Category Indigenous

Growing appetite for nutrient-rich native Indigenous Australian foods

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 03.10.2023 (IPS): Growing up in Sydney, Kalkani Choolburra, a Girramay, Kuku Yalanji, Kalkadoon and Pitta Pitta woman from Far North Queensland, would frequently travel with her family up and down Australia’s eastern seaboard. Her grandfathers and uncles would bring fresh catch of dugong, her favourite bush food, and she would go hunting for the short neck turtle with her aunties and female cousins.

The traditional or subsistence hunting of dugongs and turtles has been an important part of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (Indigenous Australians) people’s social and cultural lives. Its meat has been a vital source of protein for these communities, who have sustained themselves on the native flora and fauna for thousands of years.

Now, national and international chefs are incorporating some of these native Indigenous produce — notably Kakadu plum, Davidson plum, lemon myrtle, wattle seed, quandong, finger lime, bush tomato, muntries, mountain pepper, saltbush – into their dishes ranging from sushi and samosa, pizza and pies to cakes and muffins.

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Why are First Nations Australians less likely to have a self-managed NDIS Plan?

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 14.07.2022 (Hireup News): Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are less likely to have a self-managed NDIS plan than a plan-managed or an NDIA-managed plan, according to Indigenous disability providers. Self-management offers participants greater control over their funding and choice of supports and services. It allows the flexibility to purchase services and products from providers that are not NDIS registered, for example.

So, what is keeping Indigenous participants from availing this option? “The scheme is complex enough to navigate for most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, let alone the idea of managing the payment for services and budgeting for it,” says Shanelle Beazley, sector development coordinator at the Kurranulla Aboriginal Corporation in Jannali, NSW.

Of the 19,556 participants who received an NDIS plan during the most recently reported quarter, 9.1 per cent identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders. Over the past two years, the proportion of participants who self-manage all or part of their plan has been stable at 30 per cent; those who use a plan manager has increased to 53 per cent; and those who have a fully NDIA-managed plan has decreased to 17 per cent.

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For Indigenous people – Is the NDIS lost in translation?

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 07.07.2022 (Hireup News): For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with a disability, there are multiple obstacles when trying to access the right NDIS supports. That’s according to Joseph Archibald, Manager Aboriginal Service Development at Windaan, who says a lack of trust and understanding of the scheme, along with the scarcity of culturally appropriate services, are the main barriers.

“For example, a family has had three members on NDIS plans for the past three years, but they haven’t utilised a single dollar from any of the plans. They don’t have a trusted relationship with any of the services within the community, where they live, so they don’t reach out to them,” says Archibald. “When they have reached out to services, the conversation isn’t translated or articulated in a way they can relate to, so no progress is made.”

Windaan services the Gumbaynggirr, Dunghutti and Birpai Nations that covers the mid-north coast of NSW, providing services in remote, regional and interstate locations.

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