” The national attempt to close the gap on Indigenous disadvantage has largely failed and the Turnbull government is being warned that a proposed “refresh” of the scheme, intended to address its decade-long shortcomings, faces equally poor results.
Ten years after Kevin Rudd delivered the first prime minister’s Closing the Gap report to parliament, only one of seven targets is on track to be met, four more are due to expire in June with no hope of being achieved and all levels of government, as well as Indigenous leaders, are arguing over how to proceed.”
” The Australian Government, on behalf of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), is asking all Australians for their views to help construct the next phase of the Closing the Gap agenda and has released a COAG discussion paper to support ongoing consultations that have been held this year and will continue into 2018.
Over the past decade, important progress has been made in improving health, employment and education outcomes for First Australians since Australian governments agreed to a Closing the Gap framework to address Indigenous disadvantage.
However, it is clear that the Closing the Gap agenda can be better designed and more effectively delivered. This is a view shared among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, governments and the broader community.”
Another step in this process is to consider how governments can improve program implementation. Six implementation principles have been developed to guide the new Closing the Gap agenda.
The principles are:
Funding prioritised to meet targets
Evidence-based programs and policies
Genuine collaboration between governments and communities
Part 1 Closing the Gap: Indigenous targets mostly unmet
The poor result comes despite annual direct government spending on indigenous Australians of $33.4 billion, an increase of 23.7 per cent since the first expenditure survey when the program began and a figure twice that for non-indigenous Australians.
There are concerns that simply revising targets, rather than addressing policy failures responsible for the disadvantage gaps, will deepen the dire situation.
Indigenous leaders have urged Malcolm Turnbull to reconsider measures suggested in last year’s Uluru Statement from the Heart and presented to the Prime Minister in the Referendum Council’s subsequent report. They say the proposals, which include an indigenous advisory voice to parliament, would give Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders a greater say in policies that affect them.
“The Uluru outcome was a sophisticated roadmap to closing the gap,” Referendum Council member and constitutional law expert Megan Davis told The Australian.
“The dialogues said politicians and the bureaucracy have shown after 10 years they are not up to it. Refresh isn’t a priority, reform is a priority, otherwise we will be subjected to the annual ritualism of Prime Minister’s reporting on little or no progress.”
The Australian can reveal that a coalition of concerned peak organisations and leaders has written to Mr Turnbull ahead of this year’s 10th annual report, expected next month, expressing their fears the reboot will merely reflect “the aspirations of the federal government” rather than the needs of First Peoples.
They say public consultation on the missed targets is being rushed, indigenous communities are not being adequately briefed on the process and a public discussion paper contains leading questions and foregone conclusions.
West Australian Labor senator Patrick Dodson was excluded from one consultation, in his home town of Broome, on the basis that he was a member of parliament — despite being a key indigenous leader in the region — raising questions about Mr Turnbull’s insistence the “voice” proposal was unnecessary since there were already indigenous MPs.
“They’ve just gone deaf,” Senator Dodson said yesterday. “There may be things about Uluru that are complicated and hard but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be going through them.”
The letter, on behalf of the “Redfern Statement Alliance” which includes the indigenous Close the Gap steering committee, warns that the government’s refresh discussion paper “was not developed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders … is prescriptive and centres on the theme of ‘prosperity’ within a narrow economic frame”.
The only Closing the Gap target currently on track to be met is halving the gap for year 12 or equivalent attainment by 2020, currently tracking up from 45.4 per cent to 61.5 per cent from 2008 to 2014-15. The other failing targets are closing the gap in life expectancy by 2031 and having 95 per cent of indigenous four-year-olds enrolled in early childhood education by 2025.
Australian National University professor Nicholas Biddle said the 10-year program had brought some positives but warned that “targets alone don’t guarantee good policy”.
Cape York leader Noel Pearson has thrown his weight behind opposition to a purely targets-based focus, telling an audience last week the current approach amounted to “the political and cultural right bang(ing) on … about better health, better education, more responsibility, blah blah blah” without addressing “the structural problem” of a lack of policy participation.
Part 2 Shaping the future of the Closing the Gap agenda
The Australian Government, on behalf of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), is asking all Australians for their views to help construct the next phase of the Closing the Gap agenda and has released a COAG discussion paper to support ongoing consultations that have been held this year and will continue into 2018.
Over the past decade, important progress has been made in improving health, employment and education outcomes for First Australians since Australian governments agreed to a Closing the Gap framework to address Indigenous disadvantage.
However, it is clear that the Closing the Gap agenda can be better designed and more effectively delivered. This is a view shared among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, governments and the broader community.
In 2008, the original Closing the Gap targets were developed without consultation from Indigenous Australians and without the direct involvement of state and territory governments – which meant targets were not as effective or as well directed as they should have been.
A new approach to Closing the Gap must value the aspirations, strengths and successes of First Australians. Importantly, it must be built on meaningful conversations with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
New Closing the Gap targets will drive better outcomes for Indigenous communities because, for the first time, state and territory governments will establish targets in areas for which they are responsible and all targets will be designed to drive change, with specific action plans to support targets.
Consultations have been ongoing for a number of months including through specific roundtables held in Broome, Dubbo and Cairns in November and December 2017. More sessions are scheduled across the nation in the coming months. Consultations will also continue with national peak bodies, and regional and local engagements led by state and territory governments.
We are committed to working with First Australians, state and territory governments and the broader community to develop a meaningful and robust framework for the future, and encourage all Australians to share their views.
“The people you love, take them for heart health checks.
Learn the warning signs of a heart attack and make sure to ring 000 (Triple Zero) if you think someone in your community is having one. Secondly give cigarettes the boot:
If you smoke, stop. I was only a light smoker but it still did me harm, so now I’ve given up.”
Former champion footballer Nicky Winmar always looked after his health, apart from having been a light smoker for years.
Nicky Winmar lifts his jumper in the memorable 1993 St Kilda v Collingwood match. Picture: Wayne Ludbey
But he had a heart attack at only 46, after losing his own father to a heart attack at 50
All Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples over the age of 35 should have regular heart health checks. These are simple and painless.
A heart health check can be done as part of a normal check up with your ACCHO doctor or health practitioner.
Your ACCHO doctor will take blood tests, check your blood pressure and ask you about your lifestyle and your family (your grandparents, parents, brothers and sisters).
Give your doctor as much information about your lifestyle and family history as possible.
Once your doctor or health practitioner has your blood test results, ask them for your report which will state if you have high (more than 15%); moderate (10-15%) or low risk (less than 10%) of a heart attack or stroke.
Warning signs of a heart attack
Pain in the chest – or arms, shoulders, neck, jaw or back
Breathless
Sick in the stomach
Cold sweats
Dizzy or light-headed
If someone seems to be having a heart attack:
Make them stop what they are doing
Give them a tablet of aspirin to chew
Call 000 (Triple Zero) for help. The operator will tell you what to do next
Do you have more questions?
The Heart Foundation Helpline is here to answer them. Call 13 11 12 and talk to one of our qualified heart health professionals. If you need an interpreter, call 131 450 and ask for the Heart Foundation.
Download Social media resources
For help also Contact your nearest ACCHO -Download the APP
Please note : Before completing a job application please check with the ACCHO that the job is still open
This weeks top job
Chief Executive Officer
Location: Carnarvon, WA
Employment Type: Full time/ Permanent
Remuneration: Salary and employment conditions will be commensurate with qualifications and experience and will be negotiated with the successful applicant
About the Organisation
Carnarvon Medical Services Aboriginal Corporation (CMSAC) is an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service established in 1986. CMSAC aims to provide primary, secondary and specialist health care services to Carnarvon and the surrounding region.
About the Opportunity
CMSAC has a highly rewarding opportunity for a Chief Executive Officer to lead its professional, multi-disciplinary team, based in Carnarvon, WA.
This pivotal leadership position will work directly with the Board of Directors and is responsible for the day to day management and delivery of high quality, comprehensive and culturally appropriate primary healthcare services to the local Aboriginal community.
Key areas of responsibility will include (but will not be limited to):
Leading, directing and managing the operations of the organisation;
Implementing and achieving the strategic objectives and responsibilities of the organisation set by the Board of Directors;
Developing and fostering a high performing work environment
Driving and implementing cultural workplace changes;
Diversifying and growing revenue streams to increase service delivery;
Strengthening the organisation’s stakeholder relations, community engagement and patient satisfaction; and
Building and sustaining strong financial performance.
To view the full position description and selection criteria, please click here.
To view and download the application pack, please click here.
About YouOur successful candidate will have sound experience in a senior leadership position, along with tertiary qualifications in business and/or health.
As an inspiring and collaborative leader with a strong understanding of healthcare trends for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, you will work strategically to enable transformative change by strengthening the organisation and creating a sustainable future for improved health outcomes for our local Aboriginal communities.
Although not essential, experience working in an Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service will be highly regarded.
Please Note: The successful candidate will be required to undertake a National Police Check prior to employment.
About the BenefitsFor your hard work and dedication, you will enjoy a highly attractive remuneration package plus salary sacrifice benefits. (Salary and employment conditions will be commensurate with qualifications and experience and will be negotiated with the successful applicant).
In addition, you will have access to a number of fantastic benefits including:
Fully furnished accommodation (exc utilities)
A fully maintained company vehicle for business and reasonable personal use
Mobile phone allowance (up to $1200 p/a)
6 weeks annual leave
Support to further invest in your career through additional training
Study leave options
Annual leave loading
Employee assistance program
Work/life balance, with Monday – Friday hours, 8:30am – 5pm
A relocation allowance can be negotiated with the right candidate!
” Understanding and respecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures—our strengths, traditions and our family, kinship, values and knowledge—is a fundamental foundation for better Indigenous health.
Consideration of the social and cultural determinants of health is vital, because a strong connection to culture correlates with good health, through strengthened identity, resilience and social and physical wellbeing.
In the words of the Prime Minister, we are committed to doing things with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, not to them, empowering local community solutions and better personal choices.
This will require the involvement of individuals, families, communities and Aboriginal organisations at all levels, in shaping the future and achieving improved health.
The Closing the Gap refresh and the next Implementation Plan will be important opportunities to build on what we have learned, and help ensure our people live better, longer and healthier lives and are able to achieve their full potential.”
Extract from Minister Ken Wyatt’s ” Better Indigenous Health ” overview in this weeks the AHHA’s #ClosetheGap Magazine Read in Full Part 4 below
Thursday 8 th Februarythe #ClosetheGap Campaigns Parliamentary Breakfast 7.00 AM event and the launch of a ten-year review: the #ClosingtheGap Strategy and Recommendations for Reset.
The Prime Minister has established a group of 10 Aboriginals to inform governments this week on the next phase of the #ClosingtheGap agenda. #CTGRefresh
The Aboriginal panel will meet from 7th – 8th February.
Ministers will join the Indigenous group on the afternoon of Thursday 8th.
Friday 9th February, The 10 Indigenous participants will formally present the gathering’s proposals to the Council of Australian Governments #COAG meeting.
Monday 12 Feb, the PM provides his #ClosingtheGap report to Parliament 11.00 am
Tuesday 13 Februaryseveral key events to mark 10 years since the Apology, including the public concert on the lawns of Parliament House – hosted by The Healing Foundation. #Apology10
” The Australian Government, on behalf of the Council of Australian Governments (COAG), is asking all Australians for their views to help construct the next phase of the Closing the Gap agenda and has released a COAG discussion paper to support ongoing consultations that have been held this year and will continue into 2018.
