Karriyikarmerren rowk – everyone working together: Towards an intercultural approach to community safety in Gunbalanya, West Arnhem Land

Abstract

Indigenous people worldwide face complex historical, social and cultural circumstances that impair their ability to live in safety. In Australia, two in three Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have experienced spousal violence, and Indigenous children are seven times more likely than non-Indigenous children to experience substantiated abuse or neglect. Indigenous community safety is a complex concept that should be based on the self-identified concerns of Indigenous people. Few studies thus far have enquired how Indigenous Australians in rural and remote areas visualise safety in their own neighbourhoods. This study investigates how Kunwinjku Aboriginal people and service providers understand and operationalise community safety in Gunbalanya, Northern Territory. It enquires about the values, behaviours, social norms and controls that influence participants’ perceptions and experiences of harm and safety. An intercultural and strengths-based approach is needed to understand these multifaceted issues beyond simply measuring crime and violence. The study uses social disorganisation and ecological systems theories to understand how community members and service providers manage harmful behaviours and leverage values, attitudes and beliefs which are perceived to enhance safety. This mixed methods research involves long-term fieldwork, undertaken from September 2015 to October 2017 where the majority of residents are Indigenous. Data collection includes 19 semi-structured interviews and 55 questionnaires involving 78 Indigenous and non-Indigenous participants. This intercultural concept of Indigenous community safety: 1) identifies neighbourhood problems which need to be addressed for the community to reduce harm and improve safety; 2) embraces the strengths-based elements of kinship, law and ceremonies; and 3) develops a practical approach to understand how services could better enable positive behaviour change in Gunbalanya. In Gunbalanya, harmful behaviours are multi-layered and intimately interlinked. This concept of community safety has three main dimensions: interpersonal and community harm and the strengths-based values of Aboriginal Law. At the interpersonal level, neighbourhood problems occur amongst close kin relationships where children and elderly persons are most vulnerable. Interpersonal neighbourhood problems include alcohol and substance misuse, interpersonal and family violence, gambling, mental health issues and dangerous driving. These reoccurring patterns of behaviour at the interpersonal level have flow-on effects across the community and articulate in broader social issues. At the community level, distal neighbourhood problems include youth delinquency and fractured parent-child relationships, collective trauma, and intergenerational transmission of violence. Findings from this research suggest that future strategies for addressing these challenges need to build on Kunwinjku values as the foundation for enabling healthy and respectful relationships. At the third level, the values and beliefs in Kunwinjku society promote positive relationships through mutual respect including listening, helping and sharing with each other. These values are practiced through Aboriginal dispute resolution strategies and have the potential for use in formal service delivery. However, ongoing patterns of harmful behaviours are fracturing respect and belief in Aboriginal Law as social norms and controls are less able to manage delinquent and other harmful behaviours. Strengths-based solutions are required to engage elders and young people in a process of transgenerational learning according to the practices of Aboriginal Law.