Issues Faced By Aboriginal And Torres Strait Islander People In Australia

Definition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) People

Questions:

1.Briefly describe the issue you have selected historically and provide the current context.

2.Identify key issues and discuss, and note the political, economic and social issues impacting on the field of practice

3.Provide a brief discussion of the major theory/ theories underpinning work in this field of practice.

4.Provide a brief overview of current policy and practices in relation to the chosen field

5.Critique the current policies and practices and evaluation of their impact on the target group. What are the strengths and weaknesses of these approaches?

1.This report will focus on the issues face by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) people that are living in Australia and evaluate their current position. Further, the report will analyse the impact of current regulations and policies established by the government for Aboriginal people and evaluate their strength and weaknesses.

ATSI people are known as the first inhabitants of Australia. Traditionally, individuals with specific skin colour or ‘Aboriginal blood’ were considered as the Aboriginal but modern definition has been changed. Now, the Federal Government provide the definition which define Aboriginal person as individual who (Australia Human Rights Commission, 2005):

• Is of Aboriginal ancestry;
• Recognises as Aboriginal person; and
• The community in which he/she lives has accepted him.

The ATSI communities of Australia are the oldest living cultural history in the world; the Indigenous culture is around 50,000 years old, and many experts argue that they are about 65,000 years old (Australia Government, 2015). The Indigenous culture has survived this long because of their capability to change and adjust as per time. Land is a fundamental part of Indigenous culture, and it is the core of their spirituality. The Aboriginal people were semi-nomadic hunter and gatherers who lived as clans in different territories which were divided based on mountain, lakes, and rivers. The Indigenous people were divided into about 600 clan groups. In 1770, British arrived in Australia and claimed it in the name of United Kingdom (Dudgeon, Wright, Paradies, Garvey & Walker, 2010).

The consequence of British arrival brings a wave of new diseases in Australia such as smallpox, measles, chickenpox, and influenza; these illnesses spread between Indigenous communities and especially between the large population territories. The diseases cause the population of Indigenous peoples to drop substantially. The British took tradition lands of Indigenous people which were situated near agriculture lands and water sources. Between 1788 and 1900, the combination of factors such as diseases, direct violence and loss of land reduces the population of Indigenous people by 90 percent; in 1920, the population reduced between 50,000 and 90,000 (Hughes, 2007).

History of Indigenous Culture in Australia

The impact of colonisation is still negatively influencing various aspects of ATSI people. The government has started giving recognition to Indigenous people and begun to implement new regulation to protect and promote their rights. But the situation of Aboriginal people is still poor in Australia since they face various economic, social, political, legal, physical and mental issues (Esler, Johnston, Thomas & Davis, 2008). After Mabo case, the government started to accept the ownership of Indigenous people on traditional lands, but it did not have a substantial influence. The population ATSI people in 2011 was 669,900 which consist about 3 percent of the total population of Australia (Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2016). Currently, the Indigenous people face various issues in Australia that adversely influence their physical and mental health.

2.The ATSI people face various issues in Australia due to the negative effect of colonisation, racism, lack of health care options, and other poor government regulations such as:

• Low life expectancy rate
• High rate of suicide, incarceration and youth incarceration
• Discrimination in employment
• Lack of healthcare options that increase vulnerability to dangerous diseases
• Sexual violence and domestic violence
• Physical and mental health issue

The government of Australia has implemented various regulations to uplift Indigenous people condition, but they have failed to do so. Most of the Aboriginal people suffered through physical and mental problems because of lack of facilities. Following are social, political and economic issues faced by Indigenous people in Australia.

• Indigenous people experience extreme level of racism throughout Australia, especially in southern states. The Aboriginal people face racism in schools, hospitals, courts and other public agencies. The racism causes mental trauma in Indigenous children that adversely influence their education and create mental problems (Donelly, 2015).
• The rate of ingenious incarceration is substantially high in Australia; they represent 3 percent of the Australian population still more than 28 percent of Australian prisons are Aboriginal. The number of Indigenous incarcerated women is more than 34.3 percent of total women prisons (Korff, 2017a).
• Even after the establishment of many regulations for the protection of land rights of Aboriginal people, most of the Indigenous individuals are not able to claim their traditional lands because of the mining corporation. The government proceedings and requirements for proving the ownership are complicated which made it difficult for Indigenous people to claim ownership over traditional lands.
• The rate of crime against Indigenous people is substantially high in Australia; most of the Aboriginal children experience or suffer from crimes that negatively influence their point of view towards life.

