Program
For more detailed information about timings of various presenters please refer to the timetable section.
Keynote Speakers
Desert Knowledge is about hearing desert voices: both the applied wisdom of generations of Aboriginal social, cultural and economic life and, more recently, knowledge of people from other cultures. It is about connecting those voices to the knowledge of other desert people. It comes from the resilience of desert people in adapting and surviving in an extreme environment.
In Australia there is currently much rethinking occurring about the real challenges facing the people and communities of the desert. How do we learn to listen to, recognise and value all the voices to ensure that we develop good directions for the future? What models, practices and research can we learn from?
2008 Desert Knowledge Symposium and Business Showcase will focus on six key themes:
Making remote governance work
Governance is about how we run things and the structures we use to do it. It is also about how governments administer and interact with the desert. In the desert, it may also be about how we organise ourselves to live in diverse environments and take advantage of the opportunities they offer.
What do we know about appropriate structures and systems for small, remote and regional communities? How can we better connect the backyards of the Australian states? What can we learn from the past and from overseas experiences?
Networking business and knowledge
Scale, critical mass and sustainability are important issues for desert business. The challenge for business and services is to create connections, networks and outcomes that can effectively address these issues.
How can we network to use desert knowledge to underpin new ways of doing things? How can we learn from each other through the exchange of relevant ideas? Are there lessons to be learned from local and overseas approaches, including business clustering in rural and remote regions?
Learning for desert futures
Life-long learning from school to university or VET courses is taken for granted in urban areas, but is an unmet need in remote regions. Without appropriate education and training, coupled with the links to livelihood outcomes, the sustainability of remote communities is fragile.
How can we rethink the basis for what we deliver, how we deliver, and the outcomes from schooling, higher education and training to suit the needs and aspirations of desert people? Are there models and other places we can examine and learn from?
Capturing industry opportunities for desert people
Desert industries are dominated by mining, tourism and pastoralism. Other business opportunities have the potential to grow into sizable industries. Workforce sparseness and mobility, extremes of climate and high overhead costs require smart responses.
What is the state of the desert economy? How can we learn from successes in the pastoral, mining, art, tourism and other industries? How do we turn innovation into enterprise? What are the prospects for established and new businesses and industries?
Seizing the desert environment opportunity
Desert environments may be fragile, but they are resilient. Today they face the challenges of climate change, expanding resource development, increasing population footprints and the increasing impacts of tourism.
How can we sustain our environments? What systems, services and practices will help us live in them? What can we learn from the way other countries approach the impacts and their consequences? What can they tell us about successful desert living?
Exporting desert knowledge
The development of a global information and services economy presents a major opportunity for Australian desert research to make a positive difference internationally. This economy is growing at a time of increasing concern over climate change, a potential for increased desertification around the world's arid zones.
How do we make the most of desert knowledge - both new research knowledge and the know-how born of experience - as an export commodity? How do we position desert intellectual property for commercialisation in the global economy? What can we import from overseas experience?
The Desert Knowledge Symposium is a forum to exchange ideas for the greater use of desert knowledge for sustainable growth.
It brings together the Aboriginal people, pastoralists, business people, researchers, artists, administrators and visitors from overseas countries with desert and remote regions.
We share a passion for the desert and the imagination to try to be innovative and to create a sustainable future for desert living.
We take the long view, because we all understand that there are no short cuts or short-term solutions.
Our desert has a long history.
The Symposium is a unique chance to focus on both the research and ideas being generated throughout Australia and elsewhere and the know-how that comes from long experience of desert living. It will be a major forum to apply these insights to the challenges confronting the desert people, environments and economies in Australia and throughout the world.
Provisional Program
The Desert Knowledge Symposium and Business Showcase will commence on Monday, 3 November at the Alice Springs Convention Centre with the Welcome Reception at the Desert Knowledge Precinct Park.
The Symposium will consist of three days of plenary and concurrent sessions.
On Tuesday afternoon there will be the choice of activities for delegates to attend: a Business Forum on the Business Showcase, a tour to Desert Knowledge Precinct Park or a Melbourne Cup Event at the Turf Club. A Business Breakfast will be held on Wednesday morning at the Alice Springs Convention Centre.
Social Program
> Monday, 3 November - Welcome Reception at Desert Knowledge Precinct Park
> Tuesday, 4 November - Desert Stories at Alice Springs Convention Centre
> Wednesday, 5 November - Conference Dinner
> Thursday, 6 November - Wildfoods and Story Wall in Alice Springs
The Business Showcase will be open to delegates and the public on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday from 07:30 – 17:00.
