Codesigning the future in the intercultural workspace of the Tiwi Islands forestry industry

The Tiwi want the forestry industry to play an integral role in their future economic independence and skills-building strategy. The 30,000-
ha plantation site is on Tiwi land and is Tiwi-owned, governed by the Tiwi Plantation Corporation (TPC), and managed by the TPC-appointed
company, Midway. Whilst the majority of the first rotation of Acacia Mangium has been chipped and exported, a second rotation of
Eucalyptus Pellita is planned. However, despite the existence of the plantation for over fifteen years, there has been no consistent progress
toward high levels of Tiwi employment. The purpose of the research is to explain and address this ongoing employment challenge by
examining past and future undertakings surrounding the plantation workspace from an in intercultural perspective. This will entail
codesigning new model/s of employment to facilitate greater Tiwi engagement in both employment and management of its forestry future
whilst sustaining its commercial forestry objectives so central to Tiwi’s economic sovereignty aspirations. Whilst a number of specific
models may ultimately be proposed or considered to improve employment outcomes, the thesis will focus on the processes needed to
formulate a workable intercultural workspace in ways that might apply to other industries or regions.
Using a case study methodology, the research will take a ‘bottom-up’, strengths-based codesign approach applying a methodological
bricolage (Pratt et al., 2022) focusing on past Tiwi employees (and non-employees) on one side, as well as the plantation managers and
forestry business on the other. Sen’s (1995) Capabilities Approach (CA) theoretical framework will inform the substantive component of the
analysis and will be supported by participatory narrative inquiry (Kurtz, 2014) as the preferred methodology for working with Tiwi and
disclosing their work-related stories. Reflexive thematic analysis (Braun & Clarke, 2019) will assist with the analysis of the semi-structured
interviews with Midway co-designers and participants. The study will take advantage and build on the existing relationships the researcher
has developed over the past two years whilst working on the Cooperative Research Centre for Developing Northern Australia (CRCNA)
project ‘Maximising Northern Tropical Forestry – Linking Communities and Cutting-Edge Technology’.