First Nations Australians should be granted access to the pension at a younger age due to a gap in life expectancy “which is closely connected to race”, the federal court has heard.
The full federal court on Monday commenced hearings in a landmark case brought against the commonwealth by 65-year-old Indigenous man, Uncle Dennis, who is seeking to access the pension three years early.
Figures produced by his barrister, Ron Merkel KC, on Monday suggested a 65-year-old Indigenous man would live for a further 15.8 years on average, compared to 19 years for a non-Indigenous man.
“There is a long historical disadvantage which is embedded structurally into Aboriginal and Indigenous society in Australia that is the direct cause of this life expectancy gap,” he told the court.
“The relief we’re seeking is to remove historical racial disadvantage and discrimination, to correct the wrongs of the past against Indigenous people … Those wrongs have produced a gap in life expectancy which is closely connected to race.”
Uncle Dennis, a Queensland-born Wakka Wakka man who has requested that his surname be withheld, had previously lodged a claim to receive the pension but it was rejected because he had not reached the pension age, now 67.
He argued that if retiring Indigenous men were expected to live for three years fewer than non-Indigenous men, then their pension age should be 64.
His case argues that the commonwealth’s failure to account for differences in life expectancy in the pension breaches section 10 of the Racial Discrimination Act.
The overall average life expectancy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men is estimated to be 71.6 years and 75.6 years for females, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare. This is compared with life expectancy for non-Indigenous Australians of 80.2 years for males and 83.4 years for females.
The case was brought by the Human Rights Law Centre alongside the Victoria Aboriginal Legal Service (Vals) and firm DLA Piper.
Nerita Waight, chief executive at Vals, said Australia was not on track to meet the Closing the gap target to reduce life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people by 20231.
“The gap in life expectancy is a direct result of decades of racist colonial policies,” she said. “Lowering the age for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to access the age pension is a simple and practical measure that will meaningfully respond to the history and systemic discrimination that causes our people to die before their time.”
Australian Associated Press contributed to this report
