Bill GreenAn improvement in Northern Territory Aboriginal Health
March 5th 2008 07:57
I look forward to every Wedesday morning because i get the Epoch Times handed to me by an elderly, smiling Chinese Women.
The Epoch Times is by far my favourite newspaper, it seems to exude something that seems driven by human integrity ratehr than political ubbish. However i am sure i may be looking at it sticktly from a romanticised point of view.
Something greatly caught my eye; this something is regarding an improvement (improvement!!) in the health of Aboriginals in the northern territory. Now for thsoe readers who are not aware of the radical health crisis facing Aboriginals in Australia i will give you a brief, and i stress brief, summary of the current situation.
Now the problem stems from a variety of contested reasons, and the debate regarding the Health and lifestyle of aboriginals shows no indication of faltering. Put simply, the histroy of disadvantage and political indifference faced by aboriginal communites has placed the life expectancy at an alarming 20 years less than other australians. yet this issue has gone unanswered until late last year where a last ditch attempt was made by the flailing Howard government to impose various controls on remote aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. this, in my opinion, was about 20 years too late. All one needs to look at to prove this point is the percentage of aboriginal males who have significant criminal records before they are 21 or the child sexual assault crisis which plagues aboriginal communites everywhere. Yet even after the intervention it seems aboriginal communites are stills rtuggling with the same issues. the policy, it becomes clear, has failed.
But onto something more positive and relavent to my original point. (it seems i can go off on a permanent tangent when it comes to this issue as there are so many dynamic complexities regarding the aboriginal community.)
The Epoch Times article "Welcome results for NT Aboriginal health study" reported that self determination and a traditional lifestyle, which means a full right over land and hunting, radically improved the health of aboriginals, according to a substantial study of a Northern Territory community. according to the article, " the death rate of the 16 communitiesin the study, in the desert in the north-east of Alice Springs, was strikingly low compared with other indigenous populations in the territory". These findings signify some very important issues that must be acknowledged if the situation of the Aboriginal community is to have any imporvement. Clearly the traditional hunting lifetsyle has positive effects on the health fo aboriginals thus this finding should feed into other aboriginal policy regarding living provisions and societal structure. It seems forcing stray aboriginals "who cause trouble" into poorly provisioned living conditions only intensifies the issues facing the community. The Governemnt needs to put a holt on trying to "assimilate" aboriginals into living conditions that they do not wish to embody. It appears to be the time to ignore the outdated idea that traditional cultures are "primative" or "savage"; we must ignore this because the quality of life of these people depends on it.
Self determination has been denied these people for too long, far too long. the Governemnt should grant them the freedom that really is not theirs to grant anyway.
The Epoch Times is by far my favourite newspaper, it seems to exude something that seems driven by human integrity ratehr than political ubbish. However i am sure i may be looking at it sticktly from a romanticised point of view.
Something greatly caught my eye; this something is regarding an improvement (improvement!!) in the health of Aboriginals in the northern territory. Now for thsoe readers who are not aware of the radical health crisis facing Aboriginals in Australia i will give you a brief, and i stress brief, summary of the current situation.
The health of Indigenous Australians is the worst in the developed world, with life expectancies 20 years less than other Australians. Alarmingly, the crisis is getting worse rather than better. In similar countries, such as New Zealand, the US and Canada, the health of Indigenous peoples has been rapidly improved by determined government action over the last 25 years. Why not in Australia?
www.antar.org.auNow the problem stems from a variety of contested reasons, and the debate regarding the Health and lifestyle of aboriginals shows no indication of faltering. Put simply, the histroy of disadvantage and political indifference faced by aboriginal communites has placed the life expectancy at an alarming 20 years less than other australians. yet this issue has gone unanswered until late last year where a last ditch attempt was made by the flailing Howard government to impose various controls on remote aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. this, in my opinion, was about 20 years too late. All one needs to look at to prove this point is the percentage of aboriginal males who have significant criminal records before they are 21 or the child sexual assault crisis which plagues aboriginal communites everywhere. Yet even after the intervention it seems aboriginal communites are stills rtuggling with the same issues. the policy, it becomes clear, has failed.
But onto something more positive and relavent to my original point. (it seems i can go off on a permanent tangent when it comes to this issue as there are so many dynamic complexities regarding the aboriginal community.)
The Epoch Times article "Welcome results for NT Aboriginal health study" reported that self determination and a traditional lifestyle, which means a full right over land and hunting, radically improved the health of aboriginals, according to a substantial study of a Northern Territory community. according to the article, " the death rate of the 16 communitiesin the study, in the desert in the north-east of Alice Springs, was strikingly low compared with other indigenous populations in the territory". These findings signify some very important issues that must be acknowledged if the situation of the Aboriginal community is to have any imporvement. Clearly the traditional hunting lifetsyle has positive effects on the health fo aboriginals thus this finding should feed into other aboriginal policy regarding living provisions and societal structure. It seems forcing stray aboriginals "who cause trouble" into poorly provisioned living conditions only intensifies the issues facing the community. The Governemnt needs to put a holt on trying to "assimilate" aboriginals into living conditions that they do not wish to embody. It appears to be the time to ignore the outdated idea that traditional cultures are "primative" or "savage"; we must ignore this because the quality of life of these people depends on it.
Self determination has been denied these people for too long, far too long. the Governemnt should grant them the freedom that really is not theirs to grant anyway.
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