Conference Papers
Keynote address
Pat Anderson, Chair, The Lowitja Institute
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Pat Anderson feels privileged to have held leadership roles in the Aboriginal world for many years. Today, a new generation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders is emerging. New ways of carrying on the work of improving the lives of Australia’s First Peoples are emerging with them. In this paper, Pat reflects on the different experiences of these different generations and considers some of the challenges that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander movement faces today. The biggest challenge faced by the new generation of leaders relates to the next generation of children. Ensuring that children born today grow up safe and healthy, and that they receive an education that prepares them for participation in a global, inter-connected world, is critical for the future of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities across the country.
Author bio: Ms Pat Anderson is an Alyawarre woman known nationally and internationally as a powerful advocate for disadvantaged people, with a particular focus on the health of Australia’s First Peoples. She has extensive experience in all aspects of Aboriginal health, including community development, advocacy, policy formation and research ethics. Ms Anderson has spoken before the United Nations Working Group on Indigenous People, and was the Chair of the CRC for Aboriginal Health from 2003 to 2009. She is the Chair of the Lowitja Institute, has also been the CEO of Danila Dilba Health Service in Darwin, Chair of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Executive Officer of the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT), and also served as the interim Chair of The Lowitja Institute. Ms Anderson has had many essays, papers and articles published, including Little Children Are Sacred, a report on the abuse of Aboriginal children in the Northern Territory. In 2007 she was awarded the Public Health Association of Australia’s Sidney Sax Public Health Medal in recognition of her achievements.
Session P1. Plenary
1. Boyd Hunter, John Taylor and Nick Biddle: Policy implications of Indigenous population projections to 2031
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Policy development in Indigenous affairs often proceeds with dated population estimates and with little understanding of the likely impact of changing demographic parameters on future Indigenous population size and composition. To the extent that policy itself can influence demographic outcomes, this represents a significant deficiency in current planning methodology. To stimulate a dialogue around such issues, this paper models the national and regional population impacts of a continuation of existing mortality and fertility regimes compared to a situation where these converge over the next 25 years. Aside from the obvious impact of increased population size in setting the scale and scope of policy liabilities, the major implications to arise from these projections come from shifts in age structure and changes in population distribution. Basically we see structural ageing in the Indigenous population with implications for future age dependency ratios. We also see a continued rise in levels of urbanisation. This paper considers the policy implications of these outcomes.
Author bio: Boyd Hunter is Senior Fellow at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at the Australian National University. He specialises in labour market analysis, social economics and poverty research. Boyd coordinated the first longitudinal analysis of Indigenous job seekers for the Department of Workplace Relations and Small Business. An important element of this project was to document the dynamics of Indigenous disadvantage within the labour market. He also conducts research into how high rates of Indigenous arrest effects Indigenous employment, education and welfare over the longer-term. He is currently a member of the Scientific Reference Group for the National Indigenous Clearinghouse, a joint project between the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) and the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS), with financial assistance from the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs (FaHCSIA). Hunter is also on the Steering Committee for the Longitudinal Study of Indigenous Australia (organised through FaHCSIA).
Author bio: Dr. Nicholas Biddle is a Fellow at the Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research (CAEPR) at the Australian National University (ANU). He has a Bachelor of Economics (Hons.) from the University of Sydney and a Master of Education from Monash University. He has a PhD in Public Policy from the ANU where he wrote his thesis on the benefits of and participation in education of Indigenous Australians. Nicholas is currently working on the Indigenous Population project, funded by the Commonwealth and State/Territory Governments. He is also working on a Research Fellowship for the National Centre for Vocational Education Research (NCVER) and previously held a Senior Research Officer and Assistant Director position in the Methodology Division of the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
Author bio: John Taylor's disciplinary background is in geography and population studies. From 1976 to 1986 he held various University research and teaching positions in Botswana and Nigeria before joining the ANU's North Australia Research Unit in Darwin. He was appointed to the Center for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research at the ANU in Canberra in 1991. John Taylor was appointed Professor and Director of CAEPR in April 2010.
2. Alexia Tribe and Alina Harabor: The older generation and their contributions to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
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Using data from the ABS 2008 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey, we look at the role and contribution of older people in their communities. The information presented will cover the important role Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders and older relatives are playing in children's cultural and linguistic education, as well as the crucial role that grandparents play in the provision of informal child-care. The contrasts and similarities between remote and non-remote areas will also be discussed.
Author bio: Alexia Tribe has worked at the Australian Bureau of Statistics for almost five years. Much of her time at the ABS has been spent working in the Social Statistics area, with a particular focus on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander statistics, social inclusion and families. Currently she is working in the National Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statistics and has a special interest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander wellbeing, children and youth and what the ABS census and surveys can tell us about changes that have occurred over time in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population. She was previously the ABS Outposted Officer to the Office of Indigenous Policy Coordination in FaHCSIA, as well as to the Social Inclusion Unit in the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet. Throughout her time at the ABS Alexia has most enjoyed contributing to many statistical publications that focus on the social aspects of Australian society including A Picture of the Nation and Australian Social Trends .
Author bio: Alina Harabor came to Australia five years ago. She has been working for the Australian Bureau of Statistics since January 2011, including a placement with the National Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statistics, where her work has included looking at what ABS survey data can tell us about the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and youth, and the history of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples' enumeration in the ABS census. She has a strong interest in cross-cultural communication issues and semantics. During her Masters in Linguistics course she had the opportunity to study Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures and communication styles, and developed a passion for these cultures and ways of life. She is fascinated by the social and kinship organisation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, which are believed by linguistic academics such as Diana Eades and Anna Wierzbicka to strongly influence their language and interpersonal communication.
3. Lawrence McDonald: Measuring outcomes for young Indigenous Australians
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Australian governments are committed closing the gaps in outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. However, despite recent improvements in the availability of data, there are still significant limits on our ability to report on outcomes for young Indigenous people. This session presents relevant results from the latest edition of the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report (released on 25 August), produced for COAG by the Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision. The session will also draw on the Steering Committee’s work producing the Indigenous Expenditure Report for COAG and collating the data for the National Indigenous Reform Agreement for the COAG Reform Council to discuss remaining data gaps and some options for addressing them.
Author bio: Lawrence McDonald is an Assistant Commissioner at the Productivity Commission, and the Head of the Secretariat for the Review of Government Service Provision. The review is a cooperative State, Territory and Australian government exercise. Its major publications are the regular Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators report, the annual Report on Government Services (with an accompanying Indigenous Compendium), the two-yearly Indigenous Expenditure Report, and the collation of National Agreement performance information for the COAG Reform Council. Lawrence is a member of the ABS Demographic Statistics Advisory Group and the Advisory Group on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Statistics, and of the Steering Committee advising on the MCATSIA Indigenous Population Project. Lawrence holds a Bachelor of Commerce (Honours in Economics), and a Bachelor of Laws, both from the University of Melbourne, and an Executive Masters in Public Administration from the Australia/New Zealand School of Government and the University of Melbourne.