2,517 research outputs found
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health performance framework 2012 report: Victoria
Get PDFThis report provides the latest information on how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria are faring according to a range of indicators on health status, determinants of health and health system performance. Indicators are based on the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework. The report highlights the main areas of improvement and continuing concern. For example, while health assessments have increased significantly and immunisation coverage for Indigenous children is similar to non-Indigenous children by the age of 2, the incidence of treated end-stage renal disease is 4 times the rate for non-Indigenous Australians and unemployment rates continue to remain higher for Indigenous people than for non-Indigenous people.The report finds areas of improvement in the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in Victoria including: a significant increase in health assessments recorded through Medicare since the introduction of the National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes in July 2009corresponding increases in allied health care services claimed by Indigenous Australians through Medicare since 1 July 2009. Indigenous Australians have higher rates of general practitioner management plans and team care arrangements than non-Indigenous Australiansimmunisation coverage for Indigenous children is higher than for Indigenous children nationally and is similar to non-Indigenous children by age 2some improvements in grammar, punctuation and spelling for Indigenous students in Year 7 and 9 between 2008 and 2011. The proportions of Indigenous students achieving literacy and numeracy benchmarks are generally higher in Victoria than the national average. Areas of concern include: low birthweight is more than twice as common among babies of Indigenous mothers as among babies of non-Indigenous mothers and there has been no sign of improvement in recent yearsalmost two-thirds (62%) of those aged 18 and over in non-remote areas have a disability or long-term health conditionincidence of treated end-stage renal disease is currently 4 times the rate for non-Indigenous Australianshigh rates of hospitalisations due to injury (particularly assault, intentional self-harm and transport accidents)barriers to accessing appropriate health care, such as cultural competency continue to remain a problemlower access to procedures in hospitalsbreast cancer screening rates for Indigenous women aged 50–64 are much lower than for other women of this age (28% compared with 53% in 2008–09)unemployment rates continue to remain higher for Indigenous persons than non-Indigenous Australians (17% compared with 3% in 2008)
Investigation into the rehabilitation and reintegration of prisoners in Victoria
Get PDFA whole-of-government approach focused on reducing offending is a key recommendation of this report tabled today by the Victorian Ombudsman.
From the media release
Between 2009 and 2012, the Victorian prison population rose by just under 11%. In the subsequent three years, this growth has more than doubled to 25%. Over the past five years the recidivism rate has increased by 10.8% and the Corrections budget has increased by 31%. ‘Prison is a temporary solution – over 99% of prisoners will be released. Victoria needs to ensure their rehabilitation and reintegration to improve public safety and get better value for the $1 billion annual spend, ’ says Ombudsman Deborah Glass. ‘ As prisons have become more crowded, the response has been to build more of them. While conditions inside prisons deteriorate under pressure, the rate of return is increasing. Building more prisons is demonstrably not making us safer as a community.
For such enormous public investment we should be seein g much better returns,’ said Ms Glass. ‘Long term solutions do not lie within the walls of our prisons or with a single government department. Victoria needs a whole - of - government approach to focus on the causes of crime rather than its consequences, ’ Ms Glass said. ‘If we continue in this way, current trends in both prisoner numb ers and cost mean it will not be long before we have to make hard decisions between prison beds or hospital beds, better schools or more security,’ Ms Glass said. Key among the report’s findings are that an increase in prisoner numbers sparked by reforms to sentencing, bail and parole arrangements is reducing access to programs aimed at reducing recidivism.
‘ The public expects violent offenders to serve time, but offenders must also be better coming out than when they went in if we’re going to reduce crim e. We also know that prison is the most expensive option and that there are alternative 1 approaches which work well in appropriate cases to change offender behaviour and reduce reoffending,’ Ms Glass said. Women and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander pr isoners were a particular focus in the report .
While these two groups represent a comparatively small percentage of the prison population, their numbers are growing at a greater rate than the overall average. ‘For women, s pecific services within prisons a re limited, so the solutions must lie in alternatives to incarceration and greater support , including in tr ansition and housing,’ Ms Glass said. Given the level of disadvantage experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their over - rep resentation in custody, the report finds there is a compelling case for more action to reduce both the number of prisoners in the first instance and the re - offending rate.