Over the past decade, important progress has been made in improving health, employment and education outcomes for First Australians since Australian governments agreed to a Closing the Gap framework to address Indigenous disadvantage.
However, it is clear that the Closing the Gap agenda can be better designed and more effectively delivered. This is a view shared among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, governments and the broader community.”
Part 3 #Refresh CTG Example from NACCHO Member Congrees Alice Springs
Congress Alice Springs notes the Council of Australian Government’s (COAG’s) commitment in their meeting of 9 June 2017 to refreshing the Closing the Gap (CtG) agenda, “focussing on a strength-based approach that supports Indigenous advancement, working in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples”.
As a leading Aboriginal community controlled health service with over forty years of experience in delivering improvements in services and outcomes for Aboriginal people1 in Central Australia, Congress is submitting this paper to the Taskforce that has been established in the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet to progress this important work.
The paper is framed around five key structural reforms to the CtG process and on eight specific social and cultural determinants of health and well being
The February 2018 issue was released today. It focuses on ‘Close the Gap’ and features articles including:
Better Indigenous health—Ken Wyatt see in full below
Aboriginal patient journey mapping tools—Flinders University, University of Adelaide, Port Augusta Hospital and Regional Health Unit, Royal Adelaide Hospital
Walk with us—Janine Mohamed, CATSINaM
Nutrition from first foods—Dympna Leonard
Check today, see tomorrow—Hugh Taylor and Mitchell Anjou, University of Melbourne
Understanding and respecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultures—our strengths, traditions and our family, kinship, values and knowledge—is a fundamental foundation for better Indigenous health.
The Turnbull Government understands that significant factors contributing to higher rates of premature death and chronic illnesses among our people lie largely outside the traditional health system.
Consideration of the social and cultural determinants of health is vital, because a strong connection to culture correlates with good health, through strengthened identity, resilience and social and physical wellbeing.
We know that over one-third of the average health gap between Indigenous and non- Indigenous people is the result of social determinants—the implications of housing, employment, justice and education.
This rises to over 50% when combined with risky behaviours such as tobacco and alcohol use, poor diet and physical inactivity.
In 2017, the Government led the My Life My Lead consultations across the nation,listening to people, and government andnon-Government agencies, sharing theirexperiences around the social and culturaldeterminants of health, with around 600attending 13 forums.
We heard that to make significant overall improvements in Indigenous lives, including their health, we need to:
• recognise the importance of culture, family and country;
• partner with communities to build capacity;
• recognise and address the impacts of underlying trauma; and
• lift access to health, education, employment and social services.
There is a need to address systemic racism and enhance cultural competency.
The 2017 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework highlighted some areas of success: There has been a 44% decline in Aboriginal circulatory disease death rates between 1998 and 2015, and a 47% decline in kidney deaths; there has been a longer term 33% decline (1998–2015) in child mortality and a recent 9% drop in smoking rates.
However, we can, and must, do better.
Among my Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health priorities are:
• Renal health—reducing the incidence of kidney disease, with a strong focus on early intervention.
• Maternal and child health—making sure we give babies through to teenagers the best possible start in life by developing a 0–17 years approach to social, physical and emotional wellbeing.
• Men’s health—considering more of the social and cultural determinants of health.
• Eye and ear health—working on the causes of preventable blindness and hearing loss, including tackling otitis media.
• Preventable hospital admissions—with a strong focus on early intervention to keep people out of hospital.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men’s life expectancy is 10 years shorter than non- Indigenous males.
While smoking rates have improved significantly, they remain high and contribute to the largest burden of Indigenous ill health.
The $116.8 million (2015–16 to 2017–18) Tackling Indigenous Smoking program aims to further reduce these rates.
The gap in the blindness rate in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people over 40, compared to non-Indigenous Australians, has halved between 2008 and 2016. The Australian Government is investing $76 million from 2013 – 14 to 2020–21 to build on this improvement.
A comprehensive approach to childhood hearing loss is combining prevention, early treatment and management of ear infections, supported by an investment of $76.4 million from 2012–13 to 2021–22.
In addition, providing a culturally safe and respectful environment within mainstream health services can help improve access to health care, as well as the effectiveness of that care.
Between July 2013 and June 2015, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples were discharged from hospital against medical advice at seven times the rate of non-Indigenous people and were more likely to leave the emergency department without waiting to be seen.
I am pleased to be partnering with organisations including the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, the Australian Indigenous Doctor’s Association and the Council of Presidents of Medical Colleges to help reduce the barriers to accessing health care.
The initial focus includes improving how the health system works with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, ranging from enhanced cultural awareness and training for staff, through to reducing any forms of institutionalised racism.
The Cultural Respect Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health 2016–2026, sponsored by the Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council, commits all state and territory governments to embedding the principles of cultural respect into the health system.
The next Implementation Plan for the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan, due in 2018, will recognise the importance of culture in finding solutions, and focus on the factors that promote resilience, foster a sense of identity and support good mental and physical health and wellbeing for individuals, families and communities.
In the words of the Prime Minister, we are committed to doing things with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, not to them, empowering local community solutions and better personal choices.
This will require the involvement of individuals, families, communities and Aboriginal organisations at all levels, in shaping the future and achieving improved health.
The Closing the Gap refresh and the next Implementation Plan will be important opportunities to build on what we have learned, and help ensure our people live better, longer and healthier lives and are able to achieve their full potential.
“ The life expectancy gap has in fact started to widen again and the Indigenous child mortality rate is now more than double that of other children.
This is a national shame and demands an urgent tripartite health partnership. This must be high on the agenda at tomorrow’s COAG meeting.”
In a departure from the campaign’s usual report, this year’s review focusses on the decade since the 2008 signing of the Close the Gap Statement of Intent.”
Close the Gap Campaign Co-Chair and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, June Oscar AO, said the Close the Gap strategy began in 2008 with great promise but has failed to deliver.
Read CTG call for urgent action to address national shame press release Part 2
“ The Close the Gap refresh being considered by the COAG provides an opportunity to reflect upon and reform current policy settings and institutionalised thinking,
The Close the Gap targets should remain, as should the National Indigenous Reform Agreement framework and associated National Partnership Agreements. They serve to focus the nation and increase our collective accountability.
What we need however is radically different action to achieve the targets
This starts with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their community controlled health organisations and peak representatives having a genuine say over their own health and wellbeing and health policies.
“Increased funding is needed for ACCHOs to expand in regions where there are low access to health services and high levels of disease, and in areas of mental health, disability services and aged care.
ACCHOs have consistently demonstrated that they achieve better results for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, at better value for money.
Part 1 NACCHO Press Release : Increased support to Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations needed to Close the Gap in life expectancy gap
The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) calls for urgent and radically different action to Close the Gap.
“The Council of Australian Governments’ (COAG) commitment to Close the Gap in 2007 was welcome.
It was a positive step towards mobilising government resources and effort to address the under investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples’ health”, said NACCHO Chairperson, Mr John Singer.
“But ten years on the gap in life expectancy between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and non-Indigenous Australians is widening, not closing.
Jurisdictions currently spend $2 per Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander for every $1 for the rest of the population whereas the Commonwealth in the past has spent only $1.21 per Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island person for every $1 spent on the rest of the population. NACCHO calls for the Commonwealth to increase funding to Close the Gap”, said John Singer.
NACCHO is a proud member of the Close the Gap Campaign and stands by its report released today: ‘A ten-year review: the Closing the Gap Strategy and Recommendations for Reset’.
The review found that the Close the Gap strategy has never been fully implemented. Underfunding in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health services and infrastructure has persisted – funding is not always based on need, has been cut and in some cases redirected through mainstream providers.
The role of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) in delivering more successful care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples than the mainstream service providers is not properly recognised.
A health equality plan was not in place until the release of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan Implementation Plan 2015, and this is unfunded.
And despite the initial investment in remote housing, there has not been a sufficient and properly resourced plan to adequately address the social determinants of health.
The framework underpinning the Close the Gap strategy – a national approach and leadership, increased accountability, clear roles and responsibilities and increased funding through National Partnership Agreements – has unraveled and in some cases been abandoned altogether.
A comprehensive and funded Indigenous health workforce is required to improve the responsiveness of health services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait islander peoples and increase cultural safety.
A boost in disease specific initiatives is urgently needed in areas where Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples have a high burden of disease or are particularly vulnerable, like ear health and renal disease, delivered through ACCHOs.”
“There also needs to be a way in which NACCHO and other Indigenous health leaders can come together with COAG to agree a ‘refreshed approach’ to Close the Gap”, said Mr Singer.
NACCHO has proposed to Government a way forward to Close the Gap in life expectancy and is looking forward to working with the Australian Government on the further development of its proposals.
The only way to close the gap is with the full participation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Until Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are fully engaged and have control over their health and wellbeing any ‘refresh’ will be marginal at best, and certainly won’t close the gap
Part 2 CALL FOR URGENT JOINT ACTION TO ADDRESS NATIONAL SHAME
Australian governments must join forces with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations to address the national shame of a widening life expectancy gap for our nation’s First Peoples.
“It’s time for each State and Territory government to affirm or reaffirm their commitments made via the Close the Gap Statement of Intent.
“Until now, the scrutiny has rightly been on the Federal Government regarding the need for it to lead the strategy and to coordinate and resource the effort.
But it’s now time for state and territory governments to step up.
“We want to see Premiers, Chief Ministers, Health and Indigenous Affairs Ministers in every jurisdiction providing regular and public accountability on their efforts to address the inequality gaps in their State or Territory.
“No more finger pointing between governments. A reset Closing the Gap Strategy should clearly articulate targets for both levels of government and be underpinned by a new set of agreements that include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, their leaders and organisations.”
Last year, the Prime Minister reported that six out of the seven targets were ‘not on track’. Since then, the Federal Government has announced that the COAG agreed
Closing the Gap Strategy would go through a ‘refresh’ process.
Close the Gap Co-Chair and Co-Chair of the National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples Rod Little, said the refresh process is the last chance to get government policy right to achieve the goal of health equality by 2030.
“The Close the Gap Campaign is led by more than 40 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander and non-Indigenous health and human rights bodies,” Mr Little said.
“No other group can boast this level of leadership, experience and expertise. We stand ready to work together with Federal, State and Territory governments. We have the solutions.
“You must get the engagement on this right. No half measures. No preconceived policies that are imposed, rather than respectfully discussed and collectively decided.”
The Close the Gap Campaign Co-Chairs have warned that, without a recommitment, the closing the gap targets will measure nothing but the collective failure of Australian governments to work together and to stay the course.
“While the approach has all but fallen apart, we know that with the right settings and right approach, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples leading the resetting of the strategy, we can start to meet the challenge of health inequality, and live up to the ideals that all Australians have a fundamental right to health,” the Co-Chairs said.
Part 3 :This review’s major findings are:
1.First, the Close the Gap Statement of Intent (and close the gap approach) has to date only been partially and incoherently implemented via the Closing the Gap Strategy:
An effective health equality plan was not in place until the release of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan Implementation Plan in 2015 – which has never been funded. The complementary National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Mental Health and Social and Emotional Wellbeing 2017-2023 needs an implementation plan and funding as appropriate. There is still yet to be a national plan to address housing and health infrastructure, and social determinants were not connected to health planning until recently and still lack sufficient resources.
The Closing the Gap Strategy focus on child and maternal health and addressing chronic disease and risk factors – such as smoking through the Tackling Indigenous Smoking Program – are welcomed and should be sustained.
