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>> And I'd like to thank everybody for coming here today.
It's a great crowd and old -- some old faces and new faces
and it's just wonderful to see old
and new colleagues in the audience.
So welcome to the launch of "Our Voices."
My name's Dawn Bessarab for those
of you who may not know me.
And I'm going to be the MC for today's proceedings.
Before we start, can I just ask people
to maybe turn off their phones unless it's really urgent
and you need it to be on, then maybe have it on buzzer
or something that can draw your attention
but not everybody else's.
Thank you.
Before we start, I'd like to introduce Kim Collard who's a
Noongar man representing Noongar country and invite him
to the stage to do a welcome to country.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you very much Dawn, and I'd like to begin this afternoon
by thanking Curtin University of Technology and UWI
for following correct Aboriginal protocols in acknowledging
and recognising the traditional custodians
of this land together upon this afternoon or this evening
and they are the Whadjuk people.
For those in the audience, the Whadjuk are one
of 14 different clan groups that make
up the total Noongar nation.
And I've been bestowed a great honour here this afternoon,
and that's to be asked
to represent my [speaking Aboriginal language] our
ancestors and then most importantly,
[speaking Aboriginal language] my old people.
I feel very humble and privileged and honoured
to be asked to perform this welcome
to country this afternoon and I do hope that I can do them proud
in welcoming distinguished guests, authors,
ladies and gentlemen to Noongar country for the official launch,
as Dawn alluded to, "Our Voices."
>> Sorry. [inaudible]
>> Careful.
I'd just like to take this opportunity as Dawn said, too,
to acknowledge the familiar faces,
and particularly our Noongar elders in the audience
and elders, per se, who are present here this afternoon.
And indeed, as a traditional custodian, our role,
our responsibility is to look after you,
to care for you, to nurture you.
And we take that responsibility very, very seriously,
and leave you in the capable and competent hands
of event organisers tonight to look after your every need.
[ Speaking Aboriginal language ]
"Our Voices."
To all our distinguished guests, elders, to Dawn, to Vi, to Fran
and to other contributors to this wonderful publication,
ladies and gentlemen, we welcome you to Curtin University
for the launch of "Our voices."
[ Speaking Aboriginal language ]
I said to the grandmothers, the grandfathers,
they've traveled this land for thousands of years
and it's the treks of our ancestors
that we still continue to follow today.
[ Speaking Aboriginal language ]
Our ancestors are very, very happy to see many people.
My non-Aboriginal brothers, my Noongar elders, people from all
over come to this place here
to celebrate the official launch of "Our Voices."
[ Speaking Aboriginal language ]
I say to the great spirit ancestor of Noongar country
as the rainbow [inaudible] non-Aboriginal people call
that place the Swan River, the Noongar name
for that place is called the [speaking Aboriginal language].
It's one of the resting places and creation sites
of our great spirit ancestor, the rainbow serpent [inaudible]
and she looks over us this evening
and protects us like an eagle while
[ Speaking Aboriginal language ]
Welcome -- hello, and welcome ladies and gentlemen,
to the official launch and to Noongar land
for the official launch of "Our Voices."
Once again to Dawn and to the organisers,
can I thank you once again
for recognising the traditional owners, the Whadjuk people.
I bring me this evening, blessings, and best wishes
from our elders in the community extending authors a very,
very successful launch this evening
and many professional practitioners buy, and indeed,
apply many of the theories and concepts
that these three authors and others have been able to compile
for many practitioners who shared their years of practical,
professional, and cultural experiences
in the field of social work.
It would not be remiss of me to say that it's about time
that a book of this kind has been launched and published
and I cannot be more proud, to not only be asked to be involved
in the launch, but to know a lot of the authors personally
and so Dawn, thank you.
It's been a great pleasure.
So well done to all those who contributed to the publication
and I really do hope that it does shape and contribute
to the contemporary social work practice.
Thank you very, very much.
[ Applause ]
>> Whoops.
[inaudible]
[ Applause ]
Okay. Thank you Kim, for that lovely, lovely welcome
to country and that acknowledgment.
It makes the event here today
that much more special to all of us.
So thank you.
I would now like to acknowledge some
of our dignitaries here today.
From Curtin, professor Beverley McNamara, head of School
of Occupational Therapy and Social Work.
Sue Gillieatt, head of the School of Social Work.
