Aboriginal Issues Today
Australians roundly rejected greater rights for Indigenous citizens, scuppering plans to amend the country's 122-year-old constitution after a divisive and racially-tinged referendum campaign. Over 55 percent of voters voted "no" to acknowledging Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in the country's constitution for the first time. The reforms would also have created a consultative body -- a "Voice" to Parliament -- to weigh in on laws that affect Indigenous communities and help address profound social and economic inequality. Despite support from the country's centre-left government, the "yes" campaign had trailed in opinion polls for months, and a defeat was widely expected.
The debate was accompanied by reams of online misinformation: suggesting the "Voice" would lead to land seizures, a South African-style system of apartheid or was part of some United Nations plot. Indigenous leader Thomas Mayo expressed fury at the conduct of the "No" campaign, which was backed by conservative opposition leader Peter Dutton. "They have lied to the Australian people. This dishonesty should not be forgotten in our democracy by the Australian people," he said. "There should be repercussions for that sort of behaviour in our democracy. They should not get away with this."
In Central Australia the experience of Aboriginal people is one of marginalisation. For Aboriginal people it is an immediate felt experience. They are physically marginalised. Their first experience is one of dispossession. They have been evicted from their own country. They have been invaded and forced from their traditional homes. Some still actually live on the fringes of town. The Native Title holders of Mparntwe (Alice Springs) live in a group of tin sheds without toilets, showers, hot water or electricity on the margins of the Alice Springs. These people do not use the fancy word "marginalisation", instead they continue say that they are "fringe dwellers".
"Fringe dwelling" truly describes their lives. They physically live on the fringes of the town and they experience life on theedge of survival. Alice Springs is still a contact zone. The non-Aboriginal invaders and the Aboriginal owners are still locked in a contest over space. Aboriginal people in Central Australian know that their continued existence and determination to survive is resented by the occupying forces. This contest is debilitating and energy sapping. It is a continuing injustice.This contest over the right to continue as a living people is the major challenge.
As of 2009 Aboriginals generally were underrepresented among the political leadership. There were no Aboriginals in the federal Parliament. There was one Aboriginal in the Tasmania State parliament, one in the NSW State parliament, two in the WA State parliament, and five in the Northern Territory (NT) legislative assembly. In November 2007 an Aboriginal woman became the highest ranking indigenous member of government in the country's history when she was appointed NT deputy chief minister, a position she retained. There was one Asian-Australian in the federal cabinet.
Reconciliation: The Australian Government is committed to the process of reconciliation between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. Reconciliation involves symbolic recognition of the honored place of the first Australians and the implementation of practical and effective measures to address the legacy of profound economic and social disadvantage experienced by many Indigenous Australians, particularly in health, education, employment and housing.
The Australian Government takes a leading role in reconciliation through its pursuit of practical and symbolic measures that have a positive effect on the everyday lives of Indigenous Australians.
Stolen generation: From 1910 until 1970, between 10 and 30 per cent of Indigenous children were forcibly removed from their families under state and federal child welfare and protection laws. The Australian Government now recognises that the separation of Indigenous children from their families inflicted profound suffering and loss on many Indigenous Australians. On 13 February 2008, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd formally apologised to Indigenous Australians for the removal of children from their families and communities and pledged to improve Indigenous education, health and housing.
Education, health and housing: Indigenous Australians experience significant socioeconomic disadvantage compared with non-Indigenous Australians. The Australian Government is committed to closing the gaps that exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous life expectancy, educational achievement, employment opportunities and housing.
Educationally, fewer Indigenous students attend and finish school than non-Indigenous students. In 2005, the proportion of Indigenous students who completed their secondary education (Year 12 in Australian schools) was 49 per cent, compared with 87 per cent for non-Indigenous students. The academic performance of Australia’s Indigenous students is consistently lower than that of non-Indigenous students. In 2004, the proportion of Indigenous students in Year 7 meeting national education benchmarks was lower than for all Australian students: 71 per cent of Indigenous students reached reading benchmarks compared with 91 per cent of non-Indigenous students, and 52 per cent of Indigenous students met numeracy benchmarks compared with 82 per cent of non-Indigenous students.
From 1996 to 2001, life expectancy at birth was estimated to be 59 years for Indigenous men and 65 years for Indigenous women, whereas in the general population in 1998–2000 it was 77 years for men and 82 years for women. In 2004–05, 65 per cent of Indigenous people had at least one long term health condition and Indigenous people were more than 10 times as likely as non- Indigenous people to have kidney disease, and three times as likely to have diabetes. Indigenous people were also hospitalised at higher rates than non-Indigenous people.
Indigenous people tend to experience lower housing standards than other Australians, especially in remote communities. Overcrowding is a particular problem and is associated with poor health outcomes. The 2004–05 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey found that 27 per cent of Indigenous people were living in overcrowded conditions.
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