Statistical Society of Australia Seminar: Griffiths -- Enacting sovereign rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in official statistics and other data

The Statistical Society is pleased to announce the following seminar: 
"Enacting sovereign rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in official 
statistics and other data"
Dr Kalinda Griffiths 

When: 15 Nov 2022 6:00 PM, AEDT 
Where: Old Geology Lecture Theatre 1 (room G04), University of Melbourne, Parkville; 
or online via Zoom (visit https://statsoc.org.au/event-4986082 to register)

About the workshop: Join the SSA Vic branch in-person or online to hear from Dr Kalinda
Griffiths in her talk "Enacting sovereign rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people in official statistics and other data".  Following the talk, there will
be an informal dinner that in-person attendees are welcome to attend (at their own
expense).  

Abstract: The realisation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia
to be counted in official statistics occurred in 1967.  The identification of Aboriginal
and Torres Strait Islander people in national data highlights a range of historical and
contemporary issues that require our attention.  This includes how Aboriginal and Torres
Strait Islander people have been defined and by whom, as well as how identification is
operationalised in official data collections.  Furthermore, the completeness and
accuracy of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people identified in the data and the
impact this has on the measurement of health and wellbeing must also be taken into
account.  Official national reporting of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is
calculated using data from censuses, vital statistics, and existing administrative data
collections and/or surveys.  In alignment with human rights standards, individuals in
Australia can opt to self-identify as ’Indigenous’ in the data.  However, challenges
persist in deriving quality ’Indigenous’ data that can be used for the purposes of
monitoring health, social and economic progress in Australian society.  Current
developments in Indigenous Data Sovereignty have moved from identifying principles of
ownership, control and protection of the data to operationalising these at the
population level.  This talk discusses priority issues in identifying Aboriginal and
Torres Strait Islander people in the national data in Australia’s colonial context and
some ways forward in enacting the sovereign rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander people and communities to support nation building.  

Speaker bio Kalinda Griffiths Centre for Big Data Research in Health, University of New
South Wales (UNSW) Kalinda is a Yawuru woman of Broome, born and living in Darwin.  She
is a Scientia Lecturer and epidemiologist at the Centre for Big Data Research in Health
at UNSW.  Her research addresses the quality and governance of data that focuses on
equity, the measurement of health disparities, and improving health services and
outcomes.  She holds honorary fellowships at the University of Melbourne and Menzies
School of Health Research, is Research and Education Lead Aboriginal and Torres Strait
Islander Health at the Victorian Comprehensive Cancer Centre and is also Deputy Editor
of the Health Promotion Journal of Australia.  

For more information and to register, visit https://statsoc.org.au/event-4986082 

If you will be attending online, a reminder that we will be taking questions via the SSA
Slack channel only.  The Zoom chat function will be disabled.  

Statistical Society of Australia