Australian Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women's Parallel ...

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7. Background informationAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populationIn 2006, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population of Australia was estimatedto be 517,000 people, out of a total population of 21 million people. This means thatAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up around 2.5 per cent of theAustralian population.In the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, 463 700 people (90 per cent)were of Aboriginal origin only, 33 300 people (6 per cent) were of Torres Strait Islanderorigin only and 20 100 people (4 per cent) were of both origins. 1Torres Strait Islander womenThe Torres Strait consists of 18 island and 2 Northern Peninsula Area communities.The islands are scattered over a geographic area of 48,000 square kilometres, from thetip of Cape York, north towards the borders of Papua New Guinea and Indonesia.Torres Strait Islander people are a significant cultural group in Australia. Whilst 33 300people identified as being of Torres Strait Islander origin only, many Torres StraitIslanders reside on mainland Australia. They also have their own unique cultures andexperiences.1Australian Government Productivity Commission Steering Committee for the Review of GovernmentService Provision, Overview - Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2009 (2009) 2, (ProductivityCommission 2009 Overview).14
8. IntroductionThis report focuses on the experiences of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander womenin Australia and the significant challenges these experiences pose to the protection,exercise and enjoyment of the human rights set out in CEDAW. This report sitsalongside the Australian NGO Report and should be read in conjunction with thatreport.The situation largely remains the sameWhile this report acknowledges some positive developments in the status of Aboriginaland Torres Strait Islander women in Australia, our women continue to experiencediscrimination and disadvantage in every aspect of their lives. We are still struggling tohave our human rights recognised. As one woman said:New figures releasedWe live and experience human rights abuses everyday.As this report was being finalised, the Australian Government Productivity Commissionreleased a report, Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2009(Productivity Commission Report). 2 This two-yearly report which looks at 50 socialand economic indicators for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians showedlittle or no improvement in many areas of social and economic inequality. The reportshowed that in some areas, like child abuse and imprisonment rates, the figures wereactually worse. The Australian Prime Minister, Kevin Rudd, described the report'sfindings as 'devastating'. 3 We have tried to incorporate the statistics in the ProductivityCommission Report into this report where possible.ConclusionWhile the Australian Government has taken some significant steps towards improvingthe human rights and lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in Australia,throughout our recent consultations women reported limited change in many areas thatwere raised in the last Australian Indigenous Women's NGO Report in 2005. In manycases, this is also reflected in the available statistics.23Australian Government Productivity Commission, Steering Committee for the Review of GovernmentService Provision, Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2009 (2009) (Productivity CommissionReport).Yuko Narushima and Katharine Murphy, 'Child abuse six times higher for Aborigines', The Age(Melbourne), 3 July 2009.15
Page 2 and 3: August 2009Prepared byKoorie Women
Page 7 and 8: 2. EndorsementsThis report is endor
Page 9 and 10: 4. Our recommendationsWe recommend
Page 11 and 12: 26. Recommend that all Australian G
Page 13: 5. Methods: consultation and feedba
Page 18 and 19: 10. Articles 1 to 3: Definition of
Page 20 and 21: Article 21:1. Indigenous peoples ha
Page 22 and 23: We recommend that the CEDAW Committ
Page 24 and 25: In recent years, some state governm
Page 26 and 27: • The compulsory acquisition and
Page 28 and 29: • There is a need for government
Page 30 and 31: 12. Article 5:Sex Roles and Stereot
Page 32 and 33: We recommend that the CEDAW Committ
Page 34 and 35: 14. Article 8:International partici
Page 36 and 37: Challenges in implementing Article
Page 38 and 39: Extinction of Aboriginal and Torres
Page 40 and 41: Indigenous students. Also, more tha
Page 42 and 43: 16. Article 11:Employment/workCEDAW
Page 44 and 45: in mainstream communities and organ
Page 46 and 47: Conditional nature of social securi
Page 48 and 49: The current system fails to assist
Page 50 and 51: Screening programs have seen some s
Page 52 and 53: AlcoholThe consumption of alcohol i
Page 54 and 55: supplies of clean water, functionin
Page 56 and 57: communities not connected to an org
Page 58 and 59: applying for private rental accommo
Page 60 and 61: 19. Article 14:Rural women43 per ce
Page 62 and 63: 20. Articles 15 and 16:Equality bef
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We have also been told that when th
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One of the major issues with provid
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July to December 2007 and January t
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• that victims of child abuse are
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