Challenges Faced By Australian Aboriginal Population: A Discussion

Modern Forms of Colonialism in Australia

Discuss about the Australian Aboriginal Population Challenges.

Notably, colonialism implies the subjugation of persons to other people .Colonialism stems from, “colonus” whose latin translation is farmers (Stanford encyclopedia of philosophy 2006).In the recent past, claims have been made as the existence of modern forms of colonialism in the Australian employment, education, social, political and economic spheres of life. Primarily, colonialism in Australia has encompassed racism and power imbalances between the non-indigenous and indigenous Australian groups of people. Sadly, there is proof of modern colonialist practices in the modern Australian social, economic and political spheres of life. Economically, less indigenous population are employed in senior management positions, low wages for indigenous university staff, low scholarship funding for indigenous university scholarships and homelessness .On the political front, few indigenous persons have been elected to higher political positions in the country. Socially, most indigenous children grow away from their parents non –consensually .All these factors go to show the imbalanced power, colonist and racist practices facing the indigenous Australian population.

Notably, the Australian aboriginal population still face challenges not so different from the past. The right to vote for the aboriginal population was accented to 5 decades ago. Also, despite the various deadly massacres of the aboriginal community, most of them are never remembered as national days of tragedy at all. Similar to the past, some aboriginal land is being taken away from them thus a modern display of colonialism (Pearson 2016).In addition, most aboriginal offspring are separated from their families at a young ages as the case was in the past. The fact that most of the aboriginal children grow up away from the families like they did years before independence goes to show unequal and racial profiling of the aboriginal population in Australia. Also, despite the current consultations between the indigenous Australian population and the Turn ball administration as to recognition rights in the constitution of the commonwealth, no tangible results came out of it(Daley 2017).It is believed that the consultation did nothing more to improve the current indifferent treatment of the indigenous population thus a show of modern colonialism. The fact that the indigenous Australian population do not actively participate in the laws and institutions that determine their fate, is proof of a contemporary mode of colonialism.

Unfortunately, there is racial discrimination and violence in Australia (McGlade 2017).Predominantly, migrants and indigenous Australian population are at the receiving end of this racial violence and discrimination despite the laws and institution set up to address the inequality. Racism refers to any forms of prejudistic, antagonistic or discriminative behavior by virtue of belonging to a particular race. According to who watches the media report, 2017, 62 out of 124 published opinion news were racially motivated (Ho 2017).This goes to show how race plays a role in the media industry .Despite the Australia media laws that prohibit racial considerations as the basis for new reporting, this has not prevented the violation of the media code of conduct on racial content. Specifically ,racial based stories are aired on publications such as the Australian ,Herald sun among other national broadcast platforms .Following the physical assault of an Indian student in Australia, speculations rose as to the racial profile and discrimination of international students in the country(Gandhi et.al 2011).The judicial process in the Indian student case unraveled a racial link to the physical attacks which goes to show that racism is still alive in the Australian education sectors towards foreign students by nature of their race.

Racial Discrimination and Violence in Australia

Also, it is alleged that Australian higher education laws are not favorable towards indigenous learners and their support system (Liddle 2014).Particularly, indigenous learners and staff in higher education institutions comprise 2 percent of the total 3 percent nationally which fact goes to show the inequality in enrolment and employment in Australian universities for indigenous population. Also, despite the high living standards, the payment system for indigenous workers in in universities has gone un-reviewed for years which is considered unfair considering other labor force pays have increased over the years .Usually, fair labor practices dictate that there be equal wage and salaries system among workers despite their racial, religious, color or any other distinct characteristics .However, most aboriginals are the subject of lower wages due to the fact that most of them are eligible for low paying jobs by virtue of limited educational and other factors. Typically, non- indigenous Australian have better opportunities at education and other social institutions which makes them better qualified for high paying jobs as compared to indigenous population. Also, following the government‘s budgetary cuts on scholarships, indigenous learners are at the suffering end of this financial cut.

In addition to education discriminatory practices in Australia, there is workplace discrimination. The Australian employment           spectrum does not reflect cultural and ethnical diversity(World economic forum 2017).Specifically ,the ASX 100,200 & 500  indicate that only ¼ of the management post in the ASX list reflected cultural diversity (World economic forum 2017).This fact goes to show the ethnic and cultural gap between the various groups of people in the Australian population. The Australian health care sector has had instances of suspected racially motivated declined medical practice applications (Thornton & Luker N .d).There is lack of a cultural diversity in most Australian skilled and unskilled labor industry. The lack of a culturally diversified Australian employment spectrum goes to show the racial inclinations plays an important role in the employment of indigenous and migrant population in the county. Regarding power, the white populations seem to control most of the Australian economic, social and political spheres of life (Cave 2018).Largely, the white Australian population of European heritage are in charge of the political and economic ways of life as compared to the indigenous Australian population.

