Indigenous australia

         It is clear that this is one of the first and well known legal steps towards a more equal Australia for indigenous Australians. Another significant High Court case for the indigenous people was the Wik people versus the State of Queensland case. In this High Court case in 1996 the majority of the court found that a pastoral lease did not confer exclusive possession, and that native title could therefore continue to exist. Where an inconsistency between the native title and non-native title rights occurs, the non-native title rights prevail. Since the Wik case, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have faced a number of political and legal setbacks. As a response tot the Wik case, the John Howard government enacted the Ten Point Plan to amend the Native Title Act. The amendments were seen by many as discriminating against the land rights of Aboriginal people. The Howard Government argued however that the amendments were balanced and necessary to deliver certainty to pastoralists.

Other than legal issues, indigenous people are also still struggling with great health problems. The health and economic difficulties facing both Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders are substantial. In response to all the rumors about the irresponsible lifestyle of indigenous people and their so called child abuse, an investigation was initiated in 2006 by the Australian Government. This resulted in the report of the Board of Inquiry into the protection of Aboriginal children, called “Little children are sacred”. This report mainly investigated ways to protect Aboriginal children from sexual abuse. It pointed out that sexual child abuse and neglect in indigenous areas had reached a crisis level and that there was a urgent need for a collaborative approach between the Northern Territory and Howard Federal Government.

This report lead to a intervention introduced by Prime Minister John Howard, which we now know by The Northern Territory Emergency Response in 2007. Although there has been a lot of criticism about this intervention, which needed to suspend The Racial Discrimination Act in order to take place, it has brought light to the critical health issues many indigenous people were suffering. As a matter of a fact, the United Nations Recently rated the quality of life of Aboriginal the worst on the planet.  To make matter worse, statistics shows us that indigenous people have life expectancy which is significant lower than that of the white Australians. More than ten years difference divides the life span of white and indigenous Australian, both man and woman. Striking here is the fact that the life expectancy of those indigenous people living in the developing world is similar to those living in remote areas. Furthermore, indigenous people have three times the chance of being diagnosed with diabetes, and ten times the chance of getting kidney disease.  Even though these are just parts of the statistics, it is accurate to say that the health conditions of both Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have reached alarming numbers.

The third issue indigenous people are facing refers to education and employment. Mostly because of the limited resources available for indigenous people, such as libraries, schools and even teachers, over sixty percent of the Aboriginal children are behind non-aboriginal children by the time they finish year one. This is due to a several factors. Australia’s education language is for example English. Regarding to the fact that for most indigenous children English is not their first language, they’re struggling understanding. Besides that, most of their parents are undergraduate, which makes it harder for them to motivate their children to attend school. As a result, only three percent of them graduate with a college degree.  

 This poor education results in a high unemployment rate for indigenous Australians. According to a research report in 2001, 54 percent of Indigenous people between fifteen and forty-six years of age were engaged in the labor force, whereas 73% of the non-indigenous population was engaged. Furthermore, only 6 % own their own businesses. Even though we see Aboriginal motifs on Qantas aeroplanes, public transport, tourism advertisements and t-shirts, the money does not end up in the Aboriginal community. 

Whereas poor education results in high unemployment rates, high unemployment rates results in  a lower life standard, which on their turn results in even bigger health issues. The government says to be willing to help out, to amend the circumstances and accept their history as a part of Australia’s history. Meanwhile, Indigenous culture is hardly being taught in schools, most non-indigenous people have no idea about what happened or what is still happening with the Indigenous people. Some are even willing to believe it all never really happened. Whereas Australia seems to embrace the aborigines as a part of their culture if it comes to tourism and merchandise, if it comes to health, education and equality, the statistics and recent history tells us that the indigenous people are far from embraced as a part of Australia’s culture. Although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have survived to claim their rights and a strong voice in society, they still have a long way to go in order to really be a embraced and equal part of Australia’s culture.

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References

Australian Bureau of Statistics (2009) Experimental life tables for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians: 2005-2007. Canberra: Australian Bureau of Statistics

Carter, David. 2006. Aboriginal History and Australian History. In Dispossession, Dreams and Diversity: Issues in Australian Studies, 65-88. New South Wales: Pearson Education Australia.  

Carter, David. 2006. First Nations? The Struggle for Indigenous rights. In Dispossession, Dreams and Diversity: Issues in Australian Studies, 405-435. New South Wales: Pearson Education Australia.  

Toohey, Paul. Last Drinks. The Impact of the Northern Territory Intervention, Quarterly Essay, 2008: 91

Online references

Australian human rights commission, “A statistical overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia”,

 

Australian Politics, “John Howard's Amended Wik 10-Point Plan”,

 

Creative spirits, “Aboriginal Indigenous spirituality and beliefs”,

     

Daily telegraph, “Aboriginal health is the worst in the world” ,

 

Mabo The Native Title Revolution, “Extinguishment Of Native Title”,  

http://www.mabonativetitle.com/tn_28.shtml 

Mabo The Native Title Revolution, “The Mabo Case”,

 

Northern Territory Government, “Inquiry into the Protection of Aboriginal Children from Sexual Abuse”,

 

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