Introduction:
A just society aims to epitomise equality for all individuals, yet, despite the introduction of the 1967 referendum which aimed to liberate Indigenous Australians in the face of the law, young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders continue to live in an inactive welfare economy where they face significant disadvantage and marginalisation, exacerbating their access to justice. In spite of numerous government initiatives to close the gap, today’s intergenerational effects of poverty and the loss of autonomy fuel Indigenous disadvantage, with young Indigenous Australians appearing marooned on a no-man’s land somewhere amid the modern mainstream and their traditional way of life (Mazel 2009). The following report will statistically
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The educational system currently presents a two race binary framework where young Indigenous Australians tend to be inferior and substantially behind the dominant white class norm through the influences of social disadvantage. Young Indigenous students who live in rural and remote areas face a larger educational disadvantage as their academic performance deteriorates. 94% of Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory lack a preschool with a further 56% having no secondary school (Mazel 2009). In 2007 Indigenous students who considered English their second language performed 23-25 points worse on test scores in remote and rural schools, equating to a vast gap in education between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians (Bradley et al., 2007). A further scholarly study, which explored the relationship between Indigenous education at Crimson Secondary State School in the Northern Territory, found poor attendance was due to schools being located at up to 50 kilometres away associating with academic underachievement (Keddie et al., 2013). Through lottery of birth this spatial segregation poses many drawbacks for young Indigenous Australians. 2008 illustrated those living in major cities were three times as likely to have attained a bachelor degree compared to those in remote areas (Australian Bureau of Statistics