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New book examines politics of Indigenous health by Bruce Andrews 19 August 2015
A
new book by a Charles Sturt University (CSU) academic explores contemporary Australian Indigenous health policy. The book, Indigenous health: power, politics and citizenship, is by Associate Professor Dominic O’Sullivan, Associate Head of the CSU School of Humanities and Social Sciences in Bathurst and Associate Professor in political science. “Relative Indigenous ill-health has been well explored from a medical perspective, but political values and practices also influence people’s opportunities for good health, and it is the politics of health that this book discusses,” Professor O’Sullivan said. “The ways that we think about citizenship, democracy and human rights helps to explain why health policy is less effective for some Indigenous people than it is for other citizens. “Policy failure can be explained, at least partially, by dysfunctional political relationships, policy inertia, and the political system itself.” Professor O’Sullivan notes that life expectancy differentials between Indigenous and nonIndigenous people are much worse in Australia than in other former British colonies like New Zealand and Canada. “In those countries, Indigenous self-determination is more
Associate Professor Dominic O’Sullivan. Image supplied
obviously part of the national political cultures than it is in Australia, and this gives the Indigenous peoples greater say in policy development,” he said. Professor O’Sullivan said the book then considers the claims that Indigenous people can reasonably make on the public health system and what these claims mean for contemporary Australian conceptions of citizenship, democracy, and human rights.
“This is particularly relevant given the current debate about a referendum to amend the Australian Constitution to give fuller political recognition to Indigenous Australians. “Removing the Constitutional power to discriminate against Indigenous peoples, on the grounds of race, would influence all areas of government policy, including health,” Professor O’Sullivan said.
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