Ideas@TheCentre
Exposing the dysfunctional old beast of Indigenous policy
Over the years I have received many emails from people who have read my work. While some have been critical of what I have written, most have been supportive. I have particularly enjoyed hearing from readers with direct experiences of the places or issues I have written about, for example the Aboriginal Health Worker and Remote Area Nurse who wrote to me after reading Closing the Accountability Gap: the First Step towards Better Indigenous Health. Their support and appreciation touched me and have been some of the best rewards for my work I have received.
For most of my research papers I have been lucky to have knowledgeable people working in Indigenous affairs who have been prepared to speak candidly to me about the problems they face. Without their input many of my papers would not have been written. In fact, the impetus for some of my papers came from people I met on field trips to remote Indigenous communities.
For instance, the title of my policy monograph, Charlatan Training: How Aboriginal Health Workers Are Being Short-changed, came from a conversation I had with a Western Australian health employee. Many of the resources I used in my ‘Charlatan’ paper were provided to me by the Remote Area Nurse who had contacted me after reading my ‘Closing the Accountability Gap’ paper.
This wonderful symbiotic relationship was not something I ever imagined when I first started working at the CIS. I feel privileged to have met so many incredible people through my writing. For this reason, in particular, I am sad to be leaving the CIS. After five years as a Policy Analyst/Research Fellow I am leaving to work as a consultant. I will still be working on social policy (including Indigenous policy) but will no longer have a public profile.
Although I am leaving the CIS, the Indigenous Affairs Research Program will continue. Working in the field of ideas it is hard to know the exact impact of your work but over the course of eight years the Indigenous program at the CIS has helped influence public opinion and change the debate. It is heartening to see more people now acknowledging the devastating impact that ‘the culture of separatism’ has had on Indigenous people. While everyone should be entitled to their cultural differences, state sanctioned difference has led to lesser standards and lower expectations for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. I am grateful for the small role I have played in exposing the ‘dysfunctional old beast’ of Indigenous policy and thank all of you for your support.
Sara Hudson is a Research Fellow at the Centre for Independent Studies.
