Governor-General views the future for remote Australia

05/07/2012 - Dynamic future prospects for remote Australia will be on show when the Governor-General of Australia, Quentin Bryce AC CVO, visits the headquarters of Ninti One in Adelaide on Thursday.

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Ninti One is a not-for-profit company established in 2003 to conduct research, training and research application in remote Australia.

The managing director of Ninti One, Jan Ferguson, said the visit was an opportunity to acquaint the Governor-General with some of the most important advances and new thinking in areas such as education, tourism and pastoralism for people in remote areas, especially Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

"For example, our remote Education Systems project is exploring innovative ways in which education systems can be redesigned to better suit the needs of students, parents, communities, businesses and others who live and work in remote regions.

"This acknowledges that the kind of education systems that work very well in Melbourne or Adelaide don't always deliver for their students equally well in the deserts or on the Torres Strait islands — so we need to come up with new thinking that matches the needs, the aspirations and the qualities of remote Australians," she said.

Another highlight of the visit is Australia's world-pioneering of precision pastoralism — advanced technology that enables livestock to be run more sustainably and profitably across vast reaches of the world's rangelands.

"It will use satellites, remote sensing and telemetry to give pastoralists fingertip control over livestock numbers, grazing pressure, landscape management and water points — and can help solve the degradation now taking place in the world's rangelands," Ferguson said.

The third area of research to be presented explores how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tourism ventures can take full advantage of growing global demand for "outback", "eco" and cultural tourism experiences.

The Governor-General will also meet some of Ninti One's community researchers, talented young and older Aboriginal people living in remote communities and on country, who are working alongside researchers from universities, Cooperative Research Centre for Remote Economic Participation (CRC-REP) and Ninti One to gather data that will help generate economic development, wellbeing and livelihoods for remote Australians.

"We're very proud of our community researchers. They have real talent and enthusiasm and are helping to pioneer a new style of research that directly involves the very people it is intended to help.

"The information they provide will give Australian policymakers a much more informed view of what happens at remote community level — hopefully leading to more effective policies," Ferguson said.

Source: SciNews

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