that munanga linguist

i'm a bit excited

2008-07-30T13:12:00.002+09:30

I'm a bit excited. I have a new job which I'm enjoying quite a bit. It's only my fourth week, but all signs are good. When I started, I had to go to Alice Springs where I had a week of teaching the basics of phonology to 12 Indigenous students from all over Qld and NSW. It was daunting, challenging, exciting, exhausting and best of all - it went well. Since then, I've been settling into my new office in Katherine and preparing for a semester of teaching. I'll be running weeklong workshops about every second week to different groups, but the training I'll be delivering is not too different from what I used to do at Ngukurr - a lot of Indigenous Language Literacy training. Which I enjoy a lot.

And I'm excited for a couple of reasons. Firstly, I'm excited because I get to deliver workshops at Ngukurr with all the language mob I used to work with there. It will be so nice going back and it will be so nice to work with that mob while I'm all fresh-faced and energised.

Secondly, I'm excited because I also get to work with different mobs and different languages. Next week I have a week in Beswick where I'll be working with students who speak Rembarrnga, Dalabon and Mayali. Rembarrnga I'm comfortable with, but I know very little Mayali and even less Dalabon. What fun! The students will be learning sounds and spelling and basic teaching and learning strategies. I'll have them whipped up into the deadliest language workers in no time. And I'm sure they'll whip me into shape too. I fear I've been in town too long and need to be reminded what life is like for people living in communities.

A conference, language policy and Aboriginal languages in Federal Parliament

2008-07-10T23:50:00.001+09:30

The other day, I was priveleged in attending a TESOL symposium about 'Keeping Language Diversity Alive'. One of the speakers, Joseph Lo Bianco was excellent and discussed Language Policy. He gave a handout at one of his sessions that I'm going to type out in full here, because it was a real eye-opener. It's from the Official Hansard of the Federal Parliament from a debate that happened on 10/12/98. Here's how it went:

