Desert Australia has a sparse and mobile population (~0.5m people
in 5.5m km2) that is concentrated in a few larger service centres
such as Alice Springs and Kalgoorlie. These are intimately
interdependent on around 1000 surrounding remote settlements,
whether Indigenous (860), pastoral, mining or tourism-based. The
non-Indigenous population is not increasing, while the Indigenous
population is growing rapidly (22% in 15 years), particularly those
of working age (34% in 15 years). The non-Indigenous population
migrates in and out of desert Australia extensively; Indigenous
people are also highly mobile, but mainly within desert Australia.
The non-Indigenous population has relatively low unemployment while
the Indigenous population has very high unemployment. The CDEP
(Community Development Employment Programme) scheme has provided
substantial paid activity, ranging from contributing major public
benefits to some dubious make-work cases. The conventional labour
market fails remote communities, even though there is both a great
need and much opportunity for managing public assets, such as
biodiversity and tourism values.
