Department of Health

Aboriginal self-determination - Prioritising culture and community

  • Duration: Length 1:52

  • Transcript

    [Instrumental music plays in the background over opening titles and fades out]

    [Opening title card: Victoria State Government]

    [Second title card: 'Aboriginal self-determination seminars 2016'] ]

    [Third title card : 'Aboriginal self-determination -- Prioritising culture and community']

    Female narrator LARISSA BEHRENDT: And there’s another cluster of rights that come out in relation to self-determination which are around, I guess what you would call cultural rights. So things like the right to my native title, the right to my language, the right to protect my heritage, the right to be involved in decisions about land around me that is special to me.

    [Onscreen, animation entitled: 'Director of Research, Larissa Behrendt, Professor of Indigenous Research at the Jumbunna Indigenous House of Learning at the University of Technology, Sydney']

    Male narrator ANDREW JACKOMOS: The rounding up and placement on reserves in Victoria of our ancestors, denial of culture, social practices, family and community governance structures, continues the intergenerational trauma that undermines our perceptions of self, frames of how others perceive us, and is the basis for racial stereotypes and generalisations throughout society and throughout child protection.

    [Onscreen, animation entitled: 'Andrew Jackomos PSM, Commissioner for Aboriginal Children and Young People']

    Female Narrator MURIEL BAMBLETT: In the end we ourselves are the only guarantors of the best interests and rights, and we have to be eternally vigilant in this to preserve them, to preserve our culture, to preserve our nationhood and community. We also acknowledge the cultural rights of children in care because we know that identity and culture are critical to the needs of children and to the survival and growth of our community and our peoples into the future.

    [Onscreen, animation entitled: 'Professor Muriel Bamblett -- CEO of Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency']

    Female Narrator LARISSA BEHRENDT: And what we say is that decision making processes must be a cultural match. And what that means is that the way in which they decide to make decisions has to be consistent with the way that they as a community feel most comfortable in doing it – that it reflects their own culture and their own values.

    [Instrumental music fades in over the closing titles]

    [Closing title card: :'Aboriginal self-determination seminars 2016']

    [Second closing title card: Victoria State Government]

    [Third closing title card: Authorised by the Department of Health & Huma Services. 50 Lonsdale Street, Melbourne]

Prioritising Aboriginal culture and communities is a central focus in supporting Aboriginal self-determination. This video highlights the importance of preserving and growing Aboriginal cultural practices, which must be supported by the broader Victorian community.

Reviewed 26 November 2019

Health.vic

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