from THE ART OF SYSTEMS THINKING - Jason O'Connor & Ian McDermott
“A system is an entity that maintains its existence and functions as a whole through the interaction of its parts.”
“Systems have emergent properties that are not found in their parts. You cannot predict the properties of a complete system by taking it to pieces and analysing its parts”
“Systems thinking is thinking in loops rather than straight lines”
'We failed to ask - How would I feel if this was done to me?
Paul Keating- The Redfern Address
An excerpt from 'Rebuilding the Block' Redwatch:
In 1973, Prime Minister Gough Whitlam provided the initial grant to the Aboriginal Housing Company (AHC) to allow the first housing purchases on this parcel of land in Redfern and the Block became the birthplace of urban land rights in this country. At that time, there were 102 houses in and immediately around the Block. Now, only 19 inhabited homes remain. While some have fallen victim to arson attacks by disgruntled tenants, others have been razed by the AHC to prevent their use as drug houses. More than anything else, drugs have been the scourge of this place, bringing unemployment, crime, poverty, sickness and death.
The land itself is just under 8000 square metres. But what the Block lacks in size, it makes up for in significance. For the people who populate it - whether residents or visitors - it is the cornerstone of an Aboriginal presence in our biggest capital city, a meeting place for indigenous people from across the country and a landmark that serves as a reminder of our native people to the other 98 per cent of the population.
Shane Phillips lives on Holden Street. He is a long-term resident of the Block, having moved in at the age of five with his father, Dick Blair, one of the founding members of the AHC, his mother and his eight brothers and sisters.
His father went on to become the local pastor, a community role model; his eldest sister died of a heroin overdose. His experience of the Block illustrates its polarity - the way it can give hope and take it away. "It's been tough," he says. "We've learned the hard way, that's for sure."
The 41-year-old skipper of the Tribal Warrior vessels - two historic boats that host cultural tours on Sydney harbour - is desperate to find a way forward. "I'm passionate about change because generations of our people will survive because of it. If we can't have one community in Sydney - the front-line of the colony - that can be a positive place for our people, then they might as well just shoot us all."
The answer, he says, is to give successful Aboriginal people the opportunity to reshape the Block from the inside out. "Now is the time to give us a real chance," he says. "If you were to put working people in here who want to raise their kids and not worry about drugs in the street, who care about neighbourhood watch and cultural values, you'd see a vast change coming about."
That would be a major turnaround to what exists now. To many Sydneysiders, the Block is a no-go zone: a drug-, alcohol- and crime-ridden ghetto across the road from Redfern train station. Some consider it a blight on the landscape and want it bulldozed; others suspect developers have plans to seize it and exploit its obvious commercial potential.
Few seem to know that for the past six years, the AHC, together with some of the city's leading architects, has been working on a $60 million redevelopment plan to regenerate the Block into a thriving urban centre for Aboriginal people and for visitors, including tourists. They want to demolish the Block and replace it with 62 residential dwellings - two-thirds of which would be sold to owner-occupiers. The Pemulwuy Project, named after the first Aboriginal freedom fighter, would include an indigenous business college, student hostel, gym, retail outlets and an art gallery. A communal meeting place called Red Place would incorporate a playground, giant television screen and a park.
In the AHC offices on the top corner of the Block, between Lawson and Caroline streets, the housing company's CEO, Mick Mundine, speaks passionately about the plans. "This is going to give our people a bit of self-esteem and hope for the future," he says. "Our people have lived without hope but I think with this project they will be able to see a bit of hope coming to reality."
Part of the formula, he says, is that the plan would be entirely self-funding, via money raised through home sales and private equity. "We aren't relying on any government funding," he says with pride.
http://www.redwatch.org.au/media/061130smhtsm/
Metropolitan, residential suburban. Located Sydney, southeastern.
Principal suburbs: Alexandria, Beaconsfield, Daceyville, East Botany, Eastgardens, Eastlakes, Erskineville, Eveleigh, Kensington, Kingsford, Mascot, Pagewood, Redfern, Rosebery, St Peters, Sydenham, Tempe, Waterloo, Zetland.
Area: 33 sq km.
Population: 68,592. Enrolment: 47,479.
The NSW Land Rights Act 1983 was an important milestone. The dispossession of Aboriginal people from their land is acknowledged in the Act’s preamble, which states:
"I suspect that about 350-400,000 of those are already integrated satisfactorily into the country," Major General Jeffery said in a farewell interview on Sky News.
"Integrated to such an extent that you don't hear about them, they're doing what we would look upon as normal jobs, living normal Australian lives."
About 100,000 Aborigines mostly living in the remote north have been "doing it hard for many years", he said.
Mr Dodson, a fierce critic of the Howard Government, which appointed Maj Gen Jeffery to the position, scoffed at the suggestion that disadvantage is concentrated in remote areas.
"We're not living normal lives - we're totally over-represented in the social indicators, we're dying a lot younger, we don't have the education opportunities, (people are living) below the poverty line in many parts of Australia. It is not just those in northern Australia who are battling to make ends meet."
Aboriginal leader Pat Dodson told Fairfax the head of state's remarks were superficial and suggested that all that was needed was to "force these (remote) people out of their communal ways".
"It really denies the uniqueness of who the indigenous people are and what their contribution to this country can be in their own right, as if they have nothing to contribute except the absorption of the culture that the West has offered to us. It's a pretty damnable statement if that's the case."
Earlier this year, Maj Gen Jeffery supported the apology to Aborigines removed from their families as children and he has spoken often of the need to teach more indigenous history in schools.
But his remarks are sensitive because of the debate sparked by the federal intervention in Northern Territory remote communities. Critics called the intervention "paternalistic" and a continuation of the mindset that led to the stolen generations in the first place.
Lowitja O'Donoghue, the first head of the disbanded Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission, said Maj Gen Jeffery's figures are "questionable" and imply that urban Aborigines are doing fine.
"It really promotes the urban-remote divide, and that is really quite wrong," Dr O'Donoghue, herself once touted as a potential governor-general, said.
"I'm just disappointed that he should go out on a note like that when we know there's been a lot of emphasis on remote areas and the difficulties there, but there are huge, huge difficulties in urban Australia, and we need to bridge that gap."
Governors-general have often used their position to speak out on Aboriginal issues.
Sir William Deane promoted reconciliation and the incoming Governor-General, Quentin Bryce, has said one of her priorities will be Aboriginal affairs.
http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,24273545-421,00.html
