Amnesty International renews call to Close the Gap
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Thursday, April 2, 2009
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Amnesty
International is renewing its call
for State and Federal
governments to close the 17-year life expectancy gap between Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islanders and other Australians.
The Close
the Gap coalition, of which Amnesty
is a
member, has documented some progress over the last year but says that
much more work remains to be done.
The Close
the Gap coalition has welcomed, for
example, the decision by
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and the state premiers of Victoria and
Queensland to sign a Statement of Intent committing them to work with
Indigenous Australians to improve Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islanders’ health and wellbeing.
It also welcomed news last November that the Council of Australian
Governments would spend an additional $1.6 billion over four years
towards closing the gap, the biggest single injection of new funding by
a government to improve Indigenous health outcomes.
However, the Close
the Gap coalition is calling for a new partnership
between Indigenous peoples, the health sector and governments to
develop and implement a National Action Plan to close the life
expectancy gap by 2030.
Amnesty
International say they strongly
support the development and
implementation of a National Action Plan, but believe such a plan must
be developed and implemented using a framework that makes health
services available, accessible, appropriate and of high quality.
“Available and accessible” rights to health relate to adequate health
care facilities, trained professionals and essential medicines being
provided to Indigenous people regardless of where they live and without
discrimination.
“Appropriate and quality” health services relate to the right to
culturally appropriate health facilities, goods, services and
information sensitive to gender and life cycle requirements, and
applied with the greatest degree of scientific and professional
knowledge.
These rights are embodied in Article 24 of the UN Declaration of the
Rights of Indigenous Peoples, which further elaborate Indigenous
peoples’ rights to their traditional medicines and the maintenance of
their unique health practices as they relate to plants, animals and
minerals, a relationship strongly bound to ties to traditional
knowledge, family and country.
Importantly, Article 24 states that Indigenous peoples have a right to
the enjoyment of the “highest attainable standard of physical and
mental health” and that rights to traditional medicines and practices
do not exempt the state from its responsibility to take the necessary
steps to achieve the full realisation of the right of Indigenous people
to good health.
Amnesty has
welcomed news that the Australian Government
will make good on its election commitment to officially support the UN
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Amnesty
International has campaigned vigorously for Australia to
endorse the Declaration, which sets minimum standards for the survival,
dignity and well-being of Indigenous peoples. The Federal Minister for
Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs, Jenny
Macklin, is expected to make a formal statement in Parliament on the
matter on 3 April.
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Rudd voted Australia's top
bastard.
Aron Paul January 28, 2009
Well over twelve thousand visitors grilled the pollies
at the Democrats' new Bastardwatch website over
the Australia Day weekend.
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The online game,
Grill a Bastard, spread across the blogosphere from OzGamers to a 4WD
forum and even across the Tasman where it was picked up by The Standard
2.02.
Hundreds of visitors and new subscribers sent the game on to their
friends via the 'send to a friend' facility. The site also invites
users to 'nominate a bastard' of their own. The result of this
alternative Australia Day contest was unexpected.
While we nominated Kevin Rudd as a 'Climate Change Bastard' for
reneging on his election promise to take real action on climate change,
the public, while also nominating Rudd ahead of other pollies, narrowly
chose a different reason. The top reason visitors to Bastardwatch
nominated the prime minister was his support for the ban on gay
marriage.
The runner up was Sen. Stephan Conroy for plans to censor and slow the
internet. While Sen. Conroy came second to the PM, as an issue,
internet censorship was the biggest single issue nominated by site
visitors.
Liberal leader Malcolm Turnbull, nominated for 'flip flopping on
climate change' barely registered.
A lot of people also wanted to nominate the banks. |
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