• The low income and education facilities made it difficult for Aboriginal people to influence and engage with society. The Indigenous people have the lowest economic status than compared to other societies in Australia.
• The Aboriginal people face many difficulties that create barriers to their education like (Bennett & Zubrzycki, 2013):
• English teaching material
• Inappropriate history of Aboriginal people in the books that did not depict reality

• Not enough Indigenous history in textbooks
• Racism by teachers, staff and other students
• Poverty made it difficult for parents to afford study material

• High rate of debt, homelessness, financial hardship, social isolation, family breakdown, domestic violence, and lack of proper representation in the judicial

• Discrimination between Indigenous and non-Aboriginal Australian during employment, education, healthcare, and other social situations
• Lack of appropriate healthcare facilities that create various physical and mental health problems for Aboriginal people
• High rate of suicide due to mental stress
• Lack of respect for native title
• Social exclusion in major cities
• Vulnerability to rape, gambling, domestic violence, assaults, drugs and alcohol abuse

3.Many studies have been conducted by experts on ATSI people and communities, most of the research supports the argument that most of the Indigenous people in Australia are suffering from various social, economic, political and health issues. Many studies have provided that the ATSI people in Australia are the most socially and economically disadvantaged group. Bodkin-Andrews, Paradies, Parada, Denson, Priest & Bansel (2012) provided theory and research on racism and bullying faced by Indigenous people in Australia. The study showed negative impact of bullying and racism on Indigenous people; these two stressors adversely affect mental, physical and educational wellbeing outcomes. The racism has always been affecting Indigenous people negatively, whereas bullying is more recent. Many types of research have been conducted on racism issues, but the issue of bullying has been largely ignored. The theory stated that government should clearly understand the two primary stressors of the negatively influence Aboriginal people’s health, find the reason for such stressors and who are being targeted the most. The government should formulate strict policies to develop a culturally sensitive and secure environment for Indigenous people (Purdie, Dudgeon & Walker, 2010).

There have been several other major theories and studies that have underpinned the negative condition of Aboriginal people. The Mabo Case is one of the most famous cases relating to ownership of Aboriginal people on traditional lands of Australia. In this case, the high court dismissed the doctrine of Terra nullius. The principles of terra nullius imported all British law on Australian land and forcefully apply them over Indigenous Australian, this principle applies on barren lands whereas Aboriginal communities were civilised. The high court provided historical judgement by accepting the land ownership title of Indigenous people, and the government established Native Title Act 1993 (Strelein, 2009). Although the native title act accept land ownership right of Aboriginal people, it is still significantly difficult for them to prove their ownership. There are a large number of requirements for establishing land title, and most cases take years to succeed.

Impact of Colonization on ATSI People

The studies and theories have proved that Aboriginal people are the most disadvantageous group. Still, the government did not provide extra funding for Indigenous communities. The Australian government has implemented few non-monetary facilities for Aboriginal communities to overcome disadvantage such as:

• Aboriginal Medical and Legal Services
• The Indigenous Education Strategic Initiatives Programme
• Employment to indigenous community development scheme
• The Indigenous Employment Programme

These programs focus on providing employment, healthcare, education, training, and other facilities to the Aboriginal communities. As per the theory of Muller (2014), the initiatives of government are not enough to fulfill healthcare and medical requirements of Indigenous people. According to Dick (2007), social determinants’ theory recognise that Indigenous population is facing various issues relating to health and inequality which negatively influence their development because the social determinants fail to recognise the fundamental connection between human rights and health status. Thomson, Darcy & Pearce (2010) provided that sports development program and Ganma theory should be implemented for Indigenous youth to improve the involvement and collaboration between agencies and local communities to benefit Aboriginal people mutually.

4.Australian government stated reconciliation with Aboriginal peoples in 1991. Since then, the government recognise the disadvantage suffered by Indigenous people in Australia, and they have implemented many policies and practices to maintain equality and provide facilities to Indigenous people. Following are the recent policies in Australia regarding issues face by Aboriginal people:

The Australian Government Department of Health (2015) has implemented a health plan 2013-2023 for Indigenous people facilities. The plan focuses on establishing an effective health system to fulfill healthcare requirements of Indigenous people (HealthInfoNet, 2017a). The plan includes following strategies:

Increasing the funding for Aboriginal community health organisations

Reducing discrimination and racism to improve the cultural safety in healthcare system for Indigenous people

Recognising, mapping and responding to the requirements of Aboriginal people based on geographic factors

Providing evidence-based care

Ensuring the leadership of Indigenous people in healthcare system

Increasing workforce capabilities

Partnering with Aboriginal communities to increase their influence at different levels such as planning, delivery, and evaluation

The federal government of Australia has established various bodies to administer the issues relating to Indigenous people, such as (HealthInfoNet, 2017b):

The Ministerial Taskforce on Indigenous Affairs — it includes various government ministers that formulate policies to address the problems faced by Aboriginal people and communities.

