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June 24, 2007
The conference "Strong Foundations: Rebuilding Social Norms in Indigenous Communities", challenges the predominant view that the 'answer' to Indigenous disadvantage in Australia (particularly in remote communities) lies exclusively in improving service delivery. Better services are important but will only go so far in addressing entrenched socio-economic problems.
What is needed in concert with better services, is a rebuilding of the social norms which form the foundation of a healthy society. It holds that determining what social norms are necessary for a strong community and how they can be fostered are difficult questions. They raise the issue of how existing norms are tied to our identity and how Indigenous identity can be maintained while operating in mainstream Australia.
The conference is hosted by the Cape York Institute. The Institute's recent report, From Hand Out to hand Up argues that the starting point of the Cape York reform agenda is that the problems of Cape York Peninsula are interpreted not only as symptoms of dispossession and racism, but to a large extent are caused by a social norms deficit. It is significant that the deterioration of norms in Cape York Peninsula corresponds with the passive welfare era. The report contends that core of the Cape York social and historical analysis is the argument that a distinction must be made between historical explanation and policy prescription in the light of such
explanation. Historical explanation does not by itself confer or suggest a solution.
It adds that:
Epidemics of dysfunction and abuse that have historical roots may have become autocatalytic phenomena. Therefore, they probably cannot be effectively addressed through attempts to ameliorate the circumstances that originally triggered their outbreak. In fact, deeply engrained social problems may frustrate conventional programs for social and economic development. The core principles of Cape York welfare reform therefore seek to deal with dysfunction and poverty as behaviours. The three basic policies are:
• All welfare should be conditional.
• Further government investment in capability building is needed.
• Incentives need to be fundamentally changed to encourage people to engage in the real
economy.
I tis hard to argue with the aim, which is to shift people off passive welfare into employment in the real economy, o the contention that economic viability in remote communities is predicated on mobility, and viability is fundamentally a question of choice for remote communities.
How do social norms fit into this? The Report uses the metaphor of the staircase in which the foundations of progress are strong social norms. The supports underpinning the staircase are capabilities, which include for example health, education and political and economic freedoms. The third component of the metaphor is rationally aligned stairs, representing individual choice.It adds:
To rebuild social norms in the Cape York Peninsula, incentives and laws must support the values of a community. A potentially powerful mechanism for doing this is through linking welfare payments to community members acting in the best interests of children in the community. The Institute is recommending that a number of obligations be attached to all welfare payments available in the Welfare Reform communities, and that a State statutory authority consisting of a senior legal officer and local elders be empowered to enforce the obligations.
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