Media’s Influence on the Health and Wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People

Running Head: MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING OF
ABORIGINAL AND TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLE 1
Media’s Influence on the Health and Wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
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MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING OF ABORIGINAL AND
TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLE 2
Media’s Influence on the Health and Wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People
Introduction
Improving the health and wellbeing most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People in
Australia has been a daunting and longstanding challenge for the federal, state and territorial
governments [Australian Human Rights Commission, 2007]. The health and wellbeing status of
indigenous Australians exhibit unacceptably wide gap compared to their non-indigenous
Australians counterparts making this situation labeled as a human rights concern by the United
Nations and the Australian government acknowledging the same. The plight of indigenous
Australians can be traced from the colonial period and other historical events that assisted to
subject indigenous Australians into socioeconomic challenges that by extension hinder their easy
access to quality and affordable healthcare (Paradies, Harris & Anderson, 2008). The cultural
orientation of indigenous people has also been labeled as a platform upon which these people are
discriminated against by their fellow non-indigenous Australian.
To add to these contemporary factors that adversely impact the access to healthcare by
indigenous people is the influence of media. For a long time, negative media content has in one
way or another contributed to influencing the public towards forming negative stereotype
ideologies, beliefs, and attitudes regarding the culture diverse of indigenous Australians and
other disadvantaged groups (Stoneham, Goodman, & Daube, 2014). These negative media
content and its implications on Australian’s mindset regarding indigenous Australians by
extension hinder these indigenous Australia to freely access quality, safe and affordable
healthcare. This paper will endeavor to critically analyze two recent media items that touch on
contemporary indigenous people’s health and wellbeing concerns and possibly which influenced

MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING OF ABORIGINAL AND
TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLE 3
the public towards forming negative stereotype ideology towards them thereby curtailing their
easy access to quality, safe, and affordable healthcare.
Older Indigenous Australians with illness or disability at high risk of depression, study
finds.
This media report posted by Bridget Brennan and Naomi Selvaratnam who are National
Indigenous Affairs’ correspondents paints the dire picture of the wanting healthcare status of
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People. The report draws from insights contained in a
recent research report conducted by Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute whose findings indicate
that older indigenous Australians with various illnesses such as renal failure and diabetes as well
as disabilities posit a higher risk of contracting psychiatric disorders such as depression. The
report is categorical that half of all older Aboriginal Australians with critical health conditions
are likely to suffer psychological distress at some point in their life and that this is especially the
risks of Aboriginal people. An official of the Baker Heart and Diabetes Institute, Dr. Eades
contended during the release of the report:
"Before these study people were aware of the impact of social disadvantage and poverty
on poorer mental health in older Aboriginal people, but we didn't really appreciate the
important role that living with chronic illness and physical disability has in driving these
mental health problems,"
This report challenges the Australian initiative on closing the gap between the life
expectancy of indigenous Australians and their non-indigenous counterparts. The closing the Gap
initiative is meant to advance all Australian equal opportunities of accessing quality, safe and
affordable health care regardless of the socioeconomic status of all Australian [Australian

MEDIA’S INFLUENCE ON THE HEALTH AND WELLBEING OF ABORIGINAL AND
TORRES STRAIT ISLANDER PEOPLE 4
Government; Closing the Gap, 2013]. However, this withstanding, indigenous Australians have
continued to experience adverse health outcomes from their own healthcare system. This has for
a long time been orchestrated by there being massive inequalities of social determinants of health
between individuals and various sections of the society (Garvey, 2008). Most Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander People contend with poor health care as a result of poverty; poor
neighborhoods; lack of employment; lack of proper housing and safe drinking water; and lack of
access to critical socioeconomic resources [Australian Human Rights Commission, 2007].
Moreover, indigenous people have for a long time been discriminated, intimidated, and
segregated on racial grounds and have been categorized as disadvantaged groups partly due to
their traditions and culture further jeopardizing the quest for quality healthcare (Calma,
Dudgeon, & Bray, 2017).
It can be vividly deduced from this media report that in addition to the usual inequalities
in social determinants of health, indigenous Older Australians with chronic illnesses and physical
disability are further bound to experience mental illness at some point in their lifetime more than
their non-indigenous Australians. Moreover, the Baker Heart and Diabetes report further
perpetuate the untenable stereotype ideology that even though all Australians with physical
limitations are bound to experience distress, this risk is indeed a norm and especially the case for
Aboriginal people. Moreover, the report asserts in a statement that "We would say it would be
exceptional for an Aboriginal person with the disability not to have experienced anxiety or post-
traumatic stress disorder". Such stereotyping proposition when brought to the public limelight
through a media report like this adversely contribute to negative influence in the public thought
about the dignity and humane aspects of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People.