Black Lives Matter – An Australian Edition

Words by Jessica Pickles

I have recently returned from studying in Australia and was shocked by the evident systemic and overt casual racism I saw out there. It’s not just attitudes that need addressing, it’s history that needs to be taught. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are still suffering from the arrival of the Europeans in the late 16thcentury and the legacy of entrenched racism that has been left behind.

Aboriginal Australians have lived in Australia for the last 60,000 years and Torres Strait Islanders for the last 10,000. When the British arrived in 1788, life for Indigenous Australians changed beyond recognition. European settlers declared the land ‘terra nullius’ (uninhabited) and overtly denied the existence of Indigenous Australians as humans equal to themselves. When Dickens wrote about Australia, he referred to Indigenous Australians as ‘savages’ and stated, “It would be better that they be wiped off the face of the Earth." European settlement led to the genocide of many Indigenous Australians, and it was not until 1992 that the concept of ‘terra nullius’ was removed from Anglo-Australian law, after the landmark Mabo Case. Finally, the legal existence of Indigenous Australians was acknowledged, and land rights of dependents were recognised. This came after two centuries of a denial of history and ownership over their land.

The 1869 the Aboriginal Protection Act gave the government broad powers over the lives of Indigenous people. Including regulation of residence, marriage, employment, social life and other parts of everyday life. Indigenous children were even separated from their families by the government, in a process of cultural assimilation. These children, now known as the Stolen Generation, were forcibly removed from their family homes between the 1860s-1970s in an attempt to ‘breed out’ the Indigenous race. The legislation allowing these practices was formally repealed only in 1972. 

However, the very essence of modern Australian society is based on The Constitution; a set of laws that have for the last 200 years denied Indigenous Australian existence, disregarding them from society. Australian social systems are therefore fundamentally discriminatory towards Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Prejudiced attitudes towards Aboriginals and Torres Strait Islanders, stemming from the 1700s, mean that today many now suffer from; economic exclusion, unemployment, low income, poor education, lack of adequate nutrition, and poor housing and sanitation. These factors lead to the poor health of Indigenous Australians, and despite suffering far more than other Australians, Indigenous people have far less access to appropriate health care services. I wanted to raise awareness of Australia’s bleak history (and current) racism and the Black Lives Matter movement there. Thousands of people have attended BLM protests in Australia, including over 10,000 in Sydney. 

It’s not just healthcare systems that highlight entrenches racism. The incarceration rates are staggering. Indigenous Australians make up only 3% of the population, but are overrepresented in prisons, making up 28% of poisoners.

Even as recently as 2007 the Australian Government enforced strict regulation on Indigenous people’s lives, without their consultation. The Northern Territory Response (NTR) began after the Indigenous Affairs Minister claimed paedophile rings were operating across Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. The NTR quarantined 50% of welfare payments, allowed the state to acquire Aboriginal land, eradicated Community Development Employment Projects and more. The Australian Defence Force was deployed across the NT. Section 132 of the Northern Territory National Emergency Response legislation suspended the Racial Discrimination Act, allowing the government to legally act in ways that discriminated against Indigenous Australians on the basis of race. 

The Australian Crime Commission (ACC) were given unprecedented access to investigate the claims of paedophilia that sparked the NTR. Yet after 18 months the ACC concluded there was no organised paedophilia in Indigenous communities. 

In June 2012 the Australian government announced it would extend the intervention for a further 10 years, under the ‘Stronger Futures in the Northern Territory Act’, to 2022. The RDA was reintroduced but the amount of welfare payments that could be quarantined increased to 70%, and penalties for possession of pornography or any alcohol (where not permitted) increased to 6 months incarceration. Under the new policy, heavy regulation over Indigenous Australians’ lives is maintained. 

The Castan Centre for Human Rights published an evaluation of the NTR in 2020 and rated the government 4/10 for general Human Rights performance and gave scores ranging from 0-4/10 on all Human Rights counts. The report highlighted that the life expectancy gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians in the Northern Territory stood at 10 years.

In 2008 Australia adopted the UN Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous People, after voting against it in 2007. The continuation of the NTA, though under a new name, means Australia is consciously violating or disregarding the right of Indigenous people to self-determination.

In August of 2009 James Anaya, the United Nations representative of Indigenous Rights, spent 12 days touring Aboriginal communities in the Northern Territory. He concluded that the Emergency Response overtly discriminated against Aboriginals, infringed their right to self-determination and stigmatised already stigmatised communities.

Final Facts

Australia remains the only Western democracy without a Bill of Rights to protect human rights in Australian Law. Instead the Constitution provides protection of human rights, yet, this contains no provisions to safeguard the rights of Indigenous Australians specifically. 

Australia remains the only Commonwealth country not to have signed an agreement with its Indigenous people.

Sources (Malaspinas, Westaway, & Muller, 2016) (Pascoe, 2012) (Lewis, Balderstone, & Bowan, 2006) (Ross, 2006) (Mabo v Queensland, 1992) (Parliament of Victoria, 1869) (AIHW, 2019) (Read, 2006) (NACCHO, 2020)(Australian Human Rights Commission, 2007) (UN General Assembly, 1948)  (McKenzie, 2009) (Australian Governmnet, 2012)  (The Castan Centre for Human Rights, 2020) (United Nations General Assembly, 2007)(Associated Press Canberra, 2009) (Marshallsea, 2017) (Australian Human Rights Commission, 2010)(Australian Human Rights Commission, 2019)