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Rights for All: A human rights perspective on regional development

Address to Planning in the Hothouse, 27th National Congress by Chris Sidoti, Human Rights Commissioner, Darwin, September 1999

I would like to thank the Royal Australian Planning Institute for inviting me to speak today at Planning in the Hothouse and in particular on this panel, 'Forgotten Communities'.

As Human Rights Commissioner much of my work involves bringing to the attention of the government and the wider community, human rights violations against some of the most disadvantaged people in Australia. Some of these people, and some of these communities, are indeed 'forgotten' - they are out of the public eye and neglected by government and government services. Others have some visibility but struggle hard to be heard in a climate of competing interests - and yet their needs are often misunderstood, neglected or re-prioritised arbitrarily according to wider political and economic considerations.

Today I will speak about rural and remote communities as 'forgotten' and the impact of this 'forgetting' on their basic human rights.

Rural and remote communities across Australia are by no means homogenous - indeed there are great differences by state and territory, size of town and environment. However, they have in common not only geographical isolation but also a strong sense of rural identity. This identity is increasingly enhanced by the very experience of being 'forgotten' by government and Australian society.

Within the broader category of rural and remote Australia which I will speak about today, there are many communities - most notably Indigenous communities - that are doubly isolated and 'forgotten' by government policy. It is impossible to speak of the human rights of rural people without speaking of the needs of Indigenous communities in rural and remote Australia, for Indigenous people in rural and remote Australia continue to suffer the greatest lack of basic human rights in the areas of employment, health, housing and education.

Over the last 18 months I have travelled to around 50 regional, rural and remote communities, in every State and Territory. Listening to people speak of their lives I have become convinced that the human rights of rural and remote Australians have been significantly neglected compared to urban Australians. Planners have important contributions to make in our national responses to this human rights neglect.

Some rural and remote communities may be depressed and down but they are not out. They have energy, ideas and many examples of how to create a functioning community and promote their human rights. This energy and commitment needs to be the basis of any regional development plans.

What are basic human rights?

Human rights belong to every person by virtue of birth. It does not matter where you live, or who you are, human rights are ours to be enjoyed simply by reason of our common humanity and innate dignity as human beings. They are not only for majority groups or for minority groups but for everyone equally and without discrimination.

Human rights are also not granted to us by others or by the government. They are ours to be enjoyed simply by reason of our common humanity and innate dignity as human beings. For that reason we cannot agree to give them up and they cannot be taken away from us.

Most people are aware of their civil and political rights, for example the right to freedom of expression and the right to vote. These are of course fundamental human rights which are set down in international treaties, for example the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

But matters relating to people's social, economic and material well-being are equally matters of human rights. These include the right to an adequate standard of living. The enjoyment of this right requires, at a minimum, adequate food and nutrition, clothing, housing and necessary care and support such as health and medical services. Human rights also include the right to work, the right to social security and the right to education. They impose an obligation on government to give assistance and support to families in need.

These rights are often overlooked by governments because they raise issues of public welfare and public spending. In a climate of fiscal restraint governments are reluctant to face issues which require more spending. And in a climate of economic rationalism governments reject many spending options that, in purely economic terms, are not cost effective. However, Australian governments have made solemn promises to the Australian people that oblige them to uphold these rights and ensure that the basic needs of every person are satisfied.

One of the most important human rights treaties is the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. Australia is a party to this treaty. It is perhaps not as well known as the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights but it is no less important.

These two sets of rights are not mutually exclusive. They are most definitely linked. For example, a society that promotes and respects individual rights is more likely to be well placed to enjoy economic growth and good standards of living. At the same time, where there is economic inequality and poverty, where health is neglected and education denied, civil and political rights often suffer.

Many will argue that these rights - social, economic and cultural - are difficult to measure or attain, as circumstances differ so substantially from country to country. Economic inequality has not been solved anywhere to date. Unlike the right to vote, it can appear impossible for governments to guarantee the right to work. Consistently high unemployment, especially in rural Australia, despite good intentions of governments at every level, has taught us that there is no quick solution to extending these rights to everyone.

