In modern Australian society, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people still endures a plethora of challenges which are systemic in nature and deeply ingrained in present societal fabric of Australia. The reason is that these challenges are historically embedded with systemic inequality as well as injustice which subsequently lead to cultural complexities. From an apparent vision, the long-term ramifications of these issues are grossly overlooked. However, after intricately analyzing the implication associated with systemic injustice and inequality, prevalent even in modern Australian society, it is fair to state that not only it impacts the overall socioeconomic well-being of First Nation Australians, but at the same time it also deteriorates their overall quality of life, aside from being detrimental in their course of education. As a consequence of which social workers engaging at grassroots levels with First Nations Australians stumble upon a myriad of impediments that requires exigent community engagement, aside from historical awareness and cultural sensitivity (Butten et al. 2020). Only then, it is feasible to effectively resolve the challenges associated with the unique needs of these communities. To work effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, social workers must adopt an indigenous standpoint that respects cultural diversity, values, and aspirations while collaborating in a manner that empowers and respects self-determination. Aside from that, the following study also revolves around analyzing manners through which AASW Code of Ethics can be relevant in its application for working effectively with Aboriginal people of Australia.
A Brief Overview of the Pivotal Issues Facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in Today's Australian Society
The core issues which act as impediment for Aboriginal people in modern society across Australia are mentioned as follows:
In consonance with the recent report published by Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) in 2018 – 2019, it is revealed that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people undergoes severe health disparities in comparison to non-indigenous Australians. The consequence of which is gravely reflected in the statistical reference derived by AIHW, which posits that average life expectancy of indigenous Australians turns out to be 71.6 years for males and 75.6 years for females, which is significantly lower than non-indigenous Australians, which is around 80.7 years for females and 84.9 years for males respectively (Murtha et al. 2021). The fundamental reason behind this drop in lifespan can be directly linked with lack of adequate facilities pertinent with healthcare services and medical benefits across broader Australian indigenous communities.
As far as education is concerned indigenous student in accordance to National Assessment Program – Literacy and Numeracy (NAPLAN) from 2019 only 36% of indigenous students has accomplished minimum standards of literacy, which is meagre in comparison to 96% of non-indigenous students across major Australian cities. Lack of education can also be linked with health disparities, owing to the fact that illiteracy and lack of proper measures regarding health care often results in poor physical and mental well-being (Butten et al. 2019).
The economic shortcoming is the fundamental reason as to why both in education and healthcare sector Indigenous communities are falling behind in Australia. In 2020, National Statistics of Australian government revealed that the employment rate across Indigenous Australian population stands around to be 49.8%, which is significantly lower the non-indigenous Australians, which is 75.3%.However, the government introduced “Closing the Gap” action plan in 2021, in order to mitigate the negative circumstances associated with economic disparity. To put it in simple perspective it can be stated that the measures inculcated in “Closing the Gap” are yet to be incorporated throughout Australian society (Rhodes & Byrne, 2021).
The AIHW reported that in 2016, that approximately 26% of households where indigenous are residing are absolutely claustrophobic in nature, due to overcrowded condition. In remote locations, this statistic has even increased to 45%. As a result of which, limited accessibility to clean water becomes a primary cause of healthcare issue, where sanitation still remains a concern at large among several indigenous communities.
The "2016 National Census" revealed that around 23% of Indigenous Australians were not living in areas, where they were part of the majority population. This can lead to cultural isolation and erosion of traditional practices. Consequently, the notion of cultural preservation and preservation of self-identity is also depleting swiftly among indigenous population (Dickson, 2020).
One of the interesting aspects in this particular context is that inequality in judiciary regarding Indigenous Australians are staggering in nature. Not only the Indigenous communities across Australia are overrepresented throughout criminal justice system, but at the same time, delinquency among youth population, due to lack of economic measures and educational policy to substantiate a quality life, has also been reported to be comparatively higher with respect to non-indigenous population. In line with Australian Bureau of Statistics’ report in 2019, Indigenous Australian represents nearly 32% of total adult prisoners, whereas in juvenile detention centre, approximately 53% of youths are from Aboriginal community, despite being only 3% of the entire Australian population (Anderson et al. 2021). With retrospect to the overall population account, the staggering rate of juveniles in youth detention centre, reflect inadequate framework of the Australian government in terms of augmenting aboriginal communities.
The "2020 Family Matters Report" stated that Indigenous children are 11 times more likely to be removed from their families than non-Indigenous children. In 2019, Indigenous children comprised 37.3% of all children in out-of-home care. As a result of which majority of these children are either brought up in foster care or families who are non-indigenous in terms of cultural identity, which can necessarily be translated into the fact that adequate education regarding cultural identity and historical heritage, are grossly absent from the mindset of these children (Prictor et al. 2020).
