The Pathfinders National Aboriginal Birth Certificate program will hold three signup days in the ACT so Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders can apply for and receive their birth certificate.
Children who were not registered at birth can also be registered on the days, and both services are completely free.
More than 200,000 Aboriginal people do not have a birth certificate, a document that allows Australians to vote, drive, apply for government benefits, and enrol in school.
According to Pathfinders, this can be attributed to a number of factors, including cultural barriers, alienation from services, intergenerational distrust of authorities, and lacking suitable ID to complete the process.
The shift to online registration, without the opportunity for face-to-face assistance, creates further barriers for those with limited technology access.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders can turn up at the signup days without any prior registration required, with any form of legal identification including driver’s license, healthcare card, pension card, Medicare card, or Certificate of Aboriginality.
If none of these forms of ID are available, a statement issued by Centrelink can also be used.
A Pathfinders’ representative will walk each applicant through the 20-minute registration process with Justices of the Peace on site.
Private spaces will be available, and multiple family members can be registered on the day.
The signup days will be financially supported by UNICEF Australia, as part of the organisation’s aim to reach the Sustainable Development Goals by 2030 – which include birth registration and legal identification for all.
A birth certificate is also central to all 17 targets of Australia’s National Agreement on Closing the Gap, says Pathfinders CEO, Alan Brennan.
“Aboriginal people experience unique barriers to gaining access and receiving their birth certificates,” said Mr Brennan.
“Costs, literacy, limited access to technology and records, remoteness, and a history of broken relationships with government, make applying for a birth certificate complex.”
An analysis of birth data in Queensland shows that approximately 15 to 18 per cent of births to Indigenous mothers were not registered, compared to 1.8 per cent of births to non-Indigenous mothers.
Similar research conducted in WA found that 11 per cent of children born to Indigenous mothers had not had their birth registered.
Pathfinders advised that there is no conclusive information to date about the current state of unregistered Indigenous births within the ACT. However, as a part of their partnership, UNICEF will support better research into the matter.
Signup days:
DATE: Tuesday 18 October
TIME: 9:30am – 3:00pm
LOCATION: Gugan Gulwan- Youth Aboriginal Corporation, 2 Lansell Street, Wanniassa
DATE: Wednesday, 19 October
TIME 9:30am – 3:00pm
LOCATION: CIT Yurauna Centre (TAFE), 37 Constitution Ave, Reid
DATE: Thursday, 20 October
TIME 9:30am – 3:00pm
LOCATION: Winnunga Nimmityjah (Strong Health) Aboriginal Health and Community Services, 63 Boolimba Crescent, Narrabundah
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