David Mercer

A pinch of salt: landowner perception and adjustment to the salinity hazard in Victoria, Australia

Abstract Land degradation is one of the most critical environmental issues facing many countries today. The need to maintain productive agriculture has fuelled interest in finding more appropriate policy and management responses to environmental change, including the various forms of land degradation. While the processes resulting in degraded land are often natural phenomena, the term “land degradation” is used in this paper to refer to their anthropogenic acceleration and the consequent impacts on agricultural potential. Forms of land degradation include salinity, erosion, chemical contamination and changes in soil structure. The research reported here is concerned specifically with irrigation-induced soil salinity in Victoria, Australia. The paper is based on the hazards research paradigm developed within the social sciences. We use this paradigm to inform our inquiry into perceptions of, and responses to, the salinity hazard in a region of the state of Victoria known as the Tragowel Plains. Our investigation, based on questionnaire surveys and farm case studies, reveals a relatively high level of awareness of the salinity hazard. Adjustments to the hazard include changes in both land management and in land use. As the extent of such hazards increases it is imperative that research continues with a view to better understanding these human–environment relations in the context of specific environments.

Australian timber plantations: national vision, local response

Abstract The Australian government has made a commitment to treble the area of timber plantations by the year 2020. In recent years, there has been a significant move into hardwood plantations rather than softwood timber, as in the past. This paper critically reviews recent changes in the Australian plantation sector and presents the results of a community consultation on recent land-use changes in a part of south-western Victoria currently experiencing rapid plantation expansion.

Terra nullius, aboriginal sovereignty and land rights in Australia: The debate continues

Abstract This paper presents an overview of recent developments in Australian Aboriginal land rights claims and demands for indigenous self-determination. The period under review, from the mid-1980s to the present, has been one of continuous government on the part of the Australian Labor Party (ALP) at the federal level. While initially strongly committed to the idea of national land rights legislation, the Commonwealth government has since backed away from this approach in favour of one allowing the states a greater degree of individual choice in this area. In contrast to the situation in Canada, the treaty idea, too, has recently been shelved in favour of the formation of a Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation. While all this has been happening at the administrative level the extraordinary legal concept of terra nullins has been coming under mounting pressure from many quarters. In June, 1992, the Australian High Court handed down a landmark decision in a long-running indigenous land rights case (the Mabo case). While of enormous symbolic significance for the Aborigines, it is unlikely that this case will result in a flood of similar land rights claims in the future.

Aboriginal self-determination and indigenous land title in post-Mabo Australia

Abstract In June 1992, the Australian High Court handed down its judgement in the landmark case of Mabo v Queensland No. 2). Much to the consternation of powerful mining capital, pastoral and state government interests, the majority of the Justices overturned legal precedent and declared that under certain circumstances common law indigenous title to land had survived European conquest. This determination was enthusiastically received by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across Australia on the grounds that it paved the way for a renewed phase of indigenous empowerment and self-determination. The paper places the Mabo judgement in context and, three years on, discusses the question of whether the earlier euphoria was justified.

Environmental planning at the local level: The example of local conservation strategies in Victoria, Australia

SummaryWhile there is a burgeoning literature on national approaches to environmental policy and programmes, much less interest thus far has been shown in the role of local government. However, the State of Victoria in Australia, in the period 1988–1990, took a world lead in encouraging local municipalities to formulate Local Conservation Strategies (LCSs) with a high level of citizen input. The paper places this programme initiative in context and reports on the results of consultations and workshops with local Municipal Conservation Officers who have been in the front line in terms of developing and implementing LCSs in that State. In particular, the paper explores the process of LCS formulation and highlights some of the benefits and problems with the programme so far.

Reconciliation in troubled waters? Australian oceans policy and offshore native title rights

In Australia, responsibility for sustainable management of the surrounding oceans and for reconciliation with Indigenous people are currently both high on government policy agendas. This paper critically evaluates how these two related areas of policy development interact in Australias offshore zone. 1998 saw the passage of the Native Title Amendment Act as well as the publication of a series of discussion papers outlining a framework for an emerging oceans policy. International developments at the interface between Indigenous rights and sustainable development are discussed as is the current backlash against demands from Indigenous groups for native title in the offshore zone. Comparisons with recent developments in Canada are highlighted.

Locating strangers: multiculturalism, citizenship and nationhood in Australia

Abstract Questions over identity politics, difference, and associated claims of authenticity, now occupy centre-stage in many countries. In this paper we focus on the nature of multiculturalism, citizenship and identity politics as they are emerging in Australian society. Essentially, we argue that the demands of political recognition of cultural particularity by specific groups are presenting complex challenges to the public institutions of contemporary liberalism that rest on the neutrality of the public sphere in its treatment of free and equal citizens regardless of race, gender or ethnicity. The ideas of nationhood and national consciousness still present themselves as essential aspects of contemporary political life, even though many questions concerning a re-conceptualization of nation and citizenship abound. This is the context through which the paper examines nationhood in Australia, particularly the points of tension arising from contrasting notions of citizenship and national culture. Our intention is to provide a glimpse of Australian society in the face of these changes and to draw some theoretical and analytical conclusions concerning the challenges to state and civil society.

Patterns of protest: native land rights and claims in Australia

Abstract The focus of this paper is on Australias ‘fourth world’—the Aborigines who represent an enclaved native society. There is growing international pressure for such groups to be recognized and to be granted a range of rights, including freehold land, self-determination, mining royalties and compensation for dispossession. This international movement is outlined and then the Australian Aboriginal question is dealt with more fully. First, data are presented on the size, growth and distribution of the Aboriginal population. The land rights conflict is then summarized, and recent legislative initiatives on the part of the Commonwealth government discussed. Finally, the fate of the proposed national land rights legislation is addressed.

“The Answer My Friend is Blowin' in the Wind”…Or is It? Successful Local Opposition to a Proposed Windfarm Development in Regional Victoria

Around the world, but particularly in Western Europe and North America, wind energy is being promoted strongly by turbine manufacturers, ‘green’ consumers, and some governments, as a significant potential alternative to electricity production from traditional, coal-fired, hydro or nuclear generating sources. As a consequence, many countries and states have embraced this technology with enthusiasm. At the same time, opposition to large-scale wind farms, especially in areas of high scenic amenity, is also growing in some countries. This article places this debate in the Australian context by focusing on renewable energy policy and successful local opposition to a proposed wind farm development near Portland, in Western Victoria. It is argued that this particular conflict has important lessons for future windfarm proposals in coastal settings elsewhere in Australia.

Closing the Gap: Australian–Indonesian Relations, the ‘Perilous Moment’ and the Maritime Boundary Zone

Australia and Indonesia are two vastly different countries that share a common sea border in the Timor and Arafura Seas. Yet economically, culturally and diplomatically, Australia and Indonesia have been moving much closer together over the last 20 years. In March 1997, the final portion of the seabed border was finally delineated, shortly before the onset of the serious economic crisis. This paper focuses on the changing political and economic relations between the two countries and links this with a discussion of border issues, specifically UNCLOS III, fish and hydrocarbon resources, the Timor Gap Zone of Cooperation and the still unresolved East Timor question.