And I'm not sure Sue Jones is in the audience, but if she is,
Dean of Teaching and Learning Health Sciences Faculty.
And even if so -- she's waving at the back.
Hi Sue. Glad to see you here.
From UWA, professor Liz Gillhead of head of school --
School of Population Health UWA.
Winthrop professor, Donna Chung, from UWA of Social Work.
And also justice Hal Jackson for coming here today.
Hal is well known for his work within the community
and for what he's done for Aboriginal people.
So thank you for coming today.
And any other people here who I've failed to mention.
Welcome. I'd also like to thank Curtin University CHIRI,
where I'm based, the Centre
for Health Innovation Research Institute.
The University of Western Australia and the School
of Social Work, Curtin, for helping to fund this event.
Without their support,
this launch would not have been possible.
So thank you to those organisations
for supporting the work that we've done.
Before we get into the main body of today,
I'd just like to give you a very quick background
to how this book came about.
You know, people -- Aboriginal people across Western Australia
and across Australia, we've been thinking
about doing a book for a long.
It just sort of never really got
from the thinking stage into the doing stage.
And then back in 2010, there was some conversation started
over east with one of the authors of --
several of the authors of the book, Joan Zabriski,
Bindi Bennett, and Sue Green and Stephanie Gilbert
around putting together such a book, and they started to look
at who might be some possible authors.
And so they started to contact some of us here
in Western Australia to engage in a conversation.
They held a workshop in Cambria, in 2010, in which we attended,
to have a bit of a preliminary discussion.
And from there, there was some tasks.
Eva and Joe went out to talk to publishers to see
who might be interested in publishing such a book
or if there was an interest.
And she came back to us in April of 2011 to say
that we had a publisher
and Elizabeth Villaret Pelgrave Macmillan had agreed
for Macmillan to publish the book.
So once we got that news, you know, the car was on the road.
We had to -- we were moving.
We then held a second workshop at UWA in Perth in May 2011,
and came together to discuss
and develop the idea of the book further.
At this meeting, we talked about authors,
we talked about the content, we also discussed governance,
how would this be managed?
How would we manage conflict?
How would we work through agreements and disagreement
and different ideas about the book?
We talked about protocols, particularly the importance
of Aboriginal protocols and how would that become a part
of the journey of this book.
We talked about the timelines.
What timelines were we working with, and could we make them?
At that point, Joe, who was the contact --
the main contact person for the book, agreed to step aside,
which I think was a real testimony and an indication
of her willingness to support Aboriginal capacity and to work
in collaboration with us.
She agreed to step aside and let the Aboriginal
social workers take the lead for the book.
And there was no argument about that.
She generously said no, I think this is a really important
project, which you guys should lead.
So at that point, Bindi Bennett stepped up to take control
and she became the main contact person
and the lead for the project.
As we went along, timelines for the writing changed
and as we progressed, so did some of the authors.
We invited several Western Australian authors who --
one of them is here -- who to be authors in the book,
but due to unfortunate circumstances
and to other commitments, study commitments
and work commitments, both authors had to withdraw
from chapters and the writing of the book, which was sad for us
because we would have liked to have had more WA people
in there, but we respected
that they had other commitments at that time.
So the book process went along and at the end of the time,
the group of editors that finally came forward was myself,
Bindy, Sue, and Steph, and we took on mainly the charge
of the book and we're the drivers
for keeping the ball rolling.
And I can tell you, anyone who's ever edited a book will know
[laughter] it's a challenge.
You learn a lot.
We kept in touch via email, teleconference
to discuss progress, writing,
how the authors were coming along.
Timelines, whether we're going to get there.
We also had a deadline that was finally settled on that we had
to have all the chapters in some type of acceptable format to go
to the editors by October 2011
so that we could meet the publisher's deadline
for February 2012.
So we were really under the hammer and all
of the authors stepped up.
But you know, trying to get referencing right
and chapters right and editing and language and grammar
and concepts, there was a -- a second --
a first level and a second stage level of a peer review process.
So it wasn't just getting the chapter's written.
It was, you know, the publishers sending them away
to the reviewers, coming back, and then having
to make the changes and negotiating some
of those changes because, you know, as an author,
sometimes you get a little bit close to your work
and precious about things.
But it was all good and we got there.
The timeline then shifted to the completion.
We had to have the chapters completely edited and completed
by the end of March 2012, and you know, we were sweating.
