An attempt by Aboriginal elders to receive their age-appropriate pension earlier than non-Aboriginal Australians has failed in a landmark federal court decision.
A Wacka Wacka man, Uncle Dennis Fisher, 66, sued the federal government last year, arguing that he should receive his old-age pension earlier than non-Indigenous Australians because of his short life expectancy.
He argued that according to ABS, a 65-year-old Indigenous man has a life expectancy of 15.8 years, compared to 19 years for a non-Indigenous man of the same age.
The Commonwealth Racial Discrimination Act, he argued, mandates that Aboriginal people receive pensions for the same period as others.
Fisher, also known as Uncle Dennis, argued that he should have been eligible for a pension at age 64, three years earlier than he is now.
But on Wednesday, Justices Anna Katzman, Debra Mortimer, Hilary Charlesworth, Wendy Abraham, and Jeffrey Kennett ruled that the current system does not violate racism laws.
As both parties to the lawsuit argued, the Court found that the short lifespans of Indigenous Australians were due to “colonization, exploitation, destruction of cultural ties, poor access to services and ongoing racist policies.” The impact of
“These facts … are of grave concern to a society that values equality of opportunity,” the court said.
But the court also said in its ruling that social security systems should not discriminate in favor of certain races.
“If the social security system as a whole restricts access to old-age pensions to members of certain races more than others, it cannot treat members of all races with equal dignity and respect. “
After the ruling, Fisher said he was “frustrated with this white system.”
“It doesn’t give us a say,” he said.
“White people live longer because they haven’t lost what we lost.”
Fisher said he had seen “too many people die young.”
“I’m lucky to reach 50,” he said.
“This lawsuit called on the government to work with us to tell the truth and give our citizens the same chance in life as other citizens.”
Nerita Wight, chief executive of the Victorian Aboriginal Law Department, who represented Mr Fisher with the Center for Human Rights Law, said the Albanian government could still intervene.
“Everyone has the right to live with dignity, but our communities are forced to live short lives in poverty due to decades of racist colonialism and continued underinvestment. For us, that’s impossible,” Wight said.
“Despite today’s results, the Albanon government can still do the right thing by lowering their pension age to match the decline in life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” she said. rice field.
According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2018, life expectancy for Aboriginal Australian men was 71.6 years and 75.6 years for women.
For men, this is 8.6 years less than non-indigenous men’s life expectancy, and for women 7.8 years less than non-indigenous women’s life expectancy.
Fisher did not say outside the court Wednesday whether he would appeal the decision.
