How have the rights and freedoms of Aboriginal peoples and other groups in Australia changed during the post-war period?
I would talk about:
- since white settlement (1788) they were denied basic rihgts and freedoms expressed within government policies - a view that all Australians should be alike in attitude and customs
- aboriginals were expected to attain equality by assimilating into the broader Australian community
- assimilation was a policy of encouraging migrants and Aborginal poeple to move away and adopt the attitudes of the Anglo-saxon perspective at the time, especially during the beginning of the 20th century
- the reality for Aboriginals was that they continued to face discrimination at every level, even regularly and did not enjoy the same rights and freeedoms as other Australians
- promises of post-war equlity meant little to people who had already lost their communities, their land and too foten, their children
- in the 1960's there were significant changes to the lives of Aboriginal people: they gained voting rights in federal elections and equality within the Commonwelath Constituion following the 'yes' vote int he 1967 referendum
- the 1967 referendum was proposed two questions: 1. whether Australians believed that the government should have the authority to make laws to help improve conditions for Aboriginal people, regardless of where they lived and 2. if Aborginals should be counted int he national census
- in the decades following the 1967 referendum, indigenous peoples campaigned for land rights throught he media, courts and political activism
- th 1992 High Court judgment known as the Mabo decision gave recognition to the survival of native title rights after 1788 and the subsequent Wik decision developed this idea further
- however at century's end it seemed that native title rights were to be significatnly undermined by goevrnment legislation
- the position of Aboriginal people in Australian society improved enormously and land rights became a key issue in political life, influenced by members of the community pushing for the continued success of rights and freedoms, suhc as Pearl Gibbs, Charles Perkins and policies introduced by Gough Whitlam in the 1970's
- however, Abroginals still had a long say to go to achieving true eqaulity
- in the 1970s the Commonwealth Government introduced a policy that promised to increase self-determination for indigenous Australians
- the notion of self-determination was introduced to Australia in the early 1970s ebcause the policies of assimilation and integration had clearly failed
- when the Whitlam Labor government came to power in 1972, the policy of self-determination was introduced
Policies by the Government:
1. protection
- during the begining to the 20th century (around white settlement)
- 1900s to 1930s
2. assimilation
- 1940s to 1960s
3. integration
- 1960s to the 1990s
4. self-determination
- implemented in 1972
Hope that helps!!