Mr SNOWDON: My question is to the Prime Minister. Is the Prime Minister aware of the decision by the Northern Territory government to phase out bilingual education in Aboriginal schools? Is the Prime Minister also aware that his government funds bilingual education programs in Papua New Guinea and Vietnam? Prime Minister, given that article 26(3) of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights states that parents have a prior right to choose the kind of education that shall be given to their children, will you take a direct approach to the Northern Territory government, asking them to ensure that bilingual education continues to be available in Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory?
Dr KEMP: I find it incredible that a question about literacy amongst indigenous Australian should be raised by the Labor Party.
Opposition membes interjecting -
Mr SPEAKER: The member for Fowler, the member for Kingsford-Smith and the member for the Northern Territory will exercise a great deal more restraint or I will be forced to warn them.
Mr SNOWDON: Mr Speaker, on a point of relevance: bilingual programs are about cultural maintenance as well as literacy. That is something this minister does not appreciate. He knows nothing about Aboriginal education or employment.
Mr SPEAKER: The member for Northern Territory has been warned.
Mr Adams interjecting
Mr SPEAKER: The member for Lyons will exercise some restraint as well. The minister has been on his feet for 11 seconds. I will not tolerate this level of interjection and noise. Let that be understood by those on both sides of the House. The minister has the call.
Dr KEMP: As I said in my first 11 seconds, I find it incredible that the Labor Party would raise a question concerning literacy amongst indigenous young people. After their 13 years in office, we have now discovered that 70 per cent of indigenous students are below the national standard.
Mr LEE: Mr Speaker, I raise a point of order. You have admonished members of the House not to use scorn and ridicule and that is the very thing which this minister is doing. When are you going to take some action about it?
Mr SPEAKER: The member for Dobell will resume his seat. I have also been admonished by the House for commenting, but allow me to say to the member for Dobell that if I were to run a scorn and derision meter on comments made by the members for Batman or Hotham, or members on the government front bench, it would be running neck and neck.
Mr MARTIN FERGUSON: Why don't you name them?
Mr SPEAKER: The member for Batman makes a quite inappropriate interjection. The minister has the call.
Dr KEMP: It is the coalition government which has been forced to address a problem which was totally ignored and neglected for 13 years. This question shows the blindness of the Labor Party when it comes to matters of educational equity.
Mr SNOWDON: Mr Speaker, on a point of relevance: this question related particularly to the issue of bilingual education. The minister has not even mentioned those words in his reply so far. It is also about the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.
Mr SPEAKER: The member for the Northern Territory will resume his seat. The minister has the call. The minister has been perfectly relevant to the question asked and he has the call.
Dr KEMP: I was referring to the blindness of the Labor Party when it comes to fundamental issues of educational equity. The question asked about a Northern Territory bilingual program concerned with literacy education amongst young Northern Territorians. It has been up to this government to finally address the issue, not only amongst all young Australians, but amongst indigenous young Australians.
Dr THEOPHANOUS: Mr Speaker, on a point of relevance: there is a distinction between literacy and bilingual education, which has to do with education in Aboriginal languages. That is the issue. The issue is not the literacy issue; it has to do with-
Mr SPEAKER: The member for Calwell will resume his seat.
Dr THEOPHANOUS: Why don't you permit me-
Mr SPEAKER: The member for Calwell will resume his seat.
Mr SECKER: Oh!
Mr SPEAKER: The member for Barker will exercise some restraint. The minister has the call.
Dr KEMP: As the members of the Labor Party well know, one of the major reasons for these bilingual programs concerns the literacy skills of young people, and I am addressing that aspect of the question. Last week, I announced that the government would be putting in place a national literacy program for indigenous Australians. That program will be an effective program because, for the first time, we will have a program focused on outcomes, not rhetoric, not feel-good feelings in the stomach which we have had from the rhetoric-
Mr SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat.
Dr KEMP: of the previous government for the last 13 years-
Mr SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat. I will not tolerate ministers overriding the chair. I call the Leader of the Opposition.
Mr BEAZLEY: Mr Speaker, I take a point of order on relevance. It is the case that bilingual education is fundamental to the establishment of literacy. There is not a single commentator on literacy, as far as the Aboriginal community is concerned, that does not recognise that. Therefore, the question was directed not to the intentions of this government, but to the intentions of the government in relation to the action by the Northern Territory government, which is a direct attack on literacy in the Aboriginal community. What is he going to do about it?
Mr SPEAKER: The Leader of the Opposition will resume his seat.
Dr KEMP: I didn't hear you, Mr Speaker, and I apologise for appearing to ignore you.
Mr SPEAKER: The minister will come to the question and deal with the question of bilingual education.
Dr KEMP: I announced last week that the government would be working with the states and territories, including the Northern Territory, to put in place for the first time a program for the education of indigenous young people, which will be focused on the actual outcomes of those programs. This government has already lifted spending on indigenous education. it is a government which is now putting more resources into outcomes focused programs.
Mr SNOWDON: Mr Speaker, I take a point of order on relevance. The question was whether the Prime Minister would approach the Northern Territory government about what they are going to do about bilingual education. The minster has not answered that question.
Mr SPEAKER: The member for the Northern Territory will resume his seat.
Mr Snowdon interjecting
Mr SPEAKER: I have no choice. The member for the Northern Territory is actually asking me to discharge him from the service of the House under standing order 304A - and I ask all members of the House to exercise, in this last question time, a little more restraint.
The honourable member for the Northern Territory thereupon withdrew from the chamber.
Mr MELHAM: I take a point of order, Mr Speaker. I draw your attention to standing order 99, 'Proceedings on question of order', which states: "Upon a question of order being raised, the Member called to order shall resume his or her seat, and after the question of order has been stated to the Speaker by the Member rising to the question of order, the Speaker shall give a ruling thereon." Mr Speaker, it is implicit in the standing orders that the member raising the point of order is entitled, as of right, to state their point of order before it is ruled on by you. Mr Speaker, I submit that you have overstated the position when you suspend him under the standing order for raising the point of order, when you have not given him his time to state the question.
Mr SPEAKER: I have a great deal of respect for the member for Banks.
Government members: Oh!
Mr SPEAKER: Order, members on my right! The member for Banks, given his logistical position in the chamber, may not have been aware of the fact that the member for the Northern Territory had stated his point of order and was, in fact, discharged from the service of the House for subsequent interjections.
Mr MELHAM: On a further point of order, Mr Speaker - in discharging him, you did not rule on his point of order in relation to relevance, and I ask you to do so.
Mr SPEAKER: I had, in fact, determined that the minister was being relevant, and it could scarcely be claimed, when he was dealing with education, particularly with literacy in the Northern Territory, that he was irrelevant to the question.
Dr KEMP: The government has also introduced, for the first time, intensive English as a second language courses for young indigenous students who do not have English as their first language. This is proving to be an exceptionally effective way of addressing the literacy needs of young people who are native speakers of a vernacular language. The government is very proud of the fact that it has faced up to these fundamental issues of educational equity in the Northern Territory and throughout Australia and we will continue to work with the Northern Territory government to achieve better outcomes.
Mr SPEAKER: The minister will resume his seat. I call the member for Denison on a point of order.
Government members: He has finished.
Mr SPEAKER: The member for Denison is still entitled to his point of order.
Mr KERR: Thank you, Mr Speaker. My point of order is again on relevance, because the question was about whether education is to be conducted in a single language or in two languages, and the human rights that are entailed. He has avoided it.
Mr SPEAKER: The member for Denison will resume his seat. The minster had, in fact, dealt with the relationship he was having with the Northern Territory government and was, in that sense, fully relevant.

-----------------------------------

Goodness me. To me, there is so much wrong with that. Firstly, the dismissal of Human Rights and then the lack of knowledge about bilingual education. During the session, Joseph Lo Bianco asked the audience, 'After reading that, how do you rate the chances of language diversity surviving in Australia: high, medium, low or no chance'. The reply was a resounding 'no chance'.

And the killer punchline. The above extract is actually the ONLY time Aboriginal languages have been discussed in the Federal Parliament in the last twenty years.

Goodness me. Time for some action and policy methinks!

Showing people that the message isn't quite getting through

2008-07-01T10:29:00.002+09:30

The other day an interesting message came through the Australian Linguistic Society email server. It's from Gavan Breen and talks about the problem of miscommunication between Aboriginal people who have English as a second language and English speakers, especially public servants. It's a huge problem that I'm well aware of and Gavan is talking about getting the issue out there or doing some research. Here's a copy of Gavan's post:

I and some others here at the Institute for Aboriginal Development think there is a need for a study to be done of how well Aboriginal English speakers, especially those who speak it as a second or later language, understand the English of whitefellows, especially public servants and politicians and the like. The latest inspiration for this is a news item: Report finds NT Aboriginal group doesn't understand legal terms

However, there was an earlier discussion of this sort of thing, related to the inability of public servants to explain aspects of the "intervention" to people in Aboriginal communities.

