We are not doing enough: Truth-telling and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history in Australian Public Health

TL;DR

The paper discusses the need for truth-telling in Australian public health regarding the impact of colonialism on Indigenous peoples.

Contribution

The paper introduces a new perspective on truth-telling in public health through the lens of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander history.

Findings

Public health practitioners often overlook their role in the historical plight of Indigenous Australians.

Truth-telling is essential for reconciliation in public health.

The authors outline the colonial history of public health and suggest ways forward.

Abstract

Most public health practitioners and researchers in Australia acknowledge the poorer health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples relative to non-Indigenous Australians; some work with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities; however, few acknowledge the role that public health itself has played in the plight of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders peoples throughout Australia’s colonial history. In this essay, we – Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander, and non-Indigenous scholars at the Sydney School of Public Health (SSPH) – argue that truth-telling, which is critical for reconciliation, can only truly begin in Australian public health circles when we listen to the stories and truths of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as it relates to the colonial history of public health in Australia. Herein we give a brief outline of that history and provide some recommendations on ways forward; we also describe the successes and failures at SSPH in hopes that our story can help the broader Australian public health community on their truth-telling journeys. Although our story is about public health in Australia, we believe that its resonance lies everywhere public health has been explicit or implicit in its colonialism toward Indigenous peoples.

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