Global Obesity Centre, Institute for Health Transformation, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia.
School of Health and Social Development, Deakin University, Geelong, VIC, Australia.
Int J Health Policy Manag. 2021 Dec 1;10(12):871-885. doi: 10.34172/ijhpm.2020.175.
Healthy and sustainable food systems underpin the well-being of Indigenous peoples. Increasingly governments are taking action to improve diets via population-wide policies. The United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People states that Indigenous peoples have the right to participate in all decisions that affect them. We analysed Australian national food and nutrition policy processes to determine: (i) the participation of Aboriginal organisations, (ii) the issues raised in Aboriginal organisations' policy submissions, and (iii) the extent to which Aboriginal organisations' recommendations were addressed in final policy documents.
Political economy and cultural safety lenses informed the study design. We analysed publicly-available documents for Australian population-wide food and nutrition policy consultations occurring 2008-2018. Data sources were policy documents, committee reports, terms of reference and consultation submissions. The submissions made by Aboriginal organisations were thematically analysed and key policy recommendations extracted. We examined the extent to which key recommendations made by Aboriginal organisations were included in the subsequent policy documents.
Five food and nutrition policy processes received submissions from Aboriginal organisations. Key themes centred on self-determination, culturally-appropriate approaches to health, and the need to address food insecurity and social determinants of health. These messages were underrepresented in final policy documents, and Aboriginal people were not included in any committees overseeing policy development processes.
This analysis suggests that very few Aboriginal organisations have participated in Australian population-wide food and nutrition policy processes and that these policy development processes are culturally unsafe. In order to operationalise First Nations peoples' right to self-determination, alternative mechanisms are required to redress the power imbalances preventing the full participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in population-wide food and nutrition policy decisions. This means reflecting on deeply embedded institutional structures and the normative assumptions upon which they rest.
健康和可持续的食品系统是原住民福祉的基础。越来越多的政府正在通过全民政策来改善饮食。《联合国土著人民权利宣言》规定，土著人民有权参与一切影响他们的决策。我们分析了澳大利亚国家食品和营养政策进程，以确定：(i) 土著组织的参与情况，(ii) 土著组织政策提交中提出的问题，以及 (iii) 土著组织建议在最终政策文件中得到解决的程度。
政治经济学和文化安全视角指导了研究设计。我们分析了 2008-2018 年澳大利亚全民食品和营养政策咨询的公开文件。数据来源包括政策文件、委员会报告、职权范围和咨询意见。对土著组织提交的意见进行了主题分析，并提取了主要政策建议。我们研究了土著组织提出的主要建议在随后的政策文件中得到采纳的程度。
五个食品和营养政策进程收到了土著组织的意见。主要主题集中在自决、对健康的文化适宜方法，以及解决粮食不安全和健康社会决定因素的必要性。这些信息在最终政策文件中代表性不足，土著人民也没有被纳入任何监督政策制定进程的委员会。
这项分析表明，只有极少数土著组织参与了澳大利亚全民食品和营养政策进程，这些政策制定进程在文化上是不安全的。为了实现第一民族人民的自决权，需要采取替代机制，以解决阻碍土著和托雷斯海峡岛民全面参与全民食品和营养政策决策的权力失衡问题。这意味着要反思根深蒂固的体制结构和它们所依据的规范假设。
