Source document: https://docs-lawep.s3.us-east-2.amazonaws.com/1697639100351.pdf (Australia)
Page 3 Attachment: Context for the GPRA submission – a Journey Begun Too Late and Still Incomplete At different points in time, Australian governments have undertaken initiatives to redress the imbalance life outcomes between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

in expected health and In 2008, the Australian government introduced “Closing the Gap” initiatives that were intended to address health and Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
The targeted inequalities include: inequalities between life-expectation shorter life expectancy • • higher rates of infant mortality • poorer health • and lower levels of education and employment The Closing the Gap improvements have not resulted in sufficient gains for Australia to become complacent.

National statistics confirm there is still a long way to go.

Australia’s general practitioners, on a daily basis, see the impact of social and cultural factors on health and wellbeing.
Racism, discrimination, lack of education, lack of employment, and cultural disconnection continue to have a negative impact on the health and well-being of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.

Most Closing the Gap targets are behind schedule.

More needs to ensure Indigenous Australians can enjoy health and life expectancy equality.
To realistically have a possibility of making gains in a timely manner, Australia must look at alternate actions and address some of the fundamentals that have repeatedly been ignored.

GPRA believes that Australia must never lose sight of the fact that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a unique place in our nation as the original inhabitants of the land.
The fact that they are a very small percentage of the overall population should not diminish our considerations and our determination to pursue equitable outcomes.

Across the country, many individuals and communities maintain strong connections to their culture, language and traditional lands, while also contributing to the environmental management, economic development and cultural identity of our nation.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples hold distinctive rights as Australia’s First Peoples, set out in international law.

In 2009, Australia recognised this fact and gave its formal support to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, a ground-breaking document that seeks to adjust relationships between indigenous peoples and governments around the globe.
However, despite some improvements in recent years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people continue to be one of the most vulnerable groups in Australia.

Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander PeoplesSubmission 159 - Attachment 1 Page 4 The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples has 45 Articles, all of which require diligent attention and sustained action.
Only through an appropriate amendment of the constitution shall Australia have the will, intention and capacity to fulfill its international obligations and deliver justice to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

GPRA draws attention, in particular to Article 21 of the Declaration, which recognises the right of Indigenous people to effective health care: Article 21 1.
Indigenous peoples have the right, without discrimination, to the improvement of their economic and social conditions, in the areas of education, employment, vocational training and retraining, housing, sanitation, health and social security.

inter alia, including, 2.

States shall take effective measures and, where appropriate, special measures to ensure continuing improvement of their economic and social conditions.
Particular attention shall be paid to the rights and special needs of indigenous elders, women, youth, children and persons with disabilities.

GPRA further draws attention to Article 23 of the declaration, which recognises the right to good health and those social factors which have an impact on health and well-being.

Article 23 Indigenous peoples have the right to determine and develop priorities and strategies for exercising their right to development.
In particular, indigenous peoples have the right to be actively involved in developing and determining health, housing and other economic and social programmes affecting them and, as far as possible, to administer such programmes through their own institutions.

GPRA believes that only through an appropriate amendment to the constitution can Australia honour its international obligations, including as a signatory of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
In making this submission, GPRA draws inspiration from the Uluru Statement from the Heart and fully supports the proposals therein: ULURU STATEMENT FROM THE HEART We, gathered at the 2017 National Constitutional Convention, coming from all points of the southern sky, make this statement from the heart: Our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander tribes were the first sovereign Nations of the Australian continent and its adjacent islands, and possessed it under our own laws and customs.
This our Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander PeoplesSubmission 159 - Attachment 1 Page 5 ancestors did, according to the reckoning of our culture, from the Creation, according to the common law from 'time immemorial', and according to science more than 60,000 years ago.
This sovereignty is a spiritual notion: the ancestral tie between the land, or 'mother nature', and the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples who were born therefrom, remain attached thereto, and must one day return thither to be united with our ancestors.

This link Is the basis of the ownership of the soil, or better, of sovereignty.

It has never been ceded or extinguished, and co-exists with the sovereignty of the Crown.

How could it be otherwise?


That peoples possessed a land for sixty millennia and this sacred link disappears from world history in merely the last two hundred years?

With substantive constitutional change and structural reform, we believe this ancient sovereignty can shine through as a fuller expression of Australia's nationhood.

Proportionally, we are the most incarcerated people on the planet.

We are not an innately criminal people.

Our children are aliened from their families at unprecedented rates.
This cannot be because we have no love for them.

And our youth languish in detention in obscene numbers.

They should be our hope for the future.

These dimensions of our crisis tell plainly the structural nature of our problem.

This is the torment of our powerlessness.

We seek constitutional reforms to empower our people and take a rightful place in our own country.

When we have power over our destiny our children will flourish.
They will walk in two worlds and their culture will be a gift to their country.

We call for the establishment of a First Nations Voice enshrined in the Constitution.

Makarrata is the culmination of our agenda: the coming together after a struggle.

It captures our aspirations for a fair and truthful relationship with the people of Australia and a better future for our children based on justice and self-determination.
We seek a Makarrata Commission to supervise a process of agreement-making between governments and First Nations and truth-telling about our history.

In 1967 we were counted, in 2017 we seek to be heard.

We leave base camp and start our trek across this vast country.

We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.

Joint Select Committee on Constitutional Recognition relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander PeoplesSubmission 159 - Attachment 1