VZCZCXRO2113
RR RUEHPT
DE RUEHPT #0055/01 3440602
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 100602Z DEC 09
FM AMCONSUL PERTH
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0440
INFO RUEHBY/AMEMBASSY CANBERRA 0446
RUEHBN/AMCONSUL MELBOURNE 0333
RUEHPT/AMCONSUL PERTH 0472
RUEHDN/AMCONSUL SYDNEY 0338

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03 PERTH 000055 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR EAP/ANP 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PHUM SOCI AS
SUBJECT: KIMBERLEY INDIGENOUS PEOPLE CONFRONT THEIR FUTURE 
 
REF: PERTH 51 
 
THIS MESSAGE IS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED 
 
 
 
¶1.  (U) Summary:  This is the second of two cables reporting on 
a visit by ConGen staff to the north west Kimberley region. In 
the face of enormous challenges, advancement programs are making 
headway to improve living conditions in the far north Kimberley 
region of Western Australia (WA) for the Indigenous people who 
form a large proportion of the Kimberley's population.  During a 
visit to Broome, Fitzroy Crossing and One Arm Point, the Consul 
General and CG staff members, traveling with four WA State 
members of parliament, engaged with Indigenous leaders about the 
challenges posed to the community by development, including the 
proposed A$43 billion (US$40 billion) Browse Basin liquefied 
natural gas (LNG) gas project near Broome.  Invitations to 
non-public events -- the annual general meeting of the Kimberley 
Land Council that sets economic and social policy, an evening of 
"corroboree" songs and dances celebrating traditional culture, 
and a meeting of the Fitzroy Futures Forum community group with 
state and federal officials - provided evidence of how 
Indigenous advancement programs are seeking to align economic 
development with traditional practices.  Communities are seeking 
explicitly to cope with educational, medical, social, and 
substance-abuse challenges in innovative ways.  End Summary. 
 
 
 
Resources Development Pressures in Broome 
 
 
 
¶2.  (SBU) During ConGen Perth's visit to the Kimberley region of 
WA September 28-October 2, government and community 
representatives from Broome, Fitzroy Crossing and One Arm Point 
presented us with their local solutions to confront and overcome 
past crises and face present concerns.  High among these issues 
is the community response to resources-linked development, 
including housing availability; long-standing challenges 
associated with alcohol abuse and related problems; high 
Indigenous mortality rates; and low educational achievement. 
Citing the advent of the LNG gas hub development at James Price 
Point 60 kilometers north of Broome (Perth 51), a 
nationally-prominent Indigenous community elder, Professor 
Patrick Dodson, raised with the Consul General his concerns 
about the effect of the influx of population into the region. 
He expects an additional 7,000 people will add to the already 
accommodation-stressed population of around 36,000 people (about 
half of whom are Indigenous).  Serious housing and accommodation 
shortages will require concerted efforts by both the state 
government and local entities to provide for the anticipated 
swell in numbers.  Any development proposal, Dodson stressed, 
must take into account Indigenous heritage issues and be 
implemented in a way that allows the people to maintain their 
law and culture. 
 
 
 
How and How Not to Share the Benefits 
 
 
 
¶3.  (SBU) Broome Shire President Graham Campbell similarly 
insisted that such infrastructure issues must be addressed by 
the gas hub developers before the Shire offers its support to 
the project. "We don't want to repeat the Pilbara experience" he 
said, alluding to the mineral-rich region to the west, where the 
recent boom in resource development caused outlying districts to 
be crammed with displaced poor people as the cost of living 
soared in mining towns.  A visit to the Broome Regional Prison 
with one parliamentarian, the Shadow Minister for Corrective 
Services, emphasized the imbalance of benefits flowing to the 
local community, as reflected in local incarceration rates:  of 
a total of 160 prisoners, only three were non-Indigenous.  To 
provide young people in Broome with other alternatives, the 
Goolarri Media Centre provides access for school children to a 
room with a few dozen computers for learning and play; about 
1,000 children have used the room since it opened almost a year 
ago. 
 
