Indigenous Disadvantage as a Complex and Long Term Issue - Essay Example

Indigenous Disadvantage as a Complex and Long Term Issue with Many Determining Factors in Australia Student’s Name: Instructor’s Name: Course Code and Name: University: Date of Submission: Indigenous Disadvantage as a Complex and Long Term Issue with Many Determining Factors in Australia The term indigenous in the Australian context refers to the original inhabitants of the country and the islands that are nearby (Australia 2020 summit 2008). They constitute Torres Strait Islanders and Aborigines. Indigenous Australians account for 2.5% of the total population of Australia (Thomson et al 2010). Most of the indigenous Australians speak English with some of the phrases of the Aboriginal language being incorporated into it creating Australian Aboriginal English. The indigenous population of Australia suffers gross disproportionate rates in terms of social economic status resulting in them being disadvantaged. Though there have been programs developed by governmental, territorial and state organizations to come up with specific ways to address the disadvantage; there have proved to be inadequate in terms of raising the standards of Indigenous people so that they are at the same level with the rest of the Australian society. There is very little that is understood about the legitimacy and need to incorporate special measures to address their disadvantage. This type of mindset and the reluctance to address the issue is reinforced by the government policies lacking acknowledgement of the fact that Indigenous people have to apply their right of self-determination. Self-determination has been rejected as the foundation of Indigenous policy (Hunter 2008, p. 95-97). These conditions contribute to Indigenous disadvantage. Another one of the issues that contributes to reinforcing Indigenous disadvantage is that the reports that are available in the country that contain provisions that address Indigenous disadvantage have not been implemented effectively. Some of these reports include the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody. Another is bringing them home and also, the National inquiry into separating Aboriginal and Torres Strait islanders from their families. Another government initiative that addressed social issues called social justice package was abandoned before it could make any real impact. If this package were implemented, it would include measures that enable better understanding of Indigenous disadvantage and acknowledge the unique status of indigenous people (Hunter 2008, p. 95-97). The Indigenous people of Australia have remained the most disadvantaged group in Australia. There are obvious differences in the provision of resources that act as indicators of quality of life. This means that they are affected by the disadvantage I aspects of daily life as pertains to health, education and social amenities. The disadvantages make them more susceptible to health risks and poor quality of life. The government’s previous attempt to make the situation of Indigenous people better were not effective because careful thought was not put into them and most of the times, they led to more harm than good. This happened with the case of Stolen Generations (Hunter 2008, p. 95-97). The Australian parliament issued commands to remove Aboriginal and Torres Strait children from their homes forcibly. The act was perpetrated by churched, the Federal government in Australia and other state sanctioned agencies. The idea was that these children would be given better living conditions away from their households (Dockery 2009, p. 2-23). This happened somewhere between the years of 1869 and 1969, though some went on till the 1970s. It was until 2008 that the government issued an apology to the Indigenous society of Australia. The apology was made formally. With all the problems that Indigenous Australians are facing in terms of being disadvantaged. The structural disadvantage that they face leaves them susceptible to abusive conditions that are rarely reported. Indigenous children are often sexually abused with the prevalence of this acts being underreported; the Indigenous society is displaying symptoms of slowly breaking down (Australian crime commission n.d., p. 19-23). This puts the entire Australian society at a dysfunctional state. The societal environment that is the context of Indigenous Australians has been described as being toxic and this is cited as the reason of increased violent, abusive and neglectful behavior displayed by those in this society (Australian crime commission n.d., p. 19-23). The toxicity that is described here refers to manifestations of disadvantages such as poverty, higher crime rates, unemployment, poor housing and under-resourced health and educational facilities. The very wide gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians is defined and filled by evaluation and statistics in essential areas of life such as early childhood education, infant and child mortality rates, and prevalence of school completion, employment and literacy and numeracy skills. The life expectancy of Indigenous Australians is a good 17 years lower than the expectancy of the rest of the population. Women have a life expectancy of 65 years while mans have one of 59 years while the rest of the population has one of 82 years and 77 years respectively (Thomson et al 2010). These figures are estimates and more research is being done to come up with values that mirror change and other influential factors. There are various issues that affect life expectancy of Indigenous people and affect their life expectancy levels. The socio-economic status visible in Indigenous societies is lower and of poor quality which lowers life expectancy by affecting areas that are essential to good quality of life like financial stability. Without this stability, they are unable to acquire the necessary things that they need, like good food and health services, to have a quality life. In addition, they do not have access to good and quality health care facilities (UN 1999, p. 1-12). The health system in the area is not efficient enough to cover their needs adequately especially since Indigenous Australians live in remote areas out on their own where they are the only ones affected by the problems they face. The social problems that lead to their society constantly faces and the problems that they have with an unstable society lead to higher prevalence of risk behaviors and habits like substance abuse, alcoholism, lack of adequate exercise, lack of proper nutrition and smoking. All these behaviors contribute to a lower life expectancy. The major area that affects life expectancy is the health system. If this area is improved upon, it will be one less disadvantage that will also improve the quality of life and also increase life expectancy. Inadequate health facilities and services lead to the prominence of risky prenatal conditions such as complications in fetal growth, cardiovascular and respiratory conditions that are unique to prenatal period and pregnancy complications. These then result in higher rates if child and infant mortality. In addition, indigenous people experience more risk factors for bad health than the rest of the Australian population (Australian government 2009). Their social experiences like dislocation, dispossession and discrimination are major contributors since they lead to the having less opportunities and access