Home
Indigenous inclusion in Australia
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/indigenous-inclusion-australia
Share
 
The URL has been copied
https://www.sportanddev.org/latest/news/indigenous-inclusion-australia
Share
 
The URL has been copied
In this Inclusion Club TIC Talk about sport, inclusion and human rights, Carl Currey discusses sport for education, government policy on Indigenous Australians and his work with aboriginal communities.

Indigenous inclusion

Carl Currey, who is himself aboriginal, has had a long career as an advocate, government official and community connector, particularly working with Indigenous Australian communities in the field of Indigenous inclusion.

Currey explains that it is difficult not to be passionate about Indigenous inclusion when he has seen Indigenous disadvantage first hand. He wants to improve Indigenous education, employment, health and social wellbeing.

Positive participation
When Currey worked for the Australian Sports Commission, he found that sport can bring people together regardless of their ability, ethnicity and gender. This makes it a good platform for bringing people together to try and improve other things. Sport provides the basis for positive participation. Sport gets people together and engages them in a positive activity, which makes way for other messages.

One-size-fits all does not exist
Currey cautions that sport is not a fix-all – it is part of a broader solution which needs to be used in the right context. Currey points out that a common mistake is to deliver a programme that suits everybody’s needs. One-size-fits all does not exist. He explains that you may be very good at delivering an internationally recognised programme which is an example of best practice, but if you deliver it to a different language group or to people who are seen as outsiders you’ll come up against a barrier of, “We don’t know you, why should we listen?” It is essential that people who know about working with people from diverse backgrounds are involved in projects. Currey finishes his talk by discussing government policies on Indigenous Australians.

Authors