According to the AIHW, only about 40% of land in Australia's Indigenous Estate is owned or controlled by Indigenous Australians. Land tenure and cultural connection are vital to the well-being and cultural identity of Indigenous communities. Hence, it can be stated that as far as cultural connection and land rights are concerned, Indigenous communities are systematically eradicated from their homeland, which restricts them to delve into their own cultural heritage and prosper accordingly.
All of these aforementioned factors cumulatively result in challenges in terms of maintaining mental equilibrium. That is why, in 2018, AIHW report distinctly states that suicide is one of the leading causes of death among Indigenous people, between the age group of 15 to 34 years, which reflects that nearly 41% of all deaths across Indigenous community takes place due to suicide, because of such emotional imbalance. Apparently, it would seem that all of these problems can be solved by the government’s stringent policies (Kennedy et al. 2022). However, in real life, resolving issues of such magnitude necessitates sustained measures from both non-government as well as government organization, in order to work in partnership for addressing impediments across Indigenous communities. Similar to the “Closing the Gap” initiative, which is launched in 2008, other measures should be inculcated in order to reduce health disparity and augment their education, so that they can secure employment out of their own even, without government assistance.
Critical Reflection of Myriad of Challenges Encountered by Social Worker
A critical reflection of myriad of challenges encountered by social worker, during the course of working at a grass root level with First Nation Australians and its respective solutions
Being entrusted with the responsibility of social worker brings forth a plethora of hindrances at grass root level, while addressing challenges experienced by First Nation Australians. The majority of such challenges emanate from deep rooted cultural and historical stigmatization, aside from systemic factors. In order to effectively address such challenges, it is imperative to gain deeper cognizance regarding indigenous perspective as well as their historical heritage and cultural commitment, so that an ambience of trust can be fostered seamlessly. The following segment intricately scrutinizes impediments and respective strategies for effectively engaging with indigenous people (Christidis et al. 2021).
Challenges:
The first challenge that acts as a hindrance for social worker is the historical trauma, which originates from decades of colonization as well as forced removal of children, which is generally referred to as stolen generation from their parents and indigenous communities. This deep-seated trauma impedes social worker to immediately mingle with indigenous community. In order to resolve such challenge, it is necessary to cultivate training sessions where culturally sensitive information is imparted among social workers, so that they can prepare themselves in measures through which contemporary issues originating from historical trauma can be resolved, in order to substantiate necessary support to First Nation Australians (Kairuz et al. 2020).
As far as effective engagement with indigenous community is concerned, the knowledge of cultural competence is quintessential in nature. However, apparent utilization of tokenistic gestures should be averted under all circumstances by the social worker then only a rapport can be established on the basis of ingenuity and credibility. In order to translate search efforts into reality social workers should undertake lessons, where diverse cultural norms as well as language and kinship system are educated. This is a strategic action which social workers should emphasize upon. In view of the fact that, in this approach social worker can establish trust among indigenous communities which is absolutely absent in case of government institutions. With the help of transparency in action, apart from consistency and dedication towards service, social worker can augment indigenous community in a seamless and swift manner.
One of the intriguing concepts that social workers should keep in the hindsight, while trying to establish relationship with First Nation Australians, is that the concept of power dynamics, since it is somewhat different among indigenous community, which can effectively hinder communication initially. However, if adequate measures, which is empowerment based in nature, is taken into consideration, that values indigenous knowledge and respect their perspective, then feasibility of mitigating this imbalance is not going to be a problem for social workers (Gerrard et al. 2021).
Several indigenous communities are isolated from nearby cities and located in remote corners, which subsequently leads to limited accessibility to resources and services offered by local government. The geographical challenges should be overcome by social workers for the sake of navigating more equitable support to the First Nation communities.
Incorporating western model of intervention that is culturally inappropriate for indigenous community, would simply hinder the overall process and can even result in futile counterproductive measure. Hence, incorporating cultural practices which are aligned with indigenous community should be of paramount significance among social workers who are looking forward to collaborating with Indigenous communities. This measure would inherently assist social workers to integrate First Nation community members with modern services and facilities available in cities (Chittleborough et al. 2023).
Effective Engagement from an Indigenous Standpoint:
For the sake of establishing effective engagement, indigenous standpoints are imperative to be incorporated by the social workers. Not only it would allow the process of integration to be seamless, but at the same time, amalgamating with indigenous culture would assist social workers to gain deeper insights regarding the gravity of the impediments, so that necessary measures can be inculcated accordingly.