However, there was no complementary systematic focus on building primary health service capacity according to need, particularly through the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services and truly shifting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health to a preventive footing rather than responding ‘after the event’ to health crisis.
2.Second, the Closing the Gap Strategy – a 25-year program – was effectively abandoned after five-years and so cannot be said to have been anything but partially implemented in itself.
This is because the ‘architecture’ to support the Closing the Gap Strategy (national approach, national leadership, funding agreements) had unraveled by 2014-2015.
3.Third, a refreshed Closing the Gap Strategy requires a reset which re-builds the requisite ‘architecture’ (national approach, national leadership, outcome-orientated funding agreements).
National priorities like addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health inequality have not gone away, are getting worse, and more than ever require a national response.
Without a recommitment to such ‘architecture’, the nation is now in a situation where the closing the gap targets will measure nothing but the collective failure of Australian governments to work together and to stay the course.
4.Fourth, a refreshed Closing the Gap Strategy must be founded on implementing the existing Close the Gap Statement of Intent commitments.
In the past ten years, Australian governments have behaved as if the Close the Gap Statement of Intent was of little relevance to the Closing the Gap Strategy when in fact it should have fundamentally informed it.
It is time to align the two. A refreshed Closing the Gap Strategy must focus on delivering equality of opportunity in relation to health goods and services, especially primary health care, according to need and in relation to health infrastructure (an adequate and capable health workforce, housing, food, water).
This should be in addition to the focus on maternal and infant health, chronic disease and other health needs. The social determinants of health inequality (income, education, racism) also must be addressed at a fundamental level.
5.Fifth, there is a ‘funding myth’ about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health – indeed in many Indigenous Affairs areas – that must be confronted as it impedes progress.
That is the idea of dedicated health expenditure being a waste of taxpayer funds.
Yet, if Australian governments are serious about achieving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health equality within a generation, a refreshed Closing the Gap Strategy must include commitments to realistic and equitable levels of investment (indexed according to need).
Higher spending on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health should hardly be a surprise.
Spending on the elderly, for example, is higher than on the young because everyone understands the elderly have greater health needs.
Likewise, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population have, on average, 2.3 times the disease burden of non-Indigenous people.[i] Yet on a per person basis, Australian government health expenditure was $1.38 per Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person for every $1.00 spent per non-Indigenous person in 2013-14.[ii]
So, for the duration of the Closing the Gap Strategy Australian government expenditure was not commensurate with these substantially greater and more complex health needs.
This remains the case. Because non-Indigenous Australians rely significantly on private health insurance and private health providers to meet much of their health needs, in addition to government support, the overall situation for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health can be characterised as ‘systemic’ or ‘market failure’.
Private sources will not make up the shortfall. Australian government ‘market intervention’ – increased expenditure directed as indicated in the recommendations below – is required to address this.
The Close the Gap Campaign believes no Australian government can preside over widening mortality and life expectancy gaps and, yet, maintain targets to close these gaps without additional funding. Indeed, the Campaign believes the position of Australian governments is absolutely untenable in that regard.
In considering these findings, the Close the Gap Campaign are clear that the Close the Gap Statement of Intent remains a current, powerful and coherent guide to achieving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health equality, and to the refreshment of the Closing the Gap Strategy in 2018.
Accordingly, this review recommends that:
Recommendation 1: the ‘refreshed’ Closing the Gap Strategy is co-designed with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leaders and includes community consultations.
This requires a tripartite negotiation process with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leaders, and the Federal and State and Territory governments. Time must be allowed for this process.
Further, Australian governments must be accountable to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for its effective implementation.
Recommendation 2: to underpin the Closing the Gap Strategy refresh, Australian governments reinvigorate the ‘architecture’ required for a national approach to addressing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health equality.
This architecture includes: a national agreement, Federal leadership, and national funding agreements that require the development of jurisdictional implementation plans and clear accountability for implementation.
This includes by reporting against national and state/territory targets.
Recommendation 3: the Closing the Gap Strategy elements such as maternal and infant health programs and the focus on chronic disease (including the Tackling Indigenous Smoking program) are maintained and expanded in a refreshed Closing the Gap Strategy.
Along with Recommendation 2, a priority focus of the ‘refreshed’ Closing the Gap Strategy is on delivering equality of opportunity in relation to health goods and services and in relation to health infrastructure (housing, food, water).
The social determinants of health inequality (income, education, racism) must also be addressed at a far more fundamental level than before. This includes through the following recommendations:
Recommendation 4: the current Closing the Gap Strategy health targets are maintained, but complemented by targets or reporting on the inputs to those health targets.
These input targets or measures should be agreed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leaders and Australian governments as a part of the Closing the Gap Strategy refresh process and include:
Expenditure, including aggregate amounts and in relation to specific underlying factors as below;
Primary health care services, with preference given to Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services, and a guarantee across all health services of culturally safe care;
The identified elements that address institutional racism in the health system;
Health workforce, particularly the numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people trained and employed at all levels, including senior levels, of the health workforce; and
Health enabling infrastructure, particularly housing.
Recommendation 5: the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan Implementation Plan is costed and fully funded by the Federal government, and future iterations are more directly linked to the commitments of the Close the Gap Statement of Intent; and, an implementation plan for the complementary National Strategic Framework for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples’ Mental Health and Social and Emotional Wellbeing 2017-2023 is developed, costed and implemented by the end of 2018 in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leaders and communities
This will include:
A five-year national plan to identify and fill health service gaps funded from the 2018-2019 Federal budget onwards and with a service provider preference for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services (ACCHSs). This includes provision for the greater development of ACCHS’s satellite and outreach services.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leadership, Federal, State and Territory agreements clarifying roles, responsibilities and funding commitments at the jurisdictional level.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leadership, Primary Health Network and Federal agreements clarifying roles, responsibilities and funding commitments at the regional level.
Recommendation 6: an overarching health infrastructure and housing plan to secure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples equality in these areas, to support the attainment of life expectancy and health equality by 2030, is developed, costed and implemented by the end of 2018.
[i] Australian Institute of Health and Welfare 2016. Healthy Futures—Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services: Report Card 2016. Cat. no. IHW 171. Canberra: AIHW, p. 40.
[ii] Australian Health Ministers’ Advisory Council, 2017, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Performance Framework 2017 Report, AHMAC, Canberra, p. 192.
” National media outlets ( Including Peta Credlin on SkyNews and News Corp Newspapers see Part 5 below plus Today Tonight SA ) have aired wrongful claims that the codes would force white nurses to ‘apologise to Indigenous clients for being white’.
The codes do not say that – that idea was invented and then pushed on these media programs.
These stories were not based in facts, but seem to have been driven by the partisan politics of a fringe nursing group, and conservative politicians who have been approached to comment on the wrongful claims.
I am sure that some of our nursing and midwifery members and community will be hearing disturbing claims.
Let me be clear, nurses and midwives under the new code do not have to announce their ‘white privilege’ before treating Indigenous clients.
I am really proud of these new codes, and not only because the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM) contributed to their development, which included extensive consultation across nursing and midwifery and at the time no one opposed the inclusion of cultural safety “
Janine Mohamed CEO CATSINaM see IndigenousX Part 1 below
” It is clear from the 2018 Closing the Gap Report tabled by Prime Minister Turnbull in February 2018 that Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples still experience poorer health outcomes than non-Indigenous Australians.
It is well understood these inequities are a result of the colonisation process and the many discriminatory policies to which Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians were subjected to, and the ongoing experience of discrimination today.
All healthcare leaders and health professionals have a role to play in closing the gap.
The approach the NMBA has taken for nurses and midwives (the largest workforce in the healthcare system) by setting expectations around culturally safe practice, reflects the current expectations of governments to provide a culturally safe health system.
Combined Press Release Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia ,The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, the Australian College of Nursing, the Australian College of Midwives and the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait see in full Part 2 Below
” I was stunned to read businessman Graeme Haycroft’s comments regarding nurses and indigenous Australians on the weekend, as part of his criticism of the new NMBA Codes and the term cultural safety which is defined in a glossary connected to the codes.
These codes were the subject of lengthy consultations with the professions of nursing and midwifery and other stakeholders including community representatives.
This review was comprehensive and evidenced-based. Our union and our national body the Australian Nursing Midwifery Federation (ANMF) were active participants in these consultations.
The codes, written by nurses and midwives for nurses and midwives, seek to ensure the individual needs and backgrounds of each patient are taken into account during treatment.”
QNMU Secretary Beth Mohle issued a statement clarifying misleading comments in the media around the NMBA’s new Codes of Conduct for nurses and midwives: See in Full part 3 Below
” And just to reinforce that point, the entire premise for the segment was false.
There is no requirement for nurses to apologise for being white, which would be very awkward for the more the more than 1500 Indigenous nurses across Australia, and the countless others who also aren’t white to begin with. But, even for the nurses who are – THERE IS NO REQUIREMENT FOR THEM TO APOLOGISE FOR BEING WHITE.
So, why on Earth would Today Tonight run such a story?
Why would they base a story off the demonstrably false allegations of this Graeme Haycroft person? “
The truth behind the Nursing Code of Conduct lie ; Indigenous X Article Read in full Part 4
Catch Up: Having to apologise for being white – the controversial new code for nurses treating Indigenous Australians. #TTAdelaidepic.twitter.com/yViiqkw67F
” I’VE seen a lot of crazy political correctness in my time but the new Nurses’ Code of Conduct is right up there with the worst of it.
If you thought nursing was about quality health care, think again.
According to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, “’cultural safety’ is as important to quality care as clinical safety”. And there’s no objective test of ‘cultural safety’; it’s determined, so the Board says, by the “recipient of care”. You see, it’s not just what the nurse does that matters but “how a health professional does something”.”
Graeme Haycroft from @NursesPAQ: There's 350,000 nurses and midwives Australia-wide and they're all subject to this code which encourages them to recognise their 'white privilege'.
Graeme has spent a lifetime working in industrial relations and was the man who set up Haycroft Workplace Solutions, leading provider of workplace consulting and management that has nearly 2000 workers on the payroll.
He is chair of the Liberal National Party’s labour market policy committee, active in the HR Nicholls Society, is a regular commentator on labour market issues, and has published his thoughts in such places as the IPA Review, Courier Mail and Online Opinion. But Graeme’s most important contributions have come through what he has done, not what he has written or said.
In the 1990s Graeme famously fought the Australian Workers’ Union to set up sub-contracting for shearers in Charleville, and went on to battle the CMFEU in helping to set up union-free high-rise construction sites. When the Howard government allowed Australian Workplace Agreements (AWAs), Graeme was instrumental in creating the most widely copied template in the country, and his business helped set up about 30,000 agreements.
Lately, Graeme has been working on a exciting new project with the potential to fundamentally change the role and power of unions in this country, while improving services for workers.
He is not waiting for politicians to act; he is changing the system himself… and after years of planning he is finally ready to show us how.
So who is this new Nurses Professional Association of Queensland ?
Queensland Association Services Group QAS Group and Sajen Legal have established a new business model for Employee Associations Queensland Association Services Group (QAS Group), who are the contracted service providers for the NPAQ, in conjunction with Sajen Legal have developed and set up a new association business model.
Working with a small group of dedicated and experienced nurses, they have built in a strict separation between the money earned and spent on the one hand, and the control of the Association on the other.
To launch NPAQ, the QAS Group , have backed the provision of services for ten years under contract. They have provided all of the seed funding for the administrative and legal services including the member Professional Indemnity Insurance policy required of the Association..
