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Dear Jenny,
I have decided to share this with the list, as some
members may share my concerns and in case it opens up some new thoughts for
others. I am not looking for responses to me, but more for responses to you
abput your proposal, if people decide to do that. I also acknowledge that you have developed a reputation
for your work on social justice (it would be useful to let people know that the
'Head of Department Social Justice' in your signature refers to your position at
Loganlea High School in Qld, not a government or academic department which
it could be read to mean).
Without taking
any position on whether or not a national voice for parents, families and carers
is needed (although I note that the Carer's Association already exists), I want
to raise a concern about the idea that you could do this without alignment with
any 'cultural perspective on family structure' as you suggest in #4 of your
aims.
The position you are putting sounds awfully like a
'treat everyone as equal' approach to social justice, that is outdated (although
it remain prevalent in the cultural pysche of the nation). It misses the
critical distinction between equality and equity, where attention must be paid
to equality of outcomes, not just inputs or treatment. Whoever makes up the
power structure of such a national voice will, by default, operate by their
cultural perspectives of family structure without even consciously or
deliberately trying to do this. It is highly possible that those who are most
likely to take up positions in the power structure will be members of the
dominant culture. Therefore, despite wanting to be broad and inclusive, without
intending it the organisation is highly likely to be aligned with dominant
culture perspectives on family structure, and, more broadly, dominant culture
values. What accountability would there be to other groups who make up this
incredibly diverse group of constituents - parents, families and
carers?
Having worked a great deal in Indigenous contexts as a
non-Indigenous person, by invitation of Indigenous people (it is wise to use a
capital 'I' by the way), I have witnessed time and again how institutional
racism is practiced by hard-working, justice-seeking and committed people from
the dominant culture (or other non-Indigenous cultures), as they have not
considered how their own cultural values are embedded in everything they do.
They have never looked at what their own cultural values represent, keeping the
focus on the 'other' rather than the self and who/what one represents - it is a
description that fits for me and learning this self-reflection/critique is
something I have had to learn to do as I learned from my own mistakes and
developed my understanding of social justice.
Although some families might, based on my
experience I would be incredibly surprised if Indigenous families would be
excited about joining such an organisation. What
could it offer them that they cannot seek through a number of other peak bodies
that represent the interests, needs and aspirations of Indigenous peoples across
the country? How would it treat Indigenous people's cultural perspectives of
what constitutes family and its relationship to community? What could they
expect that would be different from most other mainstream peak bodies who
are also caught up in institutational racism (meaning the patterns of advantage
and disadvantage that are sustained through structures such as laws, policies
and practices embedded within our governance, social, health, legal (etc)
institutions, whether directly or indirectly, that exclude or
discriminate against one group over another)?
These would certainly be some of the questions I would
ask if I was not a member of the dominant culture. If I were involved in an
enterprise such as you suggest, they would be issues I would need to address and
respond to, just as a minimum, in considering to whom I needed to be accountable
and how if I had any capacity for respresentation. I think such an organisation
will face enormous challenges around its practices of representation. The
examples you quote of 'speaking for' (all from the dominant culture) already
belie the concept of an individual taking on a representational role as a
preferred model, which is linked to individualism as a core societal value
of the dominant culture in Australia. Many cultural groups within this country
have been forced into operating by this dominant culture practice, even though
this does not reflect the way that representation is practiced in their own
cultural communities. At times, this has created significant difficulties for
those communities, which has been exploited by our governance and power
structures.
In short, there is much to consider before making
claims about what is possible, for whom and how. I would hope that anyone who
decided to engage with this idea would take these considerations
seriously.
Regards, Kathleen
There is no national voice in Australia
for parents, families and carers. Every industry and professional interest group
in the country has a national voice to get in the ears of government - except
families. Yet parents, families and carers are far and away the largest bloc of
citizens, voters and consumers in the country, but have the weakest
voice.
Why? There are many reasons for this. Families are not organised
in the way industry, unions or single issue activists are organised. In the
absence of designated institutions which represent families, governments have
looked to funded service delivery agencies and research institutes for advice on
family matters. Families with members with a disability or a learning difficulty
or chronic or mental illness tend to be pre-occupied with getting through each
day, and have lacked the resources or time or expertise to allocate to advancing
their long term interests. Likewise, families from indigenous or non-english
speaking backgrounds are doubly disadvantaged due to their inability to confer
strongly with the dominant language group. For its part, the media does
not know any household names who speak for families, in the way that a Bob Brown
speaks for environment issues, or a Tim Costello speaks for poverty issues, or a
Bill Shorten speaks for unions.
We aim to change all this. We invite your
participation in a long overdue process to create a national voice for parents,
families and carers.
Our objective is to find an appropriate
method and structure for developing a national voice in Australia for parents,
families and carers.
2. This voice will incorporate three
functions:
i. advocacy of the interests of parents, families and carers
as interests which are distinct from those of governments or service providers
or charities;
ii. development and promotion of public
policy which enhances the rights, capacities, choices, and dignity of parents,
families and carers;
iii. development and promotion of
innovation in support and service delivery which empowers parents, families and
cares, and builds our capacities and resources.
3. We aim to bring together parents,
families and carers from several different sectors which have previously been
isolated from each other, including education and schools; child care; early
intervention and early years development; disability; mental illness; learning
difficulties; behavioural difficulties; youth support; chronic and acute
illness; and senior years.
4. We aim to develop a voice that is as
broad and inclusive as possible which will not be aligned with any religious or
cultural perspective on family structure or bio-ethical issues.
5. We aim to develop a voice that can attract
significant financial and infrastructure support from public, private,
philanthropic and charitable sources.
6. We welcome the participation in this process
of
i. individuals who are parents, families or
carers;
ii. organisations which are advocacy or self-help
groups of parents, families or carers;
iii. individual philanthropists or donors and
philanthropic and private sector organisations who support our
objectives
Please contact me if you
wish to submit an expression of interest, or would like to keep in touch with
the progress.
Jenny
Shale
Head of Department Social Justice
Ph: 07 3451 8715
Mob: 0404
847884
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