Healthy the Law and Racism: the Campaign to Amend the Discriminatory Clauses in the Tuberculosis Act

Labour History

Volumn , Issue 76, 1999, Pages 41-58

  Taffe, Sue ^a  

^a NONE

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

ABORIGINE; ARTICLE; AUSTRALIA; CIVIL RIGHTS; ECONOMICS; EDUCATION; ETHNOLOGY; HEALTH SERVICE; HISTORY; HUMAN; LAW; LEGAL ASPECT; PATIENT; PHYSICIAN; PSYCHOLOGICAL ASPECT; PUBLIC HEALTH SERVICE; SOCIAL CHANGE; SOCIAL JUSTICE; SOCIAL PROBLEM; TUBERCULOSIS;

AUSTRALIA; CIVIL RIGHTS; HEALTH SERVICES, INDIGENOUS; HISTORY, 20TH CENTURY; HUMANS; LEGISLATION AS TOPIC; OCEANIC ANCESTRY GROUP; PATIENTS; PHYSICIANS; PUBLIC HEALTH PRACTICE; RACE RELATIONS; SOCIAL CHANGE; SOCIAL JUSTICE; SOCIAL PROBLEMS; TUBERCULOSIS;

EID: 2542417767     PISSN: 00236942     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.3828/27516627     Document Type: Article

References (105)