Whilst it will be many years before all the seed funding is fully repaid, at the end of our second year, the membership income was sufficient to fund all the running expenses of the NPAQ
” And they quote no party politics “
The NPAQ executive is resolute that there will be no party politics. Every cent of your NPAQ membership money is spent on nurse services and issues
When NACCHO pointed out that NursesPAQ was ” using the definitions of two America right wing commentators to justify mounting a political membership campaign in which you sensationalise and falsely quote out of context aspects of our Indigenous cultural safety in Australia ”
I rang my dad over the weekend. We’d hardly begun yarning before he asked me: “What’s this about white nurses having to apologise to us for being white?”
I could have just said, “Dad, you should know better than to believe what the mainstream media says about us.”
But instead I took the time to explain the truth behind recent misleading media reports on new codes of conduct for nurses and midwives.
Media outlets have aired wrongful claims that the codes would force white nurses to ‘apologise to Indigenous clients for being white’.
The codes do not say that – that idea was invented and then pushed on these media programs.
As Luke Pearson recently wrote for IndigenousX, these stories were not based in facts, but seem to have been driven by the partisan politics of a fringe nursing group, and conservative politicians who have been approached to comment on the wrongful claims.
I took the time to have the conversation with my Dad because it is important people understand how significant these new codes are for efforts to improve the care of our people, hence I thought it important to reach out to the readers of IndigenousX too.
I am sure that some of our nursing and midwifery members and community will be hearing disturbing claims.
Let me be clear, nurses and midwives under the new code do not have to announce their ‘white privilege’ before treating Indigenous clients.
I also had the conversation because, to be honest, I am really proud of these new codes, and not only because the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM) contributed to their development, which included extensive consultation across nursing and midwifery and at the time no one opposed the inclusion of cultural safety.
We are delighted the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) listened to CATSINaM in developing these new codes, and took on board our advice that cultural safety should be recognised as an integral part of ethical and competent professional practice. Further, they cited some of our work at CATSINaM in materials supporting the code.
CATSINaM has been at the forefront of advocating for cultural safety training for health professionals at all levels of health systems in order to improve care for both Indigenous clients and their families. Improving the cultural safety of workplaces is also a vital strategy for improving the recruitment and retention of Indigenous health professionals and staff. We need more of our people in the health system.
Rather than being criticised by sensationalist, inaccurate reports, the NMBA deserves credit for showing leadership in the area of cultural safety. They have set a great example for other health professions and organisations. It wouldn’t be the first time that nurses and midwives have been at the forefront of leading change.
In fact, this is also not the first time this has happened. In many ways, Australia is playing a game of ‘catch up’.
In New Zealand, cultural safety is part of the nursing and midwifery code of conduct and also in the laws that nurses and midwives must follow to be registered to practice. This happened well over 10 years ago because many Maori nurses worked hard for many years to teach their non-Maori colleagues about cultural safety and gain their support so they could provide better care for their people. This is considered completely normal in New Zealand.
Under the new codes, which took effect on 1 March, nurses and midwives must take responsibility for improving the cultural safety of health services and systems for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients and colleagues.
They are required to provide care that is “holistic, free of bias and racism”, and to recognise the importance of family, community, partnership and collaboration in the healthcare decision-making of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander people.
The codes advocate for culturally safe and respectful practice and require nurses to understand how their own culture, values, attitudes, assumptions and beliefs influence their interactions with people and families, the community and colleagues (for more information on our position on Cultural Safety please visit our website).
As part of such reflexive practice, nurses and midwives are encouraged to consider issues, such as white privilege, and how this can affect the assumptions and practices they bring to the care of clients and how they interact with their families. It must be said that privilege has been discussed in Australia for some time – although we are more used to talk about class privilege in Australia – those who have more financial resources compared to those who don’t.
Over time we have recognised there different forms of privilege – men have male privilege in contrast to women. Able-bodied people have able-bodied privilege compared to people living with different types of disabilities. Heterosexual people have heterosexual privilege compared to people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex or queer. Not to mention what we have been socialised to believe is normal!
Many people have campaigned for decades to help us learn about these different forms of privilege and do something to change inequity they cause. This has involved education, advocacy, legislation, policies and professional codes of conduct. The acknowledgement of these different forms of privilege and the non-acceptance of biased treatment has resulted in improved circumstances for women, people living with disabilities and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex or queer people. But there is still a long way to go in all of these areas, and especially so where they intersect.
There has been considerable work over the last 20-30 years to talk about white privilege and address the inequity that many white Australians don’t see or realise is there, although Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians live this every day.
Cultural safety training does include examining how Indigenous people have been locked out of the opportunities that most white people take for granted by past policies and this has resulted in intergenerational exclusion and Indigenous disadvantage. This means that white privilege is one of the areas that people must explore and understand. This is what the codes are asking nurses and midwives to do – to think this through so they do not make incorrect and unhelpful assumptions based on their idea of what is normal for non-Indigenous Australians, particularly white Australians.
A glossary accompanying the new codes cites CATSINaM materials. It identifies that the concept of cultural safety was developed more than 20 years ago in a First Nations’ context (in New Zealand) and holds that the recipient of care – rather than the caregiver – determines whether care is culturally safe. That means you determine if the care you receive is culturally safe.
Instead of providing care regardless of difference, such as when people say ‘I treat everyone the same’, to providing care that takes account of peoples’ unique needs. This includes their cultural needs.
While this is important for Indigenous clients, it also has the potential to improve all clients’ care by encouraging health practitioners to be more reflexive and responsive to the needs of different clients.
Despite what recent headlines might have us believe, there is widespread support for cultural safety’s implementation across the health system.
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan: 2013-2023 (2015) and its associated Implementation Plan (both available here) identify the importance of cultural safety in addressing racism in the health system, and many health services already provide cultural safety training for their staff.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, the Australian College of Nursing, the Australian College of Midwives are united with CATSINaM in strongly supporting the guidance around cultural safety in the new codes of conduct.
The Council of Deans of Nursing and Midwifery also considers cultural safety an integral part of competencies for registered nurses and midwives. Providing culturally safe care that is free from racism should be a normal expectation. All health professionals learning about cultural safety and building it into their codes of conduct is a very important step to this becoming a reality. Hence nurses and midwives are currently required to study Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, culture, history, and cultural safety as part of their study programs.
Cultural safety is talked about and implemented in other fields, including education, and family and community services, although people in these fields are still learning about it so it is not always standard practice yet. In fact, CATSINaM recommended cultural safety training for journalists in our submission to the recent Senate Inquiry into the future of public interest journalism, and the latest media fracas indicates just how sorely this is needed.
It is important that we continue these conversations about the importance of cultural safety for healthcare and other systems – they are potentially life-saving.
In response to Graeme Haycroft’s recent comments, we welcome the opportunity to provide further information on how important cultural safety is for improving health outcomes and experiences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
It is clear from the 2018 Closing the Gap Report tabled by Prime Minister Turnbull in February 2018 that Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Peoples still experience poorer health outcomes than non-Indigenous Australians. It is well understood these inequities are a result of the colonisation process and the many discriminatory policies to which Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Australians were subjected to, and the ongoing experience of discrimination today.
All healthcare leaders and health professionals have a role to play in closing the gap.
The approach the NMBA has taken for nurses and midwives (the largest workforce in the healthcare system) by setting expectations around culturally safe practice, reflects the current expectations of governments to provide a culturally safe health system. (For more information please see the COAG Health Council 4 August 2017 Communiqué).
Culturally safe and respectful practice is not a new concept. Nurses and midwives are expected to engage with all people as individuals in a culturally safe and respectful way, foster open, honest and compassionate professional relationships, and adhere to their obligations about privacy and confidentiality.
Many health services already provide cultural safety training for their staff. Cultural safety is about the person who is providing care reflecting on their own assumptions and culture in order to work in a genuine partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
Nurses and midwives have always had a responsibility to provide care that contributes to the best possible outcome for the person/woman they are caring for. They need to work in partnership with that person/woman to do so. The principle of cultural safety in the new Code of conduct for nurses and Code of conduct for midwives (the codes) provides simple, common sense guidance on how to work in a partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples. The codes do not require nurses or midwives to declare or apologise for white privilege.
The guidance around cultural safety in the codes sets out clearly the behaviours that are expected of nurses and midwives, and the standard of conduct that patients and their families can expect. It is vital guidance for improving health outcomes and experiences for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples.
The codes were developed through an evidence-based and extensive consultation process conducted over a two-year period. Their development included literature reviews to ensure they were based on the best available international and Australian evidence, as well as an analysis of complaints about the conduct of nurses and midwives to ensure they were meeting the public’s needs.
The consultation and input from the public and professions included working groups, focus groups and preliminary and public consultation. The public consultation phase included a campaign to encourage nurses and midwives to provide feedback.
The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation, the Australian College of Nursing, the Australian College of Midwives and the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives all participated in each stage of the development and consultation of the new codes. The organisations strongly support the guidance around cultural safety in the codes for nurses and midwives.
Lynette Cusack
Chair Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia
Ann Kinnear
CEO
Australian College of Midwives (ACM)
Kylie Ward
CEO
Australian College of Nursing (ACN)
Janine Mohamed
CEO
Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses
and Midwives
Annie Butler
A/Federal Secretary Australian Nursing and Midwifery
Federation
For more information:
Part 3 QNMU Secretary Beth Mohle has issued a statement clarifying misleading comments in the media over the weekend around the NMBA’s new Codes of Conduct for nurses and midwives.
I was stunned to read businessman Graeme Haycroft’s comments regarding nurses and indigenous Australians on the weekend, as part of his criticism of the new NMBA Codes and the term cultural safety which is defined in a glossary connected to the codes.
These codes were the subject of lengthy consultations with the professions of nursing and midwifery and other stakeholders including community representatives. This review was comprehensive and evidenced-based. Our union and our national body the Australian Nursing Midwifery Federation (ANMF) were active participants in these consultations.
The codes, written by nurses and midwives for nurses and midwives, seek to ensure the individual needs and backgrounds of each patient are taken into account during treatment.
There’s no doubt cultural factors, including how a patient feels while within the health system, can impact wellbeing. For example, culture and background often determine how a patient would prefer to give birth or pass away.
Every day, nurses and midwives consider a range of complex factors, including a patient’s background and culture to determine the best treatment. These codes simply articulate what is required to support safe nursing and midwifery practice for all.
Mr Haycroft stated that the new code “has been sponsored and supported by the QNU to promote its party political social policy.”
This statement is disturbing on a number of levels. The Queensland Nurses and Midwives’ Union (QNMU) has repeatedly refuted Mr Haycroft’s allegations we donate to political parties. We do not. Nor are we affiliated with any political party. Yet Mr Haycroft continues to repeat these claims.
Secondly, this statement demonstrates a failure to understand the basics. It is the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia (NMBA) that regulates the practice of nurses and midwives through its standards, codes and guidelines.
The QNMU actively participates in NMBA consultations and represents the interests of our members individually and collectively. However, the new codes have not been “sponsored” by our union.
As a not-for-profit organisation run by nurses and midwives for nurses and midwives, the QNMU will remain steadfastly focused on advancing the values and interests of our members and the safety of those in their care. We will not be diverted by the political or business agendas of others.
But first tonight, the contentious new code telling nurses to say “sorry for being white” when treating their Indigenous patients.
That’s how Today Tonight Adelaide began last night.
It continued:
“Now, it’s the latest in a string of politically correct changes for the health industry, but this one has led to calls for the Nursing Board boss to resign.”
