Local Aboriginal Land Council (LALC) A letter, on LALC letterhead and signed by either the LALC Chairperson or Chief Executive Officer confirming your acceptance as a member of a LALC, can be provided as proof of Aboriginality.
Letter from an Indigenous organisation or Community Elder
We prefer a letter from an Indigenous organisation to confirm your heritage. However, we will also accept a letter from a Community Elder. Use the Confirmation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent letter to confirm your heritage.
Since legislation for Indigenous people was a state matter, each state found its own definition for 'Aboriginal'. Examples: Western Australia: a person with more than a quarter of Aboriginal blood. Victoria: any person of Aboriginal descent.
Your Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander heritage is something that is personal to you. You do not need a letter of confirmation to identify as an Indigenous Australian.
The Confirmation of Aboriginality form is a certificate that acknowledges that you are known to your community as an Aboriginal person. Your Aboriginal confirmation form can be asked of you when applying for Indigenous specific services or programs.
“An Australian Aboriginal genome does not exist and therefore to even propose that a test is possible is scientifically inaccurate,” Ms Jenkins said. “The two companies which currently offer this 'service' use sections of DNA called single tandem repeats (STRs) that vary in the number of copies each person has.
If you receive the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander region in your DNA results, this tells you that you probably had an ancestor who was an Indigenous Australian. If you are Indigenous Australian and do not receive this region in your DNA results, this should not subtract from your identity in any way.
Doing your family history may help you obtain proof of your heritage. You might find a birth, death or marriage record that traces your family to a particular Aboriginal station or reserve. Or you might have oral history stories that can connect you to a particular area or person or photograph.
Who Should You Contact to Find Out if You're of Aboriginal Descent? You'll need to contact an incorporated Indigenous organisation where your relatives are from–someone in the community may remember or know your family. An incorporated Indigenous organisation where you live might also give you a letter of confirmation.
The test has three elements, all of which must be proved by the person claiming to be Aboriginal: the person must identify as Aboriginal, the Aboriginal community must recognise the person as Aboriginal, and the person is Aboriginal by way of descent.
One Nation NSW has proposed to abolish self-identification and introduce a “new system” relying on DNA ancestry testing with a result requiring a finding of at least 25 per cent "Indigenous" before First Nations identification is accepted.
Between 2014–15 and 2018–19, after adjusting for inflation, the median gross weekly personal income for Indigenous Australians aged 18 and over fell by 5.6%, from $518 to $489 (Figure 1).
This allows us to better understand how health issues for Indigenous Australians might be the same as, or different to, other Australians. The best way to get this information right is for us to ask you the standard Indigenous status question and let you answer for yourself.
But Aboriginal people are subject to the same social security laws and entitled to no more (and no less) government sponsorship than any other Australian. There has never been a government program that distributed free houses or cars, and Aboriginal students have to pay for university like everyone else.
Some Indigenous-specific services, programs and grants will ask you for proof of heritage. We do not provide certificates to confirm Aboriginality.
A Confirmation of Aboriginality is an official letter that is approved by a local Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation or the land council of your mob.
Aboriginal people can be dark-skinned and broad-nosed, or blonde-haired and blue-eyed. Let's get rid of some myths!
"Indigenous peoples" is a collective name for the original peoples of North America and their descendants. Often, "Aboriginal peoples" is also used. The Canadian Constitution recognizes 3 groups of Aboriginal peoples: Indians (more commonly referred to as First Nations), Inuit and Métis.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and Indigenous holding entities don't need to pay income tax or capital gains tax on native title payments or benefits.
The New South Wales Stolen Generations Reparations Scheme provides ex-gratia payments of $75,000 to living Stolen Generations survivors who were removed from their families and committed to the care of the New South Wales Aborigines Protection or Welfare Boards.
NSWALC Funeral Grants
Financial assistance for funeral expenses may be available from the NSW Aboriginal Land Council (NSWALC). Further enquiries should be directed to NSWALC.
At the end of the June quarter of 2016, around 45% of Indigenous Australians aged 15 and over (220,800 people) were receiving some form of Centrelink income support payment, compared with 26% of non-Indigenous Australians of this age (4.9 million people).
The Aboriginal people living in social housing are exempt from Stamp Duty as per Section 278 of the Duties Act 1997 (NSW).
In NSW Aboriginality determined through the Commonwealth Government definition can be confirmed through a Letter of Confirmation of Aboriginality or a Certificate of Aboriginality.