INDIGENOUS WELLBEING

While Measuring Wellbeing: Frameworks for Australian Social Statistics (cat. no. 4703.0) is useful for measuring the overall wellbeing of all Australians, it does not explicitly articulate the unique cultural and historical factors which affect the individual and community wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are culturally and linguistically diverse. However, common to most Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities is a culture that is very different to the non-Indigenous Australian culture. Elements of cultural difference may include, but are not limited to: conceptions of family structure and community obligation, language, obligations to country and continuation of traditional knowledge. This in turn has an affect on the areas of concern that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples might see as important to their wellbeing.

The framework presented in this publication should be seen as representative of the way in which Indigenous wellbeing might be broadly approached. It is recognised however, that other frameworks have also been developed, generally in areas of particular social interest.

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