Frustration

The rental application process can be challenging for the most part, particularly in todays technological age. Most Real Estates adopt an online presence and have apps and software that enable them to manage the increasingly competitive market.

This process is made even more difficult when attempting to relocate interstate. Inspecting and viewing a property is an expectation and while some Real Estates are willing to work with prospective tenants from interstate, offering a virtual tour or rarely, an opportunity of offer "sight unseen", these occurrences aren't the norm.

I am currently assisting an Aboriginal Elder with this process so she can move from her little outback hometown of Brewarrina, NSW to the green landscapes of the Garden City that is Toowoomba QLD. An entire world of difference to one another in comparison. Brewarrina is a small north western outback town in New South Wales. Riddled with social disadvantage for the Ngemba Traditional custodians and First Nations peoples of that country. Subjects of colonization, systemic oppression, and unfairly placed behind the eight ball of opportunity and success, this woman is desperate to give her great grandchildren somewhat of a head start in life away from the afflictions and addictions of drugs, alcohol, sexual abuse, early motherhood and violence.

This amazingly strong, cultural, independent woman is 67 years of age and has her 5 great grandchildren in her care as wards of the state through the Department of Community and Justice. A responsibility she took on board to save them from slipping through the cracks of the government funded child safety program which quite often sees them shuffled around within the system, bouncing from caregivers to caregivers with no stability and often resulting in the same circumstances they were supposedly saved from.

A system which seems to have its hands tied when providing real solutions and assistance for these most vulnerable of clients, children. This woman is willing to remove herself from the only home she has known, where she raised her children and they raised theirs, to a relatively unknown environment in an attempt to break the cycle. She should be commended for this decision, it is most admirable to say the least, and she is being met with difficulty and challenge every step of the way.

Challenges in that everything is done online, viewing available properties, booking inspections, the application process, even referees and supporting documentation need to be uploaded as part of the renters profile. Online databases are searched, credit history is sought and even though there are no red flags arising for this woman, her applications are being overlooked and/or returning as unsuccessful.

Many in-person conversations have been had with real estates, many emails requesting feedback and requesting assistance to help enhance or support her applications, to which she receives little or no response. Frustration sets in, particularly when properties applied for are still not tenanted and she has been informed that she has been unsuccessful.

The most frustrating reality of all is that the Original Peoples of this country, our First Nations, our Traditional Owners, struggle to be accepted, included and considered. They may be highlighted, acknowledged and even immortalized, particularly in the sporting industry, but this recognition only comes with successes that are advantageous for the broader nation and its reputation or visibility on the world stage.

It is more difficult for First Nations peoples to access appropriate services and support. Not only are they subjected to the disadvantages of white privilege, they are also deemed lesser than, or in less need, than in the scope of refugees and immigrants. What isn't recognized and most definitely not admitted or considered, is the fact that First Nations Peoples in Australia are refugees in their own country. The country of Australia that is made up of hundreds of First Nations'. Nations of peoples with their own Laws, Lore and Culture, separated by nation boundaries, unrecognized by the penal colony, ignored by the settlers and abolished by the monarchy.

The circumstances of social disadvantage in which we find the victims of dispossession, assimilation, segregation, oppression, genocide and ethnocide, are appalling and merely appeased with the crumbs of dollars to satisfy but not exceed expectation of responsibility and accountability. Truth-telling they say, inclusion and recognition in the Constitution they offer, initiatives and programs which yield next to no valuable outcomes seem to just perpetuate the cycles and provide no relief nor rescue from the realities of the imposition of the Crown. There was no treaty, still is no treaty, just conversation, consultation and no commiseration or compensation, none that counts or matters, none that reflects the enormity of the situation, none that revels the truth of the matter.

There may have been some progress made over the past 234 years, but this progress has simply identified the complexity of treating First Nations Australians as one people rather than the hundreds of Nations they actually are. It's not a one size fits all approach here. The divide and conquer mentality of the colonizing powers have certainly successfully achieved that. First Nation divided against First Nation and even fractures and division within Nations is paramount and more than evident within the "black politics" arena.

It is disappointing and disheartening to come to the realization that a First Nations woman is met with real challenges, obstacles, scrutiny, judgement, discrimination and conjecture when submitting applications for rental properties, houses built on stolen land, communities built on lies and twisted truths. It is a disgrace to know that denial of rights is the norm for First Nations and that the fight is simply for the same opportunities afforded to every immigrant and their descendants, that is the Nation of Australia, invaded by the monarch, colonized by convicts, built on immigrants at the expense of the blood, sweat and tears of all First Nations.

Denial and dispossession is the truth and reality found in the Real Estate Rental Property Market but the fact of the matter is, that denial and dispossession is the course of everyday in the lives of any and every First Nations person in this country.