An obvious aspect of the problem is the use of words that people don't know; 'equity' is one that was mentioned as an example a couple of times in the recent exchange of emails, and it's one that I have only a vague understanding of myself.

A less obvious aspect, and so one that is not so easy for government officials and other offenders to appreciate, is, in my opinion at least, the fact that Aboriginal English speakers are not familiar with the extended meanings of words and the idioms that educated native speakers use. For example, 'We have to decide where X (a community) is going'; meaning, of course, how it is to develop, not where it being moved to.

I heard a story recently about a small group of teenage students who had been chosen to attend something (educational, I forget what) and were being interviewed by a reporter (in the presence, fortunately, of their teacher). One was asked 'What do you hope to get out of this?' and she didn't answer; obviously confused, she had a whispered conversation with the teacher that solved the problem. The problem was, she was looking forward to the thing, she wanted to do it, she didn't want to get out of it.

Other examples of usages that are perfectly familiar to us are the various figurative uses of 'heart' in English, the use of 'today' and 'tomorrow' to mean 'nowadays' and 'some time in the future', and the specification of location relative to the body (on the left, right, front, back) rather than to the world (north, south, east, west). There are probably hundreds of expressions that we use that teachers in Aboriginal schools would take for granted and never think of teaching.

I suggest that an institution that wants to look into this topic find a student who would be interested and amass enough data to convince the decision makers that there is a need for education, both of Aboriginal people and of those who deal with them, to improve the quality of communication.

Apparently, a few of us agreed with Gavan and sent him replies. Here's my pocket of shrappie:

I was very interested to read the bit from Gavan Breen about miscommunication between black and white, especially here in the NT with the Intervention. I see this sort of basic miscommunication happening everyday here in Katherine and also when I was living in Ngukurr in Southern Arnhem Land.

I've done a little bit of Kriol interpreting and I listen to the language of public servants and shake my head at the lack of consideration that is given to their choice of words (the problem is compounded because many public servants are given directives about the approved wording they are supposed to use). I remember last year at Ngukurr an Intervention meeting involving a public servant talking about the 'cessation' of CDEP. I'm guessing the word 'cessation' was chosen carefully as approved wording but unfortunately just wasn't understood by the vast majority of the Kriol speaking audience. Another example of incomprehensible approved wording from that meeting was 'transitioning', ie. 'transitioning' people from CDEP employment to Centrelink benefits. It was appalling. This meeting was essentially the government telling the community that 180 jobs will soon be gone and everyone will then have to go back on Centrelink payments but the 'approved wording' meant that people barely realised this was what they were being told.

Then there are more subtle examples. Interpreting at Centrelink last week, I heard some Centrelink staff constantly using unnecessarily difficult words when dealing with Kriol speaking ESL-customers. Examples are words like 'verify' and 'confirm' (I suggested 'make sure'), 'currently' and 'at present' (I suggested 'at the moment' or 'right now') and 'entitled to' (I suggested 'can get'). By merely speaking in plainer English, communication difficulties can be reduced significantly. And if public servants don't have time to think about the English they use, they can just get an interpreter, but this doesn't happen very much either!

Sadly, it seems that Aboriginal people with English as a Second Language are used to not understanding public servants properly. It's the norm and to a certain degree 'just the way it is'. Some of us are here trying to make a difference and the more exposure the issue can get, the better. Importantly, the education needs to be both ways. In my opinion, not only do whitepeople/public servants need to realise the extent of communication breakdown but Aboriginal people who are ESL also need to be educated or shown that the way things are now aren't necessarily the way things have to or should be.

How do we give this issue exposure? A research project would be great, but I don't think we need to wait until research is done before we can plainly show that miscommunication is occurring.

One idea would be some media activity, especially from someone who is media-savvy. How about regular press releases which give an obvious example of miscommunication, similar to the examples Gavan's already given and then suggestions for better ways to communicate. Does anyone have any other suggestions on how we get this issue out there? I'd be happy to give the cause a bit of time if there is support and ideas out there.

-----------------

A big issue no? Anyone have any bright ideas about what we can do inform the public (black and white)?

Floating around

2008-06-25T09:31:00.001+09:30

Since finishing from the language centre I've managed to do a few things apart from sitting on the couch (which is where I am now as I write this... I can't help it, Wimbledon's on). I've been floating around doing a few jobs here n there but i've also been taking it easy and slowly figuring out which way to go next.

I did some casual work at an art gallery in Katherine - just menial tasks but it was really enjoyable. The art is pretty and I got to hang out with two Warlpiri speakers who taught me a few things. The downside - looking at the horrible spelling of language words all over the gallery. How do you convince ordinary ppl that it's important to get these things right? I tried the 'there are lots of people that can read and write Warlpiri' but it seems that the demands of getting through daily workloads wins over making time to consider Indigenous language spelling conventions. Buhu.

