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Since 2006, the 'closing the gap' campaign has been pursued in collaboration between government and health, welfare and rights agencies to close the health and life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians within a generation. The health disadvantages experienced by Indigenous Australians are shaped by history and the broader social and economic conditions in which they live; progress has been slow and mixed. This book evaluates the uneven progress being made towards closing the gap. How can Indigenous outcomes be improved across a range of key social and economic determinants of health and wellbeing? Also includes: worksheets and activities, fast facts, glossary, web links, index. Titles in the Issues in Society series are individual resource books which provide an overview on a specific subject comprised of facts and opinions. The information in this resource book is not from any single author, publication or organisation. The unique value of the Issues in Society series lies in its diversity of content and perspectives. The content comes from a wide variety of sources and includes: newspaper reports and opinion pieces, website fact sheets, magazine and journal articles, statistics and surveys, government reports, and literature from special interest groups.

[Extract] The importance of northern Australia to the conservation of the world's biodiversity is increasingly important as other mega diverse areas become degraded. Much of northern Australia is under Indigenous tenure. Thus empowering Indigenous Australians, including Torres Strait Islanders, to make informed decisions about how to manage their natural resources is of local, national and international significance and accords with government policy.

This report addresses strategies and treatments found to help in addressing the harmful use of alcohol in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Foreword The consumption of alcohol at high risk levels is a national issue, however, the focus of this inquiry is the harmful use of alcohol in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Many reports and studies have recommended stemming the flow of alcohol to address the problems, but usually these works do not analyse why a person drinks at levels which cause them and their loved ones harm. The social and economic determinants of harmful alcohol use such as unemployment, poor housing, racism, trauma, poor education and peer pressure mean that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are overly impacted by the harm caused by alcohol consumed at high levels. A recent Amnesty reports note that it costs $440,000 per year to keep one young person in detention in Australia. This report recommends that justice reinvestment strategies should redirect these resources to overcoming the deprivation and despair in so many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This report addresses strategies and treatments found to help in addressing the harmful use of alcohol. Community led solutions are always the key to uptake and success. Unfortunately slow government processes, for example approving community produced alcohol management plans and the short length of project funding often frustrates community initiatives. The magnitude of the problem caused by high risk consumption of alcohol is often hidden by the lack of collection of useful data for example at the time of hospital admissions, when children are put into out of home care because of their neglect, when people are incarcerated because of alcohol related crime and when children are born with Fetal Alcohol Syndrome (FAS) or Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) at some of the highest rates in the world. The committee found examples of the world's best practice at places like Groote ...

Preliminary -- Table of Contents -- Abbreviations and acronyms -- List of tables -- List of figures -- Acknowledgements -- Contributors -- 1. Towards a broader understanding of Indigenous disadvantage -- 2. Mobile people, mobile measures: Limitations and opportunities for mobility analysis -- 3. Fertility and the demography of Indigenous Australians: What can the NATSISS 2008 tell us? -- 4. Does the 2008 NATSISS underestimate the prevalence of high risk Indigenous drinking? -- 5. Improving Indigenous health: Are mainstream determinants sufficient? -- 6. What shapes the development of Indigenous children? -- 7. The benefits of Indigenous education: Data findings and data gaps -- 8. What are the factors determining Indigenous labour market outcomes? -- 9. The Indigenous hybrid economy: Can the NATSISS adequately recognise difference? -- 10. Is Indigenous poverty different from other poverty? -- 11. Is there a cultural explanation for Indigenous violence? A second look at the NATSISS -- 12. NATSISS crowding data: What does it assume and how can we challenge the orthodoxy? -- 13. Do traditional culture and identity promote the wellbeing of Indigenous Australians? Evidence from the 2008 NATSISS -- 14. A mile wide, inch deep:The future for Indigenous social surveys? -- CAEPR Research Monograph Series.

This is the twelfth book in the series International Straits of the World which describes the geography of a narrow waterway linking two seas and its relevance to shipping, economic development, and social welfare in the region, especially examining the legal status of the strait and its international relations. As a central focus, this study addresses the legal status of the Strait in the light of the 1982 U.N. Law of the Sea Convention. The Convention not only prescribes limits to the territorial sea, an exclusive economic zone and a continental shelf for coastal states, but also addresses rules for the transit of straits for international navigation. The book details the unusual demarcation of Australian territorial seas in certain islands and the unique fisheries - deep seabed lines of jurisdiction. Finally, this study turns sympathetically to the welfare of the Islanders, a small distinct ethnic group which has suffered losses in land, culture, and independence through the rush of western civilization. The author illuminates the importance of the Protected Zone established by the Torres Strait Treaty to Islander economic and environmental concerns. He also examines and takes a position on the feasibility of an independent state for the Islanders

In his 1993 Boyer lecture, Getano Lui Jnr called for a change in the status of Torres Strait governance structures within the Australian federation, nominating the centenary of Federation on 1 January 2001 as a possible time for change. In 1996, the Commonwealth Minister for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Affairs initiated a parliamentary committee inquiry into greater autonomy for the people of the Torres Strait, which reported favourably in 1997. This report was not, however, greeted all that favourably by Torres Strait Islanders and it now seems unlikely that any significantly new governance structures for Torres Strait will be in place by the centenary of Federation. This paper attempts to explain why.

