The Way Ahead
The future of the world’s oldest continuous culture. Australia’s 460,000 Indigenous people are again facing dramatic changes in government policy. In a Federal election year, striking differences are emerging between the major parties in their approach to the way forward. In a rare televised gathering of some of the most significant voices in the Aboriginal debate, Difference of Opinion asks is there a new and more hopeful vision for the world’s oldest continuous culture?
Who Will Lead?
Who now offers the best hope of leading Indigenous Australians to a brighter future? Is the Federal Government’s ‘mainstream approach’ drawing Aboriginal people into new partnerships based on ‘mutual obligation’ ? Can the ALP’s promise of a new representative organisation offer a better structure to deal with the aspirations of Indigenous people around the country? Are Indigenous people likely to embrace the proposals to move away from Communal land ownership or is this a fundamental tenant of the Culture? Are remote communities viable or is the federal government right in arguing that people should move towards towns and cities that offer more services? And ultimately, who should make these crucial decisions – Government or Indigenous people?
Closing the Gap in Life Expectancy
Despite a steady improvement in some aspects of Indigenous health over the past forty years, Aboriginal Australians still face the prospect of living on average seventeen years less than the rest of Australians. Must the lifestyle change to ease the devastating toll of these so called life style illnesses, such as diabetes, renal disease and heart disease? Would a boost in government spending on primary health care (as argued by the Australian Medical Association) be likely to improve this health disaster? Is education the first step to close the gap in life expectancy? Is a Marshall Plan, integrating housing, health, education, training and jobs, likely to attract bi-partisan political support and wider interest around the nation?
A Brighter Day
The federal government and many Indigenous leaders are agreed on the need to end welfare dependency. Is the Aboriginal Employment Strategy, developed by Indigenous people with white, business support, a new and hopeful model? When the work for the dole scheme (CDEP) ends in a few months time, what happens to unemployed Aboriginal people in rural and remote parts of the country? Can Mining companies show the way to improve Aboriginal training? And is there more possibility for seasonal work in various parts of the country? Is education creating a new force of younger, entrepreneurial Aboriginal businesses? Are there new ideas to close the space between black and white Australians?
Mal Brough: is the Minister for Families, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs. He was elected to the House of Representatives as the Member for Longman (Qld) in 1996 and was appointed to his current portfolio in January last year. In December the former army captain unveiled the government's Blueprint for Action in Indigenous Affairs, which identified three priority areas for special attention: early childhood intervention; safer communities; and building wealth, employment and entrepreneurial culture. His plans include sending children from remote communities to boarding schools. He is a critic of collective ownership of land and wants to promote private ownership.
Olga Havnen: currently works for the Northern Land Council. As the Indigenous Programs Manager of the Fred Hollows Foundation, she oversaw a range of programs in the Katherine region pioneering a new approach to assisting local communities tackle a complex range of issues in a holistic way. She was Senior Policy Officer of the NT Government's Indigenous Policy Unit and Executive Officer with the National Indigenous Working Group (NIWG). She has also worked for the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Central Land Council. Olga is of Western Arrernte descent and grew up in Tennant Creek in central Australia.
Patrick Dodson: is a Yawuru man from Broome in Western Australia and founder and chair of the Lingiari Foundation. He advises government, industry and community groups through the Kimberley and is involved in the preservation and enhancement of Indigenous rights and culture. Born in 1948, Patrick Dodson became Australia's first ordained Aboriginal Catholic priest, trying to balance and blend Catholicism and Aboriginal spiritual belief. This led him into conflict with the ecclesiastical hierarchy and, after many years of confrontation, he finally left the priesthood. Finding ways to bridge Aboriginal and European-Australian cultures also motivated Dodson's subsequent involvement in indigenous land rights, the Reconciliation movement and his work as a commissioner on the Inquiry into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody.
Warren Mundine: is Chief Executive Officer of NSW Native Title Services Ltd. He has also been National President of the Australian Labor Party (term ends April 27). Mundine was born in Grafton, NSW, the ninth child of eleven children to Olive Bridgette (Dolly) Mundine (nee Donovan) and Roy Mundine. Dolly is a Gumbayngirr woman and Roy a Bundjalung man. Mundine's membership of John Howard's hand-picked National Indigenous Council, created some controversy, particularly in NSW where his critics focused on the inconsistency of his ALP role with that of advising the Federal Government on Indigenous issues. In 2005, Kevin Andrews, the then Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations, also presented Mundine with the Bennelong Medal and said: “ Warren has been a brave advocate for change.”
This week's gallery from our in-house cartoonist Warren Brown, who produced these cartoons during the course of the program.
- Episode 1: A Fair Go
- Episode 2: Waterproofing Australia
- Episode 3: Putting Education to the Test
- Episode 4: The Way We Work
- Episode 5: Australians on the Front Line
- Episode 6: Power to the People
- Episode 7: Home Sweet Home
- Episode 8: Australia and Islam
- Episode 9: Beating the Bulge
- Episode 10: The Way Ahead
- Episode 11: Growing Up in the Digital Age
- Episode 12: Cool Heads in a Warm World
- Episode 13: Are You Being Served?