Justice for Indigenous Australians

The Uniting Church hopes for a nation which acknowledges the rights of Indigenous Australians as the first people of this land, respects the land on which we live, and is commited to empowering Indigenous people to take control of their own lives and destinies.

Indigenous communities, both remote and urban, experience heightened levels of disadvantage. Indigenous Australians have worse health, education and employment outcomes across the board than the non-Indigenous population. Justice for Indigenous people will depend on policies which ensure resourcing in areas of health, housing, education, employment and welfare support.

At its 7th Assembly, the Uniting Church formally entered into a relationship of Covenant with its Indigenous members, recognising and repenting for the Church's complicity in the injustices perpetrated on Australia's Indigenous community, and pledging to move forward with a shared future. Congress' generous response to this statement, among other messages, called upon the broader Church to take up the mission of reconciliation.

The ongoing and continually renewing nature of the Covenant calls the Uniting Church to continually act to remove the systems and structures of discrimination and oppression in Australia.

Key Documents

	The Covenanting Statement The Uniting Church in Australia July 1994
	Response to the Covenanting Statement Uniting Aboriginal and Islander Christian Congress  July 1994

 Resources and Papers

 Indigenous Justice Links