Search results

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma has called on the federal Government to address serious flaws in their Indigenous affairs programs and services. 

The first twelve months of the federal government's new arrangements for the administration of Indigenous affairs has ended. The primary focus of this period has been on abolishing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and creating new processes to engage with local Indigenous communities and coordinate mainstream delivery of services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Twelve months on, the new arrangements remain in a transitional phase. It will be a number of years before they are fully locked into place.

Indigenous individuals have an equal right to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health. States shall take the necessary steps with a view to achieving progressively the full realization of this right.

1. Ten Years on from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody 2. Mutual Obligation, Welfare Reform and Indigenous Participation: A Human Rights Perspective

There is no issue currently causing more destruction to the fabric of Indigenous communities than family violence. This has been acknowledged by all levels of government in recent years, with a number of significant inquiries and initiatives undertaken or commenced at the federal, state and territory level to address its impact.

It is a story of colonisation; the threat of losing our cultural authority to manage our societies; and the despair that has come from that disempowerment. It is a story of grief and trauma and the continued pain of living with grog, drug and violence.

There has been increased attention over the past year to the nature of the relationship between government and Indigenous peoples. There has been a lot of talk from governments about the need to change the way they interact with and provide services to Indigenous peoples and communities. This has largely occurred as a result of the significant policy focus of Indigenous peoples and governments on capacity building and governance reform in recent years, and progress in 2003 in advancing the whole-of-government community trials by the Council of Australian Governments.

This will be how we assess the success or otherwise of the reconciliation process in years to come. The reconciliation process has the potential to be as significant, and difficult, as the process that led to the joining together of the states into one indissoluble federation in 1901. It challenges us to adapt the structures of society in ways that ensure that first nation peoples can participate fully, be welcomed and have our cultures respected. Integral to this process is an acknowledgement of the wrongs of the past and an acceptance of the need for a restructured relationship.

This document is intended to provide a brief overview of the main findings of the Social Justice Report 2002. See the executive summary of the report for a more detailed description of the reports findings.

In recent years there have been significant developments at the international level that impact upon the recognition and protection of the human rights of Indigenous peoples.

4. Research relevant to benchmarking 5. The Commonwealth Grants Commission Report on Indigenous Funding 6. Australian Bureau of Statistics 7. Initiatives at the inter-governmental level related to benchmarking 8. The Steering Committee framework for reporting on Indigenous disadvantage 9. Governance and capacity building 10. Developments at State and Territory level

The new arrangements for Indigenous affairs have brought about a number of changes to programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. During the past year, the Australian Government has reviewed the operation of the Community Development Employment Program (CDEP) and aligned it with mainstream employment programs.

The Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee conducted an inquiry this year into the federal government's implementation of recommendations made by the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission in Bringing them home. The inquiry considered proposals for the establishment of an alternative dispute resolution tribunal for members of the stolen generations; and considered the consistency of the government's response to the recommendations with the reconciliation process and the aspirations and needs of members of the stolen generations.

Part 1: What are the new arrangements for the administration of Indigenous affairs?

The Social Justice Report 2003 is the fifth report by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Dr William Jonas. It was tabled in federal Parliament, along with the Native Title Report 2003, in March 2004.

Lateral violence is a multilayered, complex problem and because of this our strategies also need to be pitched at different levels. In Chapter 3 I have looked at the big picture, with the human rights framework as our overarching response to lateral violence. In this Chapter I will be taking our strategies to an even more practical level, looking at how we can create environments of cultural safety and security to address lateral violence.

The new arrangements for Indigenous affairs have been put in place to ultimately improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. However, the fundamentals required to make the new arrangements work have yet to be properly established. While governments are waiting to hear from communities about their needs and entering into agreements with communities at a growing rate, some basic principles have yet to be implemented.