The lack of inclusion of aboriginal representation at the policy making level is also regarded as an insurmountable barrier to formulating adequate health policies as regards the indigenous population of Australia. (Matthew, Pulver, & Ring 2008)

In Australia alone, a proliferation of data illustrates the extent to which our half million Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in disadvantaged social conditions relative to other Australians. The level of disadvantage has left Indigenous Australians with a 17-year disparity in life expectancy, and a mortality rate 4.6 times higher than the overall population. (McMurray 2008: 166)

Public health policy, its creation and implementation, has various stages through which it must progress. These stages are often defined more by expediency than efficacy and can be either costly failures or valuable successes. Take for instance the policy initiative Building a Healthy, Active Australia. It begun in 2004 when an obesity taskforce run by...
[ View Full Essay]