By Lucy Schroeder (LLB IV)
Reconciliation Week 2020 invites us all to play an active role in reconciliation. What does this look like during a global pandemic?
The theme for Reconciliation Week 2020 could not be more apt. When Reconciliation Australia announced the theme in January, our sacred lands were ablaze, and we faced a national crisis of epic proportion. Our politicians argued back -and -forth on the cause of fires, while communities themselves were unified by the disaster. Attention turned to First Nations perspectives of sustainable land management which presented the opportunity to reinvigorate the dialogue for constitutional reform. However, another crisis has replaced this summer’s fires, affecting us on a global scale. No one could have predicted that the events marking the occasion would be cancelled in the name of social distancing, that those wishing to mark the week would have to do so in isolation. Yet being in this together has become a comforting catchphrase and a call to arms, repeated by politicians, health professionals and television presenters, as we remain glued to coverage of the pandemic. In a crisis on a global scale, being in this together has made our isolation more bearable. It has minimised our differences and highlighted our common humanity in the face of a common threat.
In many ways, we are in this pandemic together. However, while we have all been impacted by COVID-19, the risks associated with a global pandemic are not distributed evenly. Particularly, the risks to First Nations Australians in this pandemic are acute. It is true that my actions affect you, as yours affect mine; and our collective practice of social distancing has played a major role in preventing the potentially devastating effects for First Nations people from the pandemic thus far. However, we must critically engage with this inequality and play an active role in its reduction before the comfort we find in being in this together is legitimate.
In April, the Victorian Deputy Chief Medical Officer (CMO) controversially compared COVID-19 to Captain Cook’s arrival in 1770. However, a new disease introduced into a population without immunity in Australia was a tool of genocide during colonisation. Despite the intervening centuries, Aboriginal people have been identified as one of the most at-risk groups in this pandemic. First Nations people as a population have poor public health outcomes, with lower life expectancy, higher rates of chronic illness and more challenges accessing adequate health care. In a global pandemic, these issues pose potentially devastating risks. CMO Brendan Murphy emphasised how important it was to keep COVID-19 out of remote Aboriginal communities because of the near unavoidable devastation it would cause. Some communities have taken it upon themselves to enforce isolation and travel restrictions. The health issues and risks posed to First Nations communities existed long before the pandemic, yet rarely gather the national attention it deserves.
Further, there is a drastic overrepresentation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in prisons and in deaths in custody. Despite representing less than 3% of Australia’s population, First Nations people make up over a quarter of the incarcerated population. Prisons pose a particularly high risk for the spread of coronavirus due to the density of the populations within them. First Nations people in prison are more likely to suffer from chronic disease and disability, and there are ongoing issues around the adequacy of health care accessible in prison. Furthermore, as it is well established that First Nations people are more likely to be subject to the use (and abuse) of police powers, the increase in police powers to enforce social distancing measures comes with the increased risk that these powers will be misused against First Nations people. Early NSW police data on the use of the expanded powers already showed this trend in early April. One example of this is Coonamble, where a third of the population are First Nations people, received 10% of the state’s infringements in NSW and represents 0.004% of the population. First Nations people disproportionately bear the health consequences of an outbreak, as well as additional criminal consequences..
These are complicated issues that don’t have easy solutions. There are some practical steps which will help protect First Nations people during the pandemic, and in extension, protect all of us. For example, the Aboriginal Legal Service has written a compelling open letter advocating for the protection of Mob [1] through releasing vulnerable individuals from prison who don’t pose a risk to the community and the prevention of over-policing. However, these solutions have not been broadly implemented, and the root causes of these complex problems remained unaddressed.
While it’s comforting to know that we are all in this pandemic together, it’s important that we acknowledge that we do not experience the risks and consequences in the same way.
Reconciliation demands a similar approach. The theme of Reconciliation Week 2020 In This Together compels us to think about the role we each play in reducing racial discrimination in Australia and achieving justice. As law students, we could spend our careers influencing the law, whether that involves advocating at an individual level or influencing legislation which affects everyone. It is on all of us, regardless of our race, nationality or ethnicity, to be knowledgeable of the issues First Nations people face, of the perspectives First Nations people hold, and to engage with this when we have the opportunity to make change.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders face the consequences of the absence of reconciliation in ongoing discrimination, poor health outcomes and overrepresentation in the criminal justice system, which has manifested in an increased share of the risks and burdens in this pandemic. These risks and issues existed before the pandemic, and will continue after the risk of transmission subsides unless reconciliation action is taken. All of us must play a role in making ongoing change by amplifying First Nations voices in decision-making and educating ourselves on the perspectives held by First Nations people. In a global pandemic, our collective survival depends on the most vulnerable in our society being protected through the collective action of social distancing. In our society, after the pandemic passes, achieving justice for First Nations people will similarly require all of us to play our part. It is imperative that we maintain collective responsibility while we seek to learn from the past, come together in the present, and build towards a future of reconciliation, equitable health outcomes and reduced representation in the criminal justice system. After all, we ARE in this together.
[1] Mob is a colloquial term used to identify a person’s own group of Aboriginal people or extended family, which is associated with a particular place or country.