However, the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights is a means of getting governments to measure their achievements or failures and to commit to progressively attaining realisable goals. Unlike the Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, it commits each state party to achieving the rights progressively, but this does not mean that they are not achievable. And importantly, governments must guarantee that these rights are protected and enjoyed without discrimination of any kind.

Are these rights being neglected in rural and remote Australia?

As I have mentioned, over the last 18 months I have travelled to over 50 communities in rural and remote Australia as part of Human Rights Commission's Bush Talks consultations. These consultations involved both listening and talking to communities about their human rights concerns. Our discussions confirmed what many people in the country had been aware of for several years. Many communities in rural Australia are under siege - they have declining populations, declining incomes, declining services and a declining quality of life. The infrastructure and community life of many rural, regional and remote towns has been slowly pared away. People are moving out of towns where they can no longer make a living or find a job - at the last census date, only about 15% of all Australians lived in rural areas.1

In the words of a woman from a small town in NSW

As we head for the year 2000 my greatest concern is for the viability of small rural towns which are slowly being obliterated by the loss of services, institutions and medical care ... We all need to fight this insidious process or there will be only ghost towns where busy and fruitful communities once flourished.2

There are many reasons for this decline and they may differ in each region. They include the impact of globalisation and deregulation and the rationalisation of government services and private sector infrastructure. I will not discuss these today. However, the impact of these changes are that, in terms of basic economic, social and cultural rights, the country is generally coming off second best to the city.

Country Australians do not enjoy

on an equal basis or, in some cases, at all.

I will describe to you in more detail what we have been told by rural Australia about some of these rights.

Education

The right to education is set out in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR 1966) and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (1989). This right must be ensured to all without discrimination of any kind.

Although the right to primary and secondary education is guaranteed, the Bush Talks consultations found that in many rural and remote areas of Australia there are significant impediments to children's access to educational and cultural opportunities. In response to this, the Commission initiated a National Inquiry into Rural and Remote Education in February this year. This has given us the opportunity to hear from a large number of teachers, parents, students and community members about education in their communities.

We heard that children in remote and rural Australia are less likely to complete their education than children in regional and urban centres. We also heard that some of the main problems are the cost of schooling and the lack of income support for families.

Many rural and remote students need to travel long distances to school. While this is an element of life in the country, for children this can mean tiring journeys. It can have a serious impact on their access to schooling. Many remote areas do not have public transport and are situated a long distance from a school bus. This can mean extra costs and time for parents in transporting their children to school. This can even affect access to education.

For example, the children of a family living 48km from Scone in NSW must leave home at 7.15am, be transported 13 km to the bus stop and then catch the bus to school. They don't get home until 5.10pm. This is a very long day, especially for young children. Bush Talks was told that because of this children do not attend pre-school and are kept back from primary school until they are 6 (Scone NSW, November 1998).

Although distance education reaches isolated children and has some very positive results for many students, it is not appropriate for every child and every family. It also needs to be adequately resourced to address the difficulties of teaching without face to face contact and the lack of technological infrastructure in many rural and remote areas.

Many students told us of a lack of curriculum choice and of sporting and cultural opportunities. In the Warmun community, for example, in the East Kimberley, students may have to travel hours to compete in a sports event. When asked what they wanted, one Year 8 student at Warmun said he would like something as simple as goal posts for the school field. These are things are taken for granted by urban students.

Lack of curriculum choice can be a major reason for declining enrolments in secondary years of rural schools. Families feel as if they have no other choice but to send their child away to boarding school, or to move to another town, to give their child the same opportunities as children in urban areas. In some places on the Eyre Peninsula in SA we were told that students who want to study music have no choice but do it by distance education. One student found it impossible to study her instrument over the phone and eventually gave up her study, although she was talented and would have pursued this at the tertiary level.

The right to education is suffering most seriously in rural and remote Indigenous communities.

