The head of a leading Indigenous environmental body says more needs to be done to support Indigenous people taking up leadership roles in the sector.
Barry Hunter, CEO of the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management alliance, says government policy around ranger programs needs to change.
He points to the Country Liberal Party’s decision to scrap its promise to keep the Northern Territory’s $12 million Aboriginal ranger program.
“That money paid for a whole range of equipment and essential support in regards to the day-to-day work that Indigenous rangers do in the Northern Territory,” he says.
“Fundamentally, the problem is that the whole workforce and the approach [to] the workforce needs to be overhauled.”
The North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management alliance joined 20 environmental groups to issue a series of recommendations ahead of last week’s federal government productivity roundtable in Canberra.
The federal government has since announced it will fast track an overhaul of national environmental laws, which is now expected before Christmas.
The NT government scrapped an Indigenous ranger initiative. Photo by Christian Bass on Unsplash
Mr Hunter says young rangers need to be able to learn, gain skills and have a pathway up to the CEO or coordinator level.
“There are a lot of non-Indigenous people who are actually coordinators or CEOs of Indigenous organisations because that skill and ability level is not being fully supported,” he says.
“[I’m] not saying that it’s not there because it certainly is… but there’s a whole level of support that’s required around that space.
“It’s one thing to put more money into creating extra jobs, but it’s another thing to think about how that whole system can be reimagined and reworked.”
Feature photo: Dripstone Cliffs Sunset Light in the Northern Territory by Geoff Whalan, Flickr