But finally, in early April,
Bindy submitted the final manuscript to the publishers
and the rest is history.
Here we are.
So that's a very brief, hopefully,
background to the book.
And it was an experience, but I think one, that I would,
you know, go through again because we had a fantastic team
of people and it just --
yeah, the fact that we would it together in such a short time,
I think was just a testimony to the team that we had
and people's willingness -- and I think also,
the importance of this book.
So having said that, I would now like to invite Lea Bonson
up to talk about the book
from an indigenous social work perspective.
Lea graduated with a bachelor of social work in 1994 from UWA.
And in 2010, completed a masters of business
in public administration through the Australian New Zealand
Society Schools of Government and was administered
through Curtin University.
She's a convener of the court mar cart, which is the head,
heart, and hands Aboriginal inter-Austra --
onto social workers of WA.
We've been around for a while, but not so formal
but we get things done and we do things in a very relaxed manner,
but we're there for each other.
And she has been, for the last 15 years, an inaugural member
of the AASW, Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander
National Committee.
Lea was also very -- was one of the responsible people
for putting indigenous curriculum onto the ISW agenda
so she was also very instrumental
in getting that done as well.
She's worked for 19 years in child protection
and was the Aboriginal adviser to the commissioner
for children and young people.
She's now the director of Aboriginal Health for Child
and Adolescents Health Services at Princess Margaret.
Yeah? And throughout her social work career
and professional roles, Lea has been a strong advocate
for the inclusion of Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander context
into the curricula and social work education.
So I'd like to invite Lea to the stage.
[ Applause ]
>> Thanks, Dawn.
Just to let you know, I wrote that bio.
[laughter] But anyway, it's good to be up here and I admire --
have always admired Dawn, her ability to write
and translate things and she's always been a good sounding
board for me, too, when I get lost in government speak.
So thank you Dawn.
And thank you, Di for the opportunity
to speak here today at this book launch.
Firstly, I would like to acknowledge the Noongar people
and the Whadjuk people as the traditional owners of the land.
Pay my respect to elders past and present,
and to acknowledge Aboriginal people here today
from the different lands and tradition.
This book offers some useful thoughts to practice research
in academia as it brings together an understanding
of Aboriginal world view and their lived experience
and offers appropriate process of engagement
of the Aboriginal social worker.
It also gives an understanding of culturally secure practice
for yarning and listening, making its meaning
through cultural supervision.
For Aboriginal students, teachers and researchers
and practitioners, it provides an opportunity to reflect
on our own culture, aspects --
our cultural aspects of our work, studies
and highlights a safe place
to tell our stories and feel supported.
It gives an understanding to our cultural behaviours and biases
that sometimes we take for granted,
but now it can be explained without being misunderstood.
It helps us with our framework and an understanding
of the commitment we have to social justice and the power
in equalities of the experience of watching other members
of our families and in communities endure.
And has Dawn mentioned in the books,
it provides that ah-ha moment, ah-ha.
And says yes, that's how I practice
and they are my cultural frameworks.
I can acknowledge and accept my own culture
and my professional capacity and I have that sense
of being the other and having
to justify how we practice and who I am.
It is also about valuing our culture and our ability
to bring this to the workplace.
For example, how we go about in our ways
of engaging the families and communities
without compromising professional standards,
etc. It does highlight, however, some expectations of us
and the students, I do feel for.
And the book does talk
about them being the cultural expert and interpreters.
Whiles we want to help, the book suggests that there is a danger
in that it can be exhausting and time consuming and it can get
in the way of Aboriginal student's own studies
because of their lack of own experience and confidence.
And I suggest the teachers have a read of that chapter
because it does, and we've all been through it.
Some of us have been mature enough and confident enough
to say, but where -- again it just --
that misunderstanding that our life experience have been
different even though Aboriginal people acknowledge each other,
but it's like everyone, we have different experience
and we may not be able to, in a lecture, be called upon
to explain it because we haven't lived that experience.
And young Aboriginal people, we try and encourage them to study.
So I think that's a lesson there to respect Aboriginal students
and don't just assume that they all have
that shared and lived experience.
And the book is -- that chapter is quite good
in talking about that.
The book is good in that it provides an insight how
non-Aboriginal practitioners may also need to learn
about themselves as the others.
Challenging their own assumptions, privileges
and diocese before they can commence working
with Aboriginal people.