‘ As Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Mick Gooda has pointed out, it is shameful that we do better at keeping Aboriginal people in prison s than we do schools,’ noted Ms Glass. Re - offending rates are unlikely to improve without urgent action, with the investigation finding that recidivism rates are hi ghe st among people aged 18 to 25 . Over half of young prisoners ret urn to prison within two years, setting up a cycle of offending that can last a lifetime. ‘ Despite a demonstrable effect on recidivism rates, Victoria has only one dedicated youth unit, housin g 35 of the 751 young offenders in adult prisons. Interventions targeted towards young offenders – through diversion or within the prison system – provide a significant opportunity to break the cycle befor e it becomes entrenched,’ Ms Glass sai
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health performance framework 2012 report: Australian Capital Territory
Get PDFThis report provides the latest information on how Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are faring according to a range of indicators on health status, determinants or health and health system performance.Executive summaryThe Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2012 report for the Australian Capital Territory finds areas of improvement in the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in the territory, including:a significant increase in health assessments for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 55 years and over recorded through Medicare since the introduction of the National Partnership Agreement on Closing the Gap in Indigenous Health Outcomes in July 2009corresponding increases in allied health-care services claimed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through Medicare since 1 July 2009. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have higher rates of general practitioner management plans and team care arrangements than non-Indigenous Australiansimmunisation coverage rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are close to those for other Australian children by age 5some improvements in literacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students in Year 3 and 5 between 2009 and 2011apparent retention rates from Year 7 to Year 10 and from Year 11 to Year 12 are higher for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the Australian Capital Territory than for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people nationally.Areas of concern include:high rates of smoking during pregnancy (51% total)around half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 18 and over reported drinking alcohol at short-term risky/high-risk levels in the past 12 months, which was higher than the proportion for non-Indigenous people and for Indigenous people nationallyalmost two-thirds (63%) of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 18 and over in the Australian Capital Territory have a disability or long-term health condition, which is higher than the proportion for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people nationally (41%)breast cancer screening rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are lower than for other women
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art economies project: literature review
Get PDFExecutive summary: This literature review surveys writing about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art and craft sector of remote Australia. The review has been compiled as a foundational text for the ‘Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Art Economies’ research project being undertaken by the CRC for Remote Economic Participation (CRC-REP). The Art Economies Project (AEP) is a unique opportunity to investigate, analyse and enhance key points of exchange within the sector, many of which are poorly understood, under-researched and characterised by different kinds of fragility or instability.The sector is a significant contributor to the cultural and social life of Australia and simultaneously creates important enterprise and employment opportunities for remote-area Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Broadly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are more likely to be employed in visual arts and crafts occupations as their main job (52%) than non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (9.7%) (Commonwealth of Australia 2012), and investments in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander arts centres generate positive financial returns to artists, calculated at a ratio of approximately 1:5 (Commonwealth of Australia 2007a).This review is linked to the primary zones in which AEP research will take place, presenting the current understanding and gaps in each of the six areas of interest: the scope and scale of the sector; the business of remote-area art centres; artists and art business outside of art centres; marketing and consumer dynamics; remote area human resources; and e-commerce and licensing.Publications describing the aesthetic, social, cultural and economic dynamics of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander art economy have been generated by a broad range of people, from economists to anthropologists, art historians to art dealers. This diversity creates challenges in assembling an encompassing literature review. Despite the range of material, however, it is also clear that there are sizeable and important gaps in knowledge about the art economy. These gaps range from understanding the size of, and financial flows within, the sector through to the barriers for remote enterprise and the opportunities for (and obstacles within) new marketing and business models. In contrast to the knowledge gaps about the commercial forces at work is a considerable body of research into the social and cultural worlds of remote area art and artists.Recent years have seen a major contraction in the art economy. The Australian Bureau of Statistics reports a 52.1% reduction in sales in remote art centres (Commonwealth of Australia 2012:2) since 2007, which accords with other anecdotal industry information as to the fragility within the sector. Understanding this fragility and the potential for expanding the success of the art economy, lie at the nucleus of the AEP’s research work.Authors:Tim Acker: Curtin University Dr Lisa Stefanoff: University of South Australia; Dr Alice Woodhead: Southern Cross Universit
Informal powers and the removal of Aboriginal children: consequences for health and social order
Get PDFCurrent high levels of morbidity and mortality, and high rates of incarceration among Australian Aboriginal populations are related historically to the attempted separation of Aboriginal people from family and community. The paper discusses these events through an analysis of legal and extra-legal forms of power in the late 19th century in Victoria, and through an analysis of the workings of the informal powers of administrators and mission superintendents, within a broader framework of liberal political reason
Literature review of the interplay between education, employment, health and wellbeing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote areas
