Welfare Systems and Services For Aboriginal People

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ASSESSMENT COVER SHEET Family Name : CHEMUTAI Given Name(s) : CANDY Student ID : 1071915 Course : BACHOLORS OF COMMUNITY SERVICES Unit Code: SAP 102 Unit Name: WELFARE SYSTEMS AND SERVICES IN AUSTRALIA Tutor : ARTHUR SPENDIER Assessment Number/Title : ASSESSMENT 2 Semester/Trimester and Year: BSC Term 3-2022 Word Count: 1477

Welfare Systems and Services For Aboriginal People The key functions of the welfare systems in the community is to protect the marginalized and disadvantaged people in the community through improving their social and economic well- being (Kureková, 2013). Therefore, the welfare systems offer specific services such as unemployment reliefs, healthcare, child protection, aged care, youth justice, people with disabilities support services, family and relationship services, education support, healthcare, and housing services. In Australia, the conceptual framework for Australia welfare systems focuses in addressing the well-being of disadvantaged individual through provision of key support services and protection of their rights. In Australia, one of the marginalized groups that is supported by the welfare system are the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander group. Historically, the Aboriginal and Torres Islander people have faced unprecedented marginalization right from the colonization era. The colonization caused untold suffering to this group of individuals through dispossession which acerbated poverty and other associated problems. According to Moore (2014), presently the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders face the impacts of discrimination which constraints their development as equal members of the society. Because of discrimination based on their culture and race, and limited inclusion in political and economic issues in Australia, the Aboriginal and Torres people face problems of limited access to education, healthcare, housing, employment opportunities , and other support services that can enhance their well-being. Owing to the multiple problems that the Aboriginal and Torres Islander face, there is need to put into action strategies and programmatic steps that will ensure the aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are protected and their welfare is enhanced, hence the importance of welfare systems in Australia. With the welfare systems framework, the well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Islander people can be promoted through stabilizing their social connections, ensuring social cohesion and their safety (Bourke et al.,

2022). Similarly, the implementation of the welfare systems aims at helping the disadvantaged people gain access to essential services that can enhance their wellbeing. The Australian government and other non- state actors have instituted various welfare systems that addresses various challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. For instance, when it comes to health and community services, the key resources that can be utilized by this group of individuals includes COVID-19 Aboriginal health resources which information on vaccination, testing and culture of the group, Aboriginal Child, Family and Community Care State Secretariat which offers protection for children both in and out of home, the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council supports the healthcare. First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN) supports the Australia’s first people who have disabilities as well as their families. Australia Red Cross aims at empowering and enhancing the health and the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Your Room offers information to help the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to reduce alcohol and drug abuse, Your Room also offers culturally responsive counselling and various referral services. Warruwi Gambling Help provides counseling services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who are struggling with gambling issues. Through funding of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs) the Australian government ensures that the Aboriginal people can obtain healthcare which is appropriate and culturally responsive (New South Wales Government, n.d.). Other key welfare programs run by the government to ensure the welfare of Aboriginal people include Remote Areas Health Corps, Rural Health Multidisciplinary Training (RHMT), Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet Education welfare is also paramount for the well-being of Aboriginal people (Schultz et al.,2018). For educational and cultural welfare systems, the key resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people include Aboriginal Education Council (AEC) which supports the education and empowerment of Aboriginal communities. Clontarf Foundation on the other hand

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helps young Aboriginal and Torres Islander People to attend and finish Year 12 education and find meaningful employment. Its other objectives is to develop life skills and self-esteem of young people. Another resource is Australian Institute of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander which maintains a collection of books, films, manuscripts, paintings, music, and various forms of arts that depicts and celebrates the culture of the Aboriginal Torres Strait Islanders (New South Wales Government, n.d.). Other welfare resources for education and culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders include Link-Up (NSW) and Find and Connect. The Australian government has also been in the forefront in promoting education welfare systems for the Aboriginal people through various programs. Such programs include the Quality Schools Package and Children and Schooling Programme. Through the ABSTUDY School Fees Allowance, the Australian government has also been able to enhance access to education by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders (National Indigenous Australians Agency, 2016). Such programs essentially aim at improving the outcome of education, early childhood development, ensure youth engagement and promote tertiary education for the Aboriginal people. The key legal resources that support the welfare systems of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders people are the Aboriginal Lega service (ALS) and Community Legal Centers NSW- Aboriginal Legal Access Program. The Aboriginal Legal service provides legal services that are culturally safe to Aboriginal communities in criminal law, children care, protection law ad family law. Community Legal Centers NSW-Aboriginal Legal Access Program provides legal assistance to aboriginal people on issues of sexual violence, credit and debit, employment, discrimination, housing, family law, victim compensation and wills. Financial welfare support resources include Centrelink Indigenous Call Centre, Services Australia payments and support for indigenous Australians, First Home Owner Grant Scheme and Savings Finder. When it comes to housing, some of the key welfare resources accessible by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders include Aboriginal Housing Office Homes. Through