Again, that's important for yourselves as practitioners
to -- and there's a chapter -- and I must admit,
I haven't read every chapter.
So sorry Dawn and Vi but I've read most of it,
but there is a chapter which talks about whiteness theories
and privileges that non-Aboriginal people just take
for granted and assume that everyone is living
that lived experience, but not so.
The book itself is good and it provides good discussion points
and case studies and the learning activities.
I also reading them found them quite useful
because as social workers we're always talking
about reflective practices and I think these tips and points
and case studies provide that to reflect
on after reading each chapter and just saying again,
I was saying, oh yeah, yeah, that happened to me.
Yeah. Yes.
It was quite good in that sense, but it's a learning for all
of us, I think, and the book is being great in that.
So I suggest you look at when you're reading it some
of the helpful tips -- say all day today,
tips [laughter] I meant tips.
So yeah, it's quite useful in that sense.
So finally, I would like to congratulate my friend Dawn Vi.
Bindy, and Sue Green, I work with as members of the AASW,
National Aboriginal [inaudible] Committee.
We are very instrumental in the code of ethics
in the AASW code of ethics as a group.
And not to forget my West Australian Aboriginal colleagues
who also provided an input into that.
And over the years, we have had a input into lots
of policies for the AASW.
So I think we can be quite proud, all of us here,
to say we don't stop doing, Linda.
[laughter] Yeah, and to all the other contributors of the book,
I applaud and acknowledge
your courage and wisdom to write such a book
and I just can't help feel that finally, now,
that there is a book that's a requirement and it's a priority
on the reading list for the social work curriculum.
So thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you for that, Lea.
It's quite insightful and it was great to be able to draw on some
of your own practice experience and link that to the book
and that's one of the --
that's one of the outcomes that we're hoping this will have.
Okay. I'd now like to introduce Joe Calia and invite him
to the stage to talk about his perspective of the book
from the perspective of non-indigenous social worker.
Joe is the CEO for the Richmond Fellowship,
which is a mental health organisation, and I must say
that the Richmond Fellowship was responsible
for sponsoring the Aboriginal Social Worker of the Year Award,
which was awarded twice and Glenda Kickett sitting
in the audience was a recipient
of that award plus she was an Australian Social Worker
of the Year Award in 2010, was it Glenda?
Yeah. So that was lovely.
Joe is also a past President of the Western Australian --
my own writing, I cannot understand --
of the Western Australian lock
of the Australian Association of Social Worker.
He's been a past national vice president of the AASW.
He's also a life member of the first --
of the Australian College of Social Work and a member
of the Mental Health Advisory Council.
Joe has worked in Department of Child Protection, the Department
of Justice; and in his work, he has tried to ensure
that Aboriginal people get a fair go and have access
to services that are equal and just.
He's also tried to ensure within the Department
of Justice working with the [inaudible] enforcement area
that the policies were sensitive and were trying
to address real issues for Aboriginal people.
And also, he's worked closely with the victims
of domestic violence and counselling.
So Joe, if you'd like to come forward.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> One of the challenges of this sort
of thing is I can disappear behind these podiums.
[laughter] Thank you very much
for the opportunity to speak today.
I, too, would like to acknowledge the traditional
learners and the elders past, present, and future,
and also Hal Jackson and Kay Halahan.
Both of whom have been very significant contributors
to ensuring system changes
that might otherwise have been very difficult to achieve.
I'd also like to acknowledge Sabrina Leighton, the President
of WA branch, the ISW, and Brenda Clear,
who's on the national board.
I'm not speaking on behalf of the association today,
but I will talk about social work perspective, obviously.
Commitment to human rights and social justice is a cornerstone
of the social work profession
and social workers have an ethical obligation to work
for change that improves human relationships
and social conditions.
And the author's refer to the future of social work as being
that of collaborative practice and I think
that never a truer word has been spoken there.
The beginning of this is evident from a social work perspective
or the profession in Australia
in the 2004 acknowledgment statement of the ISW,
and further evidence of this lies in the engagement
of Aboriginal social worker and [inaudible] input
into the social work code of ethics
as Lea has mentioned before.
There are important steps in ensuring
that the social work profession
of the future simply doesn't replicate colonial values
and practices.
Graduates from social work programs should develop a robust
sense of their social work identity, and I have to say,
that's not always the case.
