Protecting little children's health — or not?

he timing of the federal government’s intervention to protect little children in the Northern Territory has been viewed by some with cynicism. And well it might be. The intervention needs to be seen in the broader context of what could be called the “white blindfold” view of history. The white blindfold obscures the benefits that modern Australians have inherited as a consequence of European colonisation of this country. It hides any understanding of how dispossession of the Aboriginal first nations has resulted in the poverty, illness and violence that the government is now, belatedly, seeking to rectify. The current neoliberal ideology also prevents understanding of the mechanism of how dispossession and marginalisation have caused the spiritual, mental, social and physical dis-ease that we see at present. In not understanding the causal links, the government is not able to properly arrive at a workable solution. In fact, the approach being trialled stands a good chance of making the underlying problem worse. Work by Marmot 1 and Wilkinson 2 and insights from de Botton 3 and Freire 4 throw light on the background and mechanisms whereby the process of colonisation and the ongoing situation of Indigenous people in Australia today translate into physical and mental illness and social discord. The argument, most simply put, is that inequalities, especially overt economic and social inequalities, cause people lower in the pecking order to feel inferior. Even worse, the “lower orders” feel disrespected by their “superiors”. It is the perception of disrespect, manifest in many minor ways, and perhaps not even consciously expressed and received, that drives the sense of inferiority. Through neurological, endocrine and immunological networks, disrespect and inferiority become internalised as immune suppression, inflammation, and acute and chronic illness. Externally, they emerge as substance misuse, risk-taking, violence and social discord. The foundation social determinants of health are social equality and respect. In today’s Australia, particularly in relation to Indigenous people, these are fragile, tenuous, or perhaps even lacking.