Indigenous Economic and Human Development in Northern Australia

Abstract

Don Fuller and Eileen Cummings argue that in Australia the destruction of the previously productive Indigenous economic system has led, since the 1970s in particular, to a dependence on government services and programmes. A number of researchers and practitioners have begun to question the implications of such dependence for the economic and human condition of Indigenous Australians. The authors maintain that a higher degree of economic equality needs to be achieved before many of the severe social problems, which also confront Indigenous Australians, can be properly addressed. An important constraint to improved economic equality lies in the unacceptably low educational outcomes and opportunities for business skills development for Indigenous Australians.