As reconciliation week draws to a close, I reflect on the generosity, strength and compassion that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians bring to the process of reconciliation. There is much to celebrate on this long, slow journey but still so much that speaks to the injustices – and the enduring effects of these injustices – on the lives of our First Nations peoples. Yesterday the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) released a report that shows that the Stolen Generations aged 50 and over are more likely to be worse off than other Indigenous Australians of the same age on a range of health and socioeconomic outcomes. The picture is even more dire when outcomes for Stolen Generations aged 50 and over are compared with non-Indigenous Australians. And, of course, the intergenerational impacts of forced removal reverberate in our communities. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children continue to be over-represented in out of home care (more on this below) and as discussed in an earlier edition of this eBulletin, Indigenous Australians continue to be incarcerated at staggering rates.
On 26 May 2021, the Uluru Statement from the Heart, which was endorsed by First Nations peoples four years ago, was announced as the winner of the 2021 Sydney Peace Prize (Australia’s only international prize for peace). What fitting recognition of a process that brought Australia’s First Nations people together to agree a pathway for healing and peace. I took the time to revisit the Uluru Statement from the Heart, and its invitation from First Nations people to “walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future”.
Here at the FRSA office, excitement builds as Monday 7 June and our first fully online event – the Child Inclusive Practice Forum 2021 – rapidly approaches. Expanding the lens: Child inclusion and vulnerable children gives us the chance to think how children’s lives intersect with decision making situations, when families can be quite lost and to hear children’s decisions when their voice can be lost. With a strong line up of speakers, it is promising to be a fantastic day!
Lastly, but no less importantly, my thoughts are with our colleagues and friends in Melbourne – and with the children and families they work with – as they face another challenging lockdown situation. Stay safe Victoria.
By Jackie Brady