For two long, graduates have entered the workforce,
identifying far more strongly with their employing agency,
often statutory bodies,
rather than perceiving themselves more strongly
as a social worker who is employed in that agency.
Dawn mentioned the fines enforcement area,
we conducted a major review of the fines enforcement area
when I was director of court support services.
We identified specific amendments to the Prison's Act.
That if they hadn't been put in place,
would have allowed Aboriginal people who are in jail defy
and default to be released on the basis
of cultural recognition of activities
within the prison system.
Those -- I couldn't even get that to drafting stage,
and I have to say, it was social workers that I was working
with at a very senior level, who blocked it.
There was an example of social workers identifying far more
strongly with their organisation than the basic human rights
in social justice frameworks
that they should have been applying.
No skin off anyone's nose to make those changes.
And for anyone who's keen to do some lobbying,
the fines review is a public document and the acts that need
to be amended are still there, but strongly endorse some action
at some point in rejuvenating
that because it will actually result
in the release of a lot of people.
It's the lack of social work identification
as a professional, rather than an agency identification,
that I think has posed the greatest challenge
for the human rights and social justice perspective
to be applied.
The bringing them home report certainly provided examples
of how social workers have done both in relation
to people -- Aboriginal people.
How social workers have actually applied social justice
principles and how social workers have actually acted
as agents of containment rather than change.
In WA, we've got some immediate opportunities.
The looking forward project in the area of mental health,
which is my current background, is an exciting opportunity
of collaboration that can change the way people
in mental health systems are experiencing the mental health
service provision and it's Michael Wright,
an Aboriginal social worker who is leading that project.
Pardon me.
There is also increasing collaboration
between different professions
that can make a difference in social work.
Helen Milroy, an Aboriginal psychiatrist,
is doing significant work and social work is working
in that capacity with Helen in relation to making change.
But if I can flag one area that requires immediate attention,
it's the Criminal Law Impaired Accused Act of 1996.
This act allows people to be held indefinitely without trial
or representation and that description sounds more
like what you would expect to hear
in the third-world country rather
than a Democracy, but it's our act.
And it's an act, which by default discriminates
significantly against Aboriginal people,
more so than any other cultural group.
It discriminates against non-Aboriginal people as well.
But social workers need to amend this act and some
of you may remember the work that [inaudible] one
of the winners of the WA Social work
of the Year awards last year,
is known for her successful advocacy in relation
to Marlin Noble, who was held under that act.
And I say "held" rather than contained or whatever
because it's such an abusive act
that it's even been criticised by the chief justice.
Not only criticised by the chief justice but I was
at a conference in Canes,
International Mental Health Conference in Canes in August,
where I had to sit shamefacedly while Nick Gooder,
the Social Justice Commissioner --
Aboriginal Social Justice Commissioner held that act
out as an example of one which was hurting Aboriginal people.
So it's a law that social workers should change
for all people, Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal,
and it's the work of --
the increasing number of social work graduates who are
from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background
that I think will help us retain our focus on social justice
and human rights and to help us build
and accelerate momentum that's required for some of the change
that is required because I have to say,
I think the social work profession
in Australia has lost some momentum
and I think the future is partly in the presence of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander social workers
in helping us regain that.
So this book, "Our Voices" represented important
contribution to the change,
changes that the profession is undergoing and along
with many others, I think the authors, people such as Dawn
with whom I've had a long connection, I look forward
to helping to achieve the changes that they describe
as being in the future of social work and I thank them and all
of those involved in this publication
for bringing it to us.
Thank you.
[ Applause ]
>> Thank you for that, Joe.
A nice bit of background history around the role of social work,
and particularly within the area of justice,
which we all know needs a bit of a shake up.
Okay. We get to the important part of the proceedings and I'd
like to invite Professor
Kim Scott to the stage.
Kim is a Noongar man who's also a professor of writing
within the faculty of humanities here at Curtin University
and he's also an award winner of the 2012 West Australian
of the Year and two times winner of the Miles Franklin
and other awards, and that's all I'll say about Kim
and I'll invite him to the stage and let him do the rest.
[Applause]
>> Kim Scott: [speaking Aboriginal language] Kim,
thanks for that.
What I'm trying to say, my heart was warmed listening
to your words and your sound.
That way of beginning and Lord knows my heart needs warming.
I've been sitting
in a malfunctioning air-conditioning office today.
[laughter] I don't know whether I'm trembling from cold
or nerves at the moment.
