Reconciliation Australia has welcomed a report that found people want the Federal Government to do more to help Indigenous Australians.
The Ipsos Indigenous Issues 2024 report found one-in-three respondents think the Albanese government should be doing more.
Reconciliation Australia CEO Karen Mundine said it is an encouraging result.
“It’s pleasing to know more people believe the government should be doing more so that’s a positive to take from this.”
“One of the best things we have is hope for the next generations, the fact that younger people understand this better, they particularly understand the mechanisms and the impact of racism and that is heartening,” she said.
“It relates to what we’re finding in our own work in schools and early learning services and also that shift as generations change.
“I think there’s a stability around some of the data when we look at experiences around slurs and jokes. It’s really heartening to see that when it comes to schools and workplaces as we’ve actually seen a reduction there. “
31% of respondents said the government should be doing more to help Indigenous Australians, 42% said it is doing the right amount. Just 17% said it should be doing less.
She wasn’t surprised the report found the interest in Indigenous issues had declined.
“Certainly we saw at the end of 2023 in the referendum, a lot of confusion, a lot of misinformation that contributed to the result of the referendum and any decline in engagement just shows us how much work we need to do,” she said.
“It’ll be interesting to see how these things stands up in our own polling with our Reconciliation Barometer later in the year, hopefully we’d like to see some gains won back there.
“This work of reconciliation is a marathon, it does happen over time and sometimes that can be frustrating, it’s slow, it’s hard work but we can see change.”
If you liked this article, consider supporting NIRS with a donation to promote Indigenous journalism and media to help inform Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. For this week only all donations will be matched by LINA. For example if you donate $20, the National Indigenous Radio Service will receive $40.
