Indigenous Families: Special issue of Family Matters journal

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Indigenous Families: Special issue of Family Matters journal

Matthew Gray and Ellen Fish (eds)

ISBN: 1030-2646 2006 96 pages Australian Institute of Family Studies

Ross Bailie
Menzies School of Health Research, Casuarina NT

Family Matters is the refereed journal of the Australian Institute of Family Studies. Issue No 75 focuses on Indigenous children, families and communities. This is a fascinating collection of papers on a range of social issues facing Indigenous families in contemporary Australia and on adverts by individuals and organisations to improve social conditions: conditions widely recognised as underpinning the poor health status of Indigenous Australians.

The topics covered span the intergenerational effects of forced separation, crime and injustice, early intervention programs to prevent social problems, the economic value of Indigenous people harvesting wild resources, Indigenous people’s views on out-of-home care and on family decision-making, community development, and Indigenous employment in the Australian Public Service. The stories come from across Australia, particularly Queensland, Western Australia and Victoria, and include urban, rural and remote environments. While the key messages are not necessarily new, the papers illustrate well how a variety of social influences play out to effect the health of Indigenous people, and how individuals and organisations are striving to improve health and social outcomes.

The content swings from shocking statistical measures of mental health and well-being, emotional and behavioural difficulties, personal stories of growing up in marginalised communities and – despite the best efforts of parents and senior members of the communities – the frequently tragic outcomes; to the strength and resilience of the people who survive and emerge from these circumstances as leaders and advocates for their communities. ‘Where poverty and social exclusion are entrenched, failure of support systems is a more common phenomenon’. This quote captures a pervasive theme of the issue and demands a concerted response which focuses on the resources needed for parents and communities to overcome the barriers.

A common theme to emerge from the papers is the ongoing impacts of forced separation and relocation of Indigenous people, and the effects of such policies on current land rights initiatives, the dislocation of families, traditional ways of provisioning and involvement in the criminal justice system. Data from WA suggests the impact at an individual, personal level at least, is attenuated over two generations, with children whose grandparent, but not parent, has been removed being less likely to suffer effects. However, other papers support the contention that the impacts related to land rights and activities such as harvesting of wild resources, and health consequences of these impacts, may be longer lasting but more difficult to discern.

The inadequacies in services and the ongoing effects of social dislocation are illustrated by the paper on out-of-home care. This describes a five fold, over-representation of Indigenous compared to non-Indigenous children in such circumstances, the insufficient numbers of Indigenous carers, the importance of maintaining connections to family, community and culture for those in care, and the need for the development of services to meet the needs of young people in care. An unwillingness of potential carers to be associated with the formal out-of-home care system is described, and the tension between cultural commitment to community and an aversion to formal child welfare is seen as a fundamental barrier to enhancing the availability of culturally appropriate placements.

The lessons which emerge from the paper on Indigenous community development projects are consistent with the well established principles of community development and offer some ways forward. These lessons are related to increasing mutual trust between government agencies and community members, flexibility in approaches to implementation, achieving sustainable solutions, and broad ownership by, and engagement of the community in, developing and implementing programs. The theme of sustainability is explored further in relation to prevention and early intervention programs in another paper. The roles of families and children’s services, schools, vocational and further educational opportunities, the employment environment, and systems that alleviate the effects of poverty are identified as being critical to sustaining gains.

Finally, a ‘viewpoint’ paper by the current chair of the National Indigenous Council provides an overview of this council’s views on how to improve outcomes for early Indigenous childhood development and on the context and research relating to these initiatives. This council has apparently ‘had a hand in shaping the priorities of the Ministerial Taskforce on Indigenous Affairs’.

While reviewing this edition of Family Matters I finished reading a book that won the Commonwealth Writer’s Prize for the best book in Africa in 2007. The book is titled The Native Commissioner (Johnson 2006), and is an engrossing and ultimately sad story of a well-motivated and intelligent public servant caught up in the implementation of apartheid policies in South Africa in the 1950s and 60s. It struck me that neither the paper by the Chair of the National Indigenous Council nor the one on Indigenous employment in the Australian Public Service (APS) mention politicisation of the public service. Perhaps the closest the latter paper comes to this is in reporting 2006 Census results, which showed that almost half the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employees of the APS indicated they were thinking of leaving the APS within the next three years or were unsure if they would stay. In the current Australian political climate, one can only wonder at the distress that may be glossed over by the bland descriptors of reasons for intending to leave: ‘lack of job satisfaction’, ‘feeling under-valued’, ‘lack of workplace support’ and ‘poor management’. The Native Commissioner left me with a deeper sense of respect for (some) public servants working in an adverse political environment, and together with this edition of Family Matters, a deeper sense of frustration at the politicisation of the policy-making process in Australian Indigenous affairs that appears to underlie the failure to respond to the messages reflected in this collection.

This collection of papers should confront Australian authorities and the public, for neither appear to understand, develop constructive solutions, or learn the lessons of the past. Instead there is a continuation of a blaming and authoritarian culture: apparently for the sake of political expediency, and with disregard for the personal costs of the people effected. This is particularly salient to the current intervention in the Northern Territory.

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