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Social Justice & Human Rights Issues:
A Comparative Investigation

Economic Independence

Investigation Two
Jan Ryan (Teacher - Tweed River High School)

Economic independence, land and cultural maintenance

Economic autonomy is being achieved with transfer of land and resources to Indigenous groups.

1. Aboriginal people own the Northern Territory’s major National Parks like Uluru , Kakadu and Nitmiluk (Katherine Gorge) and have leased these back to Federal and Northern Territory Park authorities in return for a share in the profits from tourism.

2. The Aboriginal Arts and Crafts industry has been a key success with important contributions being made by artists from urban, rural and remote areas.

3. There is also an emergence of Outstations or small rural communities being relocated on lands that have been returned to Aboriginal owners. While the economy of Outstations today remains welfare dependent, important economic contributions are made by hunting, fishing and gathering and by the manufacture of materials for sale.

4. The Minjungbal Aboriginal Cultural Centre , an historic site, is leased by the Tweed Aboriginal Co-operative Society Limited from the National Parks and Wildlife Service. It provides employment for the local Indigenous community, a museum for artefacts, rooms for displays and meetings, a point of sale for local artists, educational tours to tourists and school groups and a base for other community organizations. A future goal is financial self-sufficiency.

5. The Koori Mail newspaper was established in 1991. The owners were Owen and Sue Carriage. The Koori Mail was taken over in 1992 by a company from the North Coast of NSW, jointly owned by five Aboriginal organizations. The Koori Mail is entirely self-funding and a wholly Aboriginal owned company.

6. KILI Radio is the largest Native American owned and operated public radio station in America. They broadcast in English and Lakota, 22 hours each day, to homes on three Reservations in the black hills. It is a vital source of preservation for the Lakota people and their culture.

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Social and political changes