It was followed by a five minute story with the new code being condemned by someone you’ve probably never heard of, Graeme Haycroft, explaining that:
“According to how the code is written, the white nurse would come in and say, ‘before I deal with you, I have to acknowledge to you that I have certain privileges that you don’t have” followed by Cory Bernardi calling it divisive.
It goes on in this vein for a full five minutes before it cuts back to the presenter, who finally says, “The Nursing and Midwifery Board has told us that the code was drafted in consultation with Aboriginal groups and has been taken out of context as it’s not a requirement for health workers to declare or apologise for white privilege”.
And just to reinforce that point, the entire premise for the segment was false. There is no requirement for nurses to apologise for being white, which would be very awkward for the more the more than 1500 Indigenous nurses across Australia, and the countless others who also aren’t white to begin with. But, even for the nurses who are – THERE IS NO REQUIREMENT FOR THEM TO APOLOGISE FOR BEING WHITE.
So, why on Earth would Today Tonight run such a story?
Why would they base a story off the demonstrably false allegations of this Graeme Haycroft person?
“A member of the National Party and the H.R. Nicholls Society, he (Mr Haycroft) boasts that, because of a tussle he had with the Australian Workers Union 15 years ago, the union does not have a single member shearing sheep in south-western Queensland today.
Now he runs a labour hire firm with a thriving sideline in moving small-business employees off awards and collective agreements and onto the Federal Government’s preferred individual contracts, Australian Workplace Agreements.
…Mr Haycroft’s business stands out because he is targeting lower-skilled, lower-paid workers, often with poor English – the people unions say have much to fear from individual contracts.”
Cut back to 2018, and Graeme Haycroft now runs the Nurses Professional Association of Queensland, which promotes itself as an alternative to the Qld Nurses Union.
So, a man with a long history of fighting Unions, who ‘saved’ the mushroom farming business by showing businesses how to move “small-business employees off awards and collective agreements and onto the Federal Government’s preferred individual contracts, Australian Workplace Agreements.”
According to the 2005 article, “Mr Haycroft said workers had been more than happy to sign on, most with their penalty rates, holiday pay and other conditions being rolled into a flat rate.”
“However, [there is always a ‘however’], Mr Haycroft was stripped of his preferred provider status with the Office of the Employment Advocate on Thursday, after a Sydney picker, Carmen Walacz Vel Walewska, said she was sacked after she contacted the Australian Workers Union for advice on AWAs.”
With that track record, it’s hard to imagine why nurses would want to leave their current union in favour of his ‘professional association’.
It seems as though, once again, Indigenous people have become a political football and a convenient scapegoat for issues that have nothing to do with us.
Queensland has a long history of political success found through anti-Aboriginal sentiment, so what better way to undermine a Union and recruit new members to a professional association than to accuse the Union of ‘racism against white people’ and ‘political correctness gone made’ by spreading the blatantly false and misleading accusation that white nurses now have to apologise to Aboriginal people for being white?
And just like Dick Smith’s anti-immigration campaign, Blair Cottrell’s anti-African ‘community safety group’, and Prue McSween’s call for a new Stolen Generation, it seems Channel 7 is always more than happy to ignore the facts and sensationalise issues about race and racism.
There is always one more thing.
We, and others, will soon publish articles explaining what the Code of Conduct actually calls for, and explain why cultural competence and cultural safety are important (editor’s note: we did, here’s one of them), but I can’t help but be reminded of this quote from Toni Morrison:
“The function, the very serious function of racism is distraction. It keeps you from doing your work. It keeps you explaining, over and over again, your reason for being. Somebody says you have no language and you spend twenty years proving that you do. Somebody says your head isn’t shaped properly so you have scientists working on the fact that it is. Somebody says you have no art, so you dredge that up. Somebody says you have no kingdoms, so you dredge that up. None of this is necessary. There will always be one more thing.”
So, instead of working on the very real business of ensuring best practice within the nursing industry, our Indigenous experts in this area will have to take a few days away from this important work to explain that no one is asking for white nurses to apologise for being white.
Just like we have to explain that not all Aboriginal parents abuse their children, or that we don’t want to steal white people’s backyards, or that we had (and have) science, or that Australia wasn’t Terra Nullius, or, as Malcolm Turnbull suggested last year, that acknowledging Indigenous history and addressing the issue of colonial statues and place names across Australia is not a “Stalinist exercise of trying to wipe out or obliterate or blank out parts of our history”.
So long as Australian media and politics finds value, profit and opportunity in promoting racism, there will always be one more thing.
So, I might as well clear up a few others while I’m here, and empty a few more buckets out of the endless ocean of racist misinformation.
Child abuse isn’t a ‘cultural’ thing.
Police are not scared to arrest Aboriginal people out of fear of being called racist.
We don’t get free houses.
Aboriginal people using white ochre on their faces in dance and ceremony is not the same thing as white people dressing up in blackface.
We don’t get free university.
The Voice to Parliament is not a third chamber of parliament.
We are not the problem.
Anything else?
We aren’t vampires?
We don’t shoot laser beams out of our eyes?
We aren’t secretly developing a perpetual motion machine that runs on white tears?
I’m sure I, and countless others, will undoubtedly need to keep adding to this list because, as Toni Morrison tells us, there will always be one more thing.
I’VE seen a lot of crazy political correctness in my time but the new Nurses’ Code of Conduct is right up there with the worst of it.
If you thought nursing was about quality health care, think again.
According to the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia, “’cultural safety’ is as important to quality care as clinical safety”. And there’s no objective test of ‘cultural safety’; it’s determined, so the Board says, by the “recipient of care”. You see, it’s not just what the nurse does that matters but “how a health professional does something”.
According to the commissars at the Board, “’cultural safety’ represents a key philosophical shift from providing care regardless of difference, to care that takes account of peoples’ unique needs”.
Changes to the Code mark a philosophical shift in the industry. (Pic: supplied)
What this means is that nurses are no longer required to be colourblind; instead, they must see colour and treat patients differently because of it.
According to the Code, the Board declares, “cultural safety provides a decolonising model of practice based on dialogue, communication, power sharing and negotiation and the acknowledgment of white privilege” (no, I am not making this up — it’s on page 15 of the Code effective 1 March 2018).
The Board decrees that “non-indigenous nurses must address how they create a culturally safe work environment that is free of racism”. Now I know many nurses, including my sister who has spent 20 years working selflessly in indigenous communities, and the idea that they are subtly racist or even insensitive to their patients’ needs is as offensive as the leftist sanctimony that has infected their professional body.
The changes to the Code were endorsed by COAG. (Pic: iStock)
When a body representing some nurses had the temerity to complain about this, Board Chair Associate Professor Lynette Cusack disdainfully replied that it had been endorsed by COAG.
Well, I checked with the Federal health minister Greg Hunt and that’s not accurate. The Minister’s own advice from his Chief Nursing Officer and health department noted that “while the Commonwealth Department of Health provided feedback in the public consultation process, the final changes to cultural safety were made after (this) process. The Department did not see the final version until it was publicly released in March 2018.”
Greg Hunt is one of the smartest politicians I know; I didn’t think he would have let this get through, had he known about it, without a fight.
” The sexual abuse of any Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal children has got to stop.
It is not acceptable and in no way can our communities, the Australian community at large or Governments at all levels condone this continuing.
I welcome a thorough investigation by the Northern Territory Child Abuse Taskforce and Children’s Commissioner into this grave allegation.”
The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation(NACCHO ) Chair John Singer said he is deeply concerned that some of our children are being sexually interfered with.
“According to media reports last this week, a four-year-old boy from the community of Ali Curung in the Northern Territory has been taken to Alice Springs for medical care after he was allegedly sexually assaulted on the weekend and police are investigating.”
See The Guardian article Part 2 Below
” High levels of disadvantage, alongside “vulnerable and very impoverished” communities, was putting children at risk.
What’s really tragic is that we’ve known about them [problems] for well over a decade and more, and there’s been very little sustained, concerted effort to deal with them,
What’s absolutely needed are more of the early intervention and prevention programs, better parenting programs, and a better level of education and awareness about child.”
Chief executive of the Danila Dilba Aboriginal Medical Service, Olga Havnen, is unsurprised by the most recent incident : Interview ABC
” The community was devastated, but not surprised by the latest allegations, and there had been a feeling of “absolute hopelessness” as community leaders beared witness to social dysfunction, alcohol abuse and child protection problems.
They are issues which are attribute to overcrowded public housing.
Resourcing across all sectors and services is what’s needed to support vulnerable families,
I think it’s just been a build-up of years and years of neglect and limited resources.”
At least 40 extra houses were needed in the area to reduce overcrowding, and reduce the risk for children.
It just allows for an explosion, if you like, to further dysfunction of Aboriginal families.
[It] just leads to total hopelessness… creating such incidents as what’s happening now where our children are being harmed.”
Barb Shaw, the chief executive of the Anyinginyi Health Aboriginal Corporation, which takes in Ali Curung.
#WeHaveTheSolutions :Government must take off the blinkers over these issues, show leadership and take the actions outlined.
1.Immediate Government actionto assist families to keep their children safe. We know these are complex issues requiring urgent responses but the abuse still continues.
2.We need a comprehensive approachto child and community safety with a focus on prevention and community education.
3. Establishing a Confidential Child Help Linewithin Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services by regions which is a no-brainer for any government to fund and implement in this budget cycle.
In getting better rates of disclosure, we can respond to both victims and offenders. This is particularly important when young people are perpetrators so that they can be held to account for their behaviour and receive appropriate rehabilitation and behavioural change programs.
4.Extra resources should also be made immediately available for wrap around Families and Children Support services to work with traumatised children and their families. This requires a multi-disciplinary professional team to provide full assessment and treatment programs in our local communities. A health-led therapeutic model will deliver much better outcomes for our people.
Often as the academic evidence now suggests, perpetrators have themselves often been abused and they too require treatment not punitive punishment regimes or they will not be rehabilitated and will re-offend.
5.National plan to redress the Social Determinantsof Health in Aboriginal communities throughout Australia.[1]
6.Liquor licenses :The NT Government needs to take a good hard look at the total number of liquor licenses granted and curtail them to stop the flow of alcohol. People must come before profits. The grog is killing our people and our children are exposed to the results of that every day.
Those dry communities are to be commended for their efforts to control alcohol consumption, but the sheer number of liquor outlets at Roadhouses on the Highway and in the closest towns undermines their efforts to live safe and peacefully in their local community. Government must take off the blinkers over these issues, show leadership and take the actions outlined,” said Mr Singer.
Part 2 Boy, 16, charged with rape of four-year-old boy in remote Northern Territory community
Noting NACCHO press release was published in online article
A 16-year-old boy has been charged over the alleged rape of a four-year-old boy in a remote Northern Territory community.It is at least the second such incident in the Barkly region, after a two-year-old girl was sexually assaulted in Tennant Creek last month.
The 16-year-old is scheduled to appear in the Alice Springs youth court on Tuesday, to face one charge of sexual intercourse without consent.
The NT police child abuse taskforce was investigating the alleged attack, which reportedly occurred on Sunday, and said it was not seeking anyone else in relation to the matter.
The territory families minister, Dale Wakefield, said a full team of staff was on the ground as part of the child abuse taskforce.
“They are working alongside police and engaging with the family and the community,” she said.
“We have also spoken to the children’s commissioner and will keep her informed of any developments.
“It is heartbreaking for any child anywhere to be harmed. Every child deserves a childhood where they are safe and given pathways to reach their full potential.”
A 24-year-old charged with sexually assaulting a two-year-old in Tennant Creek is scheduled to appear in court in April.
