Causes of the struggle - essay evidence

• 1962 Right to vote


  The Commonwealth Electoral Act 1962 that was passed on 21 May 1962
• The national percentage of Aboriginal people that enrolled to vote in Australia on 30th June 2021 is 79.3%
• Tasmania had the highest percentage of 88.3%
• An estimated 428,441 Aboriginal people enrolled to vote, (updated in 2021)
• Sir Douglas Nichols: '"I ask for franchise for all people of Aboriginal blood"'
• The 1962 right to vote only changed the law to allow Aboriginal people to optionally enrol to vote and did not provide them with improved opportunities for wellbeing or development
• The 1962 right to vote was the first step in recognising Aboriginal rights, because 79.3% of the Aboriginal population enrolled to vote, proving their keenness to participate in white society and gain equality
• The 1962 right to vote simply allowed them to vote, and nothing more, and although that improved the fairness for Aboriginal people as they were now seen under the Australian law, the efforts stopped at that, leaving out the improvement of development and wellbeing
• The 1967 Referendum was passed 27th May 1967
• 90.77% of the population voted yes
• 9.23 percent of the population voted no
• Victoria had the largest yes population with 94.64% voting yes
• Western Australia had the largest no population with 19.05% of the population voting no
• The 1967 Referendum removed discriminatory words from sections 51 and 127
• The 1967 Referendum had minimal impacts on the daily life of Aboriginal people and didn't improve their living conditions or advance their development and wellbeing
• The apology was said on 13th February 2008 by Kevin Rudd
• Kevin Rudd, 2008: '"for the breaking up of families and communities, we say sorry"'
• The closing the gap campaign began on 20th December 2007
• It had seven targets, only 2 were achieved and 5 failed
• Since 2008, 10 more targets have been added and 2 more achieved making it 4/17 targets achieved (2023)
• The life expectancy of Aboriginal people is 10 years shorter for both males and females than non- Aboriginal people
• Infant mortality is double for Aboriginal people than non-aboriginal people
• The apology and closing the gap report had the right intentions of providing equal opportunities to wellbeing, development, and equality, but both efforts fell short
• The apology was only a formal apology and didn't bring any actions to improve Aboriginal wellbeing
• The closing the gap campaign didn't provide Aboriginal people with equality, developing, and wellbeing