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The defining feature of the past year has been the focus on reconciliation ... But as we reach this crucial stage in relations between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians, reconciliation has come to mean different things to different people. Reconciliation has been described as a 'peoples movement' ...having reached a level of community support that is now unstoppable. For the government it…

Indigenous mental health is finally on the national agenda. As participants in the National Mental Health Strategy, States and Territories acknowledge the importance of the issue. Some of the effects of removal including loss and grief, reduced parenting skills, child and youth behavioural problems and youth suicide are increasingly recognised.

In my role as the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner (Social Justice Commissioner), I am required to prepare two reports on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ human rights issues each year – the Social Justice Report and the Native Title Report.

In recent years a mutual obligation approach has been adopted to reform public policy on welfare and employment issues. There has been much discussion about the applicability of this approach within an Indigenous policy context. It is seen by many as consistent with Indigenous cultural values such as reciprocity and an emphasis on community, as well as suggesting an antidote to the damage caused…