I also got myself an ABN (a bit exciting) and lots of information books from the tax office (not so exciting). This allowed me to do a bit of independent work with schools - which has mainly been a bit of tutoring at the high school, working with ESL kids to produce a Kriol nyusleta. Follow the link from the Katherine High School website.

Then I had a week's worth of tutoring at Batchelor, tutoring a group of Diploma of Interpreting students. It was my first time at Batchelor and it was great to visit there. It was so nice to walk into the library there and find that the Aboriginal languages section is one of the biggest in the library! In most libraries it's about a shelf worth. The campus is nice, the accommodation was great and the students were ace. They were a small group but representing a range of communities (Willowra, Elcho, Daly River, Ngukurr, Bulman, Katherine) and languages (Kriol, Warlpiri, Djambarrpuyŋu and Walmajarri). They are doing well and have lots to say and are keen to get through the course. They were a pleasure to teach (and learn from).

Other things I've been doing include:
- a fair bit of gardening. I'm aiming for the 'immaculate' look... a fair way to go yet!
- my regular friday night stint on Katherine Community Radio
- playing tennis and squash (elimination final in squash tonight!)
- setting up a neat little home office
- slowly processing hundreds of registration forms for the local AFL competition
- a job application and interview for 'Indigenous Academic Support Lecturer' at Charles Darwin University but based in Katherine. (not sure if I want it - still keen for language work)
- watching an awful lot of tennis on austar. and keeping up with Australia's Next Top Model. :-)
- oh, and making a budget for myself because my income has dropped considerably!

So what to do next?

The more I think about the more it makes sense for me to seriously look into doing a PhD on one of the languages I've worked on at Ngukurr. I'm in a perfect position to do so. What holds me back is that I'm not terribly academically-inclined and prefer doing practical stuff. But the thought of having 3-4 years of really getting my teeth into a language like Marra is something really special and the clock is ticking for a language like Marra too. If I can make sure the PhD has strong practical components I'd be happy. But how do I make this happen? Do I just start humbugging lecturers about it?? Any advice appreciated.

Apart from that, there could be some work on the cards that I'd enjoy. Firstly, maybe a bit of work on a language program in a school not too far out of Katherine. Secondly, some more work with Batchelor students around the Katherine region for people doing language courses where they learn basic literacy in their own language. That would be fun. I love teaching people how to read and write their own language.

So that all from me. I'm going to go make a coffee and process some AFL forms. :-)

Ngurrju

2008-06-11T07:58:00.002+09:30

Now that I'm in Katherine, I'm around different languages. I've started to learn a little bit of Warlpiri and couple of words of Gurindji. With Warlpiri I've gone back to my learning style I used when I was a kakabum learning Icelandic. I carry around a bit of paper and each day my job is get one English sentence translated into Warlpiri. Forget analysing data and systematic approaches, I'm just learning functional words and sentences. (Well, it's more that I don't have any references that I can look at to analyse my data with!). So last week I learned Nyapara ngaju-nyangu coffee-yiji? (Where's my coffee?). And one of yesterday's sentences was Ngaju karna yani ngurra-kurra (I'm going home). Again, these are all unchecked and just done the best way I could on the spot so don't growl me if I've got something wrong.

Although yesterday I cheated and was treated to an excellent 1.5 hour practice of a Warlpiri language training session that will be delivered to local aged care workers here in Katherine. So with a bit of hardcore rote learning, I should be able to say "Mum, that lady can speak language!" in no time (Ngati, wangkami mayi ka jaru yinyaju karnta!)

Now what do i do?

2008-06-09T20:47:00.002+09:30

Put your thinking caps on... I need help.

I'm an experienced linguist with lots of skills to offer but no job (my employment status is by choice because I'd almost worked myself into the ground). I want to stay in Katherine but I don't know what to do next. Where should I invest my time and energy? Career guidance needed... all suggestions considered! :-)

mela ola munanga linggwismob

2008-05-27T11:18:00.004+09:30

Over at Transient Languages and Cultures, there was a bit of discussion in the comments about doing language work in communities. Jane Simpson gave this excellent summation that I thought I'd share (thanks Jane):

"It's a balancing act. Scientific researchers are nosy parkers - sometimes that can be good and cause good things to happen with documentation that would not otherwise have happened. Sometimes it can be bad and reduce the quality of the material that might otherwise have been collected.

Community researchers almost always have a much better understanding of attitudes and relationships and uses of language, as well as of what their friends and family are hoping for from language work. They may have native speaker intuitions about languages. And it is they who will be working with their communities to keep talking the languages.

A damaging situation that can arise is when an outsider linguist comes to be seen as the main source of knowledge about the language. That can cause a loss of confidence among community people, and can reduce their ability to maintain their language. It can lead to resentment, and to the rejection of outsider linguists, which then deprives the community of the good things linguists could do in partnership with them. A Lose-Lose situation.

The ideal situation is when community researchers and scientifically-trained linguists can work together, each learning from the other, and each respecting the other's skills."

Nonsense

2008-05-14T13:01:00.002+09:30

Today one of my staff came into my office and asked a question that made me laugh. It was funny because the question on the surface makes no sense, but to us two, and a handful of others, it makes perfect sense. Can you figure out what it means?

Q: "Wägilak and Rembarrnga... I mean Ritharrŋu... are blue?"
A: "Yes."

