Smart Country and Smart Communities, with Dr Emma Lee

In this episode I had a wonderful conversation with Dr. Emma Lee, a trawlwulwuy woman of tebrakunna country in north east Tasmania, and an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Research Fellow at Centre for Social Impact, Swinburne University of Technology. Her research fields over the last 25 years have focused on Indigenous affairs, land and sea management, policy and governance of Australian regulatory environments. In this episode Emma tells us about her background in Indigenous archeology and land management, and passion for First Nations social impact and regional development. I flip the script a little bit from our usual question order and in this episode we start with discussing the emerging trend of Smart Country that people definitely aren't talking about enough. Emma explains what country is and the connection to country that First Nations people have, some of the things we can learn from Smart Country like fire management, a broader concept of conservation, and a reciprocal relationship with the land and environment. Emma shares with us the power of language and the way it has been and is used to position Indigenous and First Nations ways of knowing as less than the coloniser's knowledge, the decolonising and grieving work we all need to be doing, and the balance we need to strike between the global focus that is prioritised in academia and our modern world, with the deep local knowledge that is so important to Smart Country and Community. Emma tells us how this played out in her work with the Reset the Relationship Government Strategy that she helped created, and the doors that were opened and the shift that was created through a statement of love amongst the hate. We then touch on how social media creates and fuels division and how important inclusion is in our Smart Communities, as well as the concept of individual responsibility within community and the big mindset shift that is for so many of us. We finish our chat discussing where to next for Smart Country and Smart Communities. This was a really powerful interview and I'm so glad Dr Emma Lee agreed to come on the podcast. As always we hope you enjoy listening to this episode as much as we enjoyed making it. Find the full show notes at: www.mysmart.community Connect with Emma via email ejlee@swin.edu.au Connect with me via email: hello@mysmart.community Connect with My Smart Community via LinkedIn or Twitter and watch on YouTube The Smart Community Podcast is produced by Perk Digital.