That alleged incident prompted emergency measures by NT authorities, including the immediate deployment of extra Territory Families department staff and the implementation of strict alcohol restrictions on Tennant Creek.
The community where the latest alleged assault happened is one of about 100 in the NT with restrictions or bans on drinking alcohol.
Steve Edgington, the mayor of Tennant Creek, said there had been “immediate learnings” after the alleged assault in his town.
Edgington said there was a clear need to decentralise government resources and divert them to identified hotspots of disadvantage.
“What needs to be done is a full audit of where these particular incidents are happening,” he said.
“I’m sure they’re happening elsewhere. We need to allocate resources to where these incidents are, tackling issues from the ground up. It’s just critical – children need to be safe in our communities.”
Edgington said most resources in the Barkly region were based in Tennant Creek and there were a number of small remote communities nearby where governments could look at what resources were allocated for child protection and welfare, housing, and other areas.
On Monday the NT chief minister, Michael Gunner, said extra Territory Families staff had been deployed to the community and the incident would also be referred to the children’s commissioner.
“This is an extremely disturbing incident,” he told the ABC. “Every child, no matter where they live, deserves to be in a safe environment.”
Recently, Australian Indigenous leaders have set out a blueprint for action in the Redfern Statement.
This blueprint acknowledges that Aboriginal people have provided viable, holistic solutions.
Without a change in leadership attitudes, governance and administration, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women will continue to be disadvantaged, and their health will continue to suffer.
It is high time that Australian policymaking recognized the above issues and acted with integrity on the deficits because we will not have equality until Australia recognizes the impact of the political determinants of health as identified throughout this paper.
Australia will never be a whole, functioning society until institutionalised oppression ceases. ”
The role of government policy is to support its citizenry to thrive. By this measure, Australian policy is failing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and women are bearing the brunt of failed policy through seriously compromised health and wellbeing. “
In this analysis, Vanessa Lee from the University of Sydney applies a lens of political determinants of health to illuminate policy failure for Indigenous women and their communities, and calls for the government to be held accountable to the outcomes of generations of harmful policy.
This piece isdrawn from an article that ran in the Journal of Public Health Policy in 2017.
Paternalism is compromising the health of Indigenous women
When it comes to Australian policy, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are not being supported. Rather, a long history of paternalistic government decisions created barriers towards Indigenous women achieving equivalent health and wellbeing measures when compared to non-Indigenous women.
The manifestation of colonisation has included a displacement of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, a history of segregation and apartheid, and a breakdown of culture and cultural values through the impact of missionaries and government legislation, Acts and policies.
These political determinants of health breech human rights conventions, lack an evidence base, and are profoundly damaging across generations. Better policy could be and should be implemented but there appears to be a lack of political will.
What this means is that Indigenous women have a cultural and family relationship with their social and economic world.
The breakdown in life circumstances are evident today across employment and education where 39 per cent of the Indigenous females were employed compared to 55 per cent of the non-Indigenous females; and 4.6 per cent overall of the Indigenous compared to 20 per cent of the non-Indigenous people have completed a bachelor degree or higher degree.[1]
Educational attainment and employment are intrinsically linked to economic opportunity, with higher levels of education reducing societal disadvantage. Failure to address these fundamental social determinants in early life contributes to life-long disadvantage.
When the British colonized Australia, they did so under a paternalistic ideology that remains evident today as Australian federal, state, territory and local governments continue to implement paternalistic policies. Paternalistic policies are those that restrict choices to individuals, ostensibly in their ‘best interest’ and without their consent.
The justification of such policies is often to change individuals’ damaging behaviours; for example gambling, smoking, consumption of drugs and alcohol, or the reliance on welfare payments. Given the etymology of the word ‘paternalism’, it is little wonder that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have been the victims of extraordinarily high levels of sexism, domestic violence, marginalization, work-place lateral violence and racism.
Especially since the policies were developed and implemented from colonisation, with little or no evidence to support the need to change behaviours of the First Nations women of Australia. The response to the impact of these paternalistic policies has resulted in an increase in prevalence in pain and trauma based behaviours such as substance abuse.
Social determining factors
Social determinants of health are about “the cause of the cause.” Poorer health outcomes are not narrowed to individual lifestyle choice or risky behaviour. Understanding the social determinants of health requires looking at the relationship between cause, social factors and health outcomes. Social factors are those societal factors that influence health throughout life and include housing, education, access to healthcare and family support.
The diagram below highlights an example of the circular relationship between the causes of the social factors and the social factors themselves across a person’s life stages. The unborn Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander child of parents with high drug and/or alcohol intake, low income and low education will be born into an environment influenced at the macrosocial level by history, culture, discrimination and the political economy.
This first stage of inequality can manifest in increasing risky behaviours such as smoking, drinking, unhealthy eating, and lack of exercise or imprisonment. These behaviours have been associated with intellectual impairment that continues through all life stages.[ii] Quite often the continuous exposure to drugs and alcohol from adults becomes part of the child’s assumption of the normality of risk-taking behaviour and the cycle continues.
he imprisonment of women causes an upheaval in their lives and that of their families and for Indigenous women it also creates a breakdown in their world view and to all that is connected to their world view.
Diagram 1: Relationship between ‘the cause’ and life stages
Relationship between causes, social factors and life stages
This truth epitomizes the gross inequalities that continue to exist in Australian society. Inequities in health are heightened because social class not only includes education, employment and income but also differential access to power. Social class structures are characterized by factors including race, sex/gender, ethnicity, Indigeneity and religion. Fundamentally, it is structural issues of class and political disadvantage that place Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women close to the bottom of the socioeconomic ladder.
Denial of a human right directly violates a person’s right to self-determination. These rights should be protected by a covenant to which Australia is a signatory—The International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (1966) (The Covenant). It states that “all peoples have the right of self-determination. By virtue of that right they freely determine their political status and freely pursue their economic, social and cultural development” (Article 1 Section1).
The level of Australia’s commitment to this covenant became questionable with the implementation of The Northern Territory National Emergency Response (the Intervention) in 2007. This was a federal government action that ignored one of its own government-funded reports highlighting the critical importance of working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the design and implementation of initiatives for their communities. In less than six months, following the politically motivated “Intervention” that was introduced just prior to an election, the Australian parliament introduced a complex legislative package consisting of five Bills, all 450 pages long and passed in parliament on the same day.
The bills were primarily associated with welfare reform. In 2008, a national emergency response by the Australian government took effect and was administered across all of the Northern Territory using the political rationale ‘to protect Aboriginal children’. This appeared to be an excuse to further erode Indigenous self-determination rather than to address the safety of children; as one critic pointed out, “we have witnessed the abandonment of consultation with Indigenous people, diminishing use of available statistical and research evidence and increased marginalization of the experts – especially if their views diverge from national leadership.” (p. 7)
The impact on health outcomes
Welfare data published in 2016 show that Indigenous children in the Northern Territory were being removed from families at 9.8 times more often than that of non-Indigenous children based on ‘reforms’ in the five new ‘welfare reform’ Bills.
The Northern Territory Indigenous death rates are still 2.3 times higher than those of non-Indigenous people, and Indigenous people experience assault victimization at six times the rate of non-Indigenous people (see here).
The 2014/2015 Social Survey found that fewer than half of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people aged 15 years and over were employed, and males were more than twice as likely as females to be working full time.
The deplorable outcomes of these politically motivated policies are most clearly illustrated by the understanding that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women between the ages of 20 and 24 years are four times more likely to commit suicide than are the other woman and between 70-60% of Indigenous women in prisons are due to them being victims of domestic violence.
Holding government accountable to policy outcomes
These outcomes demonstrate the political failure of Australian governments at national, state, territory and local levels to work with the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and the lack of integrity surrounding equitable policy administration, leadership and governance.
Many policies developed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders over a long period of time have contributed to the shameful inequity in Australian society between Indigenous and non-Indigenous people. This level of inequity is even more dramatic with regard to Indigenous women.
The Covenant is neither the first Human Rights Charter that Australia has signed nor the first it has violated to the disadvantage of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women, their health and well-being (and of the entire Indigenous population). Australia played a key role as one of eight nations involved in developing the United Nations’ Universal Declaration of Human Rights, when Australian Dr HV Evatt was the President of the United Nations General Assembly.
Until a referendum allowed Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to become citizens, there was scant regard to Article 2: “Everyone is entitled to all the rights and freedoms set forth in this Declaration, without distinction of any kind, such as race, colour, sex, language, religion, political or other opinion, national or social origin, property, birth or other status”. The Australian government is disregarding its own stated ideals when it disregards the rights of Indigenous Australians.
The gap in health outcomes between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and other Australians is becoming more apparent, leading to calls for a new and more effective response. The effects of discriminative policies are now being exposed more often – thus, they become more visible. Non-Indigenous services account for 80 per cent of Indigenous expenditure, and there is a lack of transparency and clarity evaluating how these organizations address policies developed by government for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
Fifty per cent of the Indigenous Australian population is under the age of 22and their health, as that of their elders, remains dire. Without understanding their cultural ways of doing and knowing and without working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in making policy decisions, there will be no progress in achieving health equality for this population group.
Major changes needed
Western culture remains the dominant culture in Australian society. Its worldview has shaped Australian society and is constantly in conflict with the cultural identity and knowledge of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, including that of women. Recently,
Australian Indigenous leaders have set out a blueprint for action in the Redfern Statement.
This blueprint acknowledges that Aboriginal people have provided viable, holistic solutions. Without a change in leadership attitudes, governance and administration, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women will continue to be disadvantaged, and their health will continue to suffer.
It is high time that Australian policymaking recognized the above issues and acted with integrity on the deficits because we will not have equality until Australia recognizes the impact of the political determinants of health as identified throughout this paper. Australia will never be a whole, functioning society until institutionalised oppression ceases.
1.1 NSW: Galambila ACCHO Coffs Harbour leads the way incorporating cultural healing artwork into new building and staff uniforms
1.2. NSW : Indigenous Doctor to specialise in women’s health and high-risk pregnancy care. after graduating this month
2.1 NT : Danila Dilba ACCHO Darwin hosts Wurrumiyanga community on Bathurst Island with information about improving health and career pathways in health.
2.2 NT : Katherine West Health Board Timber Creek’s Women’s Health Day 2018.
3.QLD :Institute for Urban Indigenous Health :Because of Her I must : Adrian Carson and Aunty Pamela Mam
4. SA : Colourful health bus provides medical services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders in remote areas
5. VIC : Officially launch in Mildura partnership with MDAS & Deadly Choices hosting a community day for the mob.
6. 1 ACT : Winnunga has commenced a new program for first time mothers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies.
6.2 ACT : Winnunga Save a date : celebrating 30 Years of excellence ACCHO health
Wednesday by 4.30 pm for publication each Thursday /Friday
1.1 NSW: Galambila ACCHO Coffs Harbour leads the way incorporating cultural healing artwork into new building and staff uniforms
” On behalf of the Board and management, NACCHO congratulates the Galambila Aboriginal Health Service in Coffs Harbour on the opening of its new reception and patient waiting area. It is good that staff and community members alike will benefit from this new facility.
It is also great to have the Commonwealth Government’s financial support for this initiative. It is pleasing to see the Galambila Aboriginal Health Service improving its facilities for the benefit of our community, and I congratulate you on your continued efforts to improving Aboriginal health outcomes in the region.”
This week the Chair of the Galambila ACCHO Rueben Robinson officially opened the new building and reception at a smoking ceremony on Gumbaynggirr country
Local artist, Brentyn Lugnan, who designed the artwork for the building and is also embedded on the staff shirts.