Tee hee.

One-stop shop

2008-04-17T07:43:00.002+09:30

I hate the phrase 'one-stop shop'. I don't know why but it makes me want to stab my eardrums and eyeballs with sharp scissors. It's at the top of a list of political/commerce cliches that also features 'touch base' and 'flick me an email'.

Oh well, I better get ready for work. I have some 'capacity building' to do.

My old lecturer on Compass

2008-04-11T12:41:00.002+09:30

Hey, when I was at Uni I had the acest lecturer who had been learning from Yanyuwa people at Borroloola for a couple of decades. Borroloola and Yanyuwa country are just down the track from Ngukurr. My old lecturer's name is John Bradley and he's being featured on Compass this sunday night (ABC at 9:25pm). Should be worth watching.

Facebook

2008-04-01T23:09:00.002+09:30

Poor neglected blog. I blame Facebook. This blog used to be a good way for ppl I know to find out what I'm doing. Now facebook has taken that role and my blog is sadly neglected.

That and I'm not being much of a linguist these days. How exciting can it be blogging about reporting to funding bodies or replying to emails.

But I'm still here. :-)

good job

2008-02-13T11:25:00.000+09:30

Good job to Kevin Rudd for saying sorry. I thought it was a great speech - decisive, clear, honest, to the point and all very reasonable. In the end, it seemed like he was stating the obvious and that apologising was the obvious thing to do. It made me wonder what all the fuss was about with the last government being so stubborn. Seems straightforward to me. Something bad happens, saying sorry can help make it better. Easy. (And I reckon it worked too).

Linguistic notes: Did Kevin Rudd say Yabarrah instead of Yarrabah?? When Brendan Nelson talked about 'involuntary sacrifices', is there such a thing? Is a sacrifice something that can only be made under your own volition?

bunyu

2008-01-22T15:09:00.000+09:30

I'm still here and still in Katherine being bossy. Thesedays I find myself surrounded by things such as funding applications, budgets, meetings, emails, reports etc. etc.

I'm enjoying the change althought it's a lot of work. And I miss the Ngukurr mob and miss being a linguist. But I can't complain because I was really starting to burn out after spending most of the past three years working hard in a remote community. And I'll be going back there before I know it anyway.

So hello to anyone still reading this.

Today I remembered this classic tidbit I read in the Guardian:

Talking about gaffs with interpreters and translators... when Bob Hawke was PM and addressing some important crowd in Japan he used the term 'playing funny buggers'. Apparently this caused a bit of a dilemma with the interpreters who ultimately decided to translate the term 'funny buggers' as 'laughing homosexuals'. hehe.

it's alive!

2007-11-10T15:55:00.000+09:30

Yes I'm still alive. Hi all. The last couple of months have been pretty huge... no chance of letting you in on all the goings on but here's a summary:

- Was starting to really hit the wall at Ngukurr and feeling burned out. Felt the need to think seriously about medium to long-term plans
- In the middle of that was a mammoth trip to the Indigenous languages Conference in Adelaide. Three of the guys I work with at Ngukurr came along. It was exhausting but great. We did a presentation that went very well (including a few tears and a choked up presenter... hmmm... that would be me!)
- Then i turned 30!!
- then i had a month off while my mami SN helped out with things at the Ngukurr Language Centre. Thanks mami. (You can read some of her stories on 'Finding A Voice' - click the link to the right)
- I went to Dublin to visit my sister for two weeks. Hi sis!
- Then came back to Katherine to find a tricky situation at work whereby I felt obligated to temporarily take on the Coordinator position at the Katherine Language Centre. And I'm still here! It's a huge job that I only started a week ago and I'm trying very hard not to get too overwhelmed and wrought with anxiety.
- But things are still plugging along at Ngukurr. We have a contigency plan in place and I'm off there tomorrow for a couple of days.

So wish me luck with all these goings on.

And we're advertising for the Coordinator position at the Katherine Language Centre. If anyone's interested (or if anyone's interested in doing some work at Ngukurr too), send me an email: munanga at bigpond dot com

Mah, Jaldu na.

djatam!

2007-09-07T16:26:00.000+09:30

So the other day, I was dropping all the language mob home after we'd been at Ngukurr School teaching language for the afternoon, when 5 men in the back of the troopy, our Ritharrŋu and Wägilak teachers, very quickly raised their feet off the floor saying djatam! djatam!

And this is why:

the Intervention part 2

2007-09-01T12:51:00.000+09:30

This week was a rough week, with another community meeting held by public servants from the Intervention. This time it was to tell the community about the changes to the CDEP program.

CDEP is an employment program subsidised by the Government. It is similar to work for the dole, but slightly different in that the wage is a little higher, it isn't compulsory, it is easy for employees to receive top-up wages or do work extra work and you actually have a supervisor and manager and can build training and employment pathways into your job. CDEP has been working really well here for the past year or more providing employment to over 120 people. More than just provide employment, it helps Ngukurr provide services that we wouldn't otherwise be able to fund. The areas that rely heavily on support from CDEP employment are: creche, art centre, language centre, aged care, mechanic's workshop, builder's workshop, garbage collection, swimming pool/sport'n'rec/after school care, ranger program and more.

