Sustainable development options on Aboriginal land: the hybrid economy in the twenty-first century

The author of this paper outlines the economic development problem that is faced by Indigenous people living on Aboriginal land in remote and regional Australia; describes the hybrid economy, made up of market, state and customary components, that is a distinctive feature of such situations; and argues that a big part of the development problem is that this type of economy is poorly understood - by politicians, policy makers and Indigenous people and their representative organisations alike. Consequently, the author states, important Indigenous contributions remain unquantified and unrecognised in mainstream calculations of economic worth. The paper argues for a hybrid analytical and intellectual framework that combines science, social sciences and Indigenous knowledge systems. A few examples of how this different approach might enhance greater sustainable development on Aboriginal land in the twentieth century are provided.