Specifically, 5 % of the indigenous population hold senior offices in Australia whereas the remaining 95% of non-indigenous population hold the rest of the senior management posts. Subsequently, this is clear indication of modern day colonialism and racial discrimination .Also, the fact that some of the indigenous Australian population are refugees points to the imbalanced shift of power between the indigenous and the non-indigenous population in Australia (Shannon 2016).Intergenerational injustices have been committed against the indigenous population from land dispossession to separation of their families. The fact that some of the aboriginal inhabitants are refuges in their own country years after independence is a clear indication of modern day colonialism. The land dispossession is viewed as a denial of their ancestral land which belongs to the indigenous communities. It is important that the Australian government resettle displace indigenous community in the case of justified land dispossession. Most aboriginal children are separated from their families by virtue of an intervention directive instituted in the year 2007.This directive might be justified in the interest of the child in certain circumstances. However, there is a general application of this intervention in all aboriginal families without taking into account specific and special circumstances.

Discrimination in Education and Employment

In addition, the non-consensual nature of the indigenous community views, makes it modern day colonialism. Particularly, the intervention response of 2007 by the Australian government on indigenous groups of people negatively impacts the social wellbeing of the aboriginal population due to the lack of consent from the indigenous group. This further shows how the indigenous population lack a say in what directly affects them. Australian aboriginals are still experiencing colonial injustices in the form of unjustified land dispossession and non-consensual separation of children from their families. Due to the fact that Australia is an independent nations, all its citizens are entitled to similar application of the law, similar education and public infrastructure ,equal access in political representation and other spheres of life. Despite the non-discriminatory laws in the country, the practicality of it all is still a dream thus modern forms of colonialism are being perpetrated against the indigenous Australian groups of people.

Conclusion

Undoubtedly, there is modern colonialism in Australia .Due to the political, economic and social imbalances between the indigenous and non-indigenous population in the country. There is less political representation by the indigenous population in national matters of states that directly impacts theirs lives. The economic livelihoods, wages and employment opportunities for the non-indigenous population is higher as opposed to the indigenous population. This are clear show of the imbalanced power between the two groups of the Australian population. Despite the existence of non-discriminatory practices against the indigenous population when it’s comes to educational opportunities, employment opportunities and political representation, the participation of the indigenous population is still low despite the independence of the Australian state decades ago. There is racial consideration in media related information and the social context thus the assertion of modern colonialism. Australian indigenous persons are dispossessed of their lands, children in non-consensual ways that is definitely modern day colonialism. 

References

Cave, D. (2018).In a proudly diverse Australia, White people still run almost everything .New York Times, 10 April. [Online].Available at https://www.nytimes.com/2018/04/10/world/australia/study-diversity-multicultural.html[Accessed 19 May 2018]

Daley, P. (2017).”The whole recognition process has a deep colonial resonance”. The Guardian, 27 October. [Online].Available at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/postcolonial-blog/2017/oct/27/the-whole-recognition-process-has-a-deep-colonial-resonance[Accessed 19 May 2018].

Gandhi, K.M., Pelleri, D., Han-Meader, K. (2011). Racism in the tertiary education sector: a case of Indian student attack in Australia. [Online].Available at https://researchdirect.westernsydney.edu.au/islandora/object/uws:11793[Accessed 19 May 2018]

Ho, C. (2017).”Racist reporting still rife in Australian Media”. The Guardian, 14 December. [Online].Available at https://theconversation.com/racist-reporting-still-rife-in-australian-media-88957[Accessed 19 May 2018]

Liddle, C. (2014).”Australian Universities don’t value their indigenous students and staff”. The Guardian, 10 July. [Online].Available at https://www.theguardian.com/higher-education-network/blog/2014/jul/10/australian-universities-do-not-value-indigenous-students[Accessed 19 May 2018].

McGlade, H. (2017).”Australia is still facing racism and its time we faced up to it.” ABC News, 28 November. [Online].Available at https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-11-27/australias-race-relations-will-be-examined-by-un-in-geneva/9198272[Accessed 19 May 2018]

Pearson, L. (2016).Don’t tell me to get over” a colonialism that is still being implemented today. The Guardian, 1 April. [Online].Available at https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/commentisfree/2016/apr/02/dont-tell-me-to-get-over-a-colonialism-that-is-still-being-implemented-today[Accessed 19 May 2018]

Shannon, D.G. (2016).”Refugees in their own land: How indigenous people are still homeless in Modern Australia. The Conversation, 2 August. [Online].Available at https://theconversation.com/refugees-in-their-own-land-how-indigenous-people-are-still-homeless-in-modern-australia-55183[Accessed 19 May 2018]

Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2006). Colonialism.Stanford.Edu. [Online].Available at https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/colonialism/[Accessed19 May 2018]

Thornton, M % Luker, T. (N. d).The new racism in employment discrimination: Tales from the global economy. Sydney law Review. [Online].Available at https://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/SydLRev/2010/1.pdf[Accessed19 May 2018]

World Economic Forum. (2017).Racial discrimination in the workplace is hurting people and economics. Here’s what we can do about it. Weforum. [Online].Available at https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2017/03/racial-discrimination-in-the-workplace-is-hurting-people-and-economies-here-s-what-we-can-do-about-it/[Accessed 19 May 2018]