Embracing culture key to change
Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-operative chairman Johnny Gorton believes Australia can only ‘close the gap’ when all Australians are open to embracing Aboriginal culture.
He said further education across schools and a genuine desire for people to learn and acknowledge pre-colonial history would be key to helping Australians progress as a collective unit.
This came after Prime Minister Scott Morrison revealed a national agreement promising a new approach to improve on issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Victoria and all other states and territories have agreed to 16 targets in an overhauled Closing the Gap plan, which attempts to improve the rates of Indigenous imprisonment, out-ofhome care, suicide and overcrowded housing.
The previous Closing the Gap scheme started in 2008, but only focused on health, education and employment, and in 12 years only two of seven targets were met.
Mr Gorton said latest targets set were a positive step forward in improving the lives of Indigenous people.
But he said it would take an all-in response to drive ‘true change’.
“There’s that part of listening to Aboriginal voices and seeking to understand our experiences and our point of view is so essential,” he said.
“Issues driven by historical factors and the wrongdoing and lack of knowledge that contributes to the repeating of these outcomes is such a long journey that happened post-colonisation.
“It’s a journey that people generally don’t know about, unless you’re a part of the Aboriginal community or you have learnt Aboriginal history to a certain extent.”
Mr Gorton said he believed if all Australians treated Aboriginal history as their own it would likely bolster a broader collective understanding and appreciation of the ancient culture.
“I believe as a nation we need to be celebrating Aboriginal culture and history – it’s one of the world’s oldest cultures and languages,” he said.
“It should be treated similar to the way Maori culture is – in New Zealand it’s fully celebrated. In sport they do the haka and people talk language and even white New Zealanders get fully-immersed in it. Whereas here in Australia, it’s almost like people avoid it.”
Mr Gorton said appreciation would be key to driving positive change and ultimately meeting targets that would lead to better outcomes for First Nations people.
“There is already a culture here that you should accept and that’s the Aboriginal culture – that’s why it should be celebrated,” he said.
“Aboriginal history is Australian history and it shouldn’t be treated as just ‘Aboriginal history’ because it’s all of our history.
“To me if you’re Australian, this is part of who you are – we shouldn’t be seen as something different. Until it’s accepted as that, then we can’t move forward.”
Reform
Last week the State Government announced $3.3-million throughout four years to support Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and put them at the heart of reform work.
Funding will be part of a 10-year plan to meet the 16 specific targets in areas of adult and youth incarceration, social and emotional wellbeing, housing and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander languages.
Mr Gorton said change would come in small steps and there was still a long road ahead in achieving government targets.
“We have to be optimistic – we’re talking about generational changes. That’s not going to happen straight away,” he said.
“We’ve still got poor housing and educational outcomes and we are three percent of the population but make up 30 percent of the prison population.”
Mr Gorton said racism was still rife and the level of bullying towards Aboriginal communities, especially online, was cause for concern.
He said addressing racism head-first would be key to improving outcomes.
“Australia is notorious for casual racism – the majority of Australians are against bullying and what bullying represents, but when you look at racism it’s just another form of bullying that is allowed to happen for whatever reason,” he said.
“We have such a bad bullying problem particularly on social media. That’s where most people get attacked personally. There has to be reforms around the laws of bullying and racism.
“It doesn’t matter if you’re black or white – there’s too many kids killing themselves because of the stuff they end up reading about themselves on Facebook.”
Mr Gorton said Aboriginal voices needed to be heard to drive change, especially in the political process.
“The idea of having Aboriginal voices as part of it all is key,” he said.
“We always encourage the community, particularly those who are members of Goolum Goolum, that if they’ve got issues or feedback it is all raised and discussed in meetings and we try to make sure they’re heard and made to feel like they’re part of the organisation.”