Dealing with the Box Tickers and Racial Identity Fraud By James Reed
It has been going on for some time, whites, and I mean whites who the Aboriginal communities would classify as whites if they had a chance to be asked, have been cashing in on benefits designed to give traditional indigenous communities a fair go. That is racial identity fraud, and just not the Aussie way of giving a fair go. But, this box ticking phenomenon is getting exposed. In the past some people have been punished by being sacked for challenging this, but a ground swell against the great pretenders seems to be occurring. Benefits for Aboriginal people should be for them, not greedy whites exploiting the system. This is not just a problem in Australia, but is seen right across the West, particularly in the US.
“A regional Australian university will demand more proof that students are Aboriginal if they want to claim places meant for Indigenous candidates.
Newcastle University in the New South Wales Hunter Valley has introduced new measures to ensure Indigenous resources are going to those who need them.
The university already requires students to provide documentary proof of their Indigenous ancestry if they apply to access particular programs and services.
They must now also produce written evidence they are accepted by the community to which they claim to belong and have their identity assessed by a panel of experts.
It also has one of the highest Indigenous enrolments of any Australian tertiary institution, with more than 1,000 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander students.
Associate Professor Kathleen Butler, head of the university's Wollotuka Institute, said further procedures were introduced this year to meet demands from the Indigenous community.
'There's an expectation that we're going to be the guardians of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander money and make sure that it's going to genuine students that are in need,' Associate Professor Butler said.
'I think that there's a broader community expectation as well that people who are receiving the funding are genuine.'
The move comes as the number of Australians who identify as Aboriginal continues to soar and amid concerns over what has been labelled Indigenous identity fraud.
More Australians self-identify as Indigenous in each successive Census than can be accounted for by birth rates, in a phenomenon also known as 'race-shifting', which distorts official records.
Daily Mail Australia has reported some 'race-shifters' are taking positions meant for Indigenous Australians and that the practice is particularly prevalent in academia and the public service.
According to federal government guidelines, a person is considered Indigenous if he or she is of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, identifies as such, and is accepted by their community.
Associate Professor Butler said Newcastle University was putting a greater focus on that third 'community' criteria.
'It's really about not just biologically do you have an Aboriginal heritage but it's about do you live it,' she said.
'The core value has always been it's not enough to just be of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, you also have to have that lived experience in community and the acceptance by your community.
'That's always at the heart of the government's three-point definition but it's not how it has always been implemented in practice, nationally.'
A spokesman for the Department of Education, Skills and Employment told Daily Mail Australia: 'Verifying student and staff identities are matters for individual universities.'
Associate Professor Butler said Newcastle University's procedures for verifying identity had been refined over the years.
'I think for some universities they accept a statutory declaration,' she said. 'We have never accepted a statutory declaration.
'At every turn we've asked for something external to the individual but I don't think it would be fair to say that we've ever centralised it.'
Newcastle University's identity requirements apply to any applicant seeking access to study programs, student services or other opportunities specifically available to Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander Australians.”
Normally I do not have a good word to say about the universities, but in this case, I think a job well done!
Comments