NAIDOC Week 2008 - Following on from the Apology

“Following on from the Apology –

where to from here from a HREOC perspective”

Tom Calma,

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander

Social Justice Commissioner

HREOC

NAIDOC Week 2008

NSW Department of Premier and
Cabinet

10 July 2008, Sydney

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I would like to begin by acknowledging the Gadigal people of the Eora nation,
the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and pay my respects to their
elders past and present.

I thank the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet for the invitation to
address this gathering in recognition of NAIDOC week.

As mentioned, I am the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice
Commissioner and National Race Discrimination Commissioner at the Human Rights
and Equal Opportunity Commission or HREOC. HREOC is a national, independent,
statutory body established under the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity
Commission Act 1986.

As the Social Justice Commissioner my functions are to monitor the enjoyment
and exercise of human rights for Indigenous Australians. I am required to
produce annual social justice and native title reports, which are tabled in the
federal parliament each year.

I want to take the opportunity today to draw
on the NAIDOC Week theme for this year, ‘advance Australia fair?’,
and talk about how governments can make real change in the lives of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people, particularly when faced with serious problems
such as widespread child sexual assault in Indigenous communities.

The National Aboriginal and Islanders Day Observance Committee, which has
become known by its acronym NAIDOC, calls on all Australians at this time each
year to celebrate the survival of Indigenous culture and the Indigenous
contribution to modern Australia.

The theme “advance Australia fair?”, aims to encourage people to
reflect on the Australian principle of a “Fair go” and what this
means given the inequalities still experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples in Australia today.

Our nation continues to thrive and is now recognised as one of the most
prosperous countries in the developed world. In the Social Justice Report 2005 I
said it was unacceptable for a country as rich as ours, and one based on the
notion of the ‘fair go’ and the ‘level playing field’,
to tolerate the gap between the health and wellbeing outcomes of Indigenous and
non-Indigenous Australians that has existed for as long as records have been
kept. I called for action, and I made recommendations that set out a broad path
to bring the gap in inequality to an end as soon as practicable.

This year’s NAIDOC week theme takes us another step down this path as
it lays down a challenge not only to the community but importantly, to
governments, to deliver real change and improvements in the lives of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Today, I too wish to add to this NAIDOC week challenge to government –
by looking at how can the NSW government approach future policy making, and in
particular the issue of child sexual assault in Aboriginal communities, to
finally overcome Indigenous disadvantage in NSW?

To provide the context for this challenge, let me step back for a moment to
13^th February 2008, when the Prime Minister Kevin Rudd made a
symbolic Apology to the ‘Stolen Generations’. The Prime
Minister’s words were more than just an apology, they signified a
governmental intent to address the multitude of issues facing Indigenous
peoples. In his Apology the Prime Minister heralded the beginning of a new era
that embraced partnerships between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and
laid out a new future direction for government policies.

This year’s NAIDOC week poster demonstrates the significance the
Apology has meant for Aboriginal people and their expectations of government
that stems from this. The NAIDOC week poster, drawn by Darwin artists Duwun Lee
and Laniyuk Lee, features the word ‘Sorry’ on a vibrant red and
orange background (symbolising the colours of the land), with an emu and
kangaroo in the foreground. These are surrounded by the Southern Cross,
connected by bold, wavy black lines.

Significantly, the artists have noted that the emu and the kangaroo from the
Australian coat of arms, have been swapped left to right to represent the switch
in the Government’s attitude with its decision to apologise to members of
the Stolen Generations.

Following the Apology, the question is will
government’s across Australia live up to the expectations to make real and
significant change in the lives of Indigenous peoples? Will we be able to remove
the question mark from ‘advance Australia fair?’?

At the federal level we have seen some encouraging commitments and actions in
this direction.

In December 2007 the COAG committed to having a partnership between all
levels of government to work with Indigenous communities to achieve the target
of closing the gap on Indigenous disadvantage, including:

• closing the life expectancy gap within a generation;
• halving the mortality gap for children under five within a decade; and
• halving the gap in reading, writing and numeracy within a
  decade.^[1]

Then, shortly
after the Apology, at the National Indigenous Health Equality Summit held in
Canberra over 18 – 20 March, 2008, the federal Government and Opposition
committed to the development of a long-term plan of action. The plan of action
aims to address the inequities faced by Indigenous people in relation to access
to and the quality of health services.

The Summit concluded in the Great Hall of Parliament House with a formal
ceremony at which a Statement of Intent was signed by the Prime Minister, the
Ministers for Health and Indigenous Affairs, the Opposition leader, and every
major Indigenous and non-Indigenous health peak body across Australia.

This Statement of Intent commits each of these bodies to a new partnership to
close the gap.

It states:

We share a determination to close the fundamental divide between the health
outcomes and life expectancy of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples of Australia and non-Indigenous Australians.

We are committed to ensuring that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
peoples have equal life chances to all other Australians.

We are committed to working towards ensuring Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander peoples have access to health services that are equal in standard to
those enjoyed by other Australians, and enjoy living conditions that support
their social, emotional and cultural well-being.