1. R. Patrick, A History of Health and Medicine in Queensland 1824-1960, University of Queensland Press (UQP), St Lucia, 1987, p. 87.
2. 'In the year 1946, the latest for which details are available, tuberculosis was responsible for 27.6 per cent of deaths from all major individual causes among people aged 20-39 years.' N. E. McKenna, Minister for Health and Social Services, second reading speech, cited in R. M. Porter & T.C. Boag, The Australian Tuberculosis Campaign, 1948-1976, Menzies Foundation, Melbourne, 1991, p. 26.
3. Ibid., p. 7.
4. R. Mendelsohn, 'The Introduction of the Commonwealth-State Tuberculosis Scheme 1948-1952' in B.B. Schaffer & D.C. Corbett (eds), Decisions: Case Studies in Australian Administration, Cheshire, Melbourne, 1965, p. 104.
5. Tuberculosis Act, no. 46 of 1948, 5 (1), Commonwealth of Australia.
6. Porter & Boag, The Australian Tuberculosis Campaign 1948-1976, p. 40.
7. K. Walker to H. Roberton, 19 December 1962, Barry Christophers' papers. (Unless otherwise specified, correspondence is from Barry Christophers' papers)
8. J. McGinness, Son of Alyandabu: My Fight for Aboriginal Rights, UQP, 1991, p. 73.
9. Ibid., p. xiii.
10. Ibid., p. 35.
11. K. Cochrane, Oodgeroo, UQP, St Lucia, 1994, pp 17-31
12. See B. Christophers, A List of the Published Work of Frederic Wood Jones 1879-1954, Greensborough Press, Melbourne, 1974, for a complete listing of Wood Jones' work.
13. Wages and Employment Committee Action Program arising from the 5th annual general meeting of the FCAA, Adelaide, 22, 23 April 1962, Council for Aboriginal Rights MS 12913, State Library of Victoria.
14. This replaced two preceding acts - the Tuberculosis Act 1945, and the Tuberculosis Act 1946. The initial attempt at Commonwealth/ state co-operation to combat the disease faltered for a number of reasons, mainly to do with underdeveloped state services and financial arrangements.
15. See Porter and Boag, The Australian Tuberculosis Campaign, pp. 10-13. A report by Dr Wunderly, Director of Tuberculosis, Commonwealth Department of Health became the basis of the 1948 scheme.
16. Tuberculosis Act, no. 46 of 1948, Commonwealth of Australia, 25 November 1948.
17. Ibid.
18. Supplement to 1961 Handbook of Information, Commonwealth Social Services, October 1961. This amount was for a 'married person with a dependent wife'. There was a further supplement for each dependent child under 16.
19. Australian Bureau of Census and Statistics, Quarterly Summary of Australian Statistics, nos 244-251, 1962-3, p. 101.
20. Scheme of Tuberculosis Allowances, determination under section 9, Tuberculosis Act, 1948, Canberra, 27 April 1961.
21. See J. McCorquodale, Aborigines and the Law: A Digest, Aboriginal Studies Press, Canberra, 1987, p. 9 for an analysis of 'Aboriginally' as defined in 67 different ways in over 700 pieces of legislation.
22. B. Christophers, Tuberculosis Allowances', Medical Journal of Australia, 7 September 1963, p. 428.
23. 'Instructions, Pensions and Associated Payments', Department of Social Services, Commonwealth of Australia, 1961.
24. See CD. Rowley, Outcasts in White Australia, Pelican, Ringwood Victoria, 1972, pp. 393-397 for a discussion of what he calls 'this farcical tangle of restrictive laws'.
25. J.C. Altman and W. Sanders, 'From Exclusion to Dependence: Aborigines and the Welfare State in Australia', Canberra Centre for Aboriginal Economic Policy Research, ANU, 1991, show that the payment of pensions by the Commonwealth to state Aboriginal welfare authorities meant a considerable boost to their recurrent budgets. Direct payment would only be made to individual Aborigines once they had demonstrated their ability to manage money.
26. A person could be ruled as being 'not an aboriginal native' and thus not controlled by state legislation but at the same time be Aboriginal for the purposes of this Commonwealth legislation. See J. Chesterman and B. Galligan, Citizens Without Rights, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1997, pp. 113, 114.
27. The Aboriginals Preservation and Protection Acts', 1939 to 1946, The Queensland Statutes 1828-1962, vol. 1, pp. 5-29.
28. Cited in Chesterman & Galligan, Citizens Without Rights, p. 171.
29. Ibid., p. 171.
30. Social Services Consolidation Act 1947-1950, sections 19 (2), 62, (2), and 86 (3), Commonwealth of Australia.
31. Rowley, Outcasts in White Australia, p. 395.