This report thoroughly investigates the available research on the benefits of repatriating cultural materials to Indigenous communities in Australia and abroad. Additionally, it presents significant real-life examples of repatriation and local heritage management projects. A number of suggestions are drawn from the research and examples in the form of research and policy recommendations. There is an international tendency that encourages collecting institutions to repatriate to Indigenous populations human remains, sacred/secret materials, and cultural materials. These materials have been collected either through unethical or illegal ways, but also through more benign ways such as consensual research. Today, many physical and digital repatriation projects are led by many collecting agencies, assisted in their efforts by different kinds of legislations. However, getting access to cultural materials is still difficult for many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Collecting agencies as AIA TSIS are promoting projects that could facilitate this access. In this context, the project of a National Indigenous Knowledge Centre Network (NIKCN) is currently studied and is going to be submitted by the end of the year 2010 to the Government. This could be a key in the resolution of this issue and in the reconciliation process. AIA TSIS encourages the creation of this network jointly with its projects of digitisation of archives resources. Several examples of repatriation and local heritage management in Australia and other parts of the world are discussed here. These cases are used to show the benefits of such projects, and show what could result from a NIKCN. Summary of recommendations • The benefits of repatriation and local heritage management initiatives on the wellbeing of Indigenous populations are rarely studied, despite the fact that these benefits are likely to exist. More research on these potential benefits should be conducted. • Digitisation projects should be continuously funded and seen as a major priority as conservation of extremely valuable and irreplaceable materials is not guaranteed for records on analogue magnetic media. • A NIKCN should be developed in order to increase the knowledge about Aboriginal and Ton-es Strait Islander cultures, lead efficiently additional repatriation and local heritage management projects, and increase relationship building between communities and major collecting institutions.

This is an edited version of a presentation to the Australian Institute for International Affairs on 16 May 2023. The authors explain the origins of the proposal for an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to the Australian Parliament and why the Voice should be enshrined in the Australian Constitution. They also compare how other countries ensure that Indigenous peoples' interests are properly considered in the processes of government. They conclude by noting that the proposed Voice is a modest request by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to be seen in the Constitution and heard in the democratic life of Australia.

Issue addressed Participation in physical activity programs can be an effective strategy to reduce chronic disease risk factors and improve broader social outcomes. Health and social outcomes are worse among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders than non-Indigenous Australians, who represent an important group for culturally specific programs. The extent of current practice in physical activity programs is largely unknown. This study identifies such programs targeting this population group and describes their characteristics. Methods Bibliographic and Internet searches and snowball sampling identified eligible programs operating between 2012 and 2015 in Australia (phase 1). Program coordinators were contacted to verify sourced information (phase 2). Descriptive characteristics were documented for each program. Results A total of 110 programs were identified across urban, rural and remote locations within all states and territories. Only 11 programs were located through bibliographic sources; the remainder through Internet searches. The programs aimed to influence physical activity for health or broader social outcomes. Sixty five took place in community settings and most involved multiple sectors such as sport, health and education. Almost all were free for participants and involved Indigenous stakeholders. The majority received Government funding and had commenced within the last decade. More than 20 programs reached over 1000 people each; 14 reached 0-100 participants. Most included process or impact evaluation indicators, typically reflecting their aims. Conclusion This snapshot provides a comprehensive description of current physical activity program provision for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across Australia. The majority of programs were only identified through the grey literature. Many programs collect evaluation data, yet this is underrepresented in academic literature. So what? Capturing current practice can inform future efforts to increase the impact of physical activity programs to improve health and social indicators. Targeted, culturally relevant programs are essential to reduce levels of disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders

Like many communities worldwide, those in the Torres Strait Islands face several severe social and environmental challenges. Torres Strait Islanders compete against the impacts of colonisation, globalisation and climate change to find sustainable solutions to ensure they survive and thrive in this rapidly changing world. This article describes the outcomes of workshops involving representatives from community-based non-government organisations on Thursday Island in the Torres Strait. It describes an approach to proactively kickstart research and identify grassroots innovations for complex social and environmental challenges. The findings suggest workshop participants obtained an increased awareness and understanding of research, the steps involved in research and their rights as participants. The researchers anticipate the findings from this project will contribute towards a better understanding of how to collaborate and co-develop research that is meaningful and beneficial to local contexts.