Retention rates and participation rates are well below that of non-Indigenous students. The apparent retention rates of full-time Indigenous students in Year 11 are as low as 47%, compared to non-Indigenous students at 83%.3 In rural WA only 16% of Indigenous students in country areas complete Year 12.

In the Northern Territory a significant number of students are not participating in education. The majority of these students are Indigenous students in remote communities. The participation rate of Indigenous students for the compulsory schooling years (4 to 14) is 87.1% for males and 99.6% for females. However, these figures decline to 39.7% for females and 28.2% for males in the 15 to 19 age group (submission from the NT Education Department). Actual daily attendance at school is likely to be much lower than this, as participation rates relate to enrolment only.

Because of distance some remote Indigenous children are unable to access primary school. Other large Indigenous communities have no secondary school.

There is a primary school in Papunya, but throughout the whole of Papunya region there are no secondary education facilities. Students who have completed primary school therefore have to move to Alice Springs to further their education. This lack of accessible secondary education facilities is reflected in the fact that only 1% of Indigenous people in the region aged 15 years and over participate in secondary education. There is a strong wish for a regional high school in Papunya but this proposal has not been well received at a government level so far (Papunya NT, October 1998).

We were told in many Aboriginal communities in NT that their children simply have no real right to secondary education.

The Inquiry has also heard from many people in rural and remote communities who are critical of the cultural appropriateness and relevance of education for Indigenous studies. Employing Aboriginal teachers and workers in schools is vital to supporting Indigenous students through the schooling system. And yet the Inquiry has heard many times of inadequate numbers of Aboriginal teachers and Aboriginal workers in rural and remote schools.

There is no doubt that culturally inappropriate or irrelevant education has a major impact on educational outcomes. The Convention on the Rights of the Child, ratified by Australia, recognises the right of Indigenous and minority children to access education which ensures their right to enjoy their culture, profess and practise their religions and use their own languages.

Another serious issue raised in the Inquiry is the lack of support in rural and remote areas for children with special needs such as a physical or learning disability. Without adequate special education teaching support in rural and remote areas, families with children with a disability are forced to travel long distances to access appropriate education or send their child away or move the family to an urban centre - or deprive their child of education.

Health

Health was the other major issue raised in Bush Talks consultations. The right to the highest attainable standard of health is set out in both the ICESCR and the CROC.

Death rates from all causes are higher in rural and remote areas than in capital cities. Rural Indigenous people die on average 15 to 20 years earlier than their fellow Australians. Rural Australians are more likely to suffer coronary heart disease, asthma and diabetes than city dwellers. Deaths of males from road accidents are twice the rate in remote areas than in capital cities.4 And suicide, especially of young males, seems endemic in many communities. Rural male youth suicide rates have increased by 350% over the last 20 years.

Not surprisingly, while the level of health need increases, the level of health care drops dramatically as we move from capital city to regional city to a rural or remote area. Yet instead of increasing services, it seems that many are being pared away.

In one town in south western NSW I was told about a woman who collapsed in a supermarket. When the ambulance was called the paramedic decided she had to be taken to hospital and so asked bystanders whether someone could drive the ambulance while he travelled in the back to look after the patient.

The shortage of GPs in the bush is well-known and receives extensive media coverage. This is, however, only one part of the problem. In some towns we visited not one GP would bulk bill, in some instances not even for health care card holders, effectively leaving poorer people without access to medical care at all. And the shortage of GPs is only one part of the personnel problem: there are also shortages of nurses, dentists, physiotherapists, specialists and other health professionals.

Whatever indicator you choose, the situation of Aboriginal people is even worse that that of any other Australians. For Aboriginal Australians

And Indigenous people in remote areas have it hardest of all.

The lack of accessible dialysis for kidney disease among Indigenous people is deplorable. Wongai residents of the Ngaanyatjara Lands and other people in the Central Desert region of WA must go to Kalgoorlie or Perth for dialysis. In the NT they must go to Darwin or Alice Springs. This means that they have to be separated from their traditional lands and community support.