The Secretaries Group — consists of chief from various federal departments who report their actions to the Ministerial Taskforce.

The National Indigenous Council — this council consists of government-appointed Board of Indigenous people that provide advice to government regarding Aboriginal issues.

Current Issues Faced by ATSI People in Australia

The Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination — the head office is situated in the Division of Immigration, Multiculturalism, and Aboriginal Matters and it performs the action of coordinating federal government on Aboriginal affairs.

Indigenous Coordination Centres — there are 27 region-based offices situated throughout the country, and they engage with local Aboriginal communities and coordinate government by delivering facilities straight to the communities.

The Council of Australian Government (COAG) has established various targets relating to Closing the Gap program in 2008 which focuses on following six issues (Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, 2014):

1. Increasing life expectancy of Indigenous people by 2031.
2. Closing gap of the mortality rate of children under five years by 2018.
3. Providing education facilities to four-year-olds in remote areas by 2013.

1. Filling the gap in numeracy, writing, and reading of Aboriginal people by 2018.
2. Creating equal attainment rates for children by 2020.
3. Closing the gap in employment opportunities that exist between non-indigenous and Aboriginal people for a decade.
4. In 2014, COAG added five new targets for closing the gap, and the Australian government has invested around $4.8 billion in its program called Indigenous Advancement Strategy (IAS) in order to replace more than 150 programs by five programs which include:
   1. Children and education
   2. Job, land, and economy
   3. Culture capability
   4. Remote Australia strategy
   5. Safety and wellbeing
   6. Establishment of Native Title Act 1993 that recognise the ownership title of Aboriginal people over traditional lands and giving them possession of such lands.
   7. The government and non-Indigenous people are slowly recognising the disadvantages suffered by Aboriginal people, and they are spreading awareness to provide them equal opportunities by reducing racism and discrimination through policies such as equal pay, citizenship, self-determination policy, land rights and native title.

5.The policies for Indigenous people have failed to fulfill the requirement of Aboriginal people.

Following are the failure of closing the gap policy:

The policy estimated to provide education facility to all four-year-old Aboriginal children living in remote areas by 2013 which has been already missed.

The life expectancy gap is estimated to close by 2031 by there is not much progress on this issue. The Aboriginal people die about ten years younger than non-indigenous, and no impact has shown on these rates. The life expectancy for an Aboriginal male is required to be increased by 16 years, and for a female it is 21 years. By 2012, the only gain in life expectancy was 0.1 for women and 0.8 for men (Conifer, Leslie, Tilley & Liddy, 2017).

There is no significant decline in child mortality rate; in 2015, 124 Aboriginal children died, and in 2014 118 children died.

The rate of Aboriginal employment has fallen since 2008; the gap was 24.2 percent in 2015 whereas it was 21.2 percent in 2008

Other targets such as school attendance, reading and writing have yet to be fulfilled.

The Native Title Act 1993 has failed to fulfill its purpose because it is substantially difficult for Aboriginal people to prove their ownership title (Cromb, 2017).

The Australian Government Department of Health has failed to meet its target because the rate of Aboriginal deaths due to suicide, mental issues, diseases and lack of availability of mental facilities are still substantially high (Wahlquist, 2017).

Following are the strengths and weaknesses of various policies started by the Australian government for Aboriginal people.

• Closing the gap policy has been able to improve attainment rate of Indigenous students because by 2015 more than 62 percent of students have finished year 12 in school. It assists Aboriginal peoples to collect higher education that assist in their development (Perche, 2017).
• The rate of employment has not increased as estimated by the government but as compared to 1991, the rate has grown substantially.
• The policies promote the right and equality of Aboriginal people that reduce racism and discrimination against them.
• The healthcare policies allow Indigenous people to get appropriate medical facilities that reduce health issues and increase their life expectancy.