Get PDFThe availability of timely, comprehensive and good quality data specifically relevant to remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander notions of health and wellbeing has been a significant obstacle to understanding and addressing related disadvantage in a meaningful way. This literature review for the CRC-REP Interplay Between Health, Wellbeing, Education and Employment project explored existing wellbeing frameworks at global and local levels that are relevant to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote Australia.Current government frameworks that collect data about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people often produce a narrative that describes deficit, disadvantage and dysfunction. The frameworks include the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework, the Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage Framework, the Australia Bureau of Statistics Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing Framework and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey. These frameworks gather statistical information for the purposes of policy analysis and program development and therefore use indicators that are important to policy. Increasingly, government frameworks are including holistic measures of health such as cultural health, governance and the impacts of colonisation.This literature review has identified the need to develop a wellbeing framework that not only accurately represents education, employment, health and wellbeing and the interplay between these and other factors, but that also recognises the strengths and resilience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait people as well as reflecting their worldviews, perspectives and values. For example, a definition of ‘wellbeing’ that highlights the importance of physical, social, emotional, cultural and spiritual influences at the level of the individual and the community has been endorsed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander groups and governments alike and sustained for over 20 years. Accordingly, this literature review has been organised along these topics.In addition, the literature suggests that optimal wellbeing occurs when there is strong cultural identity in combination with control, achievement and inclusion at a wider societal level, such as through successful engagement in education and employment. Listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to learn of their conceptual thinking, knowledge and understanding, and responding to their priorities and ideas are crucial parts of the policy equation to improve outcomes across education, employment, health and wellbeing. The challenges in developing an appropriate wellbeing framework, then, are ensuring the active involvement and participation of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.One example of how this has worked is provided by the Community Indicators Victoria Project, which used local-level data to address issues that the local community identified as important. A focus on strengths is also important, and is exemplified in the Social and Emotional Wellbeing Framework of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council and National Mental Health Working Group. Various existing programs – such as ‘Caring for Country’ – can be adapted to capture data about connection to country, for example, and how that impacts on physical and mental health. Critically, the core domains of education, employment and health need to be extended to include activities and concepts that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people consider important to these areas.Recommendations for the development of a wellbeing framework are proposed here, derived from information available in the literature. Rather than being definitive, these recommendations provide a starting point for consultation and adaption towards establishing a wellbeing framework and operational system for collecting and analysing long-term health and wellbeing data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in remote Australia as part of the research conducted by CRC-REP
Review of higher education access and outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people: final report
Get PDFThis report proposes a collaborative approach be developed involving universities, governments, professional bodies, the business sector and communities working together to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through higher education.
The Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People follows on from the 2008 Review of Higher Education (the Bradley Review) by proposing measures that address what is a significant gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous Australians’ higher education outcomes.
The Bradley Review recognised, in light of Australia’s growing economic and social policy challenges, the need for specific strategies to increase the participation in higher education of groups currently underrepresented within the system, particularly those from a low socio-economic status (SES) background. The Bradley Review specifically identified the need to address access and outcomes in higher education for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The terms of reference for the Review of Higher Education Access and Outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People (the Review) asked the Review Panel (the Panel) to provide advice and make recommendations in relation to:
achieving parity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students, researchers, and academic and non-academic staff
best practice and opportunities for change inside universities and other higher education providers (spanning both Indigenous-specific units and whole-of-university culture, policies, activities and programs)
the effectiveness of existing Commonwealth Government programs that aim to encourage better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians in higher education
the recognition and equivalence of Indigenous knowledge in the higher education sector.
The Panel proposes a collaborative approach be developed involving universities, governments, professional bodies, the business sector and communities working together to improve the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through higher education. Strategies outlined in the report include attracting and retaining more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students and staff, improving academic achievement, simplifying and better focusing university and government support programs and ensuring that graduates are better equipped to meet the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through embedding Indigenous perspectives in teaching, learning and research.
The expert panel consisted of Professor Larissa Behrendt (Chair), Professor Steven Larkin, Mr Robert Griew and Ms Patricia Kelly
walata tyamateetj: a guide to government records about Aboriginal people in Victoria
Get PDFPreface
A joint guide to government records about Aboriginal people held in Victoria was first published by the National Archives of Australia and Public Record Office Victoria in 1993, during the International Year of the World’s Indigenous People. This guide, called My Heart is Breaking, was subsequently reprinted in 1994 and again in 1997 following Bringing Them Home: Report of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from their Families.
The records listings originally compiled by Ian MacFarlane and Myrna Deverall have provided the groundwork for this new publication. Demand continues for a guide that assists both the Koorie community and other researchers to access records from Victorian government agencies that relate to Aboriginal people.
walata tyamateetj includes information about Victoria’s Aboriginal records through a comprehensive listing of records, and provides an opportunity to publish a guide to the records in both hard copy and electronic formats. Uniquely for Victoria, the records created by the many Victorian government agencies overseeing the administration of Aboriginal affairs have become part of the collections held by both Public Record Office Victoria and the National Archives of Australia.
