Did you know?

Indigenous peoples are nearly three times more likely to live in extreme poverty than their non-indigenous counterparts.

 

Monday 9 August 2021 is the International Day of the World’s Indigenous Peoples. This observance was decided on 23 December 1994 by the United Nations General Assembly to raise awareness and protect the rights of the world’s indigenous population.

 

Did you know?

Globally, 47% of all indigenous peoples in employment have no education, compared to 17% of their non-indigenous counterparts.

 

This year’s theme is ‘Leaving no one behind: Indigenous peoples and the call for a new social contract’.  

A social contract is an unwritten agreement that societies make to cooperate for social and economic benefits. Worldwide, indigenous peoples have been driven from their lands, had their cultures and languages denigrated and been marginalised from political and economic activities. The social contract indigenous peoples live with was made among the dominant populations, and indigenous peoples were deliberately excluded. 

Therefore, a new social contract must be developed—one that includes and prioritises Indigenous people and Indigenous knowledges.  

 

Did you know?

In Australia, Indigenous people are six times more likely to die in police custody and ten times more likely to die in prison custody than non-Indigenous people.

 

The land now known as Australia has a vast history encompassing tens of thousands of years, hundreds of diverse cultures and languages and an abundance of unique social contracts that were ignored upon European invasion.   

Australia has a long history of dismissing the knowledges, culture, sovereignty and humanity of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Indigenous people are still living with the trauma of the Stolen Generations. There are Indigenous people alive today who remember a time before the 1967 Referendum. The intergenerational trauma from hundreds of years of colonisation still affects Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples today. 

Building and redesigning a new social contract must be based on genuine participation and partnership that fosters equal opportunities and respects the rights, dignity and freedoms of all. We must all embark on this collective journey to ensure no one is left behind, especially Indigenous peoples. 

Today, we ask all members of the Griffith community to take a moment to reflect on Australia’s history and consider how we can all contribute to changing our future. 

 

Did you know?

When used in Australia, the words Indigenous, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander are capitalised, as would be the name of any other group of people. The word indigenous with a lower-case i is used when referring to indigenous people from outside of Australia. It’s best to ask an Indigenous person which term they feel comfortable using.

 

The first steps towards developing a new social contract include educating yourself on Indigenous issues and prioritising Indigenous perspectives and knowledges. Here are some helpful links to get you started: