Melbourne School of Population and Global Health - Research Publications
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ItemThe New Protectionism: Risk Aversion and Access to Indigenous Heritage Records(Australian Society of Archivists, 2024)This article discusses the problems encountered in accessing archival Indigenous language records, both by Indigenous people looking for information on their own languages and by non-Indigenous researchers supporting language work. It is motivated by Indigenous people not being able to access materials in archives, libraries, and museums that they need for heritage reasons, for personal reasons, or for revitalisation of language or cultural performance. For some of the authors, the experience of using Nyingarn, which aims to make manuscript language material available for re-use today, has been dispiriting, with what we term the ‘new protectionism’ preventing use of these materials.
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ItemIndigenous Data Governance in Australia: Towards A National Framework(University of Western Ontario, 2023-04)Australia's distinctive colonial administrative history has resulted in the generation and capture of large quantities of personal data about Indigenous Peoples in Australia, which is currently controlled and processed by government agencies and departments without coherent regulation. From an Indigenous standpoint, these data constitute stranded assets. Established legal frameworks for pursuing recovery of other classes of asset alienated by governments from Indigenous Peoples in Australia, including land, natural resources, and unpaid wages, have not yet been extended to the recovery of Indigenous data assets. This legacy scenario has created a disproportionate administrative burden for Indigenous organisations by sustaining their dependency on government for necessary data, while simultaneously suppressing the value of their own contemporary community-owned data assets. In this article, we outline leading international legal, economic, and scientific frameworks by which an equitable arrangement for the governance of Indigenous data might be restored to Indigenous Peoples in Australia.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableRacialized water governance: the 'hydrological frontier' in the Northern Territory, Australia(TAYLOR & FRANCIS AS, 2022-01-02)
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ItemSupporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Families to Stay Together from the Start (SAFeST Start): Urgent call to action to address crisis in infant removals COMMENT(WILEY, 2022-06)Reducing the rate of over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in out-of-home care (OOHC) is a key Closing the Gap target committed to by all Australian governments. Current strategies are failing. The "gap" is widening, with the rate of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in OOHC at 30 June 2020 being 11 times that of non-Indigenous children. Approximately, one in five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children entering OOHC each year are younger than one year. These figures represent compounding intergenerational trauma and institutional harm to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families and communities. This article outlines systemic failures to address the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander parents during pregnancy and following birth, causing cumulative harm and trauma to families, communities and cultures. Major reform to child and family notification and service systems, and significant investment to address this crisis, is urgently needed. The Family Matters Building Blocks and five elements of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Placement Principle (Prevention, Participation, Partnership, Placement and Connection) provide a transformative foundation to address historical, institutional, well-being and socioeconomic drivers of current catastrophic trajectories. The time for action is now.
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ItemThe politicisation of science in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia: discussion of 'Scientific integrity, public policy and water governance'(Taylor & Francis, 2021-10-30)Many water scientists aim for their work to inform water policy and management, and in pursuit of this objective, they often work alongside government water agencies to ensure their research is relevant, timely and communicated effectively. A paper in this issue, examining 'Science integrity, public policy and water governance in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia’, suggests that a large group of scientists, who work on water management in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) including the Basin Plan, have been subject to possible ‘administrative capture'. Specifically, it is suggested that they have advocated for policies favoured by government agencies with the objective of gaining personal benefit, such as increased research funding. We examine evidence for this claim and conclude that it is not justified. The efforts of scientists working alongside government water agencies appear to have been misinterpreted as possible administrative capture. Although unsubstantiated, this claim does indicate that the science used in basin water planning is increasingly caught up in the politics of water management. We suggest actions to improve science-policy engagement in basin planning, to promote constructive debate over contested views and avoid the over-politicisation of basin science.
