Doug PollardA Whole of Government Initiative
August 23rd 2009 07:32
The Social Inclusion Board
The Rudd government is big on ‘Social Inclusion’. There’s a Minister (Julia Gillard), a Parliamentary Secretary (Ursula Stephens), a Board, a Task Force, and a Social Inclusion Unit in almost every ministry. It’s a ‘whole of government’ priority.
I only had a vague idea of what Social Inclusion actually was, but my curiosity was aroused following Stephens party turn at that highly exclusionary Holy Brekkie in Canberra. So I Googled.
There are many definitions, but Vic Health says: “A socially inclusive society is … one where all people feel valued, their differences are respected, and their basic needs are met so they can live in dignity. Social exclusion is the process of being shut out from the social, economic, political and cultural systems which contribute to the integration of a person into the community (Cappo 2002).”
The federal government defines some ‘indicators’ of social exclusion: poverty, unemployment, homelessness, youth, age, mental illness, physical disability, limited or no support networks, family breakdown/disfunction, and membership of a minority.
Well, we’re a minority, so that’s one box ticked. Here’s some more (some of these stats come from overseas, because the research simply hasn’t been done here, but they broadly agree with the experience of professionals here).
USA: gay and lesbian youth are two to three times more likely to commit suicide and 30% of all youth suicides are related to the issue of sexual identity.
Australia: 25% to 40% of young lesbians and gays have attempted suicide.
USA: 28% of gay and lesbian high school students dropped out of school because of harassment.
Australia: between a quarter and a third of all homeless young people are same sex attracted.
USA: 26% of gays and lesbian youth are forced to leave home because of conflicts with their families over their sexual identities.
UK: A 2008 poll found 6% of Britons define themselves as homosexual or bisexual, 13% have had some same sex experience.
US: Best available data indicates 4-6% have regular ongoing same-sex experience.
The conclusion is inescapable. GLBTIQ people – especially the young – undeniably suffer social exclusion. And with all those Ministers, Boards, Task Forces and Units, the government is clearly hot on Social Inclusion. So how much of this massive ‘whole of government’ effort is directed at our community?
None. Nada. Zip. Zero.
Of the 14 members of the Social Inclusion Board, 4 are expert in indigenous issues, 3 (including the vice-chairman, the deputy Archbishop of Adelaide) front Catholic charities, 2 represent ethnic minorities, the rest are health experts, and one is Eddie McGuire. It’s a similar story with the Social Inclusion Taskforce.
I don’t want to get into a numbers game, but I can’t resist pointing out that indigenous people represent around 2.5% of the Australian population (according to the last census), while we number at least 4%. And the indigenous community also gets a Minister for Aborginal Affairs and a Minister for Indigenous Health.
No-one for one moment begrudges the first Australians one iota of this effort. But even if GLBTIQ were only 1% of the population, there would still be no excuse for excluding us from the very mechanism designed to ensure everyone enjoys “full participation in Australian society”.
Ursula Stephens says, “Labor has adopted social inclusion as an objective and organising principle of the nation's social and economic policy.” And excluded us from it.
It seems like the governments commitment to GLBTIQ inequality extends beyond the simple issue of relationship recognition: it’s a ‘whole of government’ initiative.
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