Brentyn attended the opening and explained the story his art that follows the journey from the foundations of the family / community thru to the travels of kangaroos , middens connecting to country and the role of bush medicine for Gumbaynggirr people
1.2. NSW : Indigenous Doctor to specialise in women’s health and high-risk pregnancy care. after graduating this month
“I had the opportunity to undertake placement at the Eleanor Duncan Aboriginal Medical centre in Wyong, attend rural obstetrics clinics in Moree – the birthplace of my Nan, and complete an elective subject at the Menzies School of Health Research in Brisbane, which explored barriers to early diagnosis and poor outcomes in gynaecological cancers in Indigenous women,”
Following in the footsteps of her Aunty, Professor Gail Garvey, Nicole Whitson is proud to be the third person to graduate from her large Indigenous family of almost 40 immediate relatives.
Commencing her studies at the University as an Open Foundation student, Nicole persevered with her studies and has become a doctor, graduating with a Bachelor of Medicine with Distinction.
Nicole said she was particularly interested in medical care for Indigenous people and enjoyed the opportunity to tailor her study to reflect her interests.
It was through this practical experience that Nicole realised her desire to specialise in high-risk pregnancy care.
Reflecting on her experience at the University of Newcastle, Nicole said she was “glad to study in a supportive environment.
“As an Indigenous medical student from a large family with little exposure to the tertiary education system, I expected to encounter challenges but I had a lot of support from the University, its Wollotuka Institute, and my husband Elliot.”
Nicole said she was grateful for her time at university, not only to realise her dream of becoming a doctor, but to have built a network of life-long friends.
“One of the highlights was definitely the close-knit community, I met some of my best friends during my studies at university,” Nicole said.
The University of Newcastle has graduated approximately one-third of Australia’s Indigenous doctors and today celebrates a proud milestone, graduating its largest ever cohort of Indigenous students from the Joint medical Program, with ten students crossing the graduation stage today.
2.1 NT : Danila Dilba ACCHO Darwin hosts Wurrumiyanga community on Bathurst Island with information about improving health and career pathways in health.
This week visiting students from Xavier Catholic College in the Wurrumiyanga community on Bathurst Island came to visit Danila Dilba.
The students got an overview of our organisation, including information about improving health and career pathways in Danila Dilba.
Great to see the enthusiasm of these students and their interest in health.
2.2 NT : Katherine West Health Board Timber Creek’s Women’s Health Day 2018.
A successful day where the ladies from Timber Creek region and Bulla community came together to yarn about women’s health.
A shout out to SARC Katherine for coming long. Thank you Victoria Daly Regional Councill for your spport.
3.QLD :Institute for Urban Indigenous Health :Because of Her I must : Adrian Carson and Aunty Pamela Mam
Adrian Carson has worked in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health for more than 25 years and has been the CEO of the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health since 2011.
Adrian nominated Aunty Pamela Mam’s story to lead the Because of Her campaign, a celebration of women who have made our communities what they are today.
Aunty Pamela Mam (Aunty Pam) was one of the first Aboriginal nurses in Queensland. She was the first Nurse Manager of the Aboriginal and Islanders Community Health Service Brisbane (now ATSICHS Brisbane) and the first Manager of the Jimbelunga Nursing Centre – where she worked for 15 years.
Raised on Palm Island, Aunty Pam started working as a Nurse Aide at Palm Island Hospital, later receiving permission to train as a nurse at Townsville Hospital.
She went on to study midwifery at the Royal Women’s Hospital in Brisbane and in conjunction with her late husband, Uncle Steve Mam, was hugely active in advocating for and establishing many services that exist today.
Adrian says that he chose to nominate Aunty Pam because of the sacrifices she has made to lead our community to where we are today. He says, “She has supported IUIH since we were established in 2009 and has always been here for us when we needed her.
“Aunty Pam is a great leader in the community and we are so lucky to have her as our patron. Her hard work and tireless efforts to make sure we are accessing the health care we need in the way that we need it has made a huge impact on the health of our people.
“Through her amazing work in the community, she connects all of us to our humble beginnings.”
He mentions that Aunty Pam has impacted his life greatly by providing support within the work that IUIH does. He says, “She has always been a great support for me, she always gives a good counsel, and she’s there when I need her.”
“She lives by three words, commitment, compassion and dedication. These are the qualities that IUIH as an organisation reflects on when working with and for our people.”
Aunty Pam continues to serve as the patron for IUIH, and supports many other community projects that focuses on improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in South East Queensland.
To recognise Aunty Pam’s contribution the Because of Her project was launched at Aunty Pam’s 80th birthday celebration held at Jimbelunga Nursing Centre in March this year.
Remote communities often grapple with challenges of distance from health care and support, but an outreach service for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in South Australia’s Riverland is hoping to change this, with the help of a bus.
Bright and colourful, the Pi:Lu Bus is designed to be a safe place for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to receive help and health advice.
The bus is highly regarded and well recognised by Riverland locals, with a role of providing specific health prevention messages and free testing.
The mobile service is one of only a few in Australia.
“The bus is available to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community who may not be able to get into our service for reasons that they could not have transport available or their funds may be really low,” Riverland Aboriginal Health Service coordinator Corinne Thompson said.
“I think the bus is helping to build relationships between our local Aboriginal people and some of our mainstream services as well.
“Any needs that the community have around their health, we’re there to support them.”
Community shines spotlight on its health
The Pi:Lu Bus was returned to the community last year at NAIDOC Week celebrations following extensive consultation around local health services.
Previously known as the Peelies Bus — the Aboriginal word for eyes — the bus travelled the region conducting health examinations, with a particular focus on eyes.
It was decomissioned for five years due to mechanical troubles, but a push from the community saw its re-commissioning and name change to the Pi:Lu Bus — Aboriginal for all-seeing eyes.
“Aboriginal people, Torres Straight Islander people have vastly different health needs to mainstream Australia,” Ms Thompson said.
“I guess we need to be working more to get those prevention messages out there.”
5. VIC : Officially launch in Mildura partnership with MDAS & Deadly Choices hosting a community day for the mob.
6. 1 ACT : Winnunga has commenced a new program for first time mothers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander babies.
” But high blood pressure – known to doctors as ‘hypertension’ – is a silent killer of our mob because there are no obvious signs or symptoms, and many people don’t realise they have it. “
A staggering 82 percent of those, found to have high blood pressure, were not aware prior to taking the health check and were referred to their doctor for a further assessment.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander are between two and three times as likely to have a stroke than non-Indigenous Australians which is why increasing stroke awareness is crucial.
Too many Australians couldn’t spot a stroke if it was happening right in front of them.
We know that in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities this awareness is even lower.
We want all Australians, regardless of where they live or what community they’re from, to learn the signs of stroke.”
” Naomi and Rukmani’s stroke rap runs through vital stroke awareness messages, such as lifestyle advice, learning the signs of stroke, and crucially the need to seek medical advice when stroke strikes.
“Music is a powerful tool for change and we hope that people will listen to the song and remember the FAST message – it could save their life,”
Stroke Foundation Queensland Executive Officer Libby Dunstan
” Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, who experience and die from cardiovascular disease at much higher rates than other Australians.
What you don’t know can hurt you. Heart disease and strokes are the biggest killers of Australians, and the biggest risk factor for both of them is high blood pressure.
But high blood pressure – known to doctors as ‘hypertension’ – is a silent killer because there are no obvious signs or symptoms, and many people don’t realise they have it. “
John Kelly CEO-National, Heart Foundation
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, when compared with other Australians, are:
1.3 times as likely to have cardiovascular disease
three times more likely to have a major coronary event, such as a heart attack
more than twice as likely to die in hospital from coronary heart disease
19 times as likely to die from acute rheumatic fever and chronic rheumatic heart Disease
more likely to smoke, have high blood pressure, be obese, have diabetes and have end-stage renal disease.
It was World Hypertension Day yesterday and the Stroke Foundation is determined to slash stroke numbers in Australia – with your help.
Today kicks off Australia’s Biggest Blood Pressure Check for 2018 and communities are being urged to take five minutes out of their day for a potentially life-saving blood pressure check.
More than 4.1 Million Australians are living with hypertension or high blood pressure, putting themselves at serious and unnecessary risk of stroke.
The major concern with high blood pressure is many people don’t realise they have it. It has no immediate symptoms, but over time, it damages blood vessels and increases the risk of stroke and heart disease.
How you can help?
Have a free blood pressure check at your nearest location or ACCHO doctor.
Encourage your family and friends to take advantage of a free check.
Help spread the word via social media: Research has shown the number of strokes would be practically cut in half if high blood pressure alone was eliminated.
I am urging you – no matter what age you are – to have a blood pressure check regularly with your ACCHO GP (General Practitioner), pharmacist or via a digital health check machine.
Stroke strikes in an instant, attacking the brain. It kills more women than breast cancer and more men than prostate cancer and leaves thousands with an ongoing disability, but stroke is largely preventable by managing blood pressure and living a healthy lifestyle.
Stroke Foundation and SiSU Wellness conducted more than 520,000 digital health checks throughout 2017, finding 16 percent of participants had high blood pressure putting them at risk of stroke
Given there will be 56,000 strokes in Australia this year alone, if we can reduce high blood pressure we will have a direct and lasting impact on the rate of stroke in this country.Yours sincerely,
Sharon McGowan
Chief Executive Officer
Stroke Foundation
“Hearing for Learning aims to dramatically lift the capacity for communities to identify ear disease within the first few months of life.
Infants rarely show signs of ear pain, so infections are not detected and diseases like otitis media persist and progress.
By 12 months of age, only five per cent of First Nations children in remote communities have bilateral normal hearing, compared with over 80 per cent of children in the rest of Australia.
Children with undiagnosed hearing loss tend to fall behind at school due to delayed speech and language development.
This can have a huge impact on their early years, future employment opportunities and their chance of a happy and successful life.”
Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt AM
“The Territory Labor Government promised to put children at the centre of our decision-making, because we want a brighter future for our kids – a future filled with opportunity.
When we focus on the first 1000 days of a child’s life, we know we get better outcomes for their future, and that’s what this partnership aims to do.
Hearing health has an enormous impact on a child’s development, and by addressing this at a community level, the entire community will benefit.”
“Hearing is essential for strong early childhood development and chronic hearing problems in children cause education difficulties leading to entrenched disadvantage.
The Hearing for Learning Initiative is a ground-breaking 5-year investment combining public and private funding to solve this serious health and education problem “
Professor Alan Cass Director Menzies School of Health Research
” When we learned about the chronic nature of ear disease in children living in remote communities in the Northern Territory, we could not ignore the fact that this likely leads to profound disadvantage in health, education and employment outcomes.
We believe more must be done and the next step is to support the community to deliver a solution.
Philanthropy plays a unique role in recognising and piloting new approaches, however, it requires partnership with government to deliver these approaches at scale.
The Government is to be applauded for putting this unique partnership together to solve what has now become a serious epidemic.
Neil Balnaves AO, Founder, The Balnaves Foundation and Chancellor, Charles Darwin University
Dozens of local Ear Health Project Officers will spearhead a new $7.9 million program to fight hearing loss among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the Northern Territory.
The Hearing for Learning initiative will be established in 20 urban, rural and remote sites, where up to 40 local people will strengthen and complement the work of fly-in fly-out (FIFO) ear specialists.
“This is an exciting new opportunity to remove the preventable blight of hearing loss from current and future generations,” said Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt AM.
