The Millennium Development Goals and Indigenous Peoples

The MDGs do not specifically target Indigenous Peoples but Indigenous Peoples around the world are most affected by extreme poverty and usually rank at the bottom of most social and economic indicators.

Indigenous Peoples constitute more than 370 million of the world’s population and make up approximately 90 percent of the world’s linguistic diversity (Nicolaisen 2005).

Indigenous Peoples are largely invisible in the debate about the MDGs.  The MDGs are outcomes focused and there is a danger that in defining and measuring poverty in such a way that the specific causes of poverty amongst Indigenous Peoples will not be addressed. 

The MDGs must be aligned with poverty reduction strategies that address the particular needs of Indigenous Peoples. Without the meaningful participation of Indigenous Peoples their marginalisation and exclusion will continue.

“while MDGs have the potential for assessing the major problems faced by Indigenous peoples, the MDGs and their indicators for achievement do not necessarily capture the specificities of indigenous and tribal peoples and their visions” (Nicolaisen 2005).

In practical terms this means that Indigenous Peoples must be involved in describing and defining what poverty is to them. Key indicators must be devised by, and be meaningful to, Indigenous Peoples. Non–Indigenous Peoples must examine the structural exclusion that occurs at all levels of power and decision making. Measuring how many dollars a day somebody lives on will not encompass the wide gamut of factors that leads to indigenous poverty including; colonisation, loss of traditional lands, loss of languages, loss of traditional law and loss of cultural practices – to name but a few.  

Even then, the MDGs will not go all the way to relieving poverty and we make the point that they are one tool to raise awareness and focus on measurable outcomes in order to ensure that we as a society do not shirk our responsibility to ensure that what is the right of every human being - to live free from poverty – is guaranteed. 

How do the MDGs affect Australia?

Because Australia is a “developed” country, the MDGs do not specifically target Australia. However, even though Australia is a rich country there are those who live in poverty and who do not enjoy the same level of health, wealth and even life expectancy as that of the majority of Australians.

Several reports, both domestic and international, show that the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples of Australia score worse on almost every key social and economic indicator than their non–Indigenous counterparts.

Describing poverty in mostly financial terms such as those that live on less than $1 per day does not describe the full extent of poverty that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders experience. While key indicators for poverty show that Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples do suffer similar standards of health and wellbeing as those in least developed countries and Africa, it is vital to remember that behind the statistics of low income, unemployment, lack of education and family violence there are stories of dispossession; cultural annihilation; loss of languages; stolen generations and lack of recognition of our prior ownership of this country.

Poverty is relative and to appreciate the disadvantage that Indigenous Australians suffer, we must compare the key indicators which describe the poverty experienced by Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples with the key indicators describing the experiences of the rest of Australia.

NATSIEC wholeheartedly supports the International Make Poverty History Campaign and its aim to deliver poverty relief for the poor of this world. However, we also believe that we can not, and should not, forget the plight of the people in our own country. The poorest of the poor in Australian society are the traditional owners of this land. Those people who, for many thousands of years were custodians of this country we now call Australia. Who, over millennia, developed ways to live in sympathy with each other and with their environment. Those people who were then invaded and colonised and who, to this day, continue to suffer the effects of dispossession, disempowerment, racism and the ongoing and unrelenting diminishing of culture.  

Now, more than two hundred years later we have an opportunity to stand up and say enough! We will not tolerate the poverty that the poorest of our society live in. We will do whatever it takes to ensure that the Indigenous Peoples of Australia have the same opportunities to live as long, to create as much wealth, to see their children grow into healthy and productive adults as non-Indigenous people do. We must also ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are able to continue living culturally. Not only through maintaining ancient traditions, but also by ensuring that our cultures remain living and vibrant in this modern world. 

We must “indigenise” the MDGs and ensure that we work as hard for our own poor as we do for those overseas.

How can we Make Indigenous Poverty History?

There are no easy answers to poverty. Many initiatives are underway and much good work is being done to alleviate the poverty of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. But it’s not enough and it’s not quick enough. The MDGs put a measure and a time line on relieving poverty. As an international community we are standing up and saying we have the resources and we have the will to make life better for those in our society who are suffering the most. We must also have the will here in Australia. We are a rich country both in resources and in compassion and a sense of justice. We have to work together to bring all the citizens of this great country to the same standard of living. We can do this by working back from the 2015 targets. 

This means we must know about the plight of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. We need to go beyond the headline news, the sensationalism and the blaming of Indigenous peoples themselves. We must understand the statistics and we must highlight the reports that are already being done and ensure that solutions are implemented now so that in ten years time, in 2015, we can measure the improvement in the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. But above all, we must remember that poverty is not about some abstract measurement, it’s about real people, with real stories and experiences, it is about mothers, fathers, children, families and communities and we must hear their stories.

RESOURCES

UNDP and Indigenous Peoples: A Policy of Engagement - http://www.undp.org/mdg/

United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues: Report on the fourth session. Economic and social council, Supplement no.23 www.un.org

Measuring poverty in Australia

According to a statement on poverty adopted by the UN’s Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights in 2001, poverty is:

“ a human condition characterised by the deprivation of the resources, capabilities, choices, security and power necessary for the enjoyment of an adequate standard of living and other civil, cultural, economic, political and social rights.” (E/C.12/2001/10).

Measuring poverty or wealth is a complicated matter. Paul Saunders, in his book The Poverty Wars, talks about some of the problems encountered in Australia when measuring poverty and the debates surrounding it (Saunders 2005).

