ok.. here is a response for you..
Disadvantages they face:
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders face a number of disadvantages.
These include:
Language Barriers
Lack of Educational Opportunity
Racism
Cultural Barriers
Mechanisms in place:
- Acts which remove disadvantages faced above (ie legislation)
- The establishment of groups which fight for the rights of ATSI people.
Acts which have been implemented to remove disadvantage to ATSI people include:
The Anti Discrimination Act (1977)
The Affirmative Action Act (1986)
The Anti Discrimination (Racial Vilification) Act Amendment (1989)
The Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission Act (1986)
The Anti Discrimination Act of 1977 attempted to overcome the racism that ATSI people were faced with. It legally incriminated anyone who broke the act.
The Affirmative action act allowed aboriginal and TSIs to live without racial slurs being brought upon them.
The Anti Discrimination (Racial Vilification) Amendment focuses on removing racial vilification of ATSI people. It was at this point that laws in relation to racism sent across a very strong message, and set the precedent for all subsequent cases.
Along with these acts, a number of organisations have attempted to remove disadvantages for ATSI people. These include:
Aboriginal Legal Services
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (Ended in 2004)
The aboriginal legal services organisation aims at providing ATSI people with specialised legal aid. The organisation pays for representation in court, and has been considered to be one of the largest organisations in relation to the support of atsi people.
Although the ATSI Commission has ended, it worked very hard in helping to support aboriginals, & to also improve their status amongst multicultural Australia.
Mechanisms:
The legal and non-legal mechanisms have been very successful in assisting ATSI people within Australia, although there is still a long way to go in achieving complete justice for this group.
An example of its success can be found in the case of
R v Yanner, where an aboriginal man was being tried for the killing and consumption of a crocodile. His case was heard, and due to the cultural barriers he faced, he was found not guilty. This is a prime example of how a legal mechanism has assisted the ATSI people in overcoming disadvantage.
Non legal mechanisms such as the founding of the Aboriginal Legal Services organisation and also ATSIC have also been very effective in assisting the ATSI people to overcome disadvantages faced in education.
Also, legal mechanisms such as the four acts outlined above have been most effective in the reduction of racism.
Although the nation has come a long way in terms of legal and non-legal mechanisms in place to assist aboriginals in overcoming disadvantage, there is still a long way to go until racism, language barriers and cultural barriers are removed, and also education is implementes into the life of every ATSI person.
Hope that helps,,
Noddy
