Implementing the Uluru Statement in a Culturally Diverse Australia

This essay addresses the implementation of the Uluru Statement from the Heart, focusing on the constitutional recognition and empowerment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. It begins with a thesis statement and a reflection on the history of colonisation and its impact on Indigenous Australians, highlighting the destruction of their economic and social structures. The essay predicts and explains critical issues in business contexts resulting from colonisation, analyzing these issues from an Aboriginal perspective. It proposes a comprehensive course of action to implement the Uluru Statement in a culturally diverse business environment, emphasizing participation, empowerment, and sustainability. The essay concludes by examining how cultural attitudes, biases, and self-concept influence thinking about these issues, advocating for historical honesty and reconciliation.

Recognising the Truth of the Past 1
RECOGNISING THE TRUTH OF THE PAST: THE FUTURE OF THE INDIGENOUS
PEOPLE OF AUSTRALIA
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Recognising the Truth of the Past 2
Recognising the Truth of the Past: The Future of the Indigenous People of Australia
Thesis Statement:
It began with the destruction of economic and social structures of Indigenous groups, then
followed land dispossession, suppression of the religious systems on missions and the languages
of the Indigenous and the destruction of kinship and family networks in the Stolen Generations.
The struggle of country between the white settlers and the Indigenous people due to colonisation
has been the source of most issues that face the Aboriginals of Australia. Such arguments are
both theoretical in their consideration of the country of Indigenous people within their law and
the coloniser's law, and also is ‘practical' deeply in their implications. Therefore, the essay goes
to the heart of comprehending why Indigenous people began their discussions on change and
reform within the system of justice with a demand for respect, negotiation, and recognition for
Indigenous self-determination; a desire to reposition Indigenous people as colonised people.
Introduction
Since the Britons colonized Australia in the late 18th century, Australian history has been
a struggle between the colonizers and Indigenous people. The struggle between the white settlers
and Indigenous people in its broader meaning continues to be the core to comprehending the
political and social positioning of Indigenous people within Australia and her institutions
(Edmonds 2010); this includes the traditional relationships to land that the Australian
Aboriginals have differed from the modern relationships to land that the Western people have
overall.

Recognising the Truth of the Past 3
Summary reflection of the Process of Colonisation linked to Aboriginal history
After the idyllic dreaming world, a system and lifestyle of beliefs and customs preserved
stories and legends from the past; the Indigenous people would have experienced a denial sense
originally after the Europeans arrived in the late 18th century, following short visitations from
the earlier explorers. The invasion of 1788, when the visitors (white settlers) brought diseases
with them and tried to massacre the Indigenous people resulted in the sense of despair and
isolation. The Aboriginal Australians decreased in numbers in some regions of the country,
where they were environed by the white settlers who did not comprehend or recognize their
traditional ways of life and culture (Nelson et al. 2010, p.18).
In the early 20th century, the beliefs of the government regarding the Indigenous people's
protection led to practices and laws which are now viewed at best as being patronizing at best
and at worst as discriminatory (Nelson et al. 2010, p.18). Policies which encouraged the
Indigenous people's assimilation failed to recognize their beliefs, customs, laws, and traditions,
claiming that the best action course was to encourage them to find their place in the white society
and ‘fit in.'
A sense of depression over the loss of their culture often weighed upon the Indigenous
people, who experienced an identity crisis as they ended up in alienation from their traditions and
frequently separated from their tribe and families. Moving on from their despair, the Indigenous
people proceeded into a desire of self-determination which became pre-dominant, most notably
in terms of moving towards Native Title and the yearning to attain their associations with the
lands of the dreaming which they held a traditional spiritual connection.

Recognising the Truth of the Past 4
Critical Issues which have arisen for Indigenous Australians in Business Context as a Result of
the Colonisation
The traditional relationships to land that the Australian Aboriginals have differed from
the modern relationships to land that the Western people have overall. As Herring et al. (2013,
p.104) puts it: "There exists another dimension which invests the land with significance and
meaning- transforming the environment and land into a landscape, into a ‘country.' This other
dimension is culture." ‘Country' is a term in the Australian Aboriginal culture which is utilized to
deliver the logic of an entirely cultural-spiritual landscape. The perspectives of the Australian
Aboriginal are founded on a holistic tactic to stewardship; they challenge the abstract and narrow
utilitarian-economic notions of country as a standing stock of property, commodities, and
resources. The Indigenous people, traditionally, have communally managed country, basing on
intimate knowledge, responsibilities, and rights of country, which is, founded on relationships.
The struggle of country between the white settlers and the Indigenous people due to
colonisation has been the source of most issues that face the Aboriginals of Australia. Such
arguments are both theoretical in their consideration of the country of Indigenous people within
their law and the coloniser's law, and also is ‘practical' deeply in their implications. Appreciating
the historical struggles over the Indigenous people's land in the discourses and processes of the
colonisers needs a more nuanced tactic to comprehending the potential application of concepts
like ‘rurality.' Whereas country and spatiality were significant to the longer-term efforts of
regulating and controlling the colonised, the notion of a discreetly ‘regional' or ‘rural' perspective
and its utility needs to be contextualised (Bidden 2011).

