The Northern Institute
Welcome
The Northern Institute is Charles Darwin University's flagship research institute for social and public policy research, development and education, social sciences and humanities. Related fields include public policy, economics, law, business, political science and demography.
Three critical components drive the Institute’s activities - People, Policy and Place.
The Northern Institute has been established to provide an environment to discuss and research the scope of a regional Northern Australia and its important relationship with our neighbours in South-East Asia.
The Northern Australia region offers similarities to Asia, which both unites us and underpins the Institute’s activities. Aspects of similarity include ‘two-speed’ economies, with high growth in some environments and other parts (essentially rural and remote) that still lag behind.
We also share the issue of resource-demand driven impact on fragile environments and on individual and community livelihoods, as well and the consequences associated with tthe take up of innovative technologies on quality of life and future demand for equality of services.
In bringing together key thinkers, strategists, policy makers and scholars, the Institute addresses the priorities and challenges of our time. It contributes beyond ideas, into plans, practice and policy formulation. It enables a space for encouraging new methods and new alliances, drawing on deep history and experience. The Institute supports new voices, young scholars and community-based dialogue around the emerging priorities of our region.
Central to our research are our stakeholders across the public and non- government, as well as industry sectors, and the communities in which we are active. We build on established relationships, including the CDU Partnership Agreement with Northern Territory Government, and link with other research through our inter-disciplinary environment.
Northern Australia is home to nearly one million people. It is largely a young, dynamic demographic, with one in seven residents being Indigenous Australians.
The sparseness of settlements has and continues to define and shape us socially, economically and demographically. That the region has developed despite this speaks not only to the character and courage of those who have settled here from elsewhere but also to the resilience and determination of those who were here first.
As Australia’s ‘gateway to Asia’, Northern Australia has a strategic advantage in terms of trade and tourism with a 500 hundred year history of trading with its near neighbours. Access to education (including online and distance education), health services and improved wellbeing remain critical and significant aspirations for the populations of Northern Australia.
Economic development for the north is centred on the pastoral, mining and service sectors, which includes education, health, justice as well as hospitality and tourism. Increasingly, the northern ports (which ship more than 50 percent of national export tonnage) are seen as critical to the economic sustainability of the region.
Forecasting and understanding the size, structure, and spatial distribution of the region is critical in designing policy and planning for the future.
The gathering of evidence through focused research provides the foundations essential for future policy formulation as well as enabling evaluation and review of existing policy frameworks.
The development of public and social policy for the Region offers important opportunities for the exchange of knowledge, research and dialogue for the improvement of the wellbeing, education and livelihoods of the communities of Northern Australia and its near Asian neighbours.
These opportunities highlight not just the causes and consequences of population flows to/from and within but also the impacts on those populations (and their communities) who choose to remain. While such demographic dynamism does make populations a challenge to model, useful approaches can include developing alternate models not reliant on large, closed and primarily urban populations.
The future will necessitate a re-thinking and re-shaping of the traditional boundaries of knowledge production and policy making in relation to the challenges of the region.
Northern Australia is a vast, diverse and highly varied landscape, where place making (which is determined historically, culturally and socially) remains both locally focussed and highly valued. Northern Australia consists of some three million hectares across both desert and tropical environments; a landscape steeped in deep history, where human beings have lived for more than 40,000 years.
While there are a number of regional cities in the north, many of which experience high growth and diverse economies, people in Northern Australia still continue to live ‘remotely’ – which by definition – means that their capacity to access goods and services remains restricted by distance. The region’s future challenges include the successful integration of new communication technologies, innovation in e-commerce and e-health and the role of transport in maintaining networks and connections.