Being separated from family, community and traditional lands can be devastating for rural Aboriginal people. One person described it as follows:

People can't bear to be away from their land and family and some have chosen to return home. It really breaks a Wongai's heart when he has to go away. But without dialysis, patients will die (Kalgoorlie WA, August 1998).

And many choose to die rather than leaving family, community and land. And when they do go, they see it as a life sentence, for they can never come back except to die. Support in the towns for those on dialysis is almost non-existent. Many live in the riverbeds or, if they are given accommodation, their families who accompany or visit them are not.

I want to emphasise that many of the health problems which people told us about were not 'luxury' items or complaints about not having a wide range of choices. People are talking about access to basic standard health care - a doctor, a dentist, someone to talk to if contemplating suicide. Without access to these services in a rural community lives are at risk and quality of life is seriously threatened. Without access to these services people will be forced to leave their communities and this will only exacerbate the problems being faced by those who remain.

Other services

Besides health and education, there were many more ways in which the living standards of rural Australians are below national standards.

Affecting equity of access to health and education services are infrastructure deficiencies such as inadequate postal and telecommunications services, poor roads, high fuel prices, non-existent public transport, or, where it does exist, the absence of wheelchair-accessible public transport. These especially affect the elderly in rural and remote areas.

There are other fundamental services which some Australian communities still lack, such as a safe and reliable water supply, safe and affordable housing and affordable nutritious food. The relationship between these fundamental services and overall health and well-being is illustrated in a comment made by a Bush Talks participant in Alice Springs

Chronic ear disease, due to unsatisfactory hygiene and malnutrition, can result in poor hearing and sometimes deafness. This is a big problem, especially for young Aboriginal people throughout the Northern Territory. The fact is when you can't hear at school, it is incredibly boring so you stop going and when you don't go to school, you have all day in front of you and you've got to do something! That's when you get into trouble, sniff petrol, start stealing things and with the mandatory sentencing you end up going to jail. All this is because of the insufficient access to clean water and proper food (Alice Springs NT, October 1998).

The right of access to employment opportunities is perhaps the most fundamental building block to regional development. Unemployment and socio-economic disadvantage is a major cause of poor rural health experiences and has a contributing effect on all the other rights I have touched on today. The right of access to employment opportunities is set out in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the International Labour Organisation Convention 111.

The National Rural Health Alliance Blueprint for Rural Development singles out employment as one of the most important things that need to be changed to avert the 'familiar downward spiral'. The Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission has recently launched an excellent discussion paper on regional unemployment, calling for a national strategy of regional economic and employment development.5 It points out the persistence of levels of unemployment in many regional communities, which are many times the national average.

Prioritising human rights in planning

Bush Talks teaches us that the basic human rights I have outlined - to education, health, to work - do not exist in isolation. They are connected to each other and to all elements that make up a decent quality of life.

The right to education, for example, is worth upholding not simply because it is an internationally recognised human right. It is the basic building block for economic, social and political development. Children in rural areas need to have an equal education to children in urban areas so that they have the same economic opportunities. They may even have a greater need for a quality education, as they will need greater creativity and knowledge to cope with the challenge of unemployment and poverty facing rural Australia.

But education is not only about economic opportunities - it builds community and identity, provides students with the language tools to understand their own cultures and to respect and understand others who share their community. It gives them the tools to engage with the rest of Australia, to speak to language of the bureaucrats and work to improve life in their community.

People in rural communities are well aware of this interconnectedness. It stares them in the face each day. In a small community small changes can have a ripple effect. Contradictions of government policy, social and economic change and the economically rational decisions of public and private sector leaders and managers all wreak havoc in perfect microcosm.

We were told numerous times of the potential effects of a business or service leaving a small country town. It may have an impact on the numbers of school teachers, local employment, local income and wealth and of course the morale of the community.

You cannot take away one service in a small rural community without it having an effect on the most basic human rights of the residents.

The implications of this for regional planning are clear and obvious. Human rights are as much a part of regional development as financial investment. They are as much a part of planning as are physical and environmental concerns. I am not only saying they should be as much a part - I am saying they inescapably are as much a part of regional development. Unless human rights are consciously promoted in regional development, they will be unconsciously violated.

