Indigenous social policy and the New Mainstreaming
Indigenous social policy and the New Mainstreaming Report
CAEPR Topical Issue
- Author(s): Altman, J
- Published: 2005
- Publisher: Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU College of Arts & Social Sciences, Australian National University
Abstract:
Notes by Professor Jon Altman from a CAEPR Seminar of 13 October 2004, discussing changes in Indigenous social policy in the light of the recent federal election, including mainstreaming, whole-of-government approaches, Indigenous representation, consultation, choice, and agreement-making.
A discussion about changes in Indigenous affairs that are likely to be implemented after the federal election on 9 October 2004.
I want to do the following:
1. Provide a brief historical account from the forthcoming CAEPR Discussion Paper No. 266, ‘Indigenous socioeconomic change 1971–2001: A historical perspective’ that I have written with Boyd Hunter and Nick Biddle. That paper analyses trends across a number of socioeconomic outcomes for Indigenous Australians from the 1967 referendum to the present.
2. Read from three texts on new directions in Indigenous affairs, these being:
• Peter Shergold’s ‘Connecting Government: Whole of Government Responses to Australia’s Priority Challenges’ dated 20 April, less than 6 months ago, focusing on the sections that highlight Indigenous issues;
• Senator Vanstone’s Opening Address to the Bennelong Society Conference ‘Pathways and Policies for Indigenous Futures’ on 4 September 2004; and
• The Howard Government’s Election 2004 policy, Indigenous Australians—Opportunity and Responsibility, released in September 2004.
3. This reading will be infl uenced by research I undertook in July for a paper ‘Practical Reconciliation and the New Mainstreaming: Will it make a difference to Indigenous Australians?’ published in August 2004 in Dialogue and now available at