32. Joyce Tattersall to Barry Christophers, 4 October 1964. A postscript to this letter adds: There is at long last, some movement towards a League in Towns ville... The Secretary is a bright young man, an islander, Edward Koiki Mabo'.
33. Joe McGinness to Barry Christophers, 27 November 1964, 30 November 1965, 1 March 1966, 7 December 1966.
34. Conference of Ministers of Aboriginal Affairs, Darwin, 1963. Cited in 'Government Legislation and the Aborigines' a paper prepared for the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement by the Legislative Reform Subcommittee, February, 1964, p. 8, MS 12913, Council for Aboriginal Rights, State Library of Victoria.
35. N. Thomson, Tuberculosis among Aborigines' in A. J. Proust (ed.), A History of Tuberculosis in Australia, New Zealand and Papua New Guinea, Brolga Press, Canberra, 1991, p. 61.
36. M. Penny & N. Thomson, 'A Preliminary analysis of Aboriginal Tuberculosis, 1984', Aboriginal Health Information Bulletin, no. 8, August 1987, Australian Institute of Aboriginal Studies and Australian Institute of Health.
37. See also E.W. Abrahams, Tuberculosis in Indigenous Australians, Medical Journal of Australia, Special Supplement 2, pp. 23-27.
38. See Abrahams, Tuberculosis in Indigenous Australians', p. 24. Aboriginal cases of tuberculosis in Queensland in the period 1950-72 totalled 1,089, or 3,493 per 100,000. By comparison, there were 11,857 cases among the white Australian-born population, or 728 per 100,000. Figures in Australia's Health 1998, Australian Institute of Health and Welfare, 1997, indicate that tuberculosis is still disproportionately distributed, 22% of Australian-born TB sufferers being indigenous people who comprise less than 5% of the total population.
39. R. Kidd, The Way We Civilize: Aboriginal Affairs, the Untold Story, UQP, St Lucia, 1977, p. 171.
40. Ibid., p. 172.
41. R.W. Swartz, Minister for Health to Christophers, 18 February 1965
42. also J. Pizzey, Queensland Minister for Education, responsible for the Department of Native Affairs to Christophers, 7 November 1963.
43. Barry Christophers to Kath Walker, 25 August 1963.
44. Letter from Gladys Elphick, FCAA SA State secretary, n.d.
45. C.J. Officer Brown, Victorian member of Tuberculosis Advisory Council, 28 April 1964.
46. B. Christophers to members of the National Tuberculosis Advisory Council, 25 August 1963.
47. Cited by Barry Christophers in a letter to Dr W D. Refshauge, 19 August 1963.
48. Ibid.
49. Ibid.
50. B. Christophers to Dr H.E. Downes, Acting Director-General of Health, 14 September 1963, Series A1851/1, item 1962/847, Australian Archives Canberra.
51. Department of Social Services, Instructions, Pensions and Associated Payments, Canberra, 1961.
52. Christophers to Downes, 4 September 1963. Throughout 1961 and 1962 a number of embarrassments abroad concerning race heightened an awareness among External Affairs officers of charges of racial discrimination being levelled at Australian diplomats in United Nations forums and elsewhere.
53. See S. Taffe, 'Australian Diplomacy in a Policy Vacuum: Government and Aboriginal Affairs, 1961-62' in Aboriginal History, vol. 19, 1995, pp. 154-172.
54. 'Confidential Report to the Select Committee on Voting Rights', Series A, 1838/2, File 557/1, part 2, Australian Archives, Canberra.
55. Christophers to Downes, 4 September 1963.
56. Christophers to W. D. Refshauge, 19 August 1963.
57. W.D. Refshauge to Directors of Tuberculosis - all States, 10 September 1963, Series A1851, item 1962/847, Australian Archives, Canberra
58. W.D. Refshauge to Director-General, Social Services, 23 September 1963, Series A1851, item 1962/ 847, Australian Archives, Canberra.
59. A.W. Burton to W. D. Refshauge, 28 August 1963, Series A1851, item 1962/847, Australian Archives, Canberra.
60. W.D. Refshauge to A. W. Burton, 9 September 1963, Series A1851, item 1962/847, Australian Archives, Canberra.
61. 'W.H.O. Warns on TB Dangers' The Age, 31 March 1964.
62. B. Christophers, Tuberculosis Allowances', Medical Journal of Australia, 17 August 1963, p. 296.
63. Ibid.
64. B. Christophers, Tuberculosis Allowances' Medical Journal of Australia, 7 September 1963, p. 428.
65. B. Christophers, Tuberculosis Allowances', Medical Journal of Australia, 12 October 1963.
66. E.W. Abrahams to B. Christophers, 11 September 1963.
67. B. Christophers to K. Walker, 4 September 1963.