And so part of the Intervention plan is the scrapping of CDEP. We knew this was happening, but on Wednesday a meeting was held to tell us more. The meeting was led by two public servants from 'down south' as part of the Intervention and another who is from the Katherine Region. The first woman, Philippa Hibbert, was from DEWR in Bendigo and told us about CDEP finishing and the three steps of what would happen from there.

Part way through her speech, she was interrupted by the council's CEO because the language she was using incomprehensible to - I would guess - all of the 100 or so Aboriginal people at the meeting. She was using terms such as 'the cessation of CDEP' and 'transitioning into income support'. Did she really believe people would understand her?

And so the CEO asked me if I would interpret for her and the crowd. So, I did and I think it helped but I wasn't happy that I had to do it for free when it's actually a very difficult job requiring a lot of knowledge and skill and should be properly organised and paid for, and done by someone who is properly qualified. But for the sake of facilitating proper communication, I gave it a go.

Anyway, she talked about moving off CDEP, about looking at the current activities funded by CDEP and then attempting to move funding into to the relevant department so they can turn CDEP positions into real jobs. For those who don't move into real jobs, the only option is a STEP employment program or simply moving onto Centrelink.

Then the Centrelink rep from the Gold Coast talked about Centrelink and I interpreted for her too. Centrelink will also change as there will be no longer be exemptions for people living in remote communities with little employment opportunities - everyone who is able to work will now have to look for work and/or work for their dole.

The mood from this meeting was very different from the first Intervention meeting. This mob felt like there was nothing they could say. The decisions had been made. Nobody saw any point in arguing or complaining because they felt it would be of no consequence. It was depressing and demoralising to hear that all CDEP jobs would be in jeopardy and that it is likely most people will have to go over to Centrelink.

For anyone who's been a Centrelink client, you would know how demoralising it can be dealing with them. Before the meeting I said to the DEWR woman, how can you possibly believe that it is a good thing to move people from CDEP into the Welfare System. Surely it's a backward step. She didn't have anything to say to that except feebly reiterating the government lines about creating real jobs.

To me, it seemed like this meeting really cracked people here. There was little fight, like there was at the first Intervention meeting. The deals have been done. Nobody here knows why this is being done to them. CDEP works well here and it's being taken away, even though many people have worked very hard for years. Had some positive options been presented, then great - good riddance CDEP - but the impression given was that the only option is Centrelink. Well, I think it just broke people's spirits.

After the community meeting, I attended a closed meeting with the local council - staff and council members. It was a good chance to get more detail on the changes. One thing I was interested in was the STEP program - one of the training/employment programs the government is talking up in the face of the 'cessation' of CDEP. I was thinking, okay, what's this STEP program, I've got to try and be positive and see what Language Centre can make of this situation. After a few questions, I was still trying to work out how to get a STEP program at language centre, until the Intervention people reluctantly admitted that there wasn't actually anyone in the Katherine Region delivering this program - it is still out to tender. Everyone's jaw dropped and the public servants were visibly embarrassed.

That afternoon and the next morning, everyone I work with here was asking me 'what's going to happen', 'what will happen to our jobs', 'where will we get money'. The concerns run deep and no one is happy with the government. We will wait and see, but the scepticism that anything good will come out of this is growing and growing.

A final point: at the closed meeting, I said that the end of CDEP is more than just an economic and employment concern, that socially it will have a massive impact. I spoke of how we see stories on the news of a factory closing in Geelong and they tell us of the significance of 500 jobs going in a city of 100 000. Whereas here we have a community of just over 1,000 finding out that 120 jobs - the bulk of the community's total employment - is now in jeopardy. Socially, the impact of that is huge.

Nobody will ever convince me that the government knows what they are doing and that this Intervention is a good thing.

Mal Brough's 1st 'good work' sticker

2007-08-19T13:13:00.000+09:30

At Ngukurr, there is a community swimming pool. It is clean, free and provides great fun for dozens of kids each day who go there after school and on saturdays to have a good time. the place is run and supervised by a team of local workers who are employed by the CDEP program. When the health dept came to look at the pool, there were no problems found - it was clean and well maintained. The benefits to the pool at Ngukurr are:

-keeping kids amused and entertained thereby giving parents and grandparents who look after big families in overcrowded houses and little bit of respite
-improving kids health - swimming in the chlorinated water keeps kids' skin clean and thereby reducing the stress on the local clinic for treating scabies, skin sores etc. which can be common problems in communities
-employment and training for local ppl on CDEP who work in the pool, many of whom now have their bronze medallion, a bit of training that comes in very handy.

So why does Mal Brough get a good work sticker? Cuz he's scrapping CDEP, which means there will be a lot fewer workers to run the pool (decreased employment). This may mean reduced opening hours. It may also mean that kids will have to pay to use the pool so that workers can be employed to work at the pool. This will reduce the number of kids using the pool, which will increase skin problems/health problems, thereby increasing the demand on the local clinic (greater health costs) and there is potential for greater boredom and less activities for kids who live in a community where there are already much fewer things to do for entertainment than there are in towns and cities. So maybe they'll just start smoking marijuana younger!

Good thinking Mal. Very wise.

Sadly, I can come up with dozens more examples of how ridiculous some of the govt. new laws are. Stay tuned for more!