• The lack of resources is a key factor that creates barriers for the Indigenous policies. Most of the policies are underfunded, for example, there are around 150 Aboriginal programs, and total funding for them is around $2.4 billion (Korff, 2017b).
• There are too many services available in which most are irrelevant. In Roeboure, Western Australia, there are around 67 local services and 400 programs for a population of 1,150, and in Tomelad South Wales there are around 70 services for 300 people.
• The administration cost is substantially high, for example, in Kimberley region, from $1.3 million funding only $327,000 was spent on Indigenous facilities and rest were staff salary and other expenses.
• The government policies did not include perspective or opinion of Aboriginal people, instead, they establish policies that they think are best for Indigenous communities.

References

Australia Government. (2015). Australian Indigenous cultural heritage. Retrieved from https://www.australia.gov.au/about-australia/australian-story/austn-Indigenous-cultural-heritage

Australia Human Rights Commission. (2005). Questions and Answers about Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Retrieved from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/publications/questions-and-answers-about-Aboriginal-torres-strait-islander-peoples

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2016). Estimates of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, June 2011. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au/ausstats/[email protected]/mf/3238.0.55.001

Bennett, B., & Zubrzycki, J. (2003). Hearing the stories of Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander social workers: Challenging and educating the system. Australian Social Work, 56(1), 61-70.

Bodkin-Andrews, G., Paradies, Y., Parada, R., Denson, N., Priest, N., & Bansel, P. (2012, January). Theory and research on bullying and racism from an Aboriginal Australian perspective. In AARE 2012: Proceedings of the Australian Association for Research in Education 2012 conference (pp. 1-14). Australian Association for Research in Education.

Conifer, D., Leslie, T., Tilley, C., & Liddy, M. (2017). Closing the gap: Australia is failing on Indigenous disadvantage goals. Retrieved from https://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-02-14/closing-the-gap-report-card-failing/8268450

Cromb, N. (2017). Native Title is not ‘land rights’. Retrieved from https://www.sbs.com.au/nitv/article/2017/06/22/native-title-not-land-rights

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. (2014). Policies and strategies. Retrieved from https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/Indigenous/Health-Performance-Framework-2014/Aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-health-performance-framework-2014-report/policies-and.html

Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. (2014). Racism and discrimination. Retrieved from https://www.pmc.gov.au/sites/default/files/publications/Indigenous/Health-Performance-Framework-2014/Aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander-health-performance-framework-2014-report/racism-and.html

Dick, D. (2007). Social determinants and the health of Indigenous peoples in Australia – a human rights based approach. Retrieved from https://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/speeches/social-determinants-and-health-Indigenous-peoples-australia-human-rights-based

Dudgeon, P., Wright, M., Paradies, Y., Garvey, D., & Walker, I. (2010). The social, cultural and historical context of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice, 25-42.

Esler, D., Johnston, F., Thomas, D., & Davis, B. (2008). The validity of a depression screening tool modified for use with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Australian and New Zealand journal of public health, 32(4), 317-321.

HealthInfoNet. (2017a). National. Retrieved from https://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-infrastructure/policies/policies-strategies/general/national

HealthInfoNet. (2017b). Organisations. Retrieved from https://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-infrastructure/policies/organisations

Hughes, H. (2007). Lands of Shame: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander” homelands” in Transition. Centre for Independent Studies. Sydney, New South Wales.

Korff, J. (2017a). Aboriginal prison rates. Retrieved from https://www.creativespirits.info/Aboriginalculture/law/Aboriginal-prison-rates

Korff, J. (2017b). Why Aboriginal politics fail. Retrieved from https://www.creativespirits.info/Aboriginalculture/politics/why-Aboriginal-politics-fail

Muller, L. (2014). A theory for Indigenous Australian health and human service work. Allen & Unwin.

Perche, D. (2017). Closing the Gap is failing and needs a radical overhaul. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/closing-the-gap-is-failing-and-needs-a-radical-overhaul-72961

Purdie, N., Dudgeon, P., & Walker, R. (2010). Working together: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mental health and wellbeing principles and practice.

Strelein, L. (2009). Compromised jurisprudence: Native title cases since Mabo. Aboriginal Studies Press.

Thomson, A., Darcy, S., & Pearce, S. (2010). Ganma theory and third-sector sport-development programmes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth: Implications for sports management. Sport Management Review, 13(4), 313-330.

Wahlquist, C. (2017). Australian governments have failed Indigenous peoples, says Oxfam. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2017/apr/12/australian-governments-have-failed-Indigenous-peoples-says-oxfa