So thanks.
And the other thing, I wanted -- at the end of this little bit
of talk here, I want to talk --
I want to mention something that the book gave me,
the idea of shifting Aboriginal people from being the recipients
of welfare, that sort of social work, to more like being
in charge of things and Kim mentioned something like that
when he spoke, I think, about being custodians and nurturing.
Being in the positions of power to help and spread the goodwill
in the spirit, and that's something
that I think was an uncurrent or a possibility
that signalled municipal.
Now, we've all been standing here for a while
and I feel a little bit awkward being up here
after such eloquence of the other speakers.
And so it's my malicious nature that makes me just want
to riff -- look at all the pages I've got here.
[laughter] And you've been standing there so long.
Lock the doors, my friends.
There's no getting away from me now.
I'll try and -- I've made some notes, which I don't always do
to this extent, but I felt a little bit intimidated by having
to launch a book, as grateful as I am for the opportunity
and as honoured as I feel on social work,
because what I think all I can do here is celebrate the book,
attempt to promote it, and to share my response, not as anyone
who knows much about social work or anything,
but more as an amateur and give you some sort of --
for what it's worth, some sort
of personal response to the book.
I'm tempted to begin by reading from the publicity blurb,
the flier that we've all seen,
but I won't because that would probably take too long.
But let me just pick out some key words in --
that were in the brochure that we've all seen.
Things that struck me having read the book
and then going back to that flier.
There's words like trauma.
There's a phrase, collaboration and relationship building.
There's this term, narrative practice.
These are things that struck me in this book current running
through that seem very important.
And also this business, this mission, this aim,
the transformation of Australian social work.
So I want to try and talk about those key bits out of that blurb
and -- yeah, how they --
how I responded to the book in those sort of terms.
I'll try not to name individual authors or chapters,
but it's necessary to congratulate the editors
and authors, particularly those with their names on the front
of the book, Bindy Bennett, Sue Green, and Stephanie Gilbert
and Dawn Bessarabia, who's been running up
and down here all day today.
I don't know all of those editors,
let alone the other authors.
Our Fran Crawford, one who's been mentioned.
I know Fran and I know Dawn, and I can see certainly,
Dawn's influence on the book in those terms
that I've already mentioned, particularly in areas
of decolonisation and the business
of whiteness has already been mentioned.
I think there's a really strong chapter in this book about that.
So the full title of the book, "Our Voices, Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander and Social Work."
With a title like that is maybe not so surprising
that it's sometimes provocative, is how I found it anyway,
and even contradictory sort of book and I say that,
meaning that that's a good thing for a book to be like that.
And I think when you proclaim as this book does,
that it's working with a theoretical underpinning
that is anti-reductionist and anti-essentialist,
two very important things when we're talking,
I think Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander stuff.
But if you're trying to do that, how can you be anything other
than contradictory, complex, and nuanced, you know?
Not reductionist, not essentialist.
And I think the book also says Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander
and Social Work is a sight of contestation.
And this book, it seems to me, firmly, positions itself right
in the middle of that sight, puts itself right
in the firing line as it were.
And it's dangerous, as some of us would know, that you need
to be brave, especially side of contestation,
if you want to be complex and contradictory and nuanced.
It's much easier, much safer in that cowardly way to feign
or put on righteousness and conviction.
And I think this book's better than that.
And I mean that respectfully for all the righteous
and convinced people in the audience.
There's a poem if I -- it's an Irish poet, if I can throw
that into the mix here, who has a poem, the Second Coming,
I think it's called, about a lament of modernity
and relativism and polemic and has the lines,
"The best lack all conviction while the worst are full
of passionate intensity."
I don't know if that's true of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander in social work.
Like I said, I'm an amateur, but it's quite true
of many situations I'm familiar with.
And that business, the worst are full
of conviction while the worst are full of --
the best lack all conviction while the worst are full
of passionate intensity, it makes it all the more dangerous
to put yourself in the firing line, of course.
And the authors of this book don't lack passion or intensity,
it seems to me, and even in the middle of volatility
and contestation, they're emphatic about this,
and this is very brave, it seems to me.
A social worker, a good social worker needs to be,
quote from the book, "genuine, open, humble, creative,
and to work with uncertainty."
That's brave.
This is how brave it is.
This is a recurring refrain in the book.