The Hon Fred Chaney AO
Fred Chaney was born in Perth in 1941. He practised law in New Guinea and Western Australia, including time in-house with the Hancock-Wright prospecting partnership, and subsequent private practice with emphasis on mining related work until he entered the Senate in 1974. Fred was involved in the Aboriginal Legal Service in a voluntary capacity in the early 1970's. He was in the Senate until 1990 and was Leader of the Opposition in the Senate from 1983 to 1990. He was Member for Pearce in the House of Representatives from 1990 to 1993. Among his Ministerial appointments were Aboriginal Affairs, Social Security and Minister Assisting the Minister for National Development and Energy. After leaving Parliament he undertook research into Aboriginal Affairs policy and administration as a Research Fellow with the Graduate School of Management at the University of Western Australia from 1993 to 1995. He was appointed Chancellor of Murdoch University in 1995 and continued in that capacity until 2003.
In 1994 he was appointed as a part-time Member of the National Native Title Tribunal, a full-time Member in April 1995 and was Deputy President from 2000 to 2007.
In January 1997 he was appointed an Officer of the Order of Australia.
He served as Co-Chair of Reconciliation Australia Ltd from 2000 to 2005 and continues as a Director on the Board.
In 2005 he was appointed chairman of Desert Knowledge Australia
In 2007 he is chairing the Consultation Committee on a Human Rights Act for Western Australia.
Ifor Ffowcs-Williams
Since establishing Cluster Navigators in 1997, Ifor has been active across Europe, North America, Asia, Africa, the Caribbean and Australasia in introducing clustering as a cornerstone for economic development. Ifor is a frequent speaker on competitiveness, clusters, and local innovation systems.
Ifor's focus has been on the training of economic development professionals in the process of cluster development, designing and reviewing cluster development programmes, and facilitating cluster workshops.
Professor Jeannie Herbert
Vice-Chancellor Batchelor Institute of Indigenous Tertiary Education
Prof Jeannie Herbert took up the role of Director of the Institute in February 2006. The role title was changed to Vice-Chancellor in January 2008.
Since graduating as a primary school teacher in 1962, Prof Herbert has worked in all levels of education, from pre-school to university, in both Indigenous and mainstream education in Australia and overseas. In 1983 she moved from the classroom to educational administration and became increasingly focused on education for Indigenous Australians. Prior to taking up this position Prof Herbert was Head of the School of Indigenous Australian Studies and Professor of Indigenous Australian Studies, at James Cook University in north Queensland. Prof Herbert's career also includes a strong research focus over the last decade. In recognition of her research in Indigenous education, Prof Herbert was awarded the prestigious Betty Watts Award by the AARE in 2005.
Dr Amit Kapoor
Dr Amit Kapoor is Professor of Strategy and Industrial Economics at Management Development Institute, Gurgaon, India. He also is the Chairman of the Initiative on Competitiveness. During his previous assignments he was associated with IIM, Lucknow as Professor and with Datamonitor PLC as Chief Economist & Head of its Economic Research Practice.
He is associated with Institute for Strategy and Competitiveness at Harvard Business School for offering the course developed by Professor Michael Porter on Microeconomics of Competitiveness at his parent institute, MDI, Gurgaon. He is a Sloan Affiliate and has received the Ruth Greene Memorial Award for the best authored case. He is member of the Committee on Manufacturing Competitiveness of Confederation of Indian Industry.
He has been invited by Kennedy School of Government and Harvard Law School, Harvard University to present his views on outsourcing and economic development. His research interest is in the area of enhancing competitiveness of countries and firms and leveraging technology for success. He is an MBA and a Ph.D. in industrial economics and business strategy.
John Scanlon
John is Principal Advisor to the Executive Director on Policy and Program and Team Leader, Strategic Implementation Team, with the UN Environment Program. Previous appointments include: Chief Executive, Department of Environment, Heritage and Aboriginal Affairs (Adelaide, Australia); Advisor, World Commission on Dams (Cape Town, South Africa); Director, IUCN Environmental Law Centre (Bonn, Germany); and Australia's first independent Commissioner, Murray Darling Basin Commission.
Melanie Stutsel
Director - Environmental and Social Policy
Minerals Council of Australia
With qualifications in resource management and environmental science, and having worked as Senior Adviser - Environment and Heritage to the Federal Opposition, Melanie joined the Minerals Council in April 2000.
In her role as Director - Environmental and Social Policy, Melanie is responsible for the provision of policy and scientific advice on issues relating to the environmental and social management of the Australian minerals industry's operations both domestically and overseas.
Melanie represents the Minerals Council of Australia in a range of fora including technical working groups, government advisory groups and various task forces of the International Council on Mining and Metals.
Melanie was the officer responsible for the development of Enduring Value - the Australian Minerals Industry Framework for Sustainable Development, and maintains responsibility for its strategic oversight and management going forward.
Margaret Wheatley, ED.D.
Margaret Wheatley writes, teaches, and speaks about radically new practices and ideas for organizing in chaotic times. She is president emerita of The Berkana Institute, a charitable global foundation serving life-affirming leaders around the world. Her book, Finding Our Way: Leadership for an Uncertain Time synthesizes all her writings about leadership. Wheatley also authored Leadership and the New Science, revised in 2006, Turning to One Another: Simple Conversations to Restore Hope to the Future, and A Simpler Way (with Myron Kellner-Rogers).
Her articles and work can be accessed at www.margaretwheatley.com