 
 
Fitzroy Faces its Future 
 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) Fitzroy Crossing, about 400 kilometers east of Broome, 
 
PERTH 00000055  002 OF 003 
 
 
provided an impressive model of effective Indigenous community 
participation to confront many challenges.  The town's Fitzroy 
Futures Forum provides a framework to build a partnership 
between government and Indigenous people, who comprise more than 
80 percent of the local population of the surrounding Fitzroy 
Valley.  This partnership was established in 2007 by the women 
in the Fitzroy community with a campaign for restrictions on 
full-strength alcohol sales in response to the crisis of alcohol 
consumption. Alcohol abuse was the chief cause of dysfunctional 
behavior, school truancy, disease, violence, and suicide.  Local 
Forum participant and community leader Emily Carter highlighted 
the brutal legacy of Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) on 
children and families:  "We have lost two generations.  Old 
aunties are raising grandkids and great grandkids, but they are 
dying off."  While early indications suggest the restrictions 
have been positive for the isolated town, with significant 
improvement across-the-board in health and well-being, further 
assistance is still required, particularly medical assistance 
for children suffering from FASD trauma, estimated at more than 
a quarter of the population between two and forty years of age. 
 
 
 
Establishing a Model of Indigenous Governance 
 
 
 
¶5.  (SBU) Fitzroy Crossing is one of 29 Australian Indigenous 
community sites, and one of only four locations in WA, selected 
by the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) in 2008 to 
participate in a "Closing the Gap" initiative to achieve common 
Indigenous development targets throughout the nation.  The 
program provides a new model to close the life expectancy gap, 
improve the mortality gap for children under five, and improve 
educational standards.  A site visit by COAG operatives 
coincided with our September visit to Fitzroy Crossing, where 
they met with members of the Fitzroy Futures Forum to outline 
the new program framework for federal/state and community 
delivery of services.  The Federal Indigenous Affairs Department 
Head, Dr. Jeffrey Harmer, stated that in contrast to the 
intervention programs in the Northern Territory, the government 
will implement more "bottom up", instead of "top down," 
approaches to elicit greater community involvement and local 
ownership.  "If it works," he said, "it won't go back." 
Negotiated agreements with local communities, he assured the 
meeting participants, will be long-term and go beyond the life 
of the incumbent government. 
 
 
 
Kimberley Land Council - a Key Player 
 
 
 
¶6.  (SBU) The CG, Consulate staff, and parliamentarians also 
attended the annual general meeting of the Kimberley Land 
Council (KLC), a regional representative body, where Indigenous 
communities from all parts of the Kimberley come together for 
meetings and celebrations of traditional culture.  KLC leader 
Wayne Bergmann advocated for reforms in literacy education, and 
was adamant that the entire Kimberley community should benefit 
from the multi-billion-dollar Browse Basin gas development 
(Reftel), not just the traditional owners of the land 
immediately affected at James Price Point, where the industrial 
facilities will be located, and in nearby Broome.   Local elder 
Kevin George told us he feared, however, that people living in 
outlying regions would be further isolated and possibly 
overlooked in the new model of service delivery and resources 
development priorities. 
 
 
 
Indigenous Employment Opportunities Link with Traditions 
 
 
 
¶7.  (SBU) Employment and educational opportunities are coming 
into sharp focus for the region.  Local communities and 
governmental environment agencies have collaborated to establish 
the Kimberley Ranger Initiative -- a significant group from 
local regions to manage the land according to traditional custom 
and land management practices, and to provide youth employment, 
termed "Looking after Country."  Elder Kevin George, who is also 
Head Ranger, told us he was the last of his age group to be 
involved with the Rangers and that he looked forward to handing 
off to the next generation to look after their traditional 
lands.  The KLC says it wants to ensure that resources-linked 
job opportunities flow through to, and benefit, the entire 
 
PERTH 00000055  003 OF 003 
 
 
Kimberley region. 
 
 
 
Comment:  Positive Steps Amidst Major Challenges 
 
 
 
¶8.  (SBU) Western Australia's far north Kimberley Indigenous 
groups are taking significant steps to better their conditions. 
In contrast to strongly negative reporting in the mainstream 
urban media, the reality is mixed, and includes active pursuit 
by local communities of initiatives to confront long-standing 
issues and resolve current problems.  These communities are 
establishing projects, both independently and with business and 
government, to manage economic development in the region in an 
effort to benefit the Indigenous population within the framework 
of their traditional law and culture.  Although many impediments 
remain, impressive community participation is being presented as 
an alternative to the model of federal intervention.  End 
Comment. 
CHERN