ABORIGINAL communities along the Woolgoolga to Ballina section of the Pacific Highway upgrade have been informed and invited to participate in construction and other work on the project by the New South Wales and Federal Governments.

“The overall Pacific Highway upgrade between Port Macquarie and Ballina has roughly 10 percent Indigenous employment and we are looking to increase this participation for the Woolgoolga to Ballina section,” Federal Minister for Infrastructure and Transport Darren Chester said.

“This is regional Australia's largest road infrastructure project and a key part of the Australian Government’s record $50 billion infrastructure investment package. We are determined to ensure the benefits — including thousands of jobs — are shared right across the community.”

NSW Minister for Roads Melinda Pavey said it was important the local Aboriginal workforce had every opportunity to be involved in an infrastructure project of this size. Information sessions were conducted in April and early May.

“Drivers only have to look outside their car window to see the extensive work to upgrade the highway, but they might not see the efforts being made to ensure the local Aboriginal workforce was engaged,” Mrs Pavey said.

NSW Minister for Aboriginal Affairs Sarah Mitchell said she was proud the government was building a workforce that reflected the diversity of the communities the Pacific Highway passed through.

“The Pacific Highway runs through the heart of regional New South Wales and while the government is building big infrastructure projects, it is also investing in the futures of both the local and Aboriginal communities along the highway’s length,” Mrs Mitchell said.

“A number of initiatives are already in place including implementing contracts with higher mandatory Indigenous participation, direct engagement of Indigenous companies to provide fit-out of contractor offices and using local Indigenous artists to design art for one of the project vehicles.”

Work on the Woolgoolga to Ballina upgrade is expected to start mid-year. The national government aspiration for Indigenous business and employment participation in major infrastructure projects is 10 percent.

www.infrastructure.gov.au

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THE Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council has attracted several new members with strong business backgrounds, as well as substantial policy expertise.

Notable among the joining members is NPY Women’s Council CEO Andrea Mason, who was the Australian Businesswomen of the Year in 2016 and is currently the Northern Territory Australian of the Year. Ms Mason’s NPY Women’s Council is a highly regarded organisation committed to delivering youth and well-being programs and addressing domestic and family violence.  

Also joining the council is Stronger Smarter Institute founder and chairman, Chris Sarra. Apart from his many qualifications in education, administration and psychology, Professor Sarra is renowned for his business acumen and is a fellow of the Australian Institute of Company Directors (AICD) and an honorary fellow of the School of Ethical Leadership at the Melbourne Business School.

University of Wollongong Indigenous Health professor Ngiare Brown is a Yuin nation woman from the South Coast of NSW who is also the foundation CEO of the Australian Indigenous Doctors’ Association. Among her many credits as a senior medical practitioner in the areas of public health and primary care, she has also studied bioethics, medical law and human rights.

Others joining the Prime Minister’s Indigenous Advisory Council include Winun Ngari Aboriginal Corporation CEO Susan Murphy, New South Wales Aboriginal Land Council chairman Roy Ah See, and Djambawa Marawilli, a traditional owner from Baniyala and an accomplished artist who co-ordinated the 2002 sea rights claim in the Blue Mud Bay region of North East Arnhem Land, won in the High Court in 2008.

“The appointments reflect the expertise and innovation that exist in Indigenous Australia and we look forward to working with the new Council to drive better outcomes for our First Australians,” Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said. These appointments are for three years. 

“The new Council will play an important role by engaging at the heart of Government, including with the Indigenous Policy Committee of Cabinet, collaborating with other Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders, and ensuring the government is well positioned to renew the expiring Closing the Gap targets in the year ahead.

“The new Council members will meet and provide advice to the Government on the final makeup of the Council and its terms of reference. This will include engaging with other Indigenous Australians who have requested to be on the Council.”

www.dpmc.gov.au

Biographies of the new Council members 

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NAIDOC Week, running from July 2-9, is to focus on Indigenous languages for 2017.

The theme of NAIDOC Week 2017 is Our Languages Matter and Indigenous Affairs Minister Nigel Scullion, has announced a National NAIDOC Poster Competition centred on that theme.

“For First Australians, language links people to their land and water – it is how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history is transferred through generations,” Mr Scullion said.

There were 250 distinct Indigenous language groups in Australia at the time Europeans first made contact. Now, only around 120 of those languages are still spoken and many are at risk of being lost.

The Federal Government recently announced $22.8 million in funding to help keep Indigenous languages alive and showcase traditional and contemporary Indigenous cultural and artistic expression

Entries for the National NAIDOC Poster Competition close on March 20.

www.naidoc.org.au

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A BARELY noticeable rock shelter in South Australia’s Flinders Ranges has been verified by nuclear technology as containing the oldest known evidence of Aboriginal Australian settlement.

Australian Nuclear Science and Technology Organisation (ANSTO) researcher Vladimir Levchenko has co-authored a paper with representatives of the Adnyamathanha people of the Northern Flinders Ranges, published in Nature magazine, marking this ‘mammoth’ discovery of Australian pre-history.  

Dr Levchenko’s research was undertaken in collaboration with Clifford Coulthard – a member of the Adnyamathanha Traditional Lands Association – who found the site with Giles Hamm, and are co-authors on the paper with Vincent Coulthard, Sophia Wilton and Duncan Johnston. The research is expected to boost both understanding and international interest in Indigenous Australian history and cultures.

ANSTO’s Dr Levchenko performed carbon dating research using two separate nuclear instruments at ANSTO’s Lucas Heights Campus between 2014 and 2016.

“I was involved as a radiocarbon specialist, and used two nuclear instruments over more than two years – the ANTARES and STAR accelerators,” Dr Levchenko said.

“The role of ANSTO and nuclear science extended to analysing shells, charcoal, tools and bones and megafauna, which showed two things.

“Firstly we showed that the site is up to 49,000 years old – the earliest occupied site we have come across in Australia, at least so far. 

“Secondly we proved through dating the megafauna bones, examining the marks on them, and the fact they were collocated, that humans and megafauna interacted.
“We also rechecked and in some cases redid research that was undertaken in other laboratories – to ensure the veracity of the important findings.”
The samples were carefully unearthed from their ancient home in the Flinders Ranges, and sent 1,500km and 49,000 years into the future at Sydney’s Lucas Heights. 
Two accelerators were used to combine their benefits – STAR with its dedicated radio carbon beamline, and ANTARES, ANSTO’s largest accelerator, which can accelerate virtually any naturally occurring isotope.
“The finding pushed radiocarbon dating technique to its best capability,” said ANSTO’s leader of the Centre for Accelerator Science, professor David Cohen.
ANSTO often contributes to studies that help determine the age of vitally of important artefacts with non-destructive methods, to reveals the true extent of the world’s oldest culture while preserving artefacts. 
“Nuclear techniques are applied to analyse and date rock art, tools, ochres and bones, shedding light on the lives of the first people in Australia,” Prof. Cohen said.

www.ansto.gov.au

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