FIFTY years on from the landmark referendum that finally gave Aboriginal Australians the right to be recognised in our country, it’s remarkable to think it was only 50 years ago.
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Europeans had settled in this country for almost 180 years before the indigenous population was granted the most basic of human recognition.
The treatment of Aboriginal communities for much of our nation’s history in the years prior to the referendum is a stain on the national psyche that cannot easily be erased.
Indigenous leaders who have spoken out this week ahead of Saturday’s anniversary say the lack of recognition prior to the referendum made them and their ancestors feel unwanted and unimportant – in a land that used to be theirs.
So the 1967 referendum was, understandably, a pivotal point in relations between indigenous and European Australians. But it was only a start – and not an end – to the process of reconciliation in this land.
That is a process that continues today and while we have come a long way, there is still a long way yet to go.
Indigenous communities still lag well behind the national average on key wellbeing indices such as mortality rates, health outcomes, employment and incarceration. And the figures paint a full life cycle of disadvantage.
From 2010-2015, the child mortality rate for indigenous populations was 165-in-100,000 – more than double the general population.
Just 76 per cent of indigenous children reached minimum numeracy standards for Year 5 students, compared to 96 per cent of the general population. Only 61 per cent of working age members of the indigenous population were employed, compared to the 77 per cent of the general population. And indigenous Australians were likely to die around 10 years earlier than other members of the community.
So while the 1967 referendum gave indigenous Australians the right to be counted, it did not grant them an automatic share of this country’s great wealth and prosperity. Poverty remains greater among indigenous communities, and so does suicide.
For all that, these figures showed a real improvement on the previous five years, but true reconciliation only comes when there is no longer any need to break down the data into indigenous and non-indigenous respondents. Australia is Closing The Gap, but we are not closing it quickly enough.
