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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1999 Week 8 Hansard (26 August) . . Page.. 2491 ..

MS TUCKER (continuing):

population. For those with homes, indigenous people are more likely than other Australians to live in improvised and/or overcrowded dwellings. Almost 7 per cent of the indigenous people lived in dwellings with 10 or more residents in 1996.

Life expectancy for indigenous people continues to be much less than for non-indigenous people. From 1991 to 1996, life expectancy at birth was estimated to be 56.9 years for indigenous males and 61.7 for indigenous females, compared with all-Australian estimates of 75.2 years for males and 81.1 years for females. As the ABS points out, the health disadvantage for indigenous people begins with the beginning of life. On average, indigenous mothers give birth at a younger age than non-indigenous mothers and their babies are almost twice as likely to be of low birth weight and more than twice as likely to die at birth than are babies born to non-indigenous mothers. The ABS says that indigenous people are more likely to be hospitalised for or die of conditions which are indicators of mental illness, such as self-harm, substance abuse and suicidal behaviour. They are more likely to be at risk of reduced mental and emotional wellbeing due to such factors as violence, removal from family, poverty and racism.

The disadvantage has come about and continues for a huge number of reasons. It has as its basis the original dispossession of most indigenous people of their land as a result of European occupation of this continent. That was amplified and exacerbated by laws enacted by the colonies last century, then State, Territory and Federal governments this century, which were aimed at and are still aimed at somehow legalising this dispossession. The Federal Government's Wik amendments to the Native Title Act are the most recent example of these types of laws, along with this Government's proposed amendments to the ACT Native Title Act. This disadvantage has been perpetuated and accelerated by unofficial and official policies and laws which have variously sought to destroy traditional Aboriginal culture and family structures through genocide, segregation, assimilation and, as many Australians only recently discovered, systematic forced removal of Aboriginal children from their families. The legacy of past and continuing policies joins with continuing racism at official and unofficial levels to perpetuate Aboriginal disadvantage to this day.

How do this Assembly and this Government and future governments address ongoing Aboriginal disadvantage and how do all of us make good our commitment to the reconciliation process? First, look to the powerful and quite beautiful expression of reconciliation in the draft declaration for reconciliation and strive to give life and meaning to the words in our lives and in our actions in this Assembly. Secondly, look to the four strategies. As the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation says, these strategies will map out the steps we must take as we work together towards a reconciled nation. These strategies will facilitate greater economic independence and self-reliance in the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people; aim for better outcomes in health, education, employment, housing, law and justice; ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can participate equally in all levels of decision-making on matters which affect them and their communities; and build on the existing people's movement.

The Greens nationally and in the ACT are very strong supporters of the reconciliation process. In 1997 the Assembly supported my motion to have the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flag placed permanently alongside the Territory and Australian flags as an

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