A first of its kind, the Economic Development Symposium – Marramarra murru (creating pathways) was conducted over the course of two days from 22–23 June and hosted at Kambri at ANU.
It featured First Nations guest speakers from Australia, the US, Canada and New Zealand, presenting across seven sessions on transformative approaches to Australian First Nations economic development.
The seven sessions addressed key requirements and pre-conditions to build authentic, self-determined, First Nations economies, leveraging the assets and legal rights that continue to be reclaimed by Australian First Nations peoples.
Each session involved the facilitator framing the specific topic, an expert speaker(s) or discussion panel of experts discussing key aspects of the topic.
Peter Yu as the Vice-President of the FNP and Jamie Lowe from National Native Title Council together signed a memorandum of understanding. The shared intent is to establish a long-term relationship to advance the aspirations of First Nations people that is principled on cooperation and collaboration through research and public policy development.
Renowned Indigenous chef Mark Olive conducted a cooking demonstration of his famous lemon myrtle-scented clam pasta and oversaw a cooking competition where three attendees participated in a club-sandwich making competition using all-Australian meats and ingredients.
A social drinks event was held at aMBUSH Gallery attended by all participants and speakers after the first day. There was a spice mix bar where people could create their own spice mix under Mark Olive’s guidance, with a performance from Jye Hopkins, a First Nations student at ANU and acoustic guitarist and singer.
