Testing for Aboriginal Descent - is it a Brand New DNA ?
Since March 2020, new methods in DNA testing and an expansion of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander genetic reference group has greatly increased our ability to determine whether we are of genuine Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent.
This improvement in DNA technology says nothing about one’s personal Aboriginal identity, or acceptance by Aboriginal communities, but this new technology does go to the heart of whether one is of Aboriginal descent, or not.
Aboriginal descent (that is, having a genetic link to the Aboriginal ancestors that have resided on this continent for thousands of years) is a crucial component of the Three-part test for Aboriginality as used by our Commonwealth Government. The Three-part test, which was proposed in the 1980’s defines Aboriginality as follows:
An Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is :
a person of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent who,
identifies as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and
is accepted as such by the community in which he (she) lives.
see - Defining Aboriginality in Australia - Parliament of Australia (2003)
To receive benefits from the Government, which are designated to be exclusively for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, applicants need to satisfy all of the three parts of the test.
Although it is generally believed that this Three-part test for Aboriginality is the best of all possible schemes, there are a number of very strong critics who argue that many ‘fake’ aborigines are claiming government benefits without possessing any valid proof of descent (see below).
Maybe it is time for the Government, on behalf of the taxpayer, to revisit how we determine Aboriginal descent in light of the improved genetic DNA technologies that are now emerging?
We therefore propose a new, updated definition of Aboriginality, for use by Governments, and only for when a determination of Aboriginality is required for the provision of Government services or benefits.
An Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander is:
a person of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, as determined by an approved genetic test,
who identifies as an Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander, and
is accepted as such by the community in which he (she) lives.
Now, is it a big deal for our Australian Government to request DNA testing when it deems it necessary?
Not really, as we are already agreeing to DNA testing when our Government requires certain people to provide DNA proof to confirm they are who they say they are. This is our Government - all the Centre-left and Centre-right voters who voted for the incumbent Labour or Liberal government of the day - this current DNA testing policy has bipartisan support.
Our Government already requests DNA testing to determine ‘descent’ of certain applicants for Government services.
What is the big deal with using DNA testing to determine someone’s claim to a particular ‘descent’ so as to obtain taxpayer funded benefits?
As voters, we have already given the Government the go ahead to do it.
Let’s just extend the program to reduce the ‘frauds’ being committed on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
Criticisms and commentary on the problems arising from the current system for determining Aboriginality where proof of descent is suspect.
AN Aboriginal group in Victoria is planning to issue certificates of Aboriginality with a five-year expiry date, after concerns were raised about people pretending to be Aboriginal.
The Dandenong and District Aborigines Co-operative, which issues the certificates to people who want to apply for Aboriginal housing or other programs, such as indigenous scholarships, will bring in the new system next year.
Chairwoman Margaret Gardiner said "We've had people coming to us, saying 'I'm an Aboriginal' when they are not, and we have knocked a lot of them back, but what if somebody slips under the radar?" Dr Gardiner said.
The previous Abbott government's chief Indigenous adviser, Warren Mundine, wants a national database of Aboriginal people to resolve "once and for all" the controversial issue of proving Aboriginality.
The Aboriginal Housing Office formerly required people to prove their Aboriginality in one of three ways:
by being a member of a local Aboriginal land council or registered Aboriginal organisation;
obtaining a confirmation letter from one of those organisations;
or, if those avenues were not possible, by providing a statutory declaration.
The office will no longer accept statutory declarations [due to major concerns of fraud].
Push for Aboriginal ID tests by indigenous leaders
A landmark finding disqualifying a claim of Aboriginality by a former senior NSW public servant has led to indigenous leaders calling for tougher identity checks amid warnings that “fake Aborigines’’ are involved in widespread rorting of benefits, government jobs and contracts.
Queensland Aboriginal leader Stephen Hagan…said the existing system to approve claims of Aboriginality was outdated and being rorted.
“You can go to any town in the nation with a significant indigenous population and you’ll see not one, but numerous ‘white blackfellas’ falsely claiming Aboriginality to get jobs and benefits that should go to our people,’’ Mr Hagan said.
“We need a system that properly tests these claims so there is no chance of rorting and to ensure targeted taxpayer funds and jobs go to indigenous people.’’
Veteran activist and author Stephen Hagan…said there was widespread concern among Australia’s indigenous community about false claims to Aboriginality.
One Nation’s Mark Latham appeared on Today this morning…to explain how his DNA testing of people who claim Aboriginal ancestry would work…telling host Deborah Knight, “a single dollar of wasted welfare money is a problem”.
The state party leader said his idea would stop “welfare rorters” and stop “self-identification”, claiming the idea was already working well in the US with Native Americans.
“What I’m saying is if the technology exists for the DNA ancestry testing, let’s use it,”…“Let’s find out the heritage of the people applying for indigenous programs and obviously if they have got very little or have got none, they are trying to rort the system, that’s no good.
“We should be respecting genuine indigenous identity and getting the money to the people in need who have got the genuine Aboriginal background.”
And there has been push-back and counter-argument by those opposing genetic DNA testing to determine Aboriginal descent (see below).
But we, at Dark Emu Exposed, simply ask,
‘If a person is of Aboriginal descent, why would they not agree to a genetic DNA test to confirm that descent, to be used only for access to Government benefits, specifically reserved for Australians of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent’?