The first course of action that is imperative in this instance is to adopt a stance that is aligned with their cultural heritage. One of the recent studies established by the University of Sydney in 2019, reveals that the primary impediment experienced by social worker in terms of resolving the current crisis experienced by the indigenous community, is the cultural imbalance. Simply put, it can be stated that majority of the social workers assumed the certain predefined idea regarding Australian indigenous community, which hinders them to actively participate in their traditional cultural practices, which in turn, results in non-transparency (Page et al. 2022). This barrier later on hinders the overall process of providing necessary support. Hence, for social worker learning the indigenous perspective with genuine openness and continual self-reflection is necessary. This would allow them to adopt cultural humility, which is necessary for ameliorating the lifestyle of indigenous community.
First of all, social worker should understand that indigenous communities have their fair share of positive attribute, wisdom of millennial and respective solutions. Hierarchy within indigenous community should be deeply respected and adhered by the social worker, rather than starting to dictate what to do. Social workers should realize their position in the indigenous community and listen to the perspective of elders and cultural leaders, so that strategies can be developed which are aligned with indigenous aspirations and values, then proceed accordingly. Otherwise, they would simply translate the effort put forward by social workers as a tokenistic gesture.
Instead of emphasizing on the existing shortcoming among the indigenous community, concentrating upon resilience and strength of current indigenous landscape should be acknowledged. Consolidating resources that are currently available with existing strength can augment potential to develop communities, where problems can be fixed seamlessly, even without government’s support. However, one of the crucial aspects that should be kept in hindsight by the social worker is that the intergenerational trauma and the notion of historical neglect have deeply scarred them for life. In order to collaborate openly with non-indigenous community. Australian First Nation community member prioritized safety above all (Taylor, Lalovic & Thompson, 2019). Hence, for the sake of empowering their community with adequate resources, it is necessary for social worker to understand the gravity of their circumstances and perspective, so that necessary measures can be inculcated during the course of interaction.
The concept of cultural safety is much more powerful than that of cultural competence, since cultural safety ensures that indigenous members are revered and understood, where their beliefs are validated, and their convictions are respected. If cultural identities are safeguarded, the feasibility of indigenous community to open up on their own without external effort would be inevitable in nature. In this particular instance, the concept of narrative theory is also applicable. Simply put, narrative theory revolves around a therapy that respects indigenous community and traditions in such a manner that empowers elders of indigenous community to reconstruct their perspective regarding non-indigenous members. Traditionally, elders from indigenous community always remain suspicious regarding measures undertaken by non-indigenous community. However, with the help of narrative therapy, these stigmatizations can be eradicated completely, once and for all and align new identities that respect and review cultural heritage of First Nation communities (Yashadhana et al. 2021). Members of the First Nation community recognize the significance of land and their connection. Inculcating the notion of relationship between ancestral lands with individuals belonging from First Nation community can be presented as a central theme by the social workers, which would augment the process of healing the traumatic experience and ensure a future of physical and mental well-being of indigenous members.
According to a recent study published by a group of scholars, it is revealed that wisdom generated from thousands of years by indigenous communities should be harnessed by modern scientific spheres of Australian society. This approach is known as ‘two-way learning’ mechanism, where two-way learning process is embraced by both indigenous and non-indigenous client. In this approach, knowledge accumulated by non-indigenous client would be shared by indigenous client, in return of their wisdom. This exchange of knowledge has the potential of augmenting experience and gaining deeper insights regarding fostering mutual understanding. Apart from that a crucial aspect that is emanated from two-way learning mechanism is the concept of sustainability (Pulla & Francis, 2020). For instance, bushfires are of regular occurrence across Australia. However, indigenous communities have their own mechanism of addressing bushfires, before they spiral out of control. This knowledge has been harnessed by modern society. However, like this approach, several indigenous wisdoms are yet to be garnered by the modern society. In this two-way learning, aside from supporting indigenous member with modern amenities, non-indigenous member can also gain cognizance regarding measures through which sustainability can be fostered accordingly in a seamless manner.
Issues like systemic inequality can only be resolved through political advocacy. Hence, social workers who are oriented towards contributing towards social justice for the indigenous community should amplify their voice with the help of social media platform. This would not only assist the process of dismantling the structural impediment, but at the same time, if adequate measures are duly inculcated, then the feasibility of establishing new social justice system, where inequality and discrimination can be eradicated completely could be established seamlessly. However, voices supporting advocacy for indigenous community should be magnified to a great extent, for the sake of gaining necessary support to make amendments in legislation. Aside from that, social workers should also concentrate upon ensuring that legislations, which are passed by the political sphere, are actually getting implemented in reality (Tascón & Ife, 2019). For instance, empowered communities belonging from First Nation Australian should be able to voice their own decision and choices in the process of decision making in national politics. This would allow them to ameliorate their own lifestyle and preserve their cultural heritage better than anyone else.