Saunders makes the point that:

“The view that there is more to poverty than low income now requires a deeper understanding of the circumstances facing those who are in poverty in order to highlight how it arises, what prevents people from escaping, and what the experience of poverty means for the lives of the poor.” (Saunders 2005)

However, statistics are useful in that they provide a means of measuring the state of play. They help us to measure our performance and to give us a broad outline of the state that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples are living in.

There are problems though in what the statistics don’t tell us. We have to make sure that the collection of statistics is properly done. For example, differentiating between Aboriginal people and Torres Strait Islander people; making sure that identification is done appropriately and ensuring that the information collected is not used in any way to discriminate against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.

But to really understand what it means to be poor we need to hear the stories and talk to people who are suffering.  Only then will we begin to understand the causes of poverty and how it affects the lives of our fellow Australians and being to understand what we need to change, as a society, to eradicate poverty.

We have relied, for our information, on four key reports. Some of the figures contradict each other. And most sources acknowledge the shortfalls in the statistics. But together they paint a very vivid picture of depravation and social inequality in our own country.

RESOURCES

United Nations – Economic and Social Development
http://www.un.org/esa/

Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2005 - Indigenous Report
Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision (SCRGSP)
Productivity Commission, Canberra.
http://www.pc.gov.au/gsp/reports/indigenous/keyindicators2005/index.html

A Statistical Overview of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Australia. Human Rights and Equal Opportunity.
http://www.humanrights.gov.au/social_justice/statistics/index.html

National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey 2002, Linacre, S, Australian Bureau of Statistics, June 2004. Catalogue Number 4714.0
http://www.abs.gov.au/Ausstats/abs@.nsf/0/4F382B35C996604BCA256EBC000170BA?Open

The Health and Welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, Trewin, D and Madden, R, Australian Bureau of Statistics and Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, August 2005.
http://www.aihw.gov.au/publications/ihw/hwaatsip05/hwaatsip05.pdf

The Poverty Wars: reconnecting research with reality, Peter Saunders, UNSW, Sydney, 2005

Poverty in Australia

It is easy when reading about poverty overseas to become overwhelmed by the sheer numbers and magnitude of the problem. Kofi Annan tells us that:

• One in six human beings on this planet live on less than $US1.00 day.
• A single bite from a mosquito is enough to end a child’s life for want of a bed net or a $1 treatment.  
• Every year 11 million children die before their fifth birthday.
• Three million people a year die of AIDS.

Wanting to end this dreadful suffering overseas does not obviate our responsibilities here in Australia. Perhaps they are not on quite the scale as experienced in other countries in terms of quantity of people; but for each and every individual experiencing poverty, wherever they are in the world, it is too much.

The ABS says:

“That the lack of basic needs such as food, clothing, and shelter would be considered as basic poverty, but this is rare in Australia”  (ABS 2002)

Therefore poverty is measured by looking at those who are relatively less well off in terms of resources available to them. Measuring income may not accurately measure people’s access to goods and services, for example they may have a low income but access to health and education is paid for by Governments. However the ABS considers that comparisons of income can provide valuable insights into differences in levels of economic wellbeing within the population. 

What is the poverty line in Australia?

The poverty line has been calculated since 1973. It is an estimate of poverty only and is based on an index of per capita household disposable income. They are relative measurements of poverty and as real incomes in the community rise then so too will the poverty lines (Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research March 2005).

• For a single person the poverty line in March 2005 is $318.92 per week. 
• A couple with two children it is $ 463.70
• In 2002 it was $294.71 for a single person and for a couple with two children it was $457.95

Another way of measuring poverty is to use a cost of living index such as the ABS consumer price index.

The Poverty Commission in 1975, said that poverty is relative and must therefore be judged and measured relative to the average community standard of living (Saunders 2005 p20)

The information we have put together on this website aims to highlight the inequalities between Indigenous Australians and non-Indigenous Australians. It is not definitive, but rather serves as both an educational tool and as a discussion starter to enable groups to come together, to hear each others stories and to work on solutions and actions together. 

RESOURCES

http://www.melbourneinstitute.com/labour/inequality/poverty/default.html

For more information and links to organisations working on poverty in Australia: 
http://www.antipovertyweek.org.au/info.html

The Indigenous Peoples of Australia

The 2001 census says that there are 410, 000 people identifying as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. This is approximately 2.2 percent of the Australian population. However it is believed to be undercounted. The ABS estimates that there were 458,500 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in 2001 or 2.4 % of the population (HREOC).

The Indigenous population is growing at 2.3 % per year, which is faster than the non Indigenous population which is growing at 1.3 % per year.

Unlike the rest of Australia the Indigenous Population is growing most in the young age groups. The median age of Indigenous peoples in Australia is 20 whereas it is 35 for non - Indigenous Australians.

There are significantly less people over 65 in the indigenous population:

Age Group	0 – 4	5 – 14	15 – 24	25 – 44	44 – 64	65 +
Indigenous % of population	13.1	25.8	18.4	28.1	11.8	2.9
Non - Indigenous % of population	6.4	13.6	13.6	30.2	23.4	12.8

 Source: (HREOC)

Click here to go to the Make Indigenous Poverty History Education Worksheets.

Click here to download a summary of the Make Indigenous Poverty History Millennium Development Goals.

Click here to go to Make Indigenous Poverty History Goal 1 - Eradicate Extreme Hunger and Poverty.