Australia's Poverty in Aboriginal Communities

1) What are the origins of the poverty trap for Australian aborigines?

Poverty trap of Australian aborigines can be defined as the rapid but incomplete movement from exclusion to inclusion to the urban society, in the aim of achieving strong dependency and obedience. Unfortunately, Australia's policy to closing the gap has not been successful. The 1994 the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Survey discovered that government payments constitute up to 55% of the aborigine's income; whereas it is as relatively low as 13% for the non-aboriginal Australians. Moreover,shockingly, according to UNICEF's report in OECD in 2007, Australia has the 14th highest child poverty rate worldwide; it is ranked alongside countries as undeveloped as Bangladesh. Aborigines are now provided with access to community and health services, education, and government security payments, but in an extremely insufficient amount. Poverty trap therefore always exists.

The prominent origin of poverty trap is traced back to Australian government's "assimilation" policy. Back then government forcedly took aboriginal children away from their families and send them to "missionary schools" in urban areas, where speaking aborigine mother-tongues is forbidden (language death). The purpose of assimilation policy is to mentally and intellectually transform aborigines to urban citizens. This has led to the aborigines' lost of dignity and social fabric, and low self-esteem. Unfortunately, those who participated in the forced migration's fate in urban society is defined by their ethnic. Aboriginal teenagers are more likely to suffer from hopelessness then white Australians, which lead to the relatively high chance of drugs and alcohol abuse.

2. How can we break the cycle of poverty?

Human society has a contradicting methodology. People only learn to cherish things when they are about to vanish forever. It is the same everywhere I know. Taiwanese government has just started to encourage mother-tongue-learning because it can be soon lost forever; Australian government's recent closing-the-gap policy is an ironic act towards the unchangeable history of the cruel assimilation.

In order to not fall back into the circles of poverty, change needs to start from the very basic human rights - equality and access to necessities. First of all, the government's financial aid must be provided up to a sufficient level. Government will also need to invest in infrastructure and services of these communities, such as schools, supermarkets, and health centers, up to a sufficient level. Another essential improvement must be made to education, for both aborigines and urban citizens. Every aboriginal child should have access to primary and secondary education; schools must be provided with sufficient number of teachers and staffs, for which it is a good internship experience for urban education students.

On the other hand, the awareness of parity between urban and indigenous people must be widespread in urban areas. The indigenous migrants in capital cities must be treated with equity.