Introduction to Indigenous Australians

Running Head: INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA 0
Introduction to Indigenous
Australians
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INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA 1
In Australia, Indigenous lives got shaped after the time of colonial settlement as per exploring
historical and cultural factors significantly. It was essential to examine the effects in
contemporary communities of Australian Indigenous and their families. There is a need of
enhancing understanding for national policies and issues in terms of giving attention to
Indigenous responses to practices and policies of government along with its impact.
Indigenous Australians consists of “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander” communities along
with considering their culture, worldview, identity and diversity (Australian Museum, 2019).
In this essay, the aim is to know the importance of nurses when working closely with
Indigenous Australians and value of this profession. This essay will also focus on
professional practice ethics of nurses in relation to exploring the cultural responsiveness of
Indigenous Australians based on their histories and culture.
Before British colonisation, people living in Australia were descended from groups and
surrounded islands such as north of Cape York, Queensland and other parts of Australia
named as Indigenous Australians that include “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander”
individuals (Australians Together, 2020). In terms of public mental services, Indigenous
Australians were not able to get culturally appropriate care in Australia for maintaining
mental illness through maintaining biomedical model dominance and using standardises
approaches to nursing care for fulfilling the needs of Indigenous Australians (Molloy, 2017).
In Australia, within the practice of mental health nursing in terms of taking care of
Indigenous people by providing services, it is essential to understand about the ideas and
beliefs in relation to “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander” people. The impact of
colonization legacy and cultural difference positioned the Indigenous service individuals as
“other” as per the non-Indigenous service individuals and the non-Indigenous mental health
nurse that also impacted their heath and contributed in alterity beliefs. In nursing, rather than
emphasizing on the differences with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander individuals in
terms of mental health services, it is essential for nurses to understand their ill health
(Molloy, et al., 2019). It also requires practicing for nurses while recognizing their cultural
differences for interpreting in distinct ways which shows the variance between the
approaches of nurses towards taking care of “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander” people.
In Australia, “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander” individuals experience inequality in
terms of health results which is important at first place to interact with by addressing
inequality. This shows the health professionals working in an inter-cultural space by not
taking care or interacting with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people (Wilson, 2016). It

INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIA 2
is essential for nurses to maximise the positive impact by interacting and working skilfully
with cultural responsiveness. Indigenous Australians face a lot of issues due to disease burden
but healthcare services in Australia consists of inequality with the factors contributes such as
discriminatory practices and policies, colonisation, and racism. It is essential within the
health sector to increase the workforce of Aboriginal as professionals to access the correct
healthcare with improvisation in health for addressing inequality and better health outcomes
in Australia where only 1 per cent of “Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander” people is
identified as workforce in health (Wilson, et al., 2016). In healthcare, ethical space of
engagement is described to create knowledge and understanding about the inter-cultural
space of non-Indigenous people in Australia. Though, it is essential to work effectively for
nurses in case of Indigenous Australians to prevent their health concerns by achieving
through working collaboratively.
Furthermore, it is important in this profession to assist nurses as health professionals for
dealing with discomforts, difficulties and emotions experiencing due to contexts of cross-
cultural by identifying the impact of factors while addressing through professional
development and health professional training. This will create the value of supporting the
maximum benefits based on addressing the health inequality and healthcare interaction in
case of Indigenous Australians. It is essential for health care providers such as nurses to have
mutual respect for Aboriginal individuals while following in code of ethics in terms of
professional practice and considering cultural responsiveness (Li, 2017). Based on such
aspects, respect is termed as a universal principle where it is essential to eliminate prejudice
attitudes and racism not only in Australia but across the globe as well which shows disrespect
for individuals such as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander. It is essential to prevent this
challenge of stereotyping when practicing in health profession.
However, not only in Australia, it is a major concern globally as per the hospitalisation and
mortality data where Indigenous people health is getting affected. It is the role of nurses
while working in their nursing profession to improve the use and access of health services as
a clinical practice for Indigenous people. Also, nurse help in providing support with
enhancing services quality and operational interventions for Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander individuals and communities. This issue in healthcare of Australia provides
disadvantages to Indigenous Australians regarding political, economic, cultural and social
factors where it is essential for Australian government to put efforts by making policies and
resolving unsolved issues by addressing instantly (Power, et al., 2018). For all the above