Population Mobility & Labour Markets Project

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The Issue

• High levels of temporary mobility among Aboriginal people living in remote communities

• Highly mobile populations:• Creates barriers to economic participation

Education Employment

• Creates challenges for the delivery of services• Creates challenges for provision of infrastructure

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Project Objectives

• To enhance economic participation and livelihoods and for Aboriginal people in remote Australia through:

• better understanding of the factors driving temporary mobility

• empirical estimates of the extent and patterns of temporary mobility.

• Improved planning and decision-making by communities, service providers, policy-makers and employers.

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Project Methodology• Two stage sampling frame:

• Sample of 25 remote communities in which residents would access Alice Springs as regional service centre

• Sample of individuals aged 15+ within communities

• One ‘baseline’ survey with four quarterly follow-up surveys to capture seasonal variation in mobility

• Ultimately a ‘convenience sample’ to some extent

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Aboriginal and Torres StraitIslander Mobility

• From first engagement, mobility patterns have been seen as ‘problematic’:

• Initially seen as random and unproductive

• The many policies to ‘civilise’ and ‘assimilate’ had the deliberate aim of sedentisation

• To this day, mobility seen as inconsistent with mainstream models of service delivery and attempts to ‘Close the Gap’.

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Key lessons from the literature

• The traditional drivers of kinship, culture and country have proven to be extremely resilient

• “Attachment to place and community prevail, irrespective of a history of changing government policies. There appears no reason to expect that these attachments will change in the foreseeable future.” (Memmott et al. 2006)

• “Even after 200 years of colonisation … involving radical dispossession of Aboriginal groups and … severe curtailment of their freedom to move around their country, nearly 70% … recognised a homeland or traditional country” (Morhpy 2010)

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Re-conceptualisation of mobility

“Mobility is a means to access those things that contribute to wellbeing, and to avoid those things that

contribute to illbeing”

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanderlivelihoods in remote Australia

Health

Employment Family & kin connections

Education

WellbeingCulture

Income

Country

Some preliminary findings:

10

0

2

4

6

8

10

12

Food &grocery

shopping

Othershopping

Banking Health Centrelink Carservice/parts

Aver

age

trip

s per

yea

r

Trips away from the community to access services

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Trips away from the communityto access services

• In total 19 times per year

• Most common services:• Shopping for food & groceries• Other shopping• Banking• Health

• For those who travel to Alice Springs, average of 865 kilometres per month

• Maximum of 15,000 kms per month

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Trips involving an overnight stay outside of the community – activities undertaken

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Barriers to mobility• Of persons aged 17 and over, only 41% held a current driver’s license.

Can you always get access to a vehicle if you need one?

0

5

10

15

20

25

30

35

40

45

50

Yes Most of thetime

Sometimes Not veryoften

Only in anemergency

No

Perc

ent

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Barriers to mobility• 1 in 3 wanted to make a trip but couldn’t in the past 12 months.

What stops you travelling?

0 5 10 15 20 25 30

Children/kids

Family reasons

Busy working

No licensed driver

No safe vehicle

Culture

Can't get a ride

Not enough money

Per cent

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Issues of Vehicle AccessMajor labour market implications

Proportion in employment

With driver’s licence 54%

Without driver’s licence 23%

High vehicle access (always/most of the time)

43%

Low vehicle access 28%

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Preliminary findings

• High mobility is NOT the issue!

• Country, culture and kinship remain key drivers of mobility:• Because these are intrinsic to their wellbeing• 86.5% of respondents living on homelands

• People travel vast distance to access services• Large potential gains from innovations in service delivery and

from improved transport networks.

• Barriers to mobility limit livelihoods in remote communities• Limit service access• Dramatically limit employment opportunities

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Preliminary findings

• Sustainability of remote communities

• Good policy and planning decisions require understanding how people will respond to different incentives.

• Will not readily sever ties to kin and country• Negative effects on those displaced

• Those costs need to be weighed against benefits of alternatives:

• Improving service access• Improving transport networks, housing and other

infrastructure• Promoting community based enterprise and employment.

Project Partners

• Australian Bureau of Statistics• Central Land Council• Charles Darwin University• Curtin University• Northern Territory Government• Prime Minister and Cabinet, Australian Government• Tangentyere Council • University of South Australia• Waltja Tjutangku Palyapayi• Western Australian Government

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