Chapter 3 Overcoming the ‘Crisis of Nonrelation’ through Formal Innovation

Abstract

The 2016 report of the Australian Council of Social Service (acoss) documents the widespread poverty and the precarious living conditions prevalent in numerous Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Analysing data from the 2014 Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (hilda) survey, the report states that “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people were more likely to experience poverty than other Australians, and are less likely to ‘exit welfare’ than other Australians” (acoss 37). As the 2020 hilda survey found, rates of material deprivation are still significantly higher for Indigenous people than for non-Indigenous Australians, thus making them more likely to live in poverty, which is conceived of “as relative deprivation or socio-economic disadvantage” (Wilkins et al. 54, 35). Moreover, according to the 2020 Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage report, even though the wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians has improved for many indicators over the last two decades, including employment rates, there has been little change or even a worsening in others areas, such as imprisonment and youth detention, alcoholism and substance misuse (Steering Committee 6). And even in areas such as employment, which has seen improvements, at least until 2008, the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people in terms of their respective employment rates is still considerable with around 49 percent for Indigenous people compared to around 75 percent for non-Indigenous Australians (Closing the Gap 65).1