Whose national emergency? Caboolture and Kirribili? or Milikapiti and Mutitjulu?

Keynote Address - Ms Marion Scrymgour MLA Member for Arafura, Northern Territory Government. Other Speakers - Professor Gavin Brown AO FAA, Vice-Chancellor and Principal, University of Sydney; Mr Neville Perkins OAM, Master of Ceremonies; Mr Charles Madden, Welcome to country; Ms Michelle Blanchard, Acting Director, Koori Centre; Mr Nicholas Beeton, Ms Kerry Wallace-Massone, Ms Jade Swan Prize winners, Dr Charles Perkins AO Annual Memorial Prize

Development and preliminary validation of the 'Caring for Country' questionnaire: measurement of an Indigenous Australian health determinant

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>'Caring for Country' is defined as Indigenous participation in interrelated activities with the objective of promoting ecological and human health. Ecological services on Indigenous-owned lands are belatedly attracting some institutional investment. However, the health outcomes associated with Indigenous participation in 'caring for country' activities have never been investigated. The aims of this study were to pilot and validate a questionnaire measuring caring for country as an Indigenous health determinant and to relate it to an external reference, obesity.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Purposively sampled participants were 301 Indigenous adults aged 15 to 54 years, recruited during a cross-sectional program of preventive health checks in a remote Australian community. Questionnaire validation was undertaken with psychometric tests of internal consistency, reliability, exploratory factor analysis and confirmatory one-factor congeneric modelling. Accurate item weightings were derived from the model and used to create a single weighted composite score for caring for country. Multiple linear regression modelling was used to test associations between the caring for country score and body mass index adjusting for socio-demographic factors and health behaviours.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The questionnaire demonstrated adequate internal consistency, test-retest validity and proxy-respondent validity. Exploratory factor analysis of the 'caring for country' items produced a single factor solution that was confirmed via one-factor congeneric modelling. A significant and substantial association between greater participation in caring for country activities and lower body mass index was demonstrated. Adjusting for socio-demographic factors and health behaviours, an inter-quartile range rise in caring for country scores was associated with 6.1 Kg and 5.3 Kg less body weight for non-pregnant women and men respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This study indicates preliminary support for the validity of the caring for country concept and a questionnaire designed to measure it. This study also highlights the importance of investigating Indigenous-asserted health promotion activities. Further studies in similar populations are merited to test the generalisability of this questionnaire and to explore associations with other important Indigenous health outcomes.</p

Marion Scrymgour

Date:1960Marion was born to a Tiwi-woman Claire Mollimini and Jack Scrymgour in Darwin. Through her mother Marion has inherited Tiwi identity and obligations as a member of the Maradui Skin Group. Marion is married to David Dalrymple and has three children, Cherise, Richard and Helen. Marion attended St. Paul's primary school in Nightcliff and St. Mary's in Darwin CBD.She attended secondary school in Sydney at Our Lady of Sacred Heart College and St. John's College in Darwin. As a mature-age student Marion has undertaken correspondence courses in book-keeping, accounting, administration and health economics. Her employment has included administration duties at Batchelor College and the Northern Land Council and Office Manager at the Nguiu Community Government Council. She then went to be Director, Wurli Wurlinjang Aboriginal Corporation and co-ordinated community care trials for Commonwealth and Territory Governments in health service provision in the Katherine West Region. Prior to her election, Marion was a Director of Katherine West Health Board Aboriginal Corporation. Marion joined Australian politics in 2001. She has been a member of the Northern Territory Legislative Assembly since 2001, representing the electorate of Arafura. She was the Labor Party Labor Deputy Chief Minister of the Northern Territory from November 2007 until February 2009, and was the highest-ranked indigenous person in government in Australia's history. She was also the first indigenous woman to be elected to the Northern Territory Parliament. Scrymgour had a rapid rise within the party throughout the 2000s, and despite a reputation for outspoken views on indigenous issues, rose to become Deputy Chief Minister under Paul Henderson. She had a controversial term as Education Minister under Henderson, and was shifted to the Attorney-General portfolio in February 2009. Several days later, she resigned from Cabinet and as Deputy Chief Minister, citing "health reasons". Scrymgour remained on the Labor backbench until June 2009, when she resigned from the Labor Party over its stance on supporting remote indigenous communities. She sat in the Legislative Assembly as an independent, and held the balance of power; Labor had held only a one-seat majority before her departure. On 4 August 2009, Scrymgour rejoined the ALP.PoliticianIndigenous Australia

Is it agency? An integrative interpretation of female adolescents\u27 sexual behaviour in three remote Australian Aboriginal communities

In this paper we attempt to understand at least some of the complex and interacting forces - cultural, biological, developmental and historical - that influence adolescents\u27 sexual behaviour in three remote Australian Aboriginal communities. We use the concept of \u27agency\u27 only as a foil for our interpretation. Drawing upon ethnographic material, we focus on: \u27walkin\u27 around at night\u27, avoidance of arranged marriages and the exchange of sexual favours for drugs and money. Cognitive, evolutionary, and neuroscience enable us to illustrate the interpenetration of sociocultural and psychobiological factors in adolescent girls\u27 behaviour: expectations about marriage, a desire for love, sexual urges, a brain that is highly responsive to peers and rewards, a disadvantaged and uncertain environment, and challenges to effective adult control

“Milbulgali Bagili”: A systematic scoping review of the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advocacy 1940‐1970

Issue addressed: Health promotion, the process of enabling people to increase control over their health, implies advocacy and empowerment on behalf of others. This does not account for the phenomena whereby Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have advocated to strengthen the determinants of their own and their communities' health. This paper provides a systematic scoping review of the published literature that documents Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advocacy to improve community empowerment during the time 1940-1970. The objectives of the review were to establish: 1. The extent to which Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander advocacy has been documented; 2. The extent to which the literature is written from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspective; 3. The extent to which local community-level advocacy has been documented; and 4. How advocacy occurred. Methods: The Informit database was systematically searched, publications selected against inclusion criteria, and themes synthesised to map key concepts, types of evidence and gaps in research. Results: Based on this systematic search, 30 papers were found. The four key themes identified were: individual advocates, black organisations, international solidarity and black and white people working together. Conclusions: Despite the many gaps in the literature, there is documented evidence of considerable outcomes from advocacy. So what?: The concept of advocacy and indeed, health promotion itself, may need to be decolonised, and that the concept of “everyday resistance” may more accurately encompass the diverse repertoire of actions which took place between agents of resistance and agents of dominant power</p