to necessary items. Also, educational factors such as poor schooling levels which result from poor educational facilities and systems. Without good education, getting employed becomes harder and also, they will lack the knowledge and skills that are acquired from school and are needed to go through life. This leads to another affecting factor which is economic in nature; in that they have little or inadequate income and also higher levels of unemployment. A society with people who do not have a steady flow of funds will itself be unstable financially. On average, Indigenous Australians have a 32% less income per week compared to their counterparts (Thomson et al 2010). The society is the environment in which they live in and its condition is also another factor that contributes to their disadvantage. Indigenous Australians have poor housing conditions and toxic or polluted environments which make it unhealthy for human habitats. About 30% of them who reside in remote areas are living in crowded households (Thomson et al 2010). There is a growing dissatisfaction with the education system that is available for Indigenous Australians. Many of these students drop out of high school before completing their education. Those who go ahead and complete their high school education often have scores that do not enable them to further their educational ventures like go to college or get some type of vocational training. Regardless of when and in what condition they leave high school; Indigenous students are often always inadequately prepared to deal with the conditions of the world as well as their non-Indigenous colleagues (Price-Robertson & McDonald 2011, p. 2-6). By the age of 17, the attendance level of Indigenous students is half that of their non-Indigenous counterparts and about 20% more of them are doing jobs without adequate qualification. Owing to this problem, the response of governmental and other relevant organizations has been to come up with intervention programs developed to specifically address the disadvantage that Indigenous students have at school and with their system as a whole. The programs have been highly successful (Johns 2008, p. 65-84). However, they are not widespread and available to all the students who need it. Only portions of the total Indigenous student population are able to access the programs and utilize them adequately and as required in order to yield a positive result (Price-Robertson & McDonald 2011, p. 2-6). As a result, the overall positive outcome has not been reverberated through the Indigenous societies. Looking at this case, lack of access to intervention programs that have been developed by education systems is highlighted as one of the issues that contribute to Indigenous disadvantage. Due to the constantly increasing population of Indigenous Australians who are of school age, they have come to represent one of the highest numbers of students in public and governmental school (Australian government 2009). The issue that is challenging the efforts to make these schools of equal opportunity to all who attend them is that there is a belief that there will always be a disparity between the levels of academic excellence of Indigenous students and non-Indigenous students and that this disparity is acceptable. People believe that Indigenous students cannot perform as well as their counterparts and so if they fail, there is little emphasis placed in finding out the root of their problems and coming up with ways to address them. If something is considered normal, the need to change or alter its current condition is quite rare. Yet another factor that is contributing to the disadvantage of indigenous students is that the Australian society is highly polarized in terms of equal opportunities. Globalization is contributing to this polarization (Australian government 2009, p. 1-19). The governmental system has failed to come up with long term effective strategies that will be beneficial to Indigenous Australians. The provision of an educational facility is not enough, there is need to come up with programs that will help these students too. The approaches taken need to be thought of from different perspectives. For instance, equal opportunity should not just refer to the fact that facilities have been made available but also that each student is provided with the best and customized form of opportunity and facilities that will contribute to their overall excellence. Just as success cannot be dictated by a single aspect of life, the factors that hinder it cannot be from a single source. If this was the case, the solving problems to do with lack of success would be easy. The factors that contribute to the disadvantage of Indigenous Australians are complex in nature and require that more effort and time is put in understanding how they affect each other before any solutions are developed. Most of the programs and interventions that have been attempted have failed in the long term and do not change conditions in a large scale manner because they have a linear approach dealing with only one issue yet the causes are numerous. The complex nature of the factors that affect and effect disadvantage should be addressed using the same complex manner to have a good chance at succeeding. Based on the research findings, a set of problems lead to another, then another like a web reaction where one issue is influenced by many other and also influences numerous others. Taking care of only one issue will not be effective enough to avert the problem. The disadvantage position of Indigenous Australians is the result of years of contributing factors that reinforce the issue. Closing the gap that exists between the societies is a challenge that should be approached nationally. The research that has been done on Indigenous Disadvantage shows that the issue is complex and has been in existence for a long time. List of References Australia 2020 summit 2008, The future of Indigenous Australia, viewed 31 May 2011 Australian crime commission n.d., The structural factors of Indigenous disadvantage and dysfunction that constitute risk pathways to problem sexual behavior and child sexual exploitation, Problem sexual behavior: A review of the literature, pp. 19-23, viewed 31 May 2011 Australian government 2009, The challenge facing Australia: The evidence, Commonwealth of Australia, viewed 31 May 2011 Australian government 2009, Closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage: the challenge for Australia, Commonwealth of Australia, pp. 1-19, viewed 31 May 2011 Dockery, AF 2009, Culture and wellbeing: the case of Indigenous Australians, Curtin University of technology, pp. 2-23, viewed 31 May 2011 Hunter, B 2008, ‘Is policy the problem or the solution for Indigenous people? A rejoinder to Gary Johns’, Agenda, vol. 15, no. 3, pp. 95-97. Johns, G 2008, ‘The Northern Territory Intervention in Aboriginal affairs: Wicked problem or wicked policy?’, Agenda, vol. 15, no. 2, pp. 65-84. Price-Robertson, R & McDonald, M 2011, Working with indigenous children, families and communities, Australian Institute for family studies, pp. 2-6, viewed 31 May 2011 Thomson N, MacRae A, Burns J, Catto M, Debuyst O, Krom I, Midford R, Potter C, Ride K, Stumpers S & Urquhart B 2010, Summary of Australian Indigenous health, viewed 31 May 2011 < http://www.healthinfonet.ecu.edu.au/health-facts/summary> UN 1999, Indigenous disadvantage and self determination, United Nations, pp. 1-12, viewed 31 May 2011 Read More