The collection was separated due to an administrative change of responsibility for Aboriginal affairs from the State to the Commonwealth in 1975. This guide highlights the wealth of material about Aboriginal Victorians that can be found within government archives, and assists researchers to access these records, regardless of which archive they are currently in. walata tyamateetj is one of many joint initiatives between Public Record Office Victoria and the National Archives of Australia to raise awareness of available resources for Aboriginal Victorians and to improve access to government records about Aboriginal people, families, communities and culture.
Much has been achieved in the years since the first guide to records was published 20 years ago. In 2004 a joint Koorie Reference Officer role was created to work across both organisations. The role is now a focal point for the provision of services to the Aboriginal community and part of a small team known as the Koorie Records Unit, which was established within the corporate structure of Public Record Office Victoria with a view to continuing cooperation with the National Archives of Australia.
The creation of a shared reading room facility at the Victorian Archives Centre has also been emblematic of the broader cooperation between the two organisations. The Victorian Archives Centre in North Melbourne provides a central place to access and research the records listed in this guide. Other collaborations between the National Archives of Australia’s Melbourne office and Public Record Office Victoria to promote and improve accessibility to records relating to Aboriginal people held by government and other organisations include publications, workshops and training, and grants programs targeted at highlighting and raising awareness of the rich collection of Aboriginal resources available in Victoria. The Victorian Koorie Records Taskforce provided leadership for many of these initiatives between 2001 and 2011
Impact of improvements to Indigenous identification in hospital data on patterns of hospitalised injury
Get PDFThis report examines the effects of improvements in Indigenous identification in hospitals data on patterns of hospitalised injury among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. These improvements have resulted in the inclusion of hospital separation data from New South Wales and Victoria in addition to data from the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland in analyses of hospitalised injury. Key findings The primary difference between the demographic profiles of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from New South Wales and Victoria (referred in this report as the \u27two state group\u27) compared with those from the Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland (referred as the \u27four state group\u27) is the distribution by remoteness. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people from Northern Territory, Western Australia, South Australia and Queensland live predominantly in more regional and remote locations compared with those from New South Wales and Victoria. The inclusion of hospitalisation data from New South Wales and Victoria has led to a change in the injury profile of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Much of the change appears to be driven by the differences in the proportion of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by remoteness between the two groupings. Overall, age-standardised rates of injury were lower in the two state group (2,528 per 100,000 population) compared with the four state group (4,120). Hence, the effect of combining the two groups generally was a lowering of hospitalised injury rates (six state group: 3,523 per 100,000) compared with rates for the four state group for all but a small number of age ranges, for males, females and all persons. An analysis of four of the priority Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander injury issues identified within The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Safety Promotion Strategy-social and emotional wellbeing, child and young people\u27s safety, violence affecting families and individuals, and land transport-revealed the extent of the impact of the inclusion of cases from New South Wales and Victoria on the pattern of injury. Rates of injury for assault and transport in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people decreased with the inclusion of cases from New South Wales and Victoria. In contrast, the rate of hospitalised self-harm increased (four state group: 233 cases per 100,000 population; six state group: 248 per 100,000). For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children rates of hospitalised injury decreased with the inclusion of cases from New South Wales and Victoria; 2,053 cases per 100,000 population compared with 1,826 respectively. The message Patterns of hospitalised injury for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders based on analyses of the data for the six states were different from patterns based on analyses based on data for the four state group. Users of the data will need to exercise caution in comparing changes over time if the number of states used in data analysis has changed
Landscapes of violence: women surviving family violence in regional and rural Victoria
Get PDFIn this research, family violence survivors have identified issues and barriers they have encountered, and have provided suggestions in regards to how both the criminal justice system and the broader Victorian community might assist survivors and help prevent family violence.
Overview
This project combines the findings of two studies undertaken by the Centre for Rural and Regional Law and Justice. Drawing on and extending the findings in Women\u27s experience of surviving family violence and accessing the Magistrate\u27s court in Geelong, Victoria (2013), this report extends the research in terms of geographic areas, issues covered and range of participants.
It examines the experiences of, and outcomes for, women survivors of family violence in regional and rural Victoria, considering their contact with, and perceptions of, government agencies (including Victoria Police, the Victorian Magistrate\u27s courts and the Department of Human Services) as well as private and community advocates (legal services, women\u27s services and family violence services) and healthcare professionals.
Through this research, survivors have identified issues and barriers they have encountered in escaping family violence, and have provided suggestions in regards to how both the criminal justice system and the broader Victorian community might assist survivors and help prevent family violence. As well as being informed by survivors, this publication includes insights provided by government and non-government practitioners and organisations who have offered their views on this report\u27s key findings and recommendations. In addition to the generous contributions of these participants, this report utilises relevant data and emerging research in an effort to identify best practice responses to family violence; improve access to justice, support and safety; and protect and promote women\u27s rights and entitlements
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