Eva Lawler

Minster of Education
GPO Box 400,
Palmerston NT 0830
30/11/2106
Dear the honourable Eva Lawler, elected minister for education.
I am writing to you regarding my ongoing concern around the social determinant of poor education
and how this is affecting the mental health of many Indigenous Australians.
There is substantial and convincing evidence discovered between the negative impacts that poor
education has on the mental well being of Indigenous Australians. Poor education and literacy are
linked to poor health status, and affect the mental stability of the Indigenous Australian population
group [1]. It has become quite obvious that the overall health of Indigenous Australians compared to
non-Indigenous is quite confronting. The most neglected issue of Indigenous health today is mental
health. This is due to the population group being subjected to more extreme pressures in society [2].
This is where education and different social problems put immense pressures on Indigenous
Australians. This population group are evidently said to die at a younger age, live with higher rate of
acute and chronic illness, accidents and injuries become prone and mental health problems are at
higher rates. Having poor mental health has a big involvement to the difficulty of anti social behaviour
and most concerning low participation rates in schooling [3].
It has been distributed that compared to non Indigenous Australians the Indigenous population are less
likely to even attend school, finish school and or go to university. Education has also been found to be
a vital strong link to determinants of health such as causing stress, poor mental health and risky
behaviours [4]. The likelihood of engaging in certain health risk behaviours and having high levels of
psychological distress has shown to decrease with higher levels of education [3].
Several factors have been identified by the Indigenous Socioeconomic Profile as contributing to the
failure to engage the Indigenous population with their schooling, which is leading to poor education
outcomes having an impact on the population groups mental health conditions.
There include:

Lack of educational infrastructure at schools

Poor quality teaching in some locations

Teachers having low expectation of Indigenous students

An unfriendly or unwelcoming culture at the school

A curriculum that doesnt engage Indigenous students

My concerns are in alignment with those expressed by the Indigenous Socioeconomic Profile and I
strongly urge the government to consider recommendations to:

Improve teaching concepts in Australian Universitys ensuring that graduates understand the
distinct health and educational needs of Indigenous students and also to understand their
cultural needs to best treat and adapt to the students.

All schools that have the involvement of Indigenous students need to have a new structure to
the curriculum, as it should be vital for health education to be taught so students can talk
about things that could be affecting them emotionally and physically such as mental health
concerns. The classroom environment should be safe and supportive for all, where teachers
do not lower their standards around indigenous students.
As a constituent of your electorate, I would like to engage with you in improving education to better
the mental health needs of Indigenous Australians. I am interested to know your viewpoint on this
issue, once taken into consideration of the above facts and concerns. I look forward to hearing back
from you.
Yours sincerely,
Jocelyn Teggerth
75 Thornton Drive,
Greenwith SA 5125
Tegg0001@flinders.edu.au
References
1.
2.
3.

4.

Australian Bureau of Statistics. (2008). The Health and Welfare of Australia's Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples, cat.
no. 4704.0, ABS, Canberra. Retrieved from https://www.abs.gov.au
Australian Human Rights Commission: Indigenous mental health. (2005). Retrieved from
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/speeches/indigenous-mental-health
Cutler, D., Lleras-Muney, A. (2007). 'Education and Health', National Poverty Center, Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy,
University of Michigan.
Dick, D. & Calma, T. (2007). Social determinants and the health of Indigenous peoples in Australia a human rights based
approach | Australian Human Rights Commission. Humanrights.gov.au. Retrieved 26 October 2016, from
https://www.humanrights.gov.au/news/speeches/social-determinants-and-health-indigenous-peoples-australia-human-rightsbased