Social Work In Australia

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have been the first nations, which represented the whole Australian population, for centuries. However, the continuous European colonization has severely affected these peoples and, over the decades, their unique values and cultures, which enriched the life of Australian nation and communities, were not respected and discriminated by numerous restrictive policies. As a result, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have turned into the voiceless minority of the Australian population. Fortunately, in recent years, these issues became the concern of the Australian government, promoting a slight improvement in the well being of native Australians. Nowadays, there are numerous social work

programs developed for solution of the difficulties being faced by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. However, despite that, social workers are responsible for ensuring effective practice and planning, along with the delivery of appropreate services to Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal families, children and communities, which can be quite a complex task for them. The majority of social problems requires special approach with the consideration of social, historical, community, individual and family factors.

Thus, the purpose of this paper is to explore how it is like to work with Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal peoples within the Australian social work context and to indicate which social theories have an influence on the social work practice, in order to develop the proper framework for it.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were the earliest nations, which have been in Australia for nearly 120,000 years and spoke more than 260 languages with 500 dialects (Dudgeon, Walker & Milroy, 2014). In 1788 they made up hundred percent of the Australian population until the arrival of British, who colonized them (Dudgeon, Walker & Milroy, 2014). Before the colonization Aboriginal people were hunter-gathering groups with their own distinctive history and culture, who had adapted quite well to the environment. And the Torres Strait Islanders lived on the islands of Torres Strait seaway that had a close contact with mainland Aboriginal and Papua New Guinean communities. Since 1879, when the Torres Strait was annexed and became the crown land and onwards, Torres Strait Islanders experienced numerous changes from their increasing contact with British and other Europeans (Dudgeon, Walker & Milroy, 2014). Islanders had to adjust to the new lifestyle that was introduced to the region through the religion, maritime industries as well as government administration. Furthermore, Islander and Aboriginal life was influenced by various historical events, including the maritime strike in 1936, the inaugural Island Councilors meeting in 1937 that resulted with the revised Aboriginal Protection Act in 1939, participation in the World War I, the large-scale migration of the 1960s to the Australian mainland, the call for independence in the 1980s and the Mabo Case of 1992 (Dudgeon, Walker & Milroy, 2014). While, as Australian citizens, they were recognized in 1948 after the Commonwealth Nationality and Citizenship Act, however, it was only after the 1962 Commonwealth Electoral Act that they achieved the right to vote, and in 1967, with the passage of Australian referendum, they were included in the Commonwealth laws that applied to the Australian population (Dudgeon, Walker & Milroy, 2014). Furthermore, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were affected by the wide range of different policies relating to their treatment, such as the policy of assimilation and protection directed on absorption of natives of Aboriginal origin into the so-called white skin society. This policy led to the removal of numerous children of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples from their biological families, in order to assimilate them into the culture of people with white skin. These children became known as the “Stolen Generations” that had a severe impact on the well being of the subsequent generations (Bennett, Green, Gilbert & Bessarab, 2013). Fortunately, in 1995 a National inquiry was conducted into indigenous children's separation from their families that resulted with tabled Inquiry report - “Bringing Them Home” (Bennett, Green, Gilbert & Bessarab, 2013). Subsequently, in response to this report a formal apology was issued by the Prime Minister to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples for the policies, laws and practices of their forcible removal conducted by his predecessors (The Hon Tony Abbott MP, 2015).
This speech promoted the initiative of the Australian Government called “Closing the Gap”, which is aimed to reduce the areas of disadvantage that Torres Strait Islander and Aboriginal peoples have and do experience in reality (Healthinfonet, 2015). Hence, the performance of social workers has become very important when it comes to ensuring the well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals, due to the help in realization of their everyday individual and collective rights. Today, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples make up 2.5% of the modern population of Australia and most of their families and communities still face immense challenges that have a devastating impact on their well-being (NSW Department of Community Services, 2009). Their strength and resilience is compromised by numerous complex problems, most concerning issue being over-representation in Australian welfare systems, health systems, child protection systems and criminal justice systems (NSW Department of Community Services, 2009). These issues contribute to high levels of poverty, homelessness, unemployment and violence that are seen in many Indigenous communities. Such situation is the result of past colonial government legislation along with policies that have left inter-generational effects on them, such as racism, loss and grief issues, dispossession of land, poverty, alcohol as well as substance abuse (NSW Department of Community Services, 2009). Moreover, they also have a negative impact on indigenous children, who demonstrate poor social and educational outcomes, unfavorable literacy and numeracy rates, which are below standard (CAFCA, 2011).

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