"no rubber stamp"

2007-08-12T11:45:00.000+09:30

If you would like to do *something* to voice your concerns about the legislation currently going through Parliament, GetUp! has set up a campaign where you can email comments to senators about the legislation before Tuesday's vote.

Go to:

http://www.getup.org.au/campaign/NoRubberStamp&id=57

It's not much, but better than feeling completely powerless.

senate

2007-08-10T10:34:00.000+09:30

The government's intervention legislation is being discussed in the senate today. I'm still disgusted and disheartened by the government's actions - mostly with the process and approach they've taken with the whole affair, but also with some of the things that they're legislating (e.g. needing to suspend the racial discrimination act to pass through the legislation... surely that's gotta raise alarm bells).

It's all pretty depressing, especially when you feel so powerless to change what's happening. And that's exactly the reason why ppl are complaining about the paternalistic approach and lack of consultation - it's leaves ppl feeling completely disempowered...

And so today, some of the most important legislation concerning Ngukurr ppl is going through the senate, but ppl here at Ngukurr are barely aware of it. It is not fair and it is not just.

The Intervention

2007-08-02T11:56:00.000+09:30

Well, the survey team representing the government's 'intervention' came and went yesterday.

Firstly, the communication about the whole thing was poor. There were no announcements about them coming. The local council had to chase up the information themselves about when and what they were doing. Even yesterday, no one knew for sure if there would be a community meeting or if discussions would be 'behind closed doors' so to speak.

But they arrived. Norforce came first and just before lunch a team of public servants came. They first met with the local council and then held a public community meeting.

The meeting started with a representative from Darwin's FACSIA office running through the main points of the intervention: non-compulsory health checks, increased police, tying centrelink payments to school attendance, the wind-up of CDEP, removal of the permit system for the town area and emphasised that this was all in the name of protecting children and keeping them safe. This was all in English and not very plain English. An interpreter came with them but was not utilised.

After that, each public servant introduced themselves and told us what department they represented. The Norforce rep was the stand out - he spoke well and clearly said that their only role was for logistics support - to arrange travel and accommodation.

After that, it was opened up for Ngukurr residents to ask questions. There were some really good questions and points made and some a bit rambly and unfocused. Some people spoke really well. Highlights were:

Former council president DD spoke very strongly about overcrowded housing and how it needs to change and this has been an issue that has been well known for a long time and spoken about many times.

Local teacher RR spoke very strongly about the school. About the need for more facilities. About overcrowded classrooms and that if there was 100% attendance the school just was not equipped to handle it.

GD expressed her concerns about the health checks and said there was a lot of confusion - how some people thought that if children were found to be sexually active (which many teenagers are) they would be placed in foster care. She asked for a clear answer about this and this was about the only clear answer that was forthcoming from the government reps - health checks would be carried out in the same way they are carried out by the local clinic with the same processes.

These community meetings are intense affairs where everyone's deep seated concerns get a chance to bubble to the surface. And I was no different. I am deeply concerned about the changes to the permit system and was ready to pluck up the courage to say something too, but not being sure if I should, being a whitefella and all. But council president KR said it was fine so I got up to say my bit. Approaching the mic, the govt. rep looked at me apprehensively and asked 'where are you from?'. "I'm from here", i said and took the mic.

Facing 100 black faces with mic in hand was daunting, and so I uttered 'gardi!' (means 'goodness' or 'crikey') quietly and there was laughter from the Ngukurr mob who know me well. Anyway, I addressed the crowd in Kriol. In Kriol, I said i wanted to talk about permits. I said there was a review into the permit system last year and JJ from language centre made a submission with 200 signatures all saying they didn't want the permit system to change. I said the rangers also made a submission. I said, "ai nomo sabi eni blekbala la dis komyunidi hu wandim det permit system bla tjeinj" (I don't know any Aboriginal ppl in this community who want the permit system to change) and I said that there was never any report from the permit review and the government is going ahead and changing the law anyway, so that any whitefella can come to Ngukurr without a permit. Then I turned to the govt rep and said in English, "So my question to you is why is the government going ahead and changing the permit system when I don't know any Aboriginal people who want it to change?". And then I got a nice round of applause from the crowd and a wishy washy answer about there being pros and cons about changing the permit system and that was about as much as they said. One govt rep did try to say that by removing the permit system then it would be possible for a high school to be built in Ngukurr (which RR had said was badly needed) - something about service providers being able to come and do the work. This was met with a few cries of 'that's bullshit'.

The local principal (a Maori woman who has been here for 7 or so years) also spoke well, saying that the communication about their arrival was poor. That they need to inform people about what's happening much better. That this shows them respect and that if they do that then people will respect you and be more likely to support what you're trying to do. She also said that people struggle enough to look after children on centrelink payments so instead of punishing ppl whose children aren't attending, how about rewarding ppl whose children are good attenders.

As the meeting was winding up, GD (I think) asked a good question about what's going to happen from here. The answer to which was another wishy-washy one: the health survey team would be coming sometime soon but apart from that there was no information about what would happen next.

Other people spoke too and eventually the meeting wound up. After that, the public servants broke up to have smaller meeting with groups relevant to their dept. I sat in with the local people who are involved in Education who spoke to the DEET rep. He listened well to all the issues that people brought up, again discussing lack of facilities, lack of teacher housing, overcrowded classrooms, lack of training for assistant teachers. By that time it was 4 pm and by 5pm the govt people had all gone.