They say, Social work as a profession has been complicit
in the injustice and damage delivered to Aboriginal people.
It's not a quote.
That's a paraphrase.
So that is very confronting.
If you're a social worker and an expert social worker speaking
to other social workers to say there, don't get that sort
of guts too much in the public realm, I don't think.
It's not shrill defensiveness that we do get a lot of.
It's not bluster, sort of covering up, tough guy routines.
It's as I said, is brave and it's not giving
up at the same time on the ethical
and moral aims of the profession.
And it's also in saying that that complicity,
it's understanding and being prepared to articulate some
of the reasons why a great many Aboriginal people are quite
weary and distrustful of social workers,
I think it's fair to say.
And that complicity is also as the book points out --
and I'm sorry if your feet are aching, I'll try and speed up --
the complicity is why social work needs to be transformed.
So that's the mission of this book in many ways.
And I hope you can see already from what I've said --
and I won't be a lot longer --
that the book shows the big hearts and broad shoulders,
figuratively speaking,
if you look over at dainty Dawn Bessarab right there [laughter]
that characterise so many social workers that seems to me
as an amateur and an outsider.
Big hearted, broad shouldered,
gutsy and continuing on in that vein.
So if it's saying social work needs to be transformed,
seems to me it's saying these are the ways,
these are the important areas in which transformation needs
to occur, not only in terms of attitude and approach
of practitioners, that genuine, open, humble, creative,
working with uncertainty stuff.
Also very important, I think, a quality of reflection,
not only as individuals, you know, who am I?
Where am I coming from?
How's my values affecting my interactions here?
But also reflecting on one's self and professional self
in terms of social structures.
And that means sometimes turning the lens.
That's why that chapter on whiteness, I think,
in here is really important.
In fact, there's a really -- I think I've already said it --
there's a really strong discussion
of whiteness by Maggie Walter.
I wasn't going to mention names, but it's worthy in this case.
There's a chapter called Australian Social Work is White.
She says in there, "It's a sobering challenge
to consider how social work education has contributed
to analysing issues of race via a focus on the non-white other
against an unacknowledged backdrop of majority whiteness."
You know? It doesn't turn that lens back on the ones
who are generally in positions of strength.
What's really interesting in that chapter, the same time
that it's talking about an intellectual investigation
of whiteness and race that normally as it points
out evokes a defensiveness, particularly in Australia,
and that's something the book says is very distinctive
about Australia, that shrill defensiveness about being --
about -- in response to any talk of racism.
The same chapter then goes on to be, I think,
really compassionate and inclusive.
So it starts talking about a journalist Nicholas Rothwell's
description of remote Australia and saying, "Out there,
there's an enabling army delivering services,
building capacity, looking
on through engaged compassionate post-colonial eyes.
And then goes on, Maggie Walter and others go onto say,
talking about those people
with their compassionate post-colonial eyes,
saying that's likely to be painfully resonant
for any white person working in the field of indigenous issues.
Issues such as white guilt,
and the difficulty white people have engaging
with black individuals and communities have
yet to be systematically explored within social work
and social work education.
That's a very compassionate little shift
at the same time is saying, we need to turn the lens
to be speaking like that, I thought.
They also -- the book also says we need to transform social work
and pertinently saying this just after having said that last bit,
by including more indigenous perspectives.
And then there's part of this nuance complexity in there,
also says, but that doesn't mean
that just any Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander opinion
or perspective is necessarily correct.
And that's that, you know, that rigour in their role.
And that's how you have conversations as again polemics,
something that books can do well, I think.
One-on-one relationship within the covers of a book.
As I said, I think there's a really --
I may be going on a little bit longer.
It's easy now I'm up here and not in the audience
because I can move around a little bit more.
And the doors are locked.
[laughter] There's a really good discussion of trauma
in community and really, evocative phrases like,
"a collective helplessness and a maladaptive coping"
and elsewhere saying chapters talk
of trauma trails across generations.
There's talk of elder abuse and "an unbalanced engagement
of Aboriginal people with mainstream services."
And then going on demonstrating within the book,
that reflectiveness that is saying is important
and that nuance that advocates the difficulty
of articulating some of these things like elder abuse
and like collective helplessness because if you're not careful,
that becomes a story that allocates blame
and which sees aboriginality only as a problem.
That discourse that's always lurking
in the caring professions, I think.
And that's why I mentioned Kim's words earlier.
