Make Indigenous Poverty History
Governments around the world have committed themselves to halving poverty by the year 2015. But Indigenous Peoples in developed countries, such as those in Australia, may have been overlooked in this pledge.
The pledge, made at a United Nations conference in 2000, is in the Millennium Declaration and there are eight Millennium Development Goals. They are measurable and they have a time limit. The Goals address poverty, hunger, education, maternal and child health, the prevalence of disease, gender equality, the environment, debt, trade justice and aid.
But the Goals do not specifically target Indigenous Peoples. Indigenous Peoples constitute more than 370 million of the world's 6 billion population and make up approximately 90 per cent of the world's linguistic diversity.
Indigenous Peoples around the world are often the people most affected by extreme poverty. They usually rank at the bottom of most social and economic indicators.
Presumably it was thought that the Indigenous Peoples in developing countries could be caught up in the progress that is to be made for the rest of the populations in those countries. Therefore, there was no need for specific attention to the Indigenous Peoples.
That is possibly fine for the developing countries but it creates an anomaly for Australia. Because Australia is a "developed" country, the Goals do not specifically target Australia.
However, even though Australia is a rich country, there are still those who live in poverty and who do not enjoy the same level of health, wealth and even life expectancy as that of the majority of Australians.
For example, comparatively few Indigenous Peoples see old age. Australia has a population growth rate of 1.3 per cent each year; while the Indigenous rate is booming ahead at 2.3 per cent. There is a minor population explosion at one end of the demographic scale. But this is not reflected in the old age figures - there are very few Indigenous Peoples who have lasted long enough to reach the age 65 and above.
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Ecumenical Commission (NATSIEC) of the National Council of Churches in Australia has just launched a campaign called "Make Indigenous Poverty History". There is already a global campaign called "Make Poverty History" - and so the Commission wants to make sure that Australia's Indigenous Peoples are not overlooked.
The Commission has published a very detailed report that will be used in the campaign. It is full of facts and figures and recommendations. I heartily encourage people to read it and make use of it.
The Report has taken the UN's eight Goals and made them applicable to the context of Australia's Indigenous Peoples. It is a very good piece of work.
The Commission acknowledges that there are no easy answers to ending poverty. Some progress is being made.
For example, Wesley Mission for its part has been a pioneer in some of the projects providing employment for Indigenous Peoples. This is not a matter for boasting because so much remains to be done - as is shown in the Report. But it is a step in the right direction.
Hopefully the Report will get a wide circulation and it will be used as a way of assessing how well governments (at the national, state and territory levels) - and society in general - are doing.
Keith Suter, Consultant for Social Policy
Broadcast Friday 11th November 2005 on Radio 2GB's "Brian Wilshire Programme" at 9pm.
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