We recognise that specific measures are needed to improve Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander peoples’ access to health services.

Crucial to ensuring equal access to health services is ensuring that
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are actively involved in the
design, delivery, and control of these services.

Many people see this as a watershed in Indigenous policy.

To progress this new partnership, the Summit also finalised a series of
targets to close the health inequality gap. These targets are grouped under
four broad headings:

• Partnership Targets - to lock into place a collaborative approach to
  Indigenous health;

• Targets that focus on specific priority areas of child and maternal health,
  chronic disease and mental health and emotional and social wellbeing;

• Primary Health Care and other Health Services Targets; and

• Infrastructure Targets.

The integrated sets of targets are
designed to deal with these requirements, and mark a turning point for
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services.

In particular as agreed by COAG, a partnership approach is proposed,
involving Indigenous people and their representative bodies, health agencies,
government agencies and the wider community.

It is critical that all governments commit and take action together to
deliver real change and improvements.

In New South Wales, in 2006, out of a population of 6.83
million^[2], there were 148,178
Aboriginal people, and this is expected to increase to 199,775 in
2021.^[3] Yet, this 2.17% of the NSW
population is over-represented in the NSW prisons and care and protection
systems, faces higher levels of unemployment and homelessness, and lower life
expectancy and literacy and education levels than the general NSW population.

It is easy to glaze over these statistics that repeatedly tell us what the
problem is, but not necessarily the solution. However, it is important to know
the statistics of disadvantage because the statistics can hold governments
accountable for their actions. These statistics should instigate in
governments, the will to create change and kick start action.

I congratulate the NSW government on its commitments to Aboriginal
communities to date. I note that the NSW State Plan makes some references to
existing or new initiatives relevant to Aboriginal communities in the areas of
safe families, education, employment and health.

I also note the positive framework provided by the Two Ways Together Policy, which is an important avenue for achieving the State Plan’s goals
and objectives just mentioned. I was particularly pleased to see the emphasis in
the policy framework on the coordination with other partner NSW agencies, the
federal government department of FaHCSIA and Aboriginal peak organisations.

As the Two Ways Together Policy outlines, it is a new way of doing
business with Indigenous people, that is premised on partnership, and allows
Indigenous people to have a strong voice in planning and deciding how their
needs and aspirations are met. I welcome the intention by Government to do
business with Indigenous people in culturally appropriate ways.

Even more positive has been the financial commitments made by the Government
in the 2008-09 Budget to implement some of these policy intentions, particularly
in the areas of:

• developing and maintaining water and sewerage systems;

• expanding safe families programs in Western NSW;

• enhancing the Aboriginal communities development program,

• Indigenous employment,

• supporting Aboriginal languages and cultural events, and

• establishing the Two Ways Together Partnership Community Program.
  

But real change is not going to be achieved by this alone.

For real change, the level of a Government’s commitment and response
needs to be commensurate with the scale of the problem.

Given the scale of disadvantage Aboriginal people are facing, Aboriginal
issues need to move from being a sidelined, “interest based” issue,
to being the primary issue that all of government is dealing with, at the
highest levels.

The situation of child sexual assault in Aboriginal communities has
highlighted the limitations of the government’s current commitments
towards Aboriginal communities in NSW.

The severity and the pervasiveness of child sexual assault in Aboriginal
communities in NSW were demonstrated in the Breaking the Silence report commissioned by the government and released two years ago in 2006.

The report revealed alarming statistics, and painted a bleak picture of the
destruction wreaked on many Aboriginal communities by the high incidence of
child sexual assault. Within the 29 Aboriginal communities visited during the
research, almost all of those who spoke described child sexual assault as a way
of life in their community.^[4] What
really became evident was the degree to which child sexual assault was
entrenched within Aboriginal communities.

In the face of the devastating impact of child sexual assault on Aboriginal
communities, the report revealed an overwhelming desire on the part of community
members for the suffering to end and a process of healing to begin. A desire
that has seemingly not been matched by Government commitment.

The report’s 119 recommendations are aimed at creating a system that is
capable of delivering services to the Indigenous population, and in turn
reducing the incidence of child sexual assault in Aboriginal communities. The
report recommends government adopt a holistic, ‘whole government
approach’ to service delivery for Indigenous people.

The recommendations were directed at a number of government agencies, and
captured the importance of an interagency approach to addressing child sexual
assault in Aboriginal communities.

In response to the Breaking the Silence report the NSW Government
formulated a five-year Inter-agency Plan to tackle child sexual assault in
Aboriginal communities. The plan is based on implementing state wide and
location specific actions in the areas of law enforcement, child protection,
early intervention and prevention and community leadership and
support.^[5]

While this plan is a step in the right direction on the part of the NSW
Government, it also highlights the limitations of addressing an issue of such
scale and seriousness without the commensurate level of responses and
resources.

