Research interests

Indigenous political studies, public policy and administration, Australian history, political theory, minority representation.

Elizabeth has had a long career in Australian Indigenous affairs, including 25 years working for the Northern Territory Government. She is currently collaborating with CAEPR colleagues to promote and extend her work on Indigenous public sector representation following the publication of CAEPR Monograph 37, Reluctant Representatives: blackfella bureaucrats speak in Australia's north. The monograph explores the tensions of representation for Indigenous senior public servants and their mobility between government and community sector employment.

Elizabeth has a continuing interest in improving public administration in Australian Indigenous affairs through relationships between government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations, and in the challenges of knowledge transfer more generally.

Employment

2012-present      
Australian Government, Canberra

1986-2011           
Northern Territory Government, Darwin

2003-2004           
Co-Leader (with Dr Jocelyn Davies), Governance, Management & Leadership for Sustainable Futures, Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre, Alice Springs

1984-6                  
Commonwealth Department of Aboriginal Affairs, Alice Springs

Awards & Fellowships

2015-present      
Centre Visitor at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic  

2011                      
US post-doctoral sponsorship for research in Arizona, New Mexico and Indiana - NT Research and Innovation Board, CRC for Remote Economic Participation and NT Commissioner for Public Employment

2010                      
PhD in History awarded by the Australian National University

2006-2010           
Desert Knowledge Cooperative Research Centre full-time PhD Scholarship

2007, 2009          
Northern Territory History Grants awarded for PhD field and archival research 

2003-2006           
Honorary Fellowship at Charles Darwin University School of Australian Indigenous Knowledge Systems

1982                      
Richard B Davis Memorial Prize for Best Thesis in Asian Anthropology, University of Sydney

Publications

2016, Reluctant Representatives: Blackfella bureaucrats speak in Australia's north. CAEPR Monograph 37, Australian National University Press, Canberra.

2010, An Ambivalent Hospitality: Aboriginal Senior Public Servants and the Representation of Others in Australia's Self-governing Northern Territory. PhD Thesis, ANU School of History 2010.

2011, 'Representatives in Orbit: Livelihood options for Aboriginal people in the government of the Australian desert'. The Rangeland Journal 33: 385-393.

1996, 'Indigenous Participation in Coastal Management in the Northern Territory, Australia: Issues and options'. Ocean & Coastal Management 33 (1-3):193-212.