The Australian Bite
Connecting with culture & counting koalas
1 July 2010
Listen and download: MP3
On the Australian Bite this week we travel to remote Western Australia where a local initiative called the Yiriman Project is making a big difference to the indigenous community. We hear how sexual harassment is unfortunately alive and well in Australian workplaces. And we meet one of the people behind a new website that allows the public to plot koala sightings by simply clicking on a map.
Call for new strategy on workplace sexual harassment
It was front news here a couple of weeks back when Mark McInnes, the Chief Executive of prestige retail chain David Jones resigned from his position following “inappropriate behaviour” towards a 25 year old female staff member. The whole issue raised questions about what exactly constitutes sexual harassment? Indeed new research from the Human Rights Commission suggests that many people are confused about what sexual harassment actually is. Is it a sexual joke, a demeaning email or a physical advance? According to the Sex Discrimination Commissioner Elizabeth Broderick, it’s all three. She says sexual harassment is deeply entrenched in the Australian workplaces, and as she told Ali Benton, the Human Rights Commission is calling for a National Sexual Harassment Prevention Strategy.
You can find more information on sexual harrassment at theAustralian Human Rights Commision website.
Yiriman project a local success story
NAIDOC week runs from the fourth to the eleventh of July – it’s an annual celebration of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and an opportunity to recognise the contributions of Indigenous Australians in various fields. This year’s theme is ‘Unsung Heroes – Closing the Gap by Leading Their Way’. It’s about recognising the big difference made by quiet achievers in the indigenous community. You know, the kind of people who are out there doing invaluable work, but aren’t necessarily well known to people outside their own communities. Well there are certainly some unsung heroes in the Kimberley region of Western Australia, local elders have come together with young people to form the Yiriman Project: reconnecting young people with culture. Organisers of the project say that in the eight years its been running, their program’s helped to prevent suicide, reduce drug and alcohol use, and its helped to keep young aboriginal people out of the legal system. And that’s a really important issue, when you consider that in Western Australia, indigenous peole make up less than four percent of the population. But they make up 40 per cent of people in prison. John Barrington, from the Hack program on ABC’s youth radio network Triple J, visited the Yiriman project.
NAIDOC stands for the National Aboriginal and Islander Day Observance Committee. According to the NAIDOC website its origins can be traced to the emergence of Aboriginal groups in the 1920s which sought to increase awareness in the wider community of the status and treatment of Indigenous Australians.
Koala census just a mouse click away
Koalas are one of the most well known, and probably most loved Australian animals; but the species is in trouble. They have been listed as vulnerable to extinction in South-East Queensland, and the Federal Government’s Threatened Species Scientific Committee is currently considering whether they should be listed as a nationally threatened species. Two Queensland women, Carolyn Beaton and Alex Harris, have set up a website – koaladiaries.com.au - where members of the public can record koala sightings using GIS (geographical information systems) technology. The aim is to establish a national koala census to help with conservation efforts. Carolyn Beaton tells Michael Cathcart all about it.
Music (not in podcast)
One of Australia’s most respected country singer/songwriters, Troy Cassar-Daley won the Country Work of the Year at the 2010 APRA (Australian Performing Rights Association) Awards, with this song, Big Big Love from his album I Love This Place.
Artist: Troy Cassar-Daley
Track: Big Big Love
Album: I Love this Place (2009)
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