The recently released Interim report on Aboriginal disadvantage notes that
Government funding allocated to reduce the incidence and ameliorate the impacts
of child sexual assault has been inadequate, despite the obvious severity of the
problem.^[6] The report also notes
concerns over the vagueness of the plan, and the lack of attention to addressing
the central problem of
under-reporting.^[7]

The central question facing government today when considering the problem of
child sexual assault in Aboriginal communities is how the government should
respond appropriately and effectively?

The issue of child sexual assault is not an easy one, because it is linked
inherently to the levels of disadvantages in the areas of health, education, and
housing commonly experienced by Aboriginal people. Action is needed across all
these areas, in order to achieve some real change.

In the Social Justice Report 2007 I reported on a human rights
approach to family violence and child sexual assault. I provided a range of case
studies on successful Indigenous community initiatives that have been working
very effectively to address these issues. Several of these very successful
programs are located right here in NSW:

• Blackout Violence Project – a community education project based in
  Redfern which uses sport as medium to raise awareness of anti-violence measures;
  

• Rekindling the Spirit Program – an Indigenous owned and run
  initiative based at Lismore, which provides a holistic healing service to
  Indigenous communities, families and individuals, with an emphasis on
  behavioural change. Many of the participants are ex-offenders or have been
  referred by child protections services;
  

• Strong Young Mum’s Program, Bourke – an early intervention/
  support service for young mothers and their children living in Bourke. Although
  run by a non-Indigenous service, it is a good example of how such a service can
  adopt culturally appropriate practices, with the result that 93% of the clients
  are Indigenous.
  

In my report I examined what made these different projects so
successful. I found that the successful initiatives had the following common
characteristics:

• they were community generated, with high levels of community engagement;

• they adopted community development and partnership based approaches that
  built on communities’ strengths;

• they were holistic, culturally appropriate and possessed a connection with
  culture;

• they empowered women;

• they had Indigenous staff expertise and networks; and

• they were sustainable and flexible - able to respond to changing contexts
  and situations.
  

Based on this analysis, the report distilled a number of principles
and indicators which outlined what a human rights based approach to family
violence and child abuse looks like in practice.

A human rights based approach requires full and effective participation,
accountability, non-discrimination and equality, empowerment, and an express
link to human rights standards. It also requires:

• developing agreed targets and benchmarks;

• having an evaluative framework to assess whether the progressive
  realisation principle is being met, and

• having a people-centred approach which values the full participation of
  Indigenous peoples in the process.^[8]
  

Thus an effective government response to child sexual assault needs
to be developed and implemented in partnership with Aboriginal communities, it
needs to build on existing Aboriginal community initiatives and strengths, and
it needs to apply a human rights based approach. But it also needs to commit
Government’ resources, to the maximum extent possible, to supporting
policies and programs that will create change.

If Government wants to get serious about reducing child sexual assault in
Aboriginal communities, it will need to dedicate substantial new resources,
beyond the existing budget, that are commensurate with the communities’
needs.

I would like to conclude by saying that when Government is willing to listen,
it will hear that Aboriginal people are clearly articulating what Government
needs to do, and that is to:

• promote and protect Aboriginal people’s human rights, including
  their rights to land and culture; and
• consult with Aboriginal people and involve their meaningful participation
  in policy development;
  

This NAIDOC week I am urging everyone to use this week to learn
about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander’s history and culture as well
as understand what are the issues Aboriginal people currently face on a daily
basis.

I urge government to place Aboriginal issues at the forefront of government
policy, to be actioned by the highest levels of government.

I also urge you to make a personal commitment to changing Aboriginal
disadvantage, to advance Australia fair.

Please remember, from self respect comes dignity, and from dignity comes
hope.

Thank you.

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^[1] Council of Australian
Government’s meeting, 20 December 2007 (available at:
http://www.coag.gov.au/meetings/201207/index.htm).

^[2] Australian Bureau of Statistics website (available at:
http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/Lookup/3218.0Main%20Features520…)

^[3] Khalidi, Noor Ahmad, Indicative Indigenous Population Projections, New
South Wales, 2006 to 2021, NSW Aboriginal Housing Office, Sydney
2008

^[4] Aboriginal Child Sexual
Assault Taskforce (ACSAT), Breaking the Silence: Creating the Future,
Addressing child sexual assault in Aboriginal communities in NSW, NSW
Attorney General’s Department, 2006, p49

^[5] NSW Interagency plan to
tackle Child Sexual Assault in Aboriginal Communities 2006-2011. accessed at http://www.lawlink.nsw.gov.au/lawlink/acsat/acsat.nsf/vwFiles/NSWGovtPlantoTackleCSAinAboriginalCommunities.pdf/$file/NSWGovtPlantoTackleCSAinAboriginalCommunities.pdf

^[6] NSW Standing Committee on Social Issues, Inquiry into Aboriginal
disadvantage-Interim Report, 2008,
p106

^[7] NSW Standing Committee on
Social Issues, Inquiry into Aboriginal disadvantage-Interim Report, 2008,
p106

^[8] Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Social Justice Report 2006,
HREOC, Sydney 2006, p103.