Suchergebnisse

This paper begins with a historical analysis of both the rhetoric and the institutions of Australian Indigenous affairs since self-determination was first adopted as Commonwealth government policy in late 1972. It then moves on to conceive of these institutional developments, following Rowse, as the emergence of an Indigenous organisational sector. This terminology is, the paper argues, very useful both in tying together diverse institutional developments and in progressing debates about issues of representation and the role therein of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and other Indigenous organisations. The language of the Indigenous sector does, however, also have its limitations. It portrays Indigenous interests as comparable with those of other groups who enjoy a corporatist-style relationship with government, such as industry bodies and trade unions. The ultimate strength of Indigenous peoples' political claims lies, however, in their being seen as quite different from those other interests; as being those of 'peoples' or 'nations' who pre-existed the encompassing society and who still, to some extent, form separate communities and political entities within that society. The latter half of the paper introduces the idea, following the example of Canada, of Indigenous peoples' organisations and their processes of representation as constituting an Indigenous order of Australian government. It is argued that this is perhaps the only philosophically coherent and historically realistic approach to future Indigenous affairs policy. It is also argued that this rethought approach has a number of clear policy implications, both practical and more theoretical. One practical implication is that calls for more ongoing guaranteed financing of Indigenous peoples' organisations should be seen as more reasonable and less exceptional. Another is that accountability processes and representation issues should be seen as matters for consideration within the Indigenous order, as well as being issues between Indigenous peoples' organisations and State or Territory and Commonwealth governments. A more theoretical policy implication is that calls for a treaty from Indigenous Australians should be treated as both well-founded and appropriate. The paper concludes by reiterating that both 'self-determination' and 'an Indigenous order of Australian government' are indeed appropriate key terms for Australian Indigenous affairs policy in the twenty-first century. With the demise of European imperialism, Australia's Indigenous minorities deserve a path to decolonisation as much as do Indigenous majorities elsewhere.

The paper presents an analysis of the economic status of indigenous families relative to other Australian families. An innovative combination of economic analysis of current census data and ethnographic research is used in the paper, and reveals that indigenous families are experiencing substantial and multiple forms of economic burden in comparison to other Australian families, and display significantly different characteristics. They are more likely to be sole parent families and have on average, a larger number of children and larger households. The adults are younger, have lower levels of education and are less likely to be in employment than other Australians. The poor economic position of indigenous sole parents is highlighted, and the economic role of the aged, matrifocal families, young adults and children are consisdered. The paper concludes by examining the important policy and program implications raised by the research, and argues the need for an increased focus on the particular socio‐economic and locational circumstances of indigenous families.

The enactment of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 by the Howard Government represented an acceleration in the pace of industrial relations reform. Amid these significant and widespread legislative developments, little attention was paid to the plight of groups traditionally disadvantaged in the labour market-including Indigenous people. The Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (AWIRS) 1995 is the first publicly released data set that permits analysts to directly examine the industrial relations environment in firms that employ Indigenous Australians. Information from the AWIRS employee survey and AWIRS Employee Relations Managers survey are used in the analysis.

The enactment of the Workplace Relations Act 1996 by the Howard Government represented an acceleration in the pace of industrial relations reform. Amid these significant and widespread legislative developments, little attention was paid to the plight of groups traditionally disadvantaged in the labour market-including Indigenous people. The Australian Workplace Industrial Relations Survey (AWIRS) 1995 is the first publicly released data set that permits analysts to directly examine the industrial relations environment in firms that employ Indigenous Australians. Information from the AWIRS employee survey and AWIRS Employee Relations Managers survey are used in the analysis.

Data from the 1986, 1991 and 1996 censuses are used to conduct a synthetic cohort analysis of the income distributions for Indigenous and non‐Indigenous males and females. The advantage of this approach is that statistical techniques can be used to control for unobservable differences between the Indigenous and non‐Indigenous populations, such as ability and schooling quality, as well as assimilation, discrimination and other attitudes. The results demonstrate that the failure to control for unobserved differences in existing studies of Indigenous income will induce a significant bias in both empirical and policy analysis. Trends in relative income are also identified and are related to broad changes in labour force status. The deliberate policy shift in the early 1990s to paying welfare to individuals ('individualisation') has resulted in an increase in financial independence among many females. The other insight from the analysis is that the generosity of welfare payments or improved targeting of benefits has materially advantaged extremely poor Indigenous people. While this is a positive outcome in its own right, policy also needs to take into account the interaction between tax, welfare, productivity and incentives to work.

While Australian Aboriginal people live in an unprecedented time of formal equality, their conditions in life are still starkly different from those of most other Australians. And recognition of the rights of Australia's indigenous people is not forthcoming. This diverse collection of articles explores the double burden of racial discrimination and the denial of indigenous rights that Australian Aboriginal people continue to carry

For most of Australia's colonial history Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders have been denied full membership of Australian society. This book examines the history of indigenous peoples' citizenship status and asks, is it possible for indigenous Australians to be members of a common society on equal terms with others? Leading commentators from a range of disciplines examine historical conceptions of indigenous civil rights, consider issues arising from recent struggles for equality and consider possibilities for multicultural citizenship that recognise difference. Topics include self-determination, the 1967 referendum, resource development, whether Australian Aborigines and white Australians can belong, the international law context, and sovereignty. This book makes a crucial intervention in current debates by providing the context for understanding struggles over distinctive indigenous rights

In the context of intercultural relations, the boundaries between dominant and subordinated communities are constructed in a variety of ways. Language frames, or discourses, understood from a sociological rather than a linguistic perspective can be considered to constitute one of the main processes for determining the character of intercultural boundaries. Using this theoretical perspective, this article examines a number of discourses that have contributed to the construction of social relations between Australian Aborigines and the dominant nonindigenous cultural groups in Australia. Examples from the colonial period show the way in which indigenous people were oppressed along racial boundaries, even as they resisted, while more recent instances chart the process of indigenous people in renegotiating social relations and in asserting the process of self‐determination and cultural celebration.