Being an effective ally for self-determination

“Self-determination” is a word that entered my vocabulary about 10 years ago, while learning more about what it means to be an Indigenous ally.

Looking at the definition from the Australian Human Rights Commission – “in a practical sense, self-determination means that we have the freedom to live well, to determine what it means to live well according to our own values and beliefs” – to me, feels like something most people living in Australia would say is a good thing for a country to aspire to.

From 60,000 years ago up until 1788, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples had high levels of self-determination – resulting in stable, thriving communities.

Over the past 235 years however, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been systematically targeted by policies, laws and actions imposed by successive governments in Australia to uphold the colonial conquest to “dispossess Indigenous people of their traditional land”.

Dispossessed is an adjective that means to be deprived of homes, possessions and security.

THE IMPORTANCE OF SELF-DETERMINATION

As a non-Indigenous person, it is hard for me to truly fathom what this means.

When I was 18 years old, I received an Equity and Merit scholarship to attend one of Australia’s prestigious universities for my bachelor studies, as recognition of some of the ways that I had experienced disadvantage, relative to others.

However, I am also very aware of my many privileges.

Firstly, I have never experienced racism – not on an individual level, not on an institutional level and not on a systemic level. I have never been told that I cannot practice my language, practice and uphold my cultural traditions or wear my cultural clothing.

I have never had a family member forcibly removed by government policy and I have also never had a family member grow up on a government-operated “mission”. I have never had my cultural identity questioned, ranked or categorised. I have never hidden my cultural background to avoid conflict.

In my home country, I have never been the only person from my culture in a classroom or workplace setting.

I have never been uncomfortable about a joke or statement I overheard relating to my culture and felt unsafe to confront the situation. I have never had my mistakes blamed on my cultural heritage.

In my lifetime, I have never felt that there was inadequate representation of my culture in the media – or within the government. Individuals within my cultural group are not disproportionally represented in prisons or in deaths in custody statistics.

I have never had laws, policies and actions imposed by my own government that directly singled out my culture, to dispossess individuals and groups of my culture of our homes, possessions and security.

Given the ongoing impact of British colonisation and dispossession since 1788, this upcoming referendum to establish an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice within the constitution provides a step in the right direction that supports the self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Indeed, in recognition of this, the Australian Human Rights Commission considers that “the right to self-determination has particular application to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as Australia’s first peoples”.

The Commission notes that “self-determination is an ‘ongoing process of choice’ to ensure that Indigenous communities are able to meet their social, cultural and economic needs. It is not about creating a separate Indigenous ‘state’”.

And that “without self-determination, it is not possible for Indigenous Australians to fully overcome the legacy of colonisation and dispossession.”

Why constitutional recognition?

First and foremost, I am not a constitutional lawyer or any type of lawyer, and I don’t claim to understand constitutional law in great detail. As a health profession educator, I appreciate that there are complexities and nuances within any specialist area.

However, it doesn’t require specialist knowledge to be aware that this referendum is about recognition – driven by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership.

Professor Megan Davis, a Cobble Cobble woman of the Barunggam Nation and an architect of the Uluru statement from the heart said: “An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament, which is enshrined in the Constitution, is about a more effective and efficient participation of our peoples in the democratic life of the state.

“A Voice that enhances Australian democracy. It’s positive for all Australians, it’s positive for our people.

“[The Voice] is the product of a consultation process which was unprecedented in Australian history… It was the result of a robust sampling of our mobs from across the country. It’s the product of a carefully designed process that marries practical principles of modern democracy with an understanding of how our cultures connect to each other.”

“The potential of the Voice is to unite, for it to drive positive and lasting change in our communities, for it to cut through inefficient red tape, for it to speak directly to Government and the Parliament, for it to promote and bring into view the inherent rights of mob as the first peoples of this country, for it to brighten our future.”

From my own work in higher education, I can imagine how having a permanent body within the Government to “make representations to the Parliament and Executive Government on matters relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples” can improve government processes and outcomes to the benefit of everyone.

In 2019, I was the lead author for Cultural Safety Training for Physiotherapists – this is an online training program for the Australian Physiotherapy Council, which has now been expanded to the Australian Physiotherapy Association.

As someone who identifies as a “well-meaning, non-Indigenous person”, I felt acutely responsible for my role as lead author for this training package.

Learners of this program were practising physiotherapists who are directly providing healthcare to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients – a key learning of the program is that no matter where you work in healthcare, you will have Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander patients.

I felt a heightened sense of responsibility for any impacts this educational program might have directly on people’s lives through the way in which physiotherapists learnt and subsequently apply this learning.

I could not, and would not, have been able to undertake this without the leadership and guidance of the project’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Advisory Group, and subsequent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander reviewers.

Supporting self-determination benefits everyone.

We have seen incredible outcomes when self-determination within Indigenous contexts is supported.

The first Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (ACCHO) was started by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Redfern in 1971, specifically for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, to respond to the healthcare provision inadequacies and racism experienced within the wider healthcare system.

If you don’t know or haven’t heard about ACCHOs before then take a look to see where one is closest to you – at last count, there were 145 ACCHOs operating at over 300 clinics across Australia.

The phrase “Aboriginal health in Aboriginal hands” to me is the perfect example of self-determination; supporting the freedom to live well – specifically to receive high-quality healthcare experiences – according to communities’ values and beliefs.

Since the first ACCHO in Redfern in 1971, they have grown to meet the need for culturally responsive and self-determined healthcare across Australia, and have excellent health, social and cultural outcomes, that benefit everyone.

Learning from what has worked from “Aboriginal health in Aboriginal hands”, constitutional recognition of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice can support the self-determination of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples which will benefit everyone.

Indeed, as lawyer and constitutional law researcher Dr Shireen Morris says:

“The only risk in giving Indigenous people a voice, and allowing better debate and discussion in Indigenous affairs, is that Indigenous policy and outcomes might be improved.

“This would be good for Indigenous people, and good for the nation”.

And I couldn’t agree more.

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