Exposing the (white) elephant in the room

Yolŋu Country, Northern Territory. 1 December, 2024.

Our story of implementing the djäkamirr work model is marred with colonial oppression and indifference to the rights of Yolŋu to self-determine working relationships using Ancestral Gurrutu (kinship) Laws. We thought the hardest challenge would be securing pilot funding and little did we know that the hardest bit would be spending it!

There has been a very large (white) elephant sitting quietly in the room- Australian Industrial Relation Laws.

Photo credit: Sarah Ireland. Galiwin'ku pandanus sunset.

Working in partnership with Yolŋu Knowledge Authorities and preeminent employment lawyer Danny King, the last two years has exposed how oppressive well- intentioned Industrial Relations legislation is for Yolŋu.

The Yolŋu-developed djäkamirr work model is unique being responsive to culture and context. Unlike other doula work models the djäkamirr:

Provide continuity of support across the whole pregnancy, birth and postnatal period because continuity is known to improve perinatal outcomes.
Travel away from home to support  a women during childbirth because birthing services are withdrawn from the island.
Use Yolŋu Gurrutu (kinship) relationships and ways of working.
Are  paid by a third party because Yolŋu women and families live with socioeconomic deprivation and can not afford to contract their own private doula.

In this Yolŋu system of care, Western constructions and concepts of time and employment do not have a shared intercultural understanding and are not used to structure relationships.

For example it is a futile exercise to request Yolŋu to clock-on and clock-off from gurrutu because relationships are inherited before birth and persistent after death.

Working in the Yolŋu-developed model means that enduring Yolŋu Gurrutu (kinship) law and an unpredictable period (days-to-weeks) away from home waiting for the baby to born, prevents accurate and contemporaneous time and wage records from being kept.

These records are legally required to safeguard workers and working relationships when they are contested in Australian courts. Without these records, everyone involved in the project is contravening Western law and at risk of serious penalties by employing or contracting djäkamirr to provide these impactful Yolŋu-led services.

We reached a very low point in our project collaboration, when I was forced to explain to Yolŋu colleagues that the 'road was blocked' because Australian Law does not recognise them and their Yolŋu Gurrutu (kinship) Law.

These discussions were a painful traumatising reminder of ongoing colonisation.

Australia is a signatory to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People, stating First Nations people have the rights:

To determine and improve their economic conditions through employment
To revitalise and practice cultural healing and caring practices

Yet unlike countries such as Canada, there are no Australian government sanctioned ways for First Nations people to contest and be exempted from legislation that prevents their right to self-determination.

Since identifying the white elephant in the room, our project has worked tirelessly to expose the problem, reach a shared understanding of it and find ways to remove the obstacles for Yolŋu self-determination. This includes Government Advocacy with our team visiting the Honorable Minister Tony Burke at Parliament House to seek a legal exemption, convening and working with a project Employment Sub-Committee; and conducting a legal focus group.

With no assistance provided by the Honorable Minister Tony Burke, we have persisted and found two legally compliant solutions:

Short term: pay djäkamirr a vocational education training placement scholarship while they are students undertaking a Government accredited training certificate.
Long term: recognise Yolŋu Governance and djäkamirr through establishing a distributing Co-operative business structure with rebates for Yolŋu members servicing the Co-op's vision

Photo credit: Margaret Kidd. Our team and Yolŋu representatives advocating with Minister Tony Burke in May 2023

Photo credit: Margaret Kidd. Some of our team standing in front Parliament House after visiting Minister Burke, May 2023.

With much gratitude to 'Co-op midwife' Sam Byrne, our project is exited to announce we have reached our long term solution!!! Sam from the Co-op Federation has been amazing in supporting our journey and identifying a legally compliant solution that supports Yolŋu self-determination. A few weeks ago we crammed into our small Galiwin'ku office and with Sam joining us on-line held the formation meeting for the DJÄKAMIRR Co-op Ltd.

The DJÄKAMIRR Co-op Ltd was born12 November 2024 at 10:38hrs on Yolŋu Country, Galiwin'ku.

The 100% Yolŋu owned and controlled Co-op was formally registered on 19 November, 2024.

Photo credit: Sue Kildea. Co-op Formation Meeting

The DJÄKMAIRR Co-op Ltd supports community aspirations for delivering djäkamirr services to women through self-determined Yolŋu protocols. It offers the only sustainable, culturally responsive and legally compliant Western model to remunerate djäkamirr for their services.

We are very grateful that Sam and the Co-op Federation is continuing to support and provide guidance as the Co-op grows and matures.

We look forward to sharing more about the Co-op, its principles and vision soon. However at the moment we are consumed with the next tricky challenge........opening a business bank account with the Directors on-Country far from the Bank's Branch Office. Will the banking system accommodate or discriminate? Read our next blog to find out.