Conclusively, it can be stated that grass root level social worker working with First Nation Australian for the first time faces massive challenges that seems to be quite complicated in nature. However, devising an approach that is culturally sensitive in nature can conveniently resolve problems and create lasting and meaningful change. Concepts, such as cultural safety, humility and commitment should be the core process of effective engagement, all while remaining transparent in nature, throughout the process of supporting indigenous community (Sinha, 2020). If all of these aforementioned actions are duly abided by social workers, then the feasibility of experiencing challenge can be eradicated completely.
Relevance of AASW Code of Ethics and Application of AASW Code of Ethics for Working with Indigenous People
The Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) Code of Ethics stands as an illuminating framework, delineating ethical principles and standards that govern the practice of social work within Australia. When engaged in interactions with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, the Code of Ethics emerges as a crucial compass, enabling social workers to adeptly navigate the intricate tapestry of historical, cultural, and societal contexts, all while demonstrating unwavering respect and responsibility.
Pertinence of the AASW Code of Ethics is mentioned herein under:
This ethical precept underscores the imperative of according each individual an essence of dignity, coupled with a reverence for their autonomy. For Indigenous collectives, respect is enmeshed intricately with their cultural ethos and ceremonial protocols. With keen discernment, the AASW Code of Ethics accentuates the indispensability of not only recognizing but venerating cultural norms, practices, and beliefs while engaging with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populace (Pascoe, 2023). This necessitates an engagement characterized by cultural sensitivity, nuanced communication, the solicitation of permissions, and a profound acknowledgment of the singular identities and worldviews held by Indigenous beneficiaries.
The bedrock of ethical integrity looms large within this principle, as it charges social workers with upholding an unwavering devotion to probity and candour. In their engagement with Indigenous communities, this principle beckons social workers to cast aside the veil of opacity, thereby furnishing a realm characterized by transparency, accountability, and truthfulness (Bennett & Gates, 2021). Furthermore, social workers are impelled to confront their own predispositions, biases, and preconceptions, and in the same breath, to espouse actions that remain in alignment with the quintessential interests of their Indigenous clients.
This ethical tenet accentuates the pledge to combat entrenched social injustices, coupled with the advocacy for equitable access to resources and avenues of advancement. Given the historical landscape wherein Indigenous communities have contended with systemic inequities, this ethical edifice stands as a potent lodestar. In response, social workers are entrusted with the imperative to ameliorate disconcerting disparities in realms such as healthcare, education, employability, and habitation that continue to exert their sway over Indigenous cohorts. Within this paradigm, social workers assume the mantle of advocates, contributing to the amelioration of these lingering inequalities by lobbying for systemic changes and orchestrating the dissemination of culturally congruent services.
The crux of this ethical bulwark resides in the ardor for perpetual learning and refinement, thereby fostering professional prowess. In their interactions with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander constituencies, this principle casts the spotlight on the veneration of cultural competence. As enshrined within the AASW Code of Ethics, this necessitates an enduring commitment to augmenting knowledge vis-à-vis Indigenous cultures, narratives, histories, and paradigms (Jefferies, Davis & Mason, 2023). Such an informed and cultivated approach equips social workers with the essential acumen to tender culturally attuned and effective support within this intricate milieu.
In essence it is fair to state that the AASW Code of Ethics resonates as a guiding constellation that solitarily fulfills a pivotal role in steering the praxis of social workers in their interactions with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander populations.
Application of AASW Code of Ethics is as follows:
The Code of Ethics advocates the concept of cultural safety which is quintessential for social worker to actively foster a cohesion that reviews Indigenous culture and eradicates any sort of discrimination. Cultural safety assists social workers to gain deeper cognizance regarding current impediments of First Nation communities. For the reason that indigenous clients feel safe to express their experience without the fear of being judged (Yu, Morgenshtern & Schmid, 2023).
The Code of Ethics also fortifies the conviction for judicial advocacy amongst Indigenous society, where the principle underscores the gravity of social worker’s relentless contribution in incorporating amendment for eradicating systemic change, thereby addressing injustice and inequality, regarding indigenous communities. This falls under a continuum ranging from advocating for land rights, which are inherently the fundamental right of aboriginal community, to augmenting existing education and healthcare framework, so that employment opportunities can be inculcated among First Nation communities.
Social workers utilize the Code of Ethics to encourage those individuals who are affected by current impediment to engage in open discourse in order to share and raise mass awareness regarding the gravity of their circumstances. This measure further substantiates them with necessary support in order to bring forth the desired changes in society.
Conclusion
In conclusion, an inference can be drawn that there are diverse challenges that social workers face in terms of resolving the current impediments of Australians aboriginal communities, however by inculcating the measures mentioned in the study with due diligence, it is feasible for them to overcome these challenges seamlessly. Aside from that, the study also pinpoints that in the intricate tapestry of working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, the AASW Code of Ethics emerges as a guiding light, illuminating the path for the social workers.
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