Indigenous Welfare Policy Literature Review

Introduction
This literature review analyses material discussing the intractable problem of indigenous welfare policy. It begins with a brief overview of the historical context of the literature and the effect policy has had on social outcomes to date. It moves on to look at the contemporary literature and discuss three key themes common to the reviewed literature, being poverty and how it is defined and measured; what causes poverty, and; what has been done to address it so far. The review then moves to the introduction of the concept of welfare and discusses how indigenous leaders, academics in their own right, view the welfare system with consistent agreement. Next, an examination of self-determination and how the concept is applied in
Poverty, welfare dependence and self-determination are prominent in the majority of the literature reviewed. A description of each follows discussing the implications and benefits presented.
Poverty is described by Hunter et al (2004) as not having the sufficient wherewithal to purchase the basic necessities like sustenance or shelter. It is well documented that aboriginal people in the main live in poverty (Hunter 2004, 1999) (Langton 2002, 2007) (Altman 1997, 2001) (Foley 2006). The reasons for poverty are considered in great detail, however, do not identify one major cause rather articulate a plethora of reasons. Education, employment, environment, health, family constructs and life expectancy are all identified as determinants in the poverty cycle which presents a problem or opportunities for researchers trying to present a policy argument. Altman (2000) goes further in suggesting that the reason we now know Indigenous groups live in poverty is due to three reasons, one; better data since 1971 decision to include Indigenous people in census questionnaires, two; representation within the government by creating a bureaucratic apparatus to manage Indigenous policy development and implementation, and finally; the Henderson Commission of Inquiry being the catalyst for a greater understanding in the community of what poverty
The pioneer in this field was Townsend (1979) who developed an index that took into account more than simply income based statistics to determine the level of poverty by considering social as well as financial criteria. This method has been adapted over the years to suit particular countries and different circumstances of surveyed participants. Most recently in New Zealand (Salmond et al, 2006) 900 participants were surveyed with the results showing poverty, as a measure, was much higher than if only income was measured. If adapted to assess poverty levels in Australian Indigenous communities this could considerably change the nature of poverty assessment and lead to greater insights on how to alleviate socio-economic disparity through targeted policy