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Murdoch University Digital Theses Program
Remote Indigenous Housing System – A Systems Social Assessment
| Author Information |
Thesis Files |
| Last Name |
Jardine Orr
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| Other Names |
Andrea
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| Title |
Doctor
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| E-mail |
Andrea@jardineorr.net
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| Division |
Science & Engineering
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| School |
Environmental Science
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| Degree Program |
Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)
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| Thesis Document Information |
| Thesis Type |
PhD Doctorate
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| Title
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Remote Indigenous Housing System – A Systems Social Assessment
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| Date |
2005
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| Abstract
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Indigenous Australians make up a mere 2.4% of the population of whom
around a quarter live in remote and very remote parts of Australia. The poor
state of Indigenous housing in remote areas is generally acknowledged as
one of Australia’s most intractable housing problems. The thesis examines
why the remote Indigenous housing system does not meet the housing
needs of Indigenous people in remote areas and discusses an alternative
system.
The aim of the thesis is to understand why the remote Indigenous housing
system is not meeting people’s needs, despite policy statements that
emphasise empowerment and partnerships. This understanding of the
current remote Indigenous housing system involved placing it in historical,
policy and international contexts and examining the current attempts to
rationalise and streamline the system.
The service-delivery concepts of supply-driven (externally prescribed) and
demand-responsive (community determined) are applied to remote
Indigenous housing. The characteristics of successful remote Indigenous
housing, namely Indigenous control and self-determination, an enabling
environment and a culturally responsive system, are developed and found to
be characteristic of a demand-responsive system. The research
hypothesises that the remote Indigenous housing system’s supply-driven
focus is largely responsible for the housing needs of Indigenous people in
remote areas not being met.
This was tested using the new methodology of a Systems Social
Assessment which is developed by combining Social Assessment and
Checkland’s Soft Systems Methodology.
This methodology illustrated that the current remote Indigenous housing
system has a supply-driven focus where the housing ‘solutions’ are
controlled and largely provided from an external source, in this case the
Commonwealth and State governments and their agents. The thesis
discusses an alternative demand-responsive focus where remote
communities have more control over the nature and delivery of their housing
that may prove more successful.
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| Committee Information
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| Supervisor |
Prof. Goen Ho
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| Email |
G.Ho@murdoch.edu.au
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