Only when we start to give these fundamental building blocks of community well-being community well-being the same priority as economic issues will we avert the downward spiral of many regions and communities.

Putting rural communities in the picture

I have not attempted here to propose any sort of plan to meet the needs of all rural communities. My travels around the country have taught me that no two country towns or communities are the same. However, a few points made to me by rural communities again and again over the past months have some direct relevance for how we might begin to plan for rural areas.

The first is that communities need to be involved at all levels of planning for their own futures. This may seem obvious, but too often rural communities feel that they have been left out of the loop in decisions which directly affect them. For example, rural groups have been calling for rural impact assessments to be done on all legislation and policy changes for years now. Governments have begun to hear this cry, for sound political reasons: the bush is punishing political parties. Just look at the Queensland state election last June or NSW in March or Victoria last weekend. And in the federal election last October, Peter Andren, the independent in the Bathurst-Orange area of NSW, received the highest two-party preferred vote in the country. However, there is a long way to go before rural Australia feels that this is more than tokenism. Any new ways of planning for regional development need to be owned and operated by local people.

There is certainly a lot of energy in rural and remote Australia that could be harnessed for change.

In Bush Talks we came across many communities willing to organise the meetings, were concerned about their communities and wanted to be involved in finding solutions.

There are remarkable individuals who welcome the blow-ins from out of town. We have rung people up to let them know we are thinking about coming to a small town and they immediately say 'wonderful - we have lots to tell you'. These are people who love their small rural towns and communities, who, although saddened at the changes that may have happened, and often seriously considering leaving town, are happy with where they live and are willing to fight to maintain the community.

They told us about many good initiatives undertaken by their communities to try to address some of the problems of isolation or declining services. People expressed interest in other communities and what they did and how they too could do the same, whether it be in health, the local school, youth culture and support or employment opportunities.

There is a willingness to work co-operatively and learn from other rural and remote communities, contrary to the stereotype of parochialism in rural areas. They want to see their regions develop, they want a confidence-building, integrated approach to planning an development and they want to be involved - to make the key decisions.

However, the second point it is important to make is that, although small rural communities can be resilient and energetic, governments cannot absolve themselves of responsibility for them. Regions need participation, transparency and flexibility in decisions about priorities and plans for change but they also need outside assistance and resources to turn plans into realities. Rural communities pay taxes - they are entitled to as much support as urban communities.

As the Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission pointed out in its discussion paper, we need to move beyond the principle of 'do-it-yourself', which has the danger of being an excuse to abandon those most in need. That Commission has pointed out that we need to foster

more holistic and inclusive forms of regional development that recognise the national community's collective responsibility to share the opportunities, costs and benefits of economic reform and the role of governments to promote this interdependence through socially responsible and equitable policies.6

People in rural and remote Australia know that this responsibility is about more than national economic policies. I will leave you with one succinct comment to Bush Talks from a person in Molong NSW.

Governments must acknowledge the fact that people live in rural communities and need to be recognised as being a part of society rather than part of an economy (submission from the Highway Safety Action Group of NSW).

We must assert anew that the economy exists to serve our society rather than our society being enslaved by economic ideologies. We must insist that the human rights of people in rural and remote communities are not forgotten but respected, protected and promoted.

Endnotes

1 Australian Bureau of Statistics, Yearbook of Australia, 1997, p.79.
2 The Country Web; a newsletter for rural women and their families, 'Speaking personally', Marion Palmer, Jerilderie, No.16, Winter 1998, p.4.
3 MCEETYA, National Reporting on Schooling in Australia, 1996, page 76.
4 Proceedings of the National Rural Public Health Forum, 12-15 October 1997.
5 Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission, 'Regional Unemployment and the Indirect Employer: Beyond a Principle of Self-Reliance', Common Wealth, August 1999, Vol. 7, No. 2.
6 Australian Catholic Social Welfare Commission, page 12.

Last updated 1 December 2001