Much being Written about Us, not much being Written with Us: Examining how alcohol and other drug use by indigenous Australians is portrayed in Australian Government policies and strategies: A discourse analysis

Original research
by
Gentile, Victoria et al

Release Date

2022

Geography

Australia

Language of Resource

English

Full Text Available

No

Open Access / OK to Reproduce

No

Peer Reviewed

Yes

Objective

Using critical discourse analysis, this study examined the portrayal of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australian Government policies regarding alcohol and other drug (AOD) use.

Findings/Key points

There is an urgent need to move from policy relating to Aboriginal affairs that relies on a deficit discourse, to more effective AOD policy that improves power balance in policy development, is written with or by Aboriginal people, is inclusive of Aboriginal epistemologies and ontologies, and represents a paradigm-shift to a strength-based approach.

Design/methods

We used critical discourse analysis, informed by an Indigenous Research Paradigm, to analyse texts and contexts of six key Australian Government AOD drug policies; two Aboriginal AOD data documents, two reporting documents and two AOD strategy documents.

doi.org

Keywords

Indigenous
Policy/Regulatory