ANTaR's work focuses on a range of issues impacting on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. These issues have been listed separately, however many of them are complex, interrelated and have multiple causes.

Why are these issues important? Because unless they are resolved, we will never achieve a just and reconciled Australia.

Health

An Aboriginal child born in 2008 will still, on average, live for 17 years less than a non-Aboriginal child. Closing the Indigenous life expectancy gap is one of ANTaR's priority campaign areas.
* Racism Makes Me Sick
* Success stories in Indigenous health
* Close The Gap
* Healing Hands

Prisons and policing

To prevent Aboriginal deaths in custody we need to tackle the reasons why so many Aboriginal people are in prison in the first place.

Later this year, ANTaR will be launching a major new campaign encouraging our state governments to build up communities, rather than condemning so many Aboriginal people to prison.

Eliminating violence and abuse

ANTaR considers that Australian Governments have a responsibility to intervene to protect their citizens in danger from violence and abuse. This is particularly the case in relation to Aboriginal children, who have been found by numerous reports to have a greater risk of being abused than non-Aboriginal children.

Photo: Domestic Violence. CC william c hutton jr.

Constitutional change

ANTaR believes that only constitutional change can ensure that the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are fully protected. Without this legal guarantee Aboriginal Australians, who make up less than 3% of our population, will continue to be subject to the whims of party politics.

Recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the constitution is back on the national agenda. The forthcoming referendum on this issue is likely to be the only chance this decade to achieve the legal recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights.

Stolen generations

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd delivered a national apology to the Stolen Generations on behalf of the Federal Parliament on 13 February 2008.

While ANTaR whole-heartedly welcomed this apology, we are campaigning the government to implement all the recommendations of the Bringing Them Home report.

Photo: The Sea of Hands and Sorry skywriting. © ANTaR.

NT intervention

ANTaR believes that the Northern Territory Intervention needs to be maintained but changed. Breaching the Racial Discrimination Act is no way to protect children. For that reason, we support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, Tom Calma's 10-point plan to take the racism out of the intervention.

Photo: Protest against the NT intervention. © Leo in Canberra.

Stolen wages

For decades, state and federal governments in Australia did not pay the wages and entitlements of Aboriginal people who were under their care and protection. In most parts of Australia, Aboriginal workers and their decedents are yet to be paid these "stolen wages".

The unresolved issue of stolen wages remains one of the nation's greatest barriers to reconciliation and justice for indigenous people.

Reconciliation

Reconciliation is a process where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, non-Indigenous Australians and Australian governments forge a new relationship based on mutual understanding, recognition and respect.

The Sea of Hands is ANTaR's reconciliation campaign. Over 300,000 Australians have added a hand since 1997.

Native Title and land rights

ANTaR believes that the Native Title and the Northern Territory Land Rights Acts should be reformed to restore land justice for Indigenous people and the timely resolution of claims.

We also support the introduction of a social justice package as promised by former Prime Minister, Paul Keating in his response to the High Court's Mabo decision on Native Title. Following the election of the Howard government, this social package was abandoned.

Photo: land rights plaque which can be purchased from ANTaR.

Self-determination

ANTaR believes that self-determination - or the ability of Aboriginal people to freely determine their own political, economic, social and cultural development - is essential to overcoming Indigenous disadvantage.

Employment and economic development

Meaningful jobs and economic development are essential to Aboriginal self-determination. Employment is also crucial to overcoming poor health, homelessness and family violence. Aboriginal children who's parents are employed also have a far greater chance of succeeding at school.

Education

ANTaR believes education is vital to overcoming Indigenous disadvantage and achieving reconciliation in Australia.

Professor Ken Wyatt, the former NSW Government’s Director of Aboriginal Health cites Canadian research that reinforces the links between health and education. This research found that that on average for every additional year of education given to a young Indigenous woman, four years are added to the lives of her children.

Photo: Remote Education, Arnhem Land, Australia. © Rusty Stewart.

Housing

ANTaR believes that ensuring first world standards of housing for the first Australians is one of the nation's greatest challenges. The Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage 2007 report indicates that a much higher proportion of Indigenous people live in much more crowded conditions that other Australians. Poor housing is a contributor to poor health, poor educational outcomes and family violence.

Links to websites where you can find further information

We have created a list of links to websites that are relevant to Indigenous issues using a website called del.icio.us. The more websites that we have bookmarked that relate to a particular word, the larger that word appears below. If you click on a particular word, you will be able to see all the websites we have bookmarked that are relevant to that word.

If you have a del.icio.us account, add ANTaR to your network.