Recognising the Truth of the Past 5
Analysis of the Critical Issues insight from an Aboriginal perspective
It began with the destruction of economic and social structures of Indigenous groups,
then followed land dispossession, suppression of the religious systems on missions and the
languages of the Indigenous and the destruction of kinship and family networks in the Stolen
Generations (Herring et al. 2013, p.106). For instance, in the late 19th century in the area of
Goulburn Murray, northern Victoria, ‘the decimation process… ensued with a withering match'
as to one mission manager who described the Yorta Yorta people's dispossession (Herring et al.
2013, p.106). Thirdly, there was an increase of external control politically, for instance, the
refusal of enfranchising Indigenous peoples at Federation, and their treatment by the white
settlers as akin to idiots and children for political and electoral purposes. Recently, there have
been more examples which include imposing excessive standards of accountability and scrutiny
of Aboriginal organisations, and their independence being threatened fiscally. Increment of
economic dependence on the mainstream for welfare or wages is the fourth part of the process of
colonisation. Direct results which are inclusive of high rates of unemployment and poverty, and
the profile of health which is "Third World within a First World Nation" (Bidden 2011).
Accumulating and indirect effects which are more spiritual and psychological, which includes a
high incidence of mental health problems like risk-taking habits and other expressions of poor
community and self-esteem. The fifth part of the process of colonisation, the now socially and
economically dependent colonised groups, are given inadequate social services in areas like
education and health. Deterioration of social interactions between non-Indigenous and
Indigenous peoples, as the sixth part of colonisation, has been reflected in the racism growth
(Australian Government 2010). And finally, the resistance by the Indigenous people to the
accumulation colonisation effects is weakened over time.

Recognising the Truth of the Past 6
Generation and Justification for a Proposed Course of Action to implement the requirements of
the Uluru Statement in a culturally diverse Business environment
Increasing the participation of the Indigenous people in the economy is essential in the
achievement of the broader vision of closing the gap between non-Indigenous and Indigenous
Australians in life expectancy, employment, education and health (Watson 2014). Participation
and empowerment regard people as agents in this process- whether as groups or individually. It
is on the freedom to make decisions in matters which impact their lives; the freedom of holding
other people accountable for their promises, the freedom of influencing development in
communities. Watson (2014) suggests that whether at the implementation or policy-making
level, participation and empowerment implies every person needs to be engaged at each stage as
agents and beneficiaries who can pursue and realize goals they value and have reasons to value.
Sustainability is to be introduced in implementing the requirements of the Uluru Statement. This
will introduce the development durability in the face of environmental limitations. This points to
the advancement of human development such that outcomes progress in all spheres- financially,
politically, and socially- endure over time. Through financial sustainability, developments will
be financed without penalization of economic stability and future generations (McGregor 2011).
On the other hand, through social sustainability, social groups and other institutions are engaged
and support development initiative over time and avoid destructive and disruptive elements.
Respect for diversity and cultural liberty are essential values as well, which contribute to socially
sustainable developments (Herring et al. 2013, p.110).
Conclusion
The effects of self-concept, bias, and attitudes are specifically insidious. They represent
underlying ideologies or set of distorted attitudes which perpetuate myopic and myths policies.

Recognising the Truth of the Past 7
While they can breed ignorance, they are also consciously bred more by the colonising groups
who try to justify their actions. It almost always leads in refusing to meaningfully assess the
damage history wrought and, simply yet eloquently, to say sorry to the group colonised (Ziersch
et al. 2011, p.1045). While accepting the wrongs of self-concept, bias and attitudes may seem
incomplete and unresolved, the move towards reconciling the Indigenous and non-Indigenous is
slowly attaining momentum. Historical honesty is an essential prelude, not to shame-and-blame
the colonisers, however, to deal with all the multiplications and layers of oppression which
permeate the lives and communities of the Aboriginals today.

Recognising the Truth of the Past 8
References
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Biddle, N 2011, ‘Measures of indigenous wellbeing and their determinants across the lifecourse’,
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Edmonds, P 2010, Urbanizing frontiers: indigenous peoples and settlers in 19th-century pacific
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Herring, S, Spangaro, J, Lauw, M & McNamara, L, 2013, ‘The intersection of trauma, racism,
and cultural competence in effective work with Aboriginal people: Waiting for trust’, Australian
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McGregor, R 2011, Indifferent inclusion: Aboriginal people and the Australian nation,
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Nelson, R, Kokic, P, Crimp, S, Martin, P, Meinke, H, Howden, SM, de Voil, P & Nidumolu, U,
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II—Integrating impacts with adaptive capacity’, Environmental Science & Policy, vol. 13, no. 1,
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Watson, I, 2014, Aboriginal peoples, colonialism and international law: Raw law, Routledge.

Recognising the Truth of the Past 9
Ziersch, AM, Gallaher, G, Baum, F & Bentley, M, 2011, ‘Responding to racism: Insights on how
racism can damage health from an urban study of Australian Aboriginal people’, Social Science
& Medicine, vol. 73, no. 7, pp.1045-1053.