A group of Indigenous community leaders, emergency services and researchers gathered in remote northern Queensland in September for a forum on research that aims to strengthen the local partnerships in emergency management.
The forum hosted approximately 40 people and was held in Moungibi/Burketown, in the Gulf Region of Queensland, co-hosted by the Carpentaria Aboriginal Land Council Aboriginal Corporation and Gunggalida Garawa Traditional Owners and involved over 20 Indigenous representatives from communities spanning the Kimberley, south-east Western Australia, Northern Territory and north Queensland, senior emergency management from Queensland Fire and Emergency Services, NT (Bushfires NT and PFES), Western Australia DFES local government and other relevant agency representatives.
The research contingent was represented by the Galiwin’ku Research Group, the North Australian Indigenous Land and Sea Management Alliance (NAILSMA), ANU, and Natural Hazards Research Australia (the Centre).
Node Managers Nicola Moore and George Goddard were invited to attend the two-day forum and participated in discussions around the Centre project: Connecting Indigenous People and the emergency management sector – effective partnerships.
The project has many aims that were furthered by the forum, in particular the drafting of a joint statement of intent to outline how to work together for emergency management in respectful and complementary ways, as well as sharing other projects such as exploring the specific case study in Moungibi/Burketown on the key role the local Indigenous Ranger Groups played in supporting their local community during the floods in March 2023, the value of the partnerships between Indigenous leadership, culturally based land management and its potential relevance to emergency management and to other peoples and areas.
Next steps will be the finalisation and publication of the Joint Statement of Intent and exploring potential further projects that can provide evidence on the value of investment into local Indigenous Ranger programs on cultural land management, building community capability for emergency management and other community outcomes.