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When speaking at public meetings
You should not use public meetings to extract
information or make final decisions on issues,
so you will therefore need to:
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• Avoid cross examining any person about
their opinions;
• Avoid asking a person about the source of
information;
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• Avoid being too blunt with any situation
where there is need to correct what another
person has said;
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13
Fuary, M. (1985), Communicating with Torres Strait Island People
Aborigines, [A.I.A.S. Newsletter # 15 New Series, May], (p. 2) Paper
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(Modelled loosely on John Von Sturmer’s 1981 article Talking with
presented at the Cross-Cultural Communication Seminar, organised
by the Department of Children’s Services, Cairns, May, 1985.
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• Pension pay days, or wages pay days are
usually shopping days and are therefore not
convenient;
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• When visiting a wet community (has a
canteen), morning visits are usually more
productive;
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Timing for holding the meeting must be
convenient for those who attend. You cannot
expect people to assemble when it is convenient
for you. People in the community have their
own tasks to do, and these are important to
them. Also consider the following:
• The number of meetings is determined by the
outcomes your organisation and the
community desire. That is, meetings could
be a one off event; incremental or ongoing.
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However, be aware of exceptions, where some
communities or agencies may use the meetings
not only as an information gathering forum but
will use the meeting to make decisions and
advise you of outcomes as such.
• There is also a cultural practice called
“Murrie time”. In non-Aboriginal culture
this is seen as tardiness or lateness. In
Aboriginal culture it is related to a different
concept of time and values where there is
much less pressure to be “on time”; and
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Meetings are not the usual way communities
reach agreements. Meetings are used to confirm
that agreement has been reached. Actual
decisions occur outside the meeting process.
Therefore, you should treat the meeting as an
information giving exercise.
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When to hold a public meeting
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Don’t run a public meeting yourself. Leave this
to the Aboriginal leaders. They will indicate
when you are to speak. Don’t interrupt or
correct the speaker when they are introducing
you. If there is a vital need to correct
something, do it without embarrassing the other
person when your turn comes.13
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protocols regarding consultation and negotiation continued
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4
32
D e p a r t m e n t o f A b o r i g i n a l and T o r r e s S t r a i t I s l a n d e r P o l i c y a n d D e v e l o p m e n t