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Argumentative Essay On Aboriginal Health

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Historically, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health has been severely neglected and intentionally devasted by governmental policies and legislation. Despite some reformation in the health system, Indigenous people's health is still far below their non-indigenous counterparts. To rectify this, a human rights approach must be utilised, as by turning human rights from purely legal instruments into effective policies, practices, and practical realities, the Australian Parliament can redress its ongoing failures to incorporate Indigenous perspectives. The implementation of damaging legislation and policies created a system in which Aboriginal people were denied their human right to health, this system still governs Indigenous people today. …show more content…

According to the World Health Organisation (WHO) health is a legally obligated human right, which the government is expected to uphold and protect for the enjoyment of “all people without discrimination” (1). Australian legislation is the antithesis of the WHO’s definition, evidenced by the 1905 Aboriginies Act. The Act 'enshrined in policy the practice of child removal and entrenched paternalistic, racist, controlling and ultimately destructive attitudes towards Aboriginal people', research argues (2). It wasn't until 1962 that Aboriginal iAsuatralia gained the right to vote in Commonwealth elections, and only after the 1967 National Referendum that the Australian Constitution's race clause was eliminated, signifying the start of Indigenous Australians' citizenship rights. These developments were brought about by a social movements led by Indigenous people that arose during the 1950s and 1960s, which vigorously advocated for Aboriginal self-determination, sovereignty, and community control. Ian Anderson describes it as a proud and defiant “social movement that reclaimed a public space and inserted new forms of representation about [Indigenous] identities and cultures” that challenged and reshaped the mainstream view of Indigenous peoples as “bewildered remnants of a primitive and savage race”(3). Despite historical failures in incorporating a human rights approach to health legislation, Australia has yet to fully remedy past injustices that contribute to negative health outcomes

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