8 Interviewee story summaries The Mithaka people have partnered with the University of Queensland (UQ) and researchers have come out to Country two to three times a year from UQ and other universities. Shawnee also spoke about how the PBC invites the pastoralists to go out on trips with them. In Shawnee’s experience, although they have managed well with what funds they have been able to secure in addition to the basic PBC funding, a lack of consistent supplementary income has limited the Mithaka Aboriginal Corporation from realising its vision of bringing people ‘back on Country’. She described how the PBC has created the equivalent of a ‘ranger’s program’ and provides contract services for the management and maintenance of pastoralist stations. This provides employment opportunities and income to the community. They also provide camps out on Country for at-risk youth. While Shawnee stressed that the PBC does not want to be a ‘multi-million-dollar company’, she said additional funding would be beneficial to further expand and sustain the PBC’s projects. At the time of her interview, Shawnee described how they had managed to secure the agreement with the universities. The funding for those three positions was due to run out soon, but Shawnee hoped that with the ongoing university partnership, the establishment of the contracting services, and the basic PBC funding, it will be enough to enable the PBC to function sufficiently well. Ideally, Shawnee explained how the community would like to be able to bring people back on Country regularly, which is expensive given how remote the determination area is. In addition to the services of the NTRB, the PBC can afford the services of a private solicitor to review agreements, which they are able to fund through their own income stream. Shawnee described this as important to mitigate what could be described as inherent conflicts in the funding structures due to the fact that NTRBs benefit financially from agreements, even if they are not in the best interests of the native title group. Shawnee said while it has been a lot of hard work and continues to be, and nothing has come easily, she loves the work she does at the PBC, and the community and the PBC are in a great place looking into the future, capable of tackling the many and varied challenges that will always arise. As of early 2024, the membership of the PBC had expanded from 70 to 100 members, had a state‑funded ranger program, and has successfully campaigned to prevent exploration in the rivers and flood plains of the channel country. Australian Human Rights Commission 89