As always, an Aussie who wishes to remain anonymous sent me this link, and noted that New Zealand isn’t the only country in the Antipodes that tries to make science (again “Western science”) coequal with indigenous knowledge. Clicking on the screenshot below will take you to the strategy developed by the Aussie government: the “Australian Marine Science Strategy 2026-2036”
It begins on p. 2 with a land acknowledgement:
. . continues with a mission statement on page 4:
The National Marine Science Strategy 2026–36 sets out the research and development needed to realise the socioeconomic opportunities and benefits that come from enabling a thriving ocean economy while effectively minimising, mitigating and adapting to the critical challenges facing Australia’s ocean and coasts over the coming decade. It recognises that responding to challenges such as climate change and extreme events, biodiversity collapse and competing ocean uses will not only help ensure a healthy ocean, conservation and national resilience, but also unlock new opportunities for sustainable industries and innovation that deliver long-term environmental and economic prosperity for Australia.
. . . and then sets out seven “national ambitions” for improving our knowledge of marine science, all of which (save one) involve conservation, mitigating climate change, and fostering marine “industries.” The exception is the very first ambition:
Embed First Nations knowledge, innovation and leadership in marine science to ensure sustainable and equitable marine policy and management.
Finally, after going through the ambitions, continuously paying homage to the “knowledge systems” of the First Nations people (i.e., the Aboriginal Australians and Melanesian Torres Strait islanders), the report gives its recommendations. Here’s the very first recommendation (p. 33):
Now there’s nothing wrong with ensuring that the two groups that constitute the First Nations People get equal opportunity to do science and contribute to science. And insofar that the indigenous people have produced knowledge that can be verified by modern science, by all means give them credit and fold that knowledge into modern science. But, as usual, they do more than that. First the program argues, again with a dearth of examples, that “We also have much to learn from the integration and application of Indigenous knowledge systems and Western knowledge systems.” (p. 28). How do they know that? Where are the improvements in marine biology that have already come from “indigenous knowledge systems”?
This is not science or technology, but a drive for scientific equity: making indigenous knowledge coequal with modern science. And that is not even politics, but the sacralization of the oppressed. As we’ve seen so many times before from Canada and New Zealand, it is virtue signaling on a national scale.
As frequently happens these days, the country of my birth embarrasses me. They have indigenous wokery at gold medal level skill.
Which is funny since in a country of nearly 30M there are, in fact, a few hundred thousand actual Aborigines, nearly all of whom are interested in things OTHER than this kind of nonsense. Or science in general.
Torres Straight Islanders number a few thousand. There are more Torres Straight island flags in Oz than the actual islanders.
D.A.
NYC 🗽
If all of the words “knowledge” and “science” in this statement were changed to “values” or “perspectives”, I could support this. But as written, this has the effect of making terms less clear, less precise, more ambiguous. Maybe that is the goal of some groups?
I have no objection to people studying Aboriginal approaches to marine biology. But giving equal priority to such studies with scientific marine biology? Insanity.
In medieval days, alchemists, Christian monks, and Talmudic rabbis all had examples of suggestions for cures for diseases. Some of theme might have worked, others would certainly kill the patient. One can understand how studying these approaches could be interesting, and a valid filed of history of medicine. However, giving those fields equal priority to science-based medicine? Anyone here wanna go to that kind of doctor?