Attempting to unite the diversity: a pilot study into effective consultation with a Victorian indigenous community

Indigenous tourism in Australia has long been recognised as a key platform in both the ongoing development of tourism in general, and the economic and social development of Australia's Indigenous peoples. This has been emphasised and reiterated over the past 15 or 20 years through a variety of government and non-government research and reports, including the Deaths in Custody Commission (Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody 1991), the Federal Government White Paper (Australian Government, 2004), and the Victorian Government's Aboriginal Tourism Development Plans (Tourism Victoria, 2002;2006). During this period the formation and operation of a range of organisations including Aboriginal Tourism Australia, Aboriginal Tourism Marketing Association and Tourism Australia's affiliated Indigenous Tourism Australia, has continued the forward momentum. While such developments have made inroads for Indigenous people in a number of business areas, there is still an identifiable issue at a micro level. Many local Indigenous community groups are still facing problems that have at best stagnated during this same period