Hey Guys,
Missed most of you again this week. We covered Indigenous Australians this week in seed group and we've going to discuss it again next Thursday. Read over the two issues and think about some of the questions posed and next week we'll discuss them.
As Mr Paini suggested perhaps week 5 or 6 is a good week for our BBQ? Email me if you have any problems.
Issue: Inequality for Indigenous Australians.
What do you know about the inequalities faced by Indigenous Australians? Here are a few facts.
· Young Indigenous people are four times more likely to be sexually abused than non-Indigenous people
· Teenage births are more likely in Indigenous Australians than non-Indigenous
· On average, Indigenous Australian households earn 62% of that of non-Indigenous Australian households
· Indigenous Australians are today the most disadvantaged people in Australia across all census indicators of health, education, housing and employment
· Life expectancy is 17years less for Indigenous Australians than non-Indigenous Australians
· There are much higher levels of substance abuse, family violence & suicide amongst Indigenous Australians
Questions to think about this week
Why do think this inequality exists? Is there anything that can be done to try to change this situation?
Under Aboriginal Land Rights, certain protocols must be followed when visiting the area.
· Sites are only to be visited with the consent of the appropriate Aboriginal people within the communities and must be accompanied at all times by an Elder of the Aboriginal community where possible or by an Aboriginal community member.
· There should be no direct contact with secret sacred sites
· Aboriginal artefacts and other such materials must not be removed, touched or damaged by persons visiting the site.
· There must be no littering of any kind at or near the site during the course of your visit.
· In certain circumstances boys and girls may be granted permission to visit a particular site not permitted to boys and girls under Aboriginal Customary Laws of this area. Permission will be obtained through the representing body of the particular community of the site is to be visited.
Questions to think about this week
What do you think about these sets of rules. Do they believe that some areas of Australia should be off limits to the general public? Why? Why not?
Questions to consider:
· What do students think the future holds for Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australian relations?
· How can we work together to eradicate the inequality that exists?
· In the 2006 Census, 455,028 people identified themselves as being of Aboriginal and/ or Torres Strait Islander origin, comprising 2.3% of the total population
· Aboriginal people were first counted as citizens in the 1971 Census.
· Despite the increases in the numbers of people identifying as Indigenous in censuses, however, there are still believed to be significant undercounts occurring.
· In the 2006 Census, 455,028 people identified themselves as being of Aboriginal and/ or Torres Strait Islander origin, comprising 2.3% of the total population
· Teenage births are more common among Indigenous women than among other women. In 2006 the teenage birth rate among Indigenous women rose to be more than five times the overall Australian teenage birth rate.
· Teenage pregnancies are associated with low birth weight babies.
· In 2006, over half of the total Indigenous population lived in New South Wales and Queensland (29% and 28% of the total Indigenous population respectively). Despite this, Indigenous peoples make up a small minority of the total population of these States (2% and 3.5% respectively). In the Northern Territory by contrast, while total numbers are relatively small, Indigenous peoples constitute 32% of the total population
· In the 2006 Census there were 166,668 Indigenous households recorded. Of these, 76% were one family households, of the remaining 24%, 5% were multi-family households, and 5% were group households. Approximately 14% were lone person households. 30% were one parent families (as opposed to 10% of non-Indigenous families)
· Indigenous peoples are more likely to live in one or multi-family households than non-Indigenous peoples (81% compared with 68%) and less likely to live in lone person households (14% compared with 23%).
- 86% of Indigenous respondents reported speaking only English at home, which is about the same as the non-Indigenous population (83%);
- 12% of Indigenous respondents reported speaking an Indigenous language at home; with three quarters of those recording they were also fluent in English;
- Many Indigenous peoples are bilingual; however, the pattern varies with geographical location with 56% of respondents living in remote areas reported speaking an Indigenous language, compared with one per cent in urban centres
- Under the life expectation estimation formula adopted by the ABS in 2003, Indigenous males' life expectation was estimated to be 59.4 years over 1996-2001, while female life expectation was estimated to be 64.8 years: a life expectation inequality gap when compared to the general Australian population of approximately 17 years for the same five year period. The ABS has not released a life expectation estimate for Indigenous peoples for the years 2002 on.
- For the period 2001–05, Indigenous infant deaths represented 6.4% of total Indigenous male deaths and 5.7% of total Indigenous female deaths compared with 0.9% and 0.8% of the total for non-Indigenous male and female infant deaths.
- In the 2006 Census, the mean gross household income for Indigenous persons was $460 per week, which amounted to 62% of the rate for non-Indigenous Australians ($740 per week).
- Indigenous people today are the most disadvantaged group of people in Australia. On all the major indicators such as health, housing, education and employment Indigenous people are significantly worse off than other Australians.
- Life expectancy is 17 years less for Indigenous people
- Infant mortality (the rate at which babies die) is three times as high, and Indigenous babies are twice as likely to be low birth weight, which makes them much more vulnerable to illness.
- There are much higher levels of substance abuse, family violence and suicide in Indigenous communities.
- Indigenous young people are more than 4 times more likely to be sexually abused.
- More Indigenous people also tend to live in areas which are isolated, and where there is a lack of access to clean water, fresh food, doctors and health clinics.
Interesting Links
Apology to the stolen generation by Kevin Rudd -> http://www.youtube.com/watch?
Reconciliation, getting active -> http://reconciliaction.org.au/
Indigenous Australia Information -> http://www.
If you've read to the bottom well done. This week we're going to play a game. Remember this code word Periwinkle. The first person to tell me it at seed group will win a Mars Bar!
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