outcomes in Indigenous and non-Indigenous children, which may relate to inequity in health service provision, particularly in remote areas. We aim to review the literature to describe health services and their use by children living in remote Australia, comparing them to best practice models to identify opportunities for improvements. Methods : Electronic-databases of medical literature were searched from Jan 1990 to Dec 2013. Grey literature was identified through investigation of websites, including local, state and national health departments. Essential information was extracted and summarised for papers meeting inclusion criteria for the review. Results : A total of 45 titles was identified in a strategic search of electronic medical databases and 47 in the grey literature. Strict inclusion and exclusion criteria applied. Data were extracted from 92 documents. Conclusions : Barriers exist to effective child health service delivery in remote Australia including availability and access. Existing services cannot meet demand. Gold standard models for service delivery incorporating community engagement and collaboration should be explored. Increased resources and focus on primary prevention and health promotion are essential.

Background Despite a national focus on closing the gap between Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal child health outcomes in Australia, there remain significant challenges, including provision of health services in very remote communities. We aimed to identify and map child health services in the very remote Fitzroy Valley, West Kimberley, and document barriers to effective service delivery. Methods Identification and review of all regional child health services and staffing in 2013. Verification of data by interview with senior managers and staff of key providers in the Western Australian Country Health Service, Kimberley Population Health Unit, Nindilingarri Cultural Health Services and non-government providers. Results We identified no document providing a comprehensive overview of child health services in the Fitzroy Valley. There were inadequate numbers of health professionals, facilities and accommodation; high staff turnover; and limited capacity and experience of local health professionals. Funding and administrative arrangements were complex and services poorly coordinated and sometimes duplicated. The large geographic area, distances, extreme climate and lack of public and private transport challenge service delivery. The need to attend to acute illness acts to deprioritise crucial primary and preventative health care and capacity for dealing with chronic, complex disorders. Some services lack cultural safety and there is a critical shortage of Aboriginal Health Workers (AHW). Conclusions Services are fragmented and variable and would benefit from a coordinated approach between government, community-controlled agencies, health and education sectors. A unifying model of care with emphasis on capacity-building in Aboriginal community members and training and support for AHW and other health professionals is required but must be developed in consultation with communities. Innovative diagnostic and care models are needed to address these challenges, which are applicable to many remote Australian settings outside the Fitzroy Valley, as well as other countries globally. Our results will inform future health service planning and strategies to attract and retain health professionals to work in these demanding settings. A prospective audit of child health services is now needed to inform improved planning of child health services with a focus on identifying service gaps and training needs and better coordinating existing services to improve efficiency and potentially also efficacy.

Australia’s Pilbara and Kimberley regions have very high rates of Indigenous land tenure, whilst hosting some of world’s best co-located solar and wind energy resources. Simultaneously, technological advances in energy transmission and distribution raises the possibility of renewable energy export into Southeast Asia. This paper builds upon previous work (O’Neill, L., Thorburn, K. and Hunt, J. (2019), Ensuring Indigenous benefit from large-scale renewable energy projects: Drawing on experience from extractive industry agreement making, Working Paper No. 127, Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, Australian National University, Canberra) in considering the opportunities and risks of renewable energy developments for Indigenous communities in these regions. It considers renewable energy developments at two different scales – utility-scale and smaller dispersed models, finding that communities are more likely to obtain broader social and economic benefits from developments in which they have a significant financial stake and have power over aspects of development. Proponents of utility-scale developments may negotiate agreements to offer Indigenous people access to energy, financial compensation for land use, or a stake in ownership. Yet, in considering research from the extractives industry in relation to agreement making we find that broader social and economic benefits for communities are often less than predicted. Research from Canada that looks at the potential for Indigenous ownership of smaller scale renewable energy developments to address local need and benefit, highlights the importance of First Nations’ voices in discussions of regional economic development associated with the coming energy transition.

In 1991 a large bush meeting was held at Rugan in the East Kimberley, organised by the Kimberley Land Council and attended by more than 500 Aboriginal people from across the Kimberley. This meeting is looked upon as one of the most significant expressions of pan-Kimberley identity in the post-settlement era and generated considerable discussion at a regional level. This event, which has since become known as 'Crocodile Hole', occurred in the shadow of the failure of land rights to be passed in Western Australia in the mid-1980s, and the impending Mabo decision. This paper attempts to track the idea of a regional governance structure in the Kimberley since the time of Crocodile Hole and how this idea has articulated with wider political and policy trends in the region and beyond. It notes that principles identified by the Crocodile Hole meeting remain as core ideals for Aboriginal leadership within the Kimberley, yet the form and structure by which regional governance is being attempted has altered significantly over time. In a contemporary context, it concludes that such a structure would require particular characteristics to be deemed acceptable by Aboriginal groups across the Kimberley and to be engaged with by government.

Introduction The term ‘governance’ relating to the management of Australian Indigenous organisations and communities became increasingly common in the late 1990s. By the early 2000s, a suite of training packages were being developed to address particular deficiencies identified as part of a new focus on capacity building in Indigenous organisations.1 The focus of such training, however, along with the considerable range of meanings associated with the term ‘governance’ itself, was wide ranging and variable in its effectiveness.2

This article takes a new look at the economic value and cultural significance of Imperata cylindrica grasslands in Indonesia, drawing particularly on fieldwork in Ball, Lombok and West Timer, where the focus is on the use of alangalang(1) grass for roof thatch. The development of tourism has resulted in the commodification of thatch in Ball and Lombuk for quality roofing and insulation. With its visual impact reinforcing its traditional cultural significance, the thatched roof has become a tourist artefact, its resulting high price elevating Imperata to the status of temporary cash crop and lucrative export. In West Timer, on the other hand, the grass has become a scarce commodity for roofing traditional houses. While it lacks the high prices of Bali-Lombok, in Timor the cheapness of thatch in this time of economic crisis has increased its value over alternatives. This article explores the valuing and revaluing of Imperata within various agro-ecological and economic niches, and provides case studies of some of the highly adaptive and opportunistic responses of local people to land-use change. While the Ball case represents an extreme example of the grass as commodity, the more significant view of its value is the place it continues to occupy, in a subsistence or contingency sense, in many rural economies.