We are NOT saying someone needs to have a genetic DNA test to self identify as being Aboriginal in whatever way they like, or that they need to have a genetic DNA test to receive any of the Government benefits, that are available to all citizens of Australia, based on needs alone;
BUT we are saying that if someone wants taxpayer funded benefits, that are reserved exclusively for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, they then need to satisfy the descent part of the Government’s Three-part definition for Aboriginality, which can only really be done confidently with genetic DNA testing. A mere statutory declaration, or a ‘nod-and-a-wink’ from a mate on the selection committee, is just not good enough.
A number of commentators use the argument that, ‘genetic testing can never tell someone they’re not Aboriginal.’
This is true, but that is not what we are arguing here - what we are saying is that, ‘genetic testing does have a role in determining someone’s Aboriginal descent, as required as one part of a three part procedure in determining that person’s overall Aboriginality.’
Media Watch’s take on Mark Latham’s proposal. It seem now (March 2020) that the DNA reference data-base and testing may have advanced to a point where more certainty in determining Aboriginal descent is now available?
ABC Radio asked if DNA tests could actually do the job, prompting Dr Dennis McNevin to explain:
DR DENNIS MCNEVIN: … it all depends on, of having a reliable reference population for Aboriginal Australians and at the moment I don’t, to my knowledge, that doesn’t exist.
- ABC Radio, Statewide (NSW) Drive with Fiona Wyllie, 12 March, 2019
As of March 31st 2020 : “AncestryDNA® has updated its ethnicity estimate reference panel so customers will now have the ability to see a possible genetic connection with the Indigenous communities of Australia.” So maybe now is the time for Dr McNevin to revisit this topic?
Also from the Media Watch segment,
“Seven News did at least inquire about the cost of One Nation’s policy – should it ever be accepted:
PETER FEGAN: There are more than 798,000 Indigenous Australians meaning an unreliable $100 DNA test would cost more than $79 million, a full genome test would cost well over $2 billion.
DNA EXPERT: It’s not going to be the simple Ancestry.com that Mr Latham has gone and done. - Seven News, 12 March, 2019”
But Media Watch are promulgating their usual victimhood meme - that ALL Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are claiming special benefits that require proof of Aboriginality. A great number of Australians of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent are NOT claiming special benefits. They are living their lives identifying as Aboriginal people, but would have no need to ‘prove descent’ as they are making no special claims on the taxpayer. Hence, the DNA test bill will not be as high as claimed.
'Genetic testing can't prove Aboriginality'
Professor Emma Kowal, an anthropologist and former medical doctor from the National Centre for Indigenous Genomics, says genetic testing "can never tell someone they're not Aboriginal."
It can only show how similar one person is to another group of DNA sequences, she says.
"There is no genetic test for Aboriginality, all that [genetic] testing ever does is compare your genes sequences with a sample, with someone else's gene sequences or a group of gene sequences."
- Professor Emma Kowal here
To us at Dark emu Exposed, this is just a classic slippery deflection of the argument to give an answer to a question that wasn’t asked - we are asking if the new DNA reference group technologies can tell someone if they have Aboriginal descent? We are not saying the DNA test is a genetic test for Aboriginality.
Descent is just one-part of the Three-part definition of Aboriginality.
So yes, we say genetic DNA testing can determine one’s descent.
From the ABC Media Watch program when commenting on Mark Latham’s DNA testing proposal for determining Aboriginal descent:
“A proper journalist might also have sought reaction from the Jewish community - who know all about race-based policies - and put that to Latham. Because its condemnation - in a statement on Facebook - was swift:
“The policy amounts to racial profiling and is fraught with danger. We call on all major political parties to utterly reject this policy” - Facebook, NSW Jewish Board of Deputies, 12 March, 2019
With all due respect to the Jewish community, we believe this is exactly Mark Latham’s point - “racial profiling’ is already undertaken and accepted within the Government and the Aboriginal community with regard to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander programs, so why not extend it to eliminate fraud in the same programs?
For example, one needs to only consider the legally approved, ‘racial profiling’ undertaken by employers when selecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders for Identified Positions. This ‘racial profiling’ is sanctioned by the Government via the Australian Human Rights Commission, as per their website :
“Identified positions are positions where an employer may identify that a position is to be filled only by a person with a particular attribute. This might mean…[a] position identified for people of a particular racial background, such as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, [and it] can be lawful if it is taken for the sole purpose of advancement of a certain racial or ethnic group…”
We actually agree with the NSW Jewish Board or Deputies that ‘racial profiling…is fraught with danger’, but if we, as a society, are to have it sanctioned to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples obtain employment based on their race, then we should also be willing to accept it to eliminate the fraudsters who would extort those same Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
DNA Testing to determine Aboriginal descent is now accepted as a mainstream technique, even by such Progressive Left groups such as the Guardian, The ABC and many Academic Institutions. See the following examples.
Photograph: Richard I'Anson/Getty Images/Lonely Planet Images
“DNA collected from hair samples in the 1900s has revealed a continuous connection to regions of Australia going back thousands of years.
DNA testing to confirm Aboriginal descent seems to be OK here for the Guardian.
Largest DNA study of Aboriginal Australians confirms genetic antiquity…Aboriginal elder Lesley Williams, who was an adviser to the study, says “Aboriginal people are increasingly interested in their genetic history.”
DNA testing to confirm Aboriginal descent seems to be OK here for SBS as well as Aboriginal Elders.