JJ, who I work closely with, commented that it was a good meeting, but it's a familiar story. The issues that were discussed are issues that have been around for a long time and Ngukurr ppl have brought them up again and again in similiar meetings with similar sorts of public servants. The mood from Ngukurr ppl afterwards seemed to be that they wait in sceptical hope that maybe something will come out of all of this.

Meanwhile, my adrenhalin was still pumping after having my first go at speaking at a public meeting and at public-speaking in Kriol. I was still a bit concerned at the appropriateness of me doing so, but I was thanked and praised by a number of Ngukurr people, black and white. Apparently I made the public servants 'ai kamat' (lit: eyes come out). And I hope that I showed them that it's not just a given that white people only speak English and that you can, if you try, learn to communicate in a way that makes Aboriginal ppl feel comfortable, happy and proud.

Gabmen mob kaman tumorra

2007-07-31T16:47:00.000+09:30

The government survey mob is coming tomorrow. Woo-hoo. Or as they say in Marra, jawayiga! (Although I'm not sure how well my sarcasm translates into Marra.)

here i am

2007-07-27T22:19:00.000+09:30

so slow with posting... sorry. so much happens and i have so much to share but so much of what happens is going by unblogged.

also, the politics (intervention etc.) is getting me down and is so overwhelming that i just don't know where to start blogging about it.

but i've had pretty good week at work. most of it has been out bush seeing places that i haven't seen before. Tuesday was a day trip to Walgundu with is a special site with rock art n lots of stories n history. The highlight was hanging out with some Alawa speakers that I used work with quite a bit and finally doing a bit of language work on Alawa again. Wednesday was in the office and the CDEP team worked so well - they're such a good team at the moment. But they're the ones pushing me to work! They made a gazillion flashcards for teaching and then we got through a fair bit of a Kriol translation job we're doing. Which is tiring but definitely not a bad thing! And Thursday/Friday was an overnight bush trip to Nyanyalindi as part of a school excursion for the high school kids. The mob I took were great company and we saw lots of country that I hadn't been to before and I helped (well, mostly watched) AP make spears and they had a bit of bunggul for the kids at night and I had fresh bream for lunch straight out of the fire. Tired but satisfied. :-)

Politics and getting on with it

2007-07-06T16:23:00.000+09:30

I've found all the politics stuff that's been in the news lately really full on. I've been thinking about it lots and have had lots to say, but then at the same time, I don't quite know what to say and don't quite know what to think. Generally though, I find it pretty scary what the government is doing - and I think the fear comes about from the poor communication - when no one can tell you or knows what's happening, you can't really reassure yourself that everything's okay. One thing I can say though, is that the government's actions definitely have political motivations - no one can convince me otherwise of that.

I was a bit depressed about it all a week or so ago, but I sorta came to the conclusion that I'll just get on with what we're trying to do here and then the proof (of our worth) will be in the pudding.

And have we been doing some good work or what? The 4 ppl working with me on CDEP are doing really well at the moment and are a good little team. The highlight being AJ and AD learning how to digitise old recordings from cassette onto the computer. So now we have 19 short Marra texts that are 33 years old digitised and can now be burned off as audio CDs. Even better is that I've shown AD, AJ and JJ how to update the written versions of the texts into the current Marra orthography so now we have these old recording that were sitting there not doing much now coming to life - on CD and printed off in a much more readable format. So cool.

You know, when I started working in communities, I was probably no different from most linguists when they start off. Fieldwork seemed to be about documenting language from an old person and the function of community members was little more than providing oral language - all the recording, writing, analysis was then done by the munanga linguist. But what I love about my work at the moment is that the guys I work with are doing more and more of everything - transcribing, typing up stuff, uploading sound files, recording, creating materials etc. One of my 'dreams' I wrote down at the start of the year is that I wanted my role to be more of that of 'coach' (someone who trains and directs) rather than 'player' (the person doing all the footwork)... and we seem to be slowly getting there.

Good work guys!

the worst

2007-06-26T09:06:00.000+09:30

I am really scared about what the government's doing with their 'National emergency response'. So much so, that I really just want to put my head in the sand because thinking about what might happen is terrifying, but putting my head in the sand is not going to be very helpful.

I've started reading the 'Little children are sacred' report (from the inquiry into child protection from sexual abuse) and the government's response and I'll comment as I go along.

One very important point stands out in the very first recommendation of the report - a point that Howard's government seems to have missed totally. "It is critical that both governments commit to genuine consultation with Aboriginal people in designing initiatives for Aboriginal communities."

Let me repeat that:

"It is critical that both governments commit to genuine consultation with Aboriginal people in designing initiatives for Aboriginal communities."

That recommendation has now been totally ignored by the government. Totally.

I will comment more about all this business soon, but in the meantime, I was talking briefly about the government's action with JJ, who is very concerned (as probably are all Aboriginal ppl living in communities) and I said to him 'out of all the no-good things the government has done to youmob this is the worst'. (Well, the worst in my time - fortunately I wasn't around when Aboriginal ppl were being killed, raped, removed from families, having their land taken over, punished for speaking language etc.)

article

2007-06-25T08:25:00.000+09:30

Hey I'm in another article. Look here. And I don't even think I sound too silly!