Professor Ian Lowe

Biographical Details

Ian Lowe is one of Australia's most prominent environmental scientists as well as an amateur tenor and serious swing bowler. An Emeritus Professor at Griffith University, he has made presentations on environmental issues to audiences ranging from the Academy of Science to the Woodford Folk Festival. Recognition of his work includes the Queensland Premier's Millennium Award for Excellence in Science, the Prime Minister's Environment Award for Outstanding Individual Achievement, the 2002 Eureka Prize for Promotion of Science, the Centenary Medal and being made an Officer of the Order of Australia. He directed Australia's Commission for the Future in 1988, chaired the advisory council that produced the first national report on the state of the environment in 1996 and has been centrally involved in the international movement toward "sustainability science".

Presentation Abstract

Why depending on oil and gas is incompatible with the goal of sustainable communities in the Territory

As a nation, we are committed to the goal of developing in a sustainable way through a National Strategy, adopted by the Council of Australian Governments in 1992. Achieving that goal will require commitment to efficient resource use, conserving environmental values and developing social stability. Energy supply and use is a crucial consideration because our way of life is critically dependent on the ready availability of large amounts of fuel energy. For energy use to be sustainable, three changes are needed. We have to improve dramatically the efficiency of turning energy into the services people want: transport, lighting, cooling and heating, motive power and so on. We should be moving away from supply technologies based on limited resources; the most obvious example is petroleum. Finally, we should be phasing out energy supply technologies that impose unacceptable environmental costs, of which the most urgent example is global climate change resulting from use of hydrocarbon fuels. For these reasons, sustainability involves moving away from fossil fuels and increasing our reliance on renewable energy technologies, as well as improving the efficiency of energy use. The good news is that these changes will bring a range of social and economic benefits, especially to those communities which obtain an advantage by being "early adopters" of the new technologies.

Professor Peter Newman

Biographical Details

Professor Peter Newman is on secondment to the WA government where he is the Director of the Sustainability Policy Unit in the Department of Premier and Cabinet, co-ordinating the development of a Sustainability Strategy for the state. This Strategy has been recognised as one of the most innovative attempts in the world with significant public engagement.
He is also the Professor of City Policy at Murdoch University where he has been since the University began in 1974. He has been an elected councillor with the City of Fremantle and had secondments to work with the WA Premier and the Minister for Transport in the 80's. He is best known in Perth for his work in rebuilding the city's rail system.
Peter also works on an international level where he studies global cities and is a Visiting Professor with the University of Pennsylvania. His book with Jeff Kenworthy 'Sustainability and Cities: Overcoming Automobile Dependence' was launched in the White House in 1999 and his 2001 co-authored book is called 'Back on Track: Rethinking Australian and New Zealand Transport.'

Presentation Abstract

Sustainability and town planning: Some potential applications to the north.

Sustainability brings fresh perspectives as government, business and civil society try to simultaneously achieve improvement of their economies, environments, and communities. How WA has created a Sustainability Strategy, despite its 'wild west' caricature, may provide some perspective on the potential for the Northern Territory to adopt this unfolding global process and paradigm.
Town Planning was re-born 100 years ago as a way to integrate environmental and social concerns with the market. It remains a tool that could provide new opportunities for sustainability. Two key areas of application are: (1) Regional sustainability through the integration of 'place narrative' and community visioning with economic plans and natural resource management plans; and (2) Revitalising settlements through integrated land use and transport, especially emphasising their walkability.

Galarrwuy Yunupingu

Biographical Details

Galarrwuy Yunupingu, AM is a long-serving Chairman of one of Australia’s most powerful Aboriginal organisations, the Northern Land Council. His life is synonymous with the struggle for land rights and justice for his people. Born at Yirrkala (Melville Bay) in the Northern Territory in 1948, Galarrwuy was educated at the Yirrkala Mission School and at a Methodist bible college in Brisbane. He first became the NLC’s Chairman in 1977 and is a senior Gumatj clan leader. A formidable advocate for his people, he was presented with the Australian of the Year Award in 1978 and was awarded the Member of the Order of Australia in 1985.

Presentation Abstract

"Land Rights, the Northern Territory and "development" in the 21st Century".

• The continuity of cultural and spiritual value of the land for Aboriginal people.
• The change in non-Aboriginal values - coming more into line with an Aboriginal appreciation of the value of land management.
• Potential areas of agreement and conflict between emerging Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal views of the land.
• The challenge of bringing the two systems closer together constitutionally, culturally, and economically.

Mr Alan Morris

Biographical Details

Alan Morris has worked in the public sector at Territory, national and international level. An economist by profession, he has been particularly involved with machinery of government issues and promoting principles of good governance. He was Secretary of the Northern Territory Department of the Chief Minister from 1984-90 and Executive Director of the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development from 1994-97. He is currently Chairman of the Commonwealth Grants Commission and also undertakes advisory work in the Pacific region.

Presentation Abstract

Powerhouse or Mendicant? Is the Territory an engine of growth or a drag on the Federation?

Territorians like to portray the Territory as a ‘sleeping giant’ whose potential as a powerhouse of the national economy is constrained by a lack of interest in the more populous parts of Australia, and timid, unsympathetic policies by successive national governments.

The Territory’s existence as a functioning community is heavily underpinned by the process of fiscal equalisation. The Territory receives more than five times the Australian average level of per capita funding through this process. Without this level of funding the structure of the Territory community could not be sustained at anything like current levels.

What does this say about financial sustainability?

This presentation will discuss the Territory’s financial viability and the prospects for the future. It will address such questions as whether the high levels of Commonwealth funding are an acceptable price to pay to sustain the Federation, an investment in the nation’s future, and how financial sustainability should be viewed.

Dr Tess Lea
Email:  cdss2003@ntu.edu.au
Phone: 0418 823 200

Dr David Bowman
Email:  cdss2003@ntu.edu.au
Phone: (+61 8) 8946 7763