And that -- back to that whiteness chapter.
That emphasises how the story of, so to speak,
the story of social work, education particularly,
and it's "curriculum frameworks
and standards largely position indigenous people
as a specific social category characterised in terms
of disadvantaged extreme need and/or implied deficits.
A unified other possessing all those qualities."
You see the danger of that sort of story in education.
Same sort of thing.
I just pick some other --
pluck some other phrases from the book.
Talks about a people or peoples hobbled by policy change trapped
in a story not of their making and which harms them.
And closely related to that, I think these may be Dawn's words
and she'll tell me if I've got it wrong.
The dangers of self-constructions
of Aboriginality that are negative and destructive
and only trapped in someone else's story.
So it seems to me that this awareness of those sort
of discourses -- I think discourses means something
like a patent of words that assume
in position both a speaker and a listener,
trap them in those terms -- those sort of discourses open
up really useful discussion, if I can collate a couple of --
put a couple of different chapters together to do
with yarning and listening and narrative therapy.
If I can put all those things together.
Talks about how those things can help externalise a problem.
Coming up with a different story.
Re-storying it says, can help externalise problems rather
than have people trapped in internalizing them
and that can help with action and change things,
transform things for the better.
Even diseases like diabetes --
sorry, if I'm going on too long, here.
Really interesting discussion of how diabetes can be storied
so that it's an external other that you can handle and deal
with rather than just saying oh,
that's just the way it is to be me and my kind.
So re-storying, I think I just used that word, that clumsy sort
of word is very much as this book points out --
and this is where I see Dawn's influence perhaps in there --
very much the stuff of current in the book of the importance
of decolonisation, that in itself, is so necessary
to transformation and has already been mentioned,
collaboration.
And collaboration doesn't necessarily mean consensus.
Collaboration -- if you can bear yet one more quote,
I think this is my last.
Collaboration is "more than a mere exchange of resources
by combining the individual perspectives, resources
and skills of partners, the group creates something new
and valuable together.
Something that's greater than the sum of the parts."
And in this book it talks about Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people and allies.
That's a nice phrase that helps us get beyond some
of the shrill polemics.
That's the partnership it's talking of, I think.
And the collaboration between those sort of groups is part
of how we'll get to some other sort of story.
And I'd like to think there's a story in there
that it's being hinted at, at least, of transformation where,
as I've said, Aboriginality is not a problem,
that familiar limiting story, but a big privilege for all
of us to have here and a bonus and the source
of a massive contribution to society.
Having said all those sweet things, I'll just quickly finish
with a criticism of sorts.
And I heard a little bit of this
in Dawn's opening words, I think.
In the author's note, it says, this book is the end
of a process and I think I detect it when I read that.
Some of that relief that editors feel.
[laughter] Ah, thank God, we got this book sorted now,
but it's not -- the book's not the end
of a process, I don't think.
Someone said a book's a machine to think with and this is one
of those sort of books that doesn't end the process.
Helps us keep working on the transformation.
It certainly doesn't end the process, it ups the ante,
it shifts the momentum, it picks you up as a reader and sets you
down further along the journey of transformation, or hopefully.
And having said that and tested your patience,
I don't know what you do at a book launch.
Perhaps you throw it out on the seas of --
[laughter] the seas of an appreciative audience.
Thank you very much and congratulations.
[ Applause ]
>> Sorry. Okay.
Thank you Kim for those very eloquent and wise words
and you're quite right.
The book has been challenging and, you know,
we have been challenged already, but that's a good thing
because I think that it's not the end of a process
but the beginning of one and we're certainly hoping
that this book is -- will be one of many
and that it will encourage our indigenous social workers
out there to start to write and publish more
of their practice stories and do some collaboration
with our non-indigenous social work colleagues and perhaps,
you know, across disciplinary
into disciplinary chapters as well.
So having said that, thank you very much for coming,
for being patient and standing and listening
to our small baby of speakers.
And I'd like to invite you to stay for refreshments and mingle
and talk and if possible,
have a look at the book and maybe buy one.
And authors are here if you would like to get them signed.
And I'd like to thank Vi Baken from UWA, a colleague,
and Fran Crawford from Curtin.
Thank you vie and Fran.
You've been wonderful colleagues to work with on this journey
and I look forward to working with many other colleagues
as well in a similar process.
Thank you very much for coming.
[ Applause ]