Conference to explore a better future in NT
Charles Darwin University’s third Indigenous Leaders Conference will explore pathways to a better future for Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory.
The two-day conference on November 10 and 11 at Casuarina campus also will identify and celebrate “what has worked” in the area of Indigenous advancement and examine some of the policies and practices that address Indigenous disadvantage.
Conference convener, Associate Professor Gary Fry said the event would bring together researchers and progressive thinkers in an effort to create conditions for favourable change in the Northern Territory.
“We will present some 25 workshops, panel sessions and several keynote speakers who will discuss and debate some of the key structural issues affecting Indigenous community advancement,” Mr Fry said.
“We have given preference to thinkers who have worked hard in the trenches all their lives and who, through experience and reflection, have developed lots of wisdom.
“There will be a focus on the ‘power of choice’, particularly as it applies in remote contexts, and on ‘engagement’, which is central to community development.
“Officers from within the Office of the Pro Vice-Chancellor Indigenous Leadership’s Whole of Community Engagement team will present a substantial body of quality research.”
A former school principal now with CDU’s School of Education, Mr Fry will pose the question in relation to the educational disadvantages experienced by remote students: “what might a functioning format of schooling look like in a remote NT community?” in one of the workshops.
Mr Fry said that two supplementary events – an adult English language literacy and numeracy workshop, and a youth summit – would be held in the two days immediately before the conference.
“The purpose of the Remote Indigenous Youth Summit is to ensure young Indigenous leaders an opportunity to inject their voice into the policy conversation that impacts their lives.”
Conference website: W: igce.cdu.edu.au/2016ilc