the Department of Communities and Justice, the Aboriginal people are assured of equal rights of access to housing that us affordable safe and culturally appropriate (Department of Communities and Justice, 2018). Other housing welfare resources for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders include National Rent Affordability, Commonwealth, Rent Assistance, Indigenous Home Ownership Program, Supported Accommodation Assistance Programme (SAAP) and Community Housing and Infrastructure Program (CHIP). The welfare systems resources for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are numerous. However, despite the operation of welfare resources, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders still face numerous challenges. For instance, the implementation of Child Welfare Systems has not been fully functional. This is shown by the prevailing cases of child abuse in Australia. The Aboriginal children are still exposed to the risks of substance abuse, homelessness, unplanned pregnancies, mental health issues and delinquency (Barker et al.,2014). Such challenges illustrate that the welfare systems for children protection do not adequately address the needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. Regarding access to education, the welfare systems have not adequately integrated the needs of the Aboriginal people in the Australian curriculum. For instance, the use of English as a standard language limits the education of Aboriginal people because of language barrier. Other challenges that illustrate failures of the education welfare include the use of curriculum that does not consider the cultural needs of Aboriginal people, and poor health (Wodon & Cosentino , 2019). Further ineffectiveness is revealed through the ABSTUDY welfare program where most Aboriginal people who utilized this welfare service deemed it to increase the cost of education and the qualification for the initiative was not entirely done on merit but on other factors hence creating inequality. Healthwise, studies reveal that there exist notable disparities in morbidity and mortality rate of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people (Durey et al., 2016). The inequality is caused by

aspects of discrimination, unwelcoming hospital environment, inflexible treatment options and lack of transport for aboriginal people. Similarly, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders face inequality in access to employment opportunities The quality of funding has impact on welfare systems service delivery. Because of the significance of the welfare systems in Australia, funding to support the welfare activities is generated by various actors including the commonwealth, state, territory government and non- governmental organization (Haughton, 2019). These sources of funding for the welfare programs are susceptible to various risks if not well managed and the functionality of welfare systems supported by such funding depends on the governments capacity to avail funds. Therefore, for such welfare systems to meet their goal of addressing the various need of the Aboriginal and Torres Islander people, there must be guaranteed and stable source of funds. Similarly, in some cases, when the government is allocating funds for welfare systems, it may be pushed to limit the allocation to meet other national budgetary requirements. The function of welfare systems is to support individual who are disadvantaged or marginalized in some way. However, in some cases, this objective is not entirely met since because of mismanagement of welfare resources and lack of integrity, people who have capacity to meet their own needs end up benefiting from welfare resources meant for the disadvantaged individuals. This only means that the funds allocation by the Australian government end up being misused. Similarly, it is evident that a proportion of people who utilize welfare services including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders have developed a culture of overdependence on the services of the welfare systems (Davy, 2016). Such depends creates a culture of laxity and lack of initiatives for personal development. The repercussion of this on government funding is that with time, the welfare systems become overstretched by individuals seeking various services hence drastically overwhelming the government capacity to sustain welfare systems because of limited resources and funds.

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Therefore, avoid the challenge of misuse and overstretching welfare funds, key recommendations is implementation of strategies for ensuring better management of welfare programs in the sense that the programs only address the needs of people who meet the criteria for assistance. For sustainability of the welfare systems, especially when it comes to funds, the Australian government need to form multiple partnerships with various actors both at national and international level. Such partnerships will ensure constant inflow of funds to support and manage welfare systems in the country

References Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. (2015, June 9). The health and welfare of Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples: 2015, Health and welfare services key points . Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. https://www.aihw.gov.au/reports/indigenous-australians/indigenous-health-welfare- 2015/contents/health-and-welfare-services-key-points Barker, B., Alfred, G. T., & Kerr, T. (2014). An uncaring state? The overrepresentation of First Nations children in the Canadian child welfare system. Canadian Medical Association Journal , 186 (14), E533–E535. https://doi.org/10.1503/cmaj.131465 Bourke, S. C., Chapman, J., Jones, R., Brinckley, M.-M., Thurber, K. A., Calabria, B., Doery, K., Olsen, A., & Lovett, R. (2022). Developing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural indicators: an overview from Mayi Kuwayu, the National Study of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing. International Journal for Equity in Health , 21 (1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12939-022-01710-8 Davy, D. (2016). Australia’s Efforts to Improve Food Security for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. Health and Human Rights , 18 (2), 209–218. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5394999/ Department of Communities and Justice. (2018, October 22). Housing for Aboriginal people . Family & Community Services. https://www.facs.nsw.gov.au/housing/aboriginal- housing/overview Durey, A., McEvoy, S., Swift-Otero, V., Taylor, K., Katzenellenbogen, J., & Bessarab, D. (2016). Improving healthcare for Aboriginal Australians through effective engagement between community and health services. BMC Health Services Research , 16 (1), 1–13. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1497-0

Haughton, J. (2019). Indigenous affairs overview-Indigenous Budget Drivers . Www.aph.gov.au. https://www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Li brary/pubs/rp/BudgetReview201920/IndigenousAffairs#:~:text=In %202015%E2%80%9316%2C%20the%20Australian Kureková, L. (2013). Welfare Systems as Emigration Factor: Evidence from the New Accession States. JCMS: Journal of Common Market Studies , 51 (4), 721–739. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcms.12020 Moore, T. (2014). Aboriginal Agency and Marginalisation in Australian Society. Social Inclusion , 2 (3), 124. https://doi.org/10.17645/si.v2i3.38 National Indigenous Australians Agency. (2016, February 15). Education . Www.niaa.gov.au. https://www.niaa.gov.au/indigenous-affairs/education New South Wales Government. (n.d.). Support for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities | Service NSW . Www.service.nsw.gov.au. https://www.service.nsw.gov.au/guide/support-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander- communities#financial-support Schultz, R., Abbott, T., Yamaguchi, J., & Cairney, S. (2018). Re-Imagining Indigenous Education for Health, Wellbeing and Sustainable Development in Remote Australia. Creative Education , 09 (16), 2950–2972. https://doi.org/10.4236/ce.2018.916222 Wodon, Q., & Cosentino, G. (2019, August 7). Education, language, and indigenous peoples . Blogs.worldbank.org. https://blogs.worldbank.org/education/education-language-and- indigenous-peoples

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