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ItemAustralian First Nations response to the pandemic: A dramatic reversal of the 'gap'(WILEY, 2021-12)Until the recent death in Dubbo of an Aboriginal man, there have been no deaths from Covid 19 in Australia. The extraordinary success of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations in controlling the effects of this pandemic has been a global role model. Until early 2021, in spite of their high risk status, dispersed population and fear of health services due to racism, Indigenous outcomes were better than those for non-Indigenous. Aboriginal health leaders at every level brought in worlds best practices and applied them in all urban, rural and remote locations. Instead of the many hundreds of cases, hospitalisation and deaths expected, there were only 150 cases nationwide with15% hospitalised but no one in ICU and no deaths. This result is a complete reversal of the gap and was due to the outstanding Indigenous leadership, that governments at all levels listened to Aboriginal wisdom and that control was handed to those who knew what to do. This result is not only evidence for why a Voice enshrined in the Constitution would work, it heralds a new way of working with Aboriginal people in Australia. This viewpoint makes the case for a different model to engage and empower First Nations to really close the gap - themselves.
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ItemNew thinking about old ways: Cultural continuity for improved mental health of young Central Australian Aboriginal men(WILEY, 2022-04)Decades of reports and policy have drawn attention to the significant social and occupational impairment of many young Aboriginal men in Central Australia. However, the role of mental ill-health as a contributing factor to this impairment, and culturally appropriate intervention targets have received insufficient attention in the psychiatry literature. Despite having the worst health outcomes of any population in Australia, Aboriginal men chronically underuse primary health care services. It's proposed that interventions ensuring cultural continuity through Identity-strengthening with a particular focus on positive Aboriginal masculinities will address a critical mental health gap for young men. In Central Australian and broader Indigenous populations, tangible and measurable kinship, language, religious and economic (KLRE) activities are catalytic vehicles for restoring traditional knowledge that suffer ongoing pressures as a result of colonization and assimilationist Government policy. By transforming KLRE knowledge content from ethnographic archives, these culturally rich repositories may be utilized to create education and engagement materials that will support young Aboriginal men's efforts to obtain and maintain positive mental health. This proposal focuses on building resilience through the acquisition of KLRE knowledge which young Aboriginal men can utilize as resources for enhancing positive identity and mental health outcomes.
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ItemCinemania Lisa Reihana: Asserting Agency and Authenticity of the First Peoples(Campbelltown Arts Centre, 2018)
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ItemThe Alcohol Management Plan at Pormpuraaw, Queensland, Australia: An ethnographic community-based study(Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education, 2019)Alcohol is one of the leading causes of social, legal and health problems for Indigenous Australians. Since 2002, Alcohol Management Plans (AMPs) have been used in many Indigenous communities as a framework to reduce alcohol-related harms. (Smith et al., 2013) This report outlines the findings of an ethnographic research project which gathered and analysed the AMP in the remote Indigenous community of Pormpuraaw on the western coast of Cape York Peninsula in far north Queensland. The qualitative and quantitative evidence examined in this project shows a significant reduction in alcohol-related harms following the introduction of the AMP. We obtained data on hospital admissions which support the views of the majority of the Pormpuraaw community members who observed that violence and community disharmony reduced with the reductions in alcohol supply. The Queensland Health Department data showed a reduction in average annual hospital admissions rates for assault from 34.22 per 1,000 people to 5.7 per 1,000, which corresponded with a tightening of supply restrictions during the three phases of the AMP from 2002/3 to 2013/14 (figure 4). Notwithstanding the positive results, the qualitative research also identified several issues that impact on the performance of the AMP across the community. These are also discussed, including ‘problem deflation’ (or an underestimation of the problem), insufficient funding and resourcing, redirection of funding, and social consequences such as sly-grogging, gambling and criminalisation. This study contributes to the developing body of knowledge and evidence about AMPs in Indigenous Australian contexts. It offers nuanced understandings of how AMPs are understood, investigates their effectiveness in responding to alcohol-related harms and examines community engagement in their design, implementation and evaluation. This research increases knowledge about local residents’ experiences and understandings of AMPs. This can inform an appropriate policy framework that effectively responds to the harms associated with alcohol misuse.
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ItemNo Preview AvailableA Post-mortem of a Pulped Book: Making Sense of the Missed Opportunities of Deadly Woman Blues(ROUTLEDGE JOURNALS, TAYLOR & FRANCIS LTD, 2018)