Reconciliation and Social Justice Library

Indigenous Social Justice Strategies and Recommendations - Plugging in - Indigenous peoples

International contact is perhaps the most under-used of the major resources of Indigenous peoples in the world today. It is also under-valued and, even when available, little used by officialdom. This double failure is a principal reason why Australia has had so much catching up to do in social attitudes and public policy in recent years.

Undoubtedly Australia's isolation from the rest of the first world where these developments have been centred, and the high costs of travel, have been factors in our failure to participate more actively. Nonetheless, the world came to us in the early 1980s when the World Council of Indigenous Peoples held an assembly in Canberra. That single event generated much interest and many ongoing contacts.

The time has come for Australia to become a permanent member of the international Indigenous world. It is not good enough to remain passive while the health statistics of Australia's Indigenous peoples remain appalling while those of Indigenous peoples in other first world countries approach parity with national standards. We have everything to gain by sharing ideas and inspiration with Indigenous peoples abroad. However, financial resources are scarce and distances far. The pressing priority is to gather inspiration, information, and precedents from overseas experience to help develop negotiating positions, options, and policy in Australia.