How incarceration further disadvantages Australia’s Indigenous

15/02/2021 0 Comments read Indigenous

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 15.02.2021 (IPS): Keenan Mundine grew up in the Aboriginal community social housing called The Block, infamous for poor living conditions, alcohol and drug use, and violence, in Sydney’s Redfern suburb. At the age of about seven, soon after losing his parents to drugs and suicide, he was separated from his siblings and placed in kinship care.

“I felt robbed of my childhood. I didn’t feel safe and it made me struggle with my living conditions and mental health. I couldn’t concentrate at school and got into lot of trouble. I spent sleepless nights contemplating what my situation would be if my parents were still alive. At the age of 14, I ended up on the streets and tried to work my way around it”, Mundine tells IPS.

Today, he is using his own lived experience of navigating the criminal justice system that helped change the trajectory of his life to devise creative and innovative solutions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people so they can break free from the cycle of violence, police and prisons.

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For Forgotten Australians, it wasn’t Oranges and Sunshine!

19/07/2011 0 Comments read Features, Migration

Laurie Humphreys, Eris Harrison, Maria (not in story) and Caroline Carroll. Photo Credit: Neena Bhandari/IPS

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 19.07.2011 (IPS): Laurie Humphreys was on the first ship after the Second World War that brought 150 British boys and girls, aged five to14 years, to Australia in 1947. At 13, he was promised oranges and sunshine and an adventurous holiday, but the reality was the contrary.

Tens of thousands of children suffered systemic physical, emotional and sexual abuse and neglect, exploitative work practices and deprivation of food, clothing and proper education while in government institutions, church organisations, orphanages, homes or foster care.

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Climate Change to further disadvantage Aboriginals

08/05/2009 0 Comments read Climate Change, Environment & Development, Indigenous

By Neena Bhandari

Sydney, 08.05.2009 (IPS): Climate change will further marginalise Australia’s Aboriginal communities, forcing them out of their traditional lands, destroying their culture and significantly affecting their access to water resources, indigenous rights advocates warn.

“As coastal and island communities confront rising sea levels, and inland areas become hotter and drier, indigenous people are at risk of further economic marginalisation, as well as potential dislocation from and exploitation of their traditional lands, waters and natural resources,” said Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner Tom Calma.

Indigenous people have been living in close affinity with nature for thousands of years, preserving the environment and protecting the biodiversity.

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