68. B. Christophers, 'Discrimination in an Unexpected Quarter', Smoke Signals, January 1964.
69. Dr Noble, Queensland Parliamentary Debates, 1st session of the 37th Parliament, 3 March 1964, p. 2185.
70. B. Christophers to E.W. Abrahams, 1 October 1963.
71. P. Hasluck, Native Welfare Conference, Darwin, 1963, Council for Aboriginal Rights, MS12913, State Library of Victoria.
72. Cotter Harvey to Barry Christophers, 4 May 1964.
73. W.D. Refshauge to McGinness, 16 April 1964
74. Roberton to McGinness 6 May 1964
75. C. Harvey to Joe McGinness, 5 May 1964.
76. W.D. Refshauge to Joe McGinness, 30 April 1964.
77. H.E. Downes, Acting Director-General of Health to C.J. Ross-Smith, General Secretary, Australian Medical Association (AMA), 11 March 1964, AMA records, Canberra
78. C.J. Ross-Smith to W.D. Refshauge, 27 February 1964
79. C.J. Ross-Smith to members of the executive of the AMA, 17 March 1964, Australian Medical Association (AMA) papers, Canberra.
80. A.W. Burton, Deputy Medical Secretary, AMA (Victorian Branch) to C.J. Ross-Smith, General Secretary AMA, 2 June 1964, AMA, Canberra.
81. A.W. Burton to Barry Christophers, 13 September 1963, AMA, Canberra.
82. H.W. Wade, Minister for Health, to Barry Christophers, 29 September 1964.
83. Ross-Smith, General Secretary, Head Office, AMA, to all branches, 30 October 1964, AMA, Canberra.
84. W.D. Refshauge, Director General of Health, to C.J. Ross-Smith, General Secretary AMA, 3 February 1965, AMA, Canberra.
85. B. Christophers, 'Discrimination in an Unexpected Quarter'.
86. Ibid.
87. B. Christophers, Medical Journal of Australia, 12 October 1963.
88. See Taffe, 'Australian Diplomacy in a Policy Vacuum: Government and Aboriginal Affairs, 1961-62'
89. J. Clarke, 'Something to Hide: Aborigines and the Department of Aboriginal Affairs, January 1961- January 1962', Journal of the Royal Australian Historical Society, vol. 83, no. 1, 1997, pp 71-84.
90. The Age, p. 3, 12 May 1963.
91. Confidential file note 'Overseas opinion on Aboriginal welfare', Series 1838/2, File 557/1, part 2, Australian Archives, Canberra.
92. Z. Cowen & R. Richards, 'Preventive Detention in Australia' Journal of the International Commission of Jurists, vol. 3, no 1, Spring 1961
93. C. D. Rowley, 'Aborigines and Other Australians', Oceania, vol. xxxii, no 4, June 1962.
94. H. Gilchrist, Head, Information Branch, 'Australian Aborigines: External Affairs interest, 29 August 1961, Series A1838/2, Item 557/1 Part 2, Australian Archives, Canberra.
95. R. West, Administrative Officer, note to file, 23 September 1963, Series A1851 /l, item 1962/847, Australian Archives, Canberra.
96. Constitution of the Federal Council for Aboriginal Advancement, April 1962, MS 12913, State Library of 'Victoria.
97. B. Christophers, Tuberculosis Allowances', Medical Journal of Australia, 17 August 1963, p. 296.
98. Ibid.
99. Council for Aboriginal Rights, Bulletin 13, March 1961, MS 12913, State Library of Victoria.
100. In 1965 the North Australian Workers Union applied to the Arbitration Commission to vary the Cattle Station Industry (Northern Territory) Award 1951 to include Aboriginal pastoral workers. Clause 6 of the award read 'the award shall not apply to, among others, Aborigines or domestic servants'.
101. Barry Christophers to H.E. Downes, 4 September 1963. This expression had been used by Downes in a letter to Christophers dated 27 August 1963 in which he stated that if an eligible patient had 'supported himself... at a standard reasonable approaching that of other members of our community, a tuberculosis allowance would be payable'.
102. See F. Bandler, Turning the Tide: A Personal History of the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders, Canberra, Aboriginal Studies Press, 1989 for a description of this campaign and B. Attwood & A. Markus, The 1967 Referendum, or When Aborigines Didn't Get the Vote, Canberra, Aboriginal Studies Press, 1997 for an analysis of it.
103. Personal communication with Barry Christophers, 24 November 1997.
104. In 1964 Torres Strait Islanders were included in the name of the organisation, so that it became 'the Federal Council for the Advancement of Aborigines and Torres Strait Islanders' (FCAATSI).
105. Delegates representing organisations numbered 56 while 20 were observers. Council for Aboriginal Rights, MS 12913, Boxl0/9, State Library of Victoria.