“These local ear health warriors will integrate with existing primary care services, to help protect the hearing of up to 5,000 children from birth to 16 years old.
“Lifting the capacity of local families to recognise, report and treat ear problems early promises to help our children reach their full potential.”
The initiative will be implemented by the Menzies School of Health Research and co-led by Professor Amanda Leach and Associate Professor Kelvin Kong.
The Hearing for Learning is a ground-breaking 5-year initiative by the Northern Territory Government, founded on scientific research by Northern Territory scientists at Menzies School of Health Research, combining public and private funding to solve this serious health and education problem.
$2.4 million from NT Government
$2.5 million from The Balnaves Foundation
$3 million from the Federal Government
“Hearing for Learning aims to dramatically lift the capacity for communities to identify ear disease within the first few months of life,” said Minister Wyatt.
“Infants rarely show signs of ear pain, so infections are not detected and diseases like otitis media persist and progress.
“By 12 months of age, only five per cent of First Nations children in remote communities have bilateral normal hearing, compared with over 80 per cent of children in the rest of Australia.”
“Children with undiagnosed hearing loss tend to fall behind at school due to delayed speech and language development,” Minister Wyatt said.
“This can have a huge impact on their early years, future employment opportunities and their chance of a happy and successful life.”
The Menzies School of Health Research aims to make Hearing for Learning a care model that can be replicated across the nation.
Hearing for Learning will complement the Government’s existing ear health programs, including Healthy Ears, which together will receive funding of $81.8 million over four years from 2018–19.
This includes $30 million for a new outreach program to provide annual hearing assessment, referral and follow-up treatment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children before they start school.
” We, the Aboriginal males gathered at the Ochre Day Men’ Health Summit, nipaluna (Hobart) Tasmania in August 2018; to continue to develop strategies to ensure our roles as grandfathers, fathers, uncles, nephews, brothers, grandsons, and sons caring for our families.
We commit to taking responsibility for pursuing a healthy, happier, life for our families and ourselves, that reflects the opportunities experienced by the wider community.
We acknowledge the NAIDOC theme “Because of her we can”We celebrate the relationships we have with our wives, mothers, grandmothers, granddaughters, aunties, nieces sisters and daughters.
We also acknowledge that our male roles embedded in Aboriginal culture as well as our contemporary lives must value the importance of the love, companionship, and support of our Aboriginal women, and other partners.
We will pursue the roles and practices of Aboriginal men grounded in their cultural as protectors, providers and mentors. “
Our nipaluna (Hobart) Ochre Day Statement: That our timeless culture still endures
” For so many of the men at Ochre Day, healing had come about through being better connected to their culture and understanding, and knowing who they are as Aboriginal men. Culture is what brought them back from the brink.
We’ve long known culture is a protective factor for our people, but hearing so many men in one place discuss how culture literally saved their lives really brought that fact home.
It made me even more conscious of how important it is that we focus on the wellbeing side of Aboriginal health. If we’re really serious about Closing the Gap, we need to fund male wellbeing workers in our Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations.
In Victoria, the life expectancy of an Aboriginal male is 10 years less than a non-Aboriginal male. Closing the Gap requires a holistic, strength- based response. As one of the fellas said, “you don’t need a university degree to Close the Gap, you just need to listen to our mob”.
I look forward to next year’s Ochre Day being hosted on Victorian country, and for VACCHO being even more involved.
Trevor Pearce is Acting CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Health Organisation (VACCHO) Originally published CROAKEY see in full part 2 below : Aboriginal men’s health conference: “reclaim our rightful place and cultural footprint “
The National Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) Chairperson John Singer, closed recent the Hobart Ochre Day Conference-Men’s Health, Our Way. Let’s Own It!
Ochre Day is an important Aboriginal male health initiative to help draw attention to Aboriginal male health in a holistic way. The delegates fully embraced the conference theme, many spoke about their own journeys in the male health sector and all enjoyed participation in conference sessions, activities and workshops.
More than 200 delegates attended and heard from an impressive line-up of speakers and this year was no exception.
Delegates responded positively to The Hon. Ken Wyatt AM MP, Minister for Aged Care and Indigenous Health funding of an Aboriginal Television network.
and Mr Rod Little from National Congress delivered a brief history on the progress of a Treaty in Australia as a keynote address for the Jaydon Adams Oration Memorial Dinner. The winner of the Jaydon Adams award 2018 was Mr Aaron Everett.
A comprehensive quality program involving presentations from clinicians, researches, academics, medical experts and Aboriginal Health Practitioners were delivered.
Delegates listened to passionate speakers like Dr Mick Adams, Dr Mark Wenitong, Patrick Johnson.
Joe Williams, Deon Bird, Kim Mulholland and Karl Briscoe. Topics included those on suicide, Deadly Choices, cardiovascular and other chronic diseases as well as family violence impacting Aboriginal Communities. Initiatives to address these problems were explored in workshops that were held to discuss how to make men’s health a priority and how to support the reaffirmation of cultural identity.
Speeches by Ross Williams, Stan Stokes and Charlie Adams addressed the establishment of Men’s Clinics within the Anyinginiyi Aboriginal Health Service and Wuchopperen Aboriginal Health Service, which demonstrated the positive impact that these facilities have had on men’s health and their emotional wellbeing.
These reports as well as the experiences related by delegates highlighted the urgent need for more Aboriginal Men’s Health Clinics to be established especially in regional, rural and remote areas.
As a result of interaction with a broad cross section of delegates the NACCHO Chairman
Mr John Singer was able to put forward a range of priorities that he believed would go some way to addressing some of the concerns raised.
These priorities were the acquisition of funds to enable the;
Establishment of 80 Men’s Health Clinics in urban, rural and remote locations and
The employment of both a Male Youth Health Policy Officer and Male (Adult) Health Policy Officer by NACCHO in Canberra.
Delegates also welcomed the funding of $3.4 million for the Aboriginal Health Television network provided that the programs were culturally appropriate and supported a
strength-based approach to Men’s Health.
Our Thanks to the Sponsors
Part 2Trevor Pearce is Acting CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Community Health Organisation (VACCHO) Originally published CROAKEY
Aboriginal men’s health conference: “reclaim our rightful place and cultural footprint “
I’ve just returned from my first NACCHO Ochre Day Men’s Health Conference in Hobart, and it was so deadly, it most definitely won’t be my last.
About 260 Aboriginal men from the Kimberleys to urban environments and everywhere in between attended. White Ochre Day started as an Aboriginal response to White Ribbon Day. For Aboriginal people, White Ochre has significant cultural and ceremonial values for Aboriginal people.
It’s not just about the aesthetics of painting white ochre on to our skin, there are strong cultural elements to the ceremony and identity. Ochre Day is a gathering of Aboriginal men for sharing ideas of best practice and increasing access to better outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander men for us to deal with family violence, and with spiritual healing, as Aboriginal men.
I was privileged to attend this conference with all the male Aboriginal staff members from VACCHO, who represented a diversity of ages and backgrounds. They work at VACCHO in areas including cultural safety, mental health, policy, sexual health and bloodborne viruses, telehealth, and alcohol and other drugs. It was a great bonding experience for us, and fantastic to be part of this national conversation.
Aboriginal men die much younger than Aboriginal women, and we die an awful lot younger than the non-Aboriginal population. We have the highest suicide rates in the world, and suffer chronic disease at high rates too.
We walk and live with poor health every day, and much of this is down to the symptoms that colonisation has brought us. We didn’t have these high rates of illness and suicide pre-colonisation, when we had strength in our culture, walked on our traditional homeland estates and we all spoke our languages. And we certainly didn’t have incarceration before contact.
A rightful place
The Ochre Day Conference covered all aspects of health and wellbeing for Aboriginal men; physical, mental, social and emotional wellbeing. It was about our need to reclaim our rightful place and cultural footprint on the Australian landscape.
It is a basic human right to be healthy and have good wellbeing, as is our right to embrace our culture. Improving our health is not just about the absence of disease, it’s about developing our connection to Country, our connection to family, and feeling positive about ourselves.
This position of reclamation of our right place within Australia society is critical given the current political landscape, and the challenges that Aboriginal people face. Victoria has an election in November, and a national election to come soon too. As Aboriginal people we know that race relations will be a tool used against us, and our lives will often be portrayed from the deficit point of view that will focus on what’s wrong with us.
In light of the above, it was good to hear about all the positive things Aboriginal men are doing across the country to help their families and communities, from the grassroots to the national level.
Rightfully, we talked a lot about mental health issues. There was a lot of personal sharing; men talking about their own issues; men who had attempted suicide speaking openly about it. There were survivors of abuse, of family violence. For any man, Aboriginal or non-Aboriginal, these are big things to get up and talk about.
I was so impressed and moved by what these Aboriginal men had to share. There was such generosity of spirit from these men in sharing their stories, and I’m not ashamed to say some of these brought me to tears.
1.1 National : Donnella Mills Becomes Chairperson of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Plus NACCHO Board changes
1.2 National NACCHO AGM 2019 acknowledges years of ACCHO Service
1.3 National : Download NACCHO Annual Report 2017-2018
2.1 NSW : Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation nurse named 2018 Australian Mental Health Nurse of the Year.
2.2 NSW : Orange ACCHO Health Service continues efforts to improve Aboriginal health
3.Vic : Njernda ACCHO chronic care coordinator, Garry Giles is empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the country to improve their health
4.1 QLD : IUIH and University of Queensland awarded Outstanding Collaboration in Higher Education and Training through Business Higher Education Round Table (BHERT).
4.2 QLD : Deadly Choices help celebrate 20th Anniversary of Cunnamulla Aboriginal Corporation for Health and the 150th Anniversary of the town itself.
5. NT : Katherine West Health Board’s Healthy Harold yarned with the Kids at Timber Creek about how to stay safe and healthy
6. SA : Deadly Choices SA mob exercise and eating health promotion
7. ACT : Winnunga ACCHO Canberra download their October 2018 Newsletter
8. WA : NACCHO and Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services Syphilis Test and Treat kits now available in the Kimberley region in Western Australia
How to submit a NACCHO Affiliate or Members Good News Story ?
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1.1 National : Donnella Mills Becomes Chairperson of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Plus NACCHO Board changes
“ I am very honoured and excited to be taking up the role of Chairperson for NACCHO. I would like to acknowledge the excellent leaders NACCHO has had in the past, I am following in the footsteps of some amazing people to continue the essential national conversation on community led health initiatives.
I believe Community Control is the key model for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health care and will see us achieving greater autonomy and self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,”
Donnella Mills pictured at NACCHO AGM this month in Brisbane thanking Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt
Wuchopperen Health Service Limited (Wuchopperen) Chairperson, Donnella Mills has been recognised for her contribution to improving the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, through her appointment as Chairperson of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO).
Donnella has served as the Deputy Chairperson of the NACCHO Board for the past 12 months and takes on the role of Chairperson following the 1 November resignation of John Singer.
When the new Board met for the first time after the AGM on 2 November, it fully endorsed the Deputy Chair, Donnella Mills to act in the role of Chairperson as set out in the NACCHO constitution.
NACCHO is the peak body for the Aboriginal Community Controlled health sector and represents 145 services, and 302 health centres across the country.
Donnella will work with the NACCHO Board to drive the national health debate in Australia, particular in regards to self-determination and community led solutions for closing the gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.
Ms Mills is a Torres Strait Islander woman with ancestral and family links to Masig and Nagir in the Torres Strait. She is a Cairns-based lawyer with LawRight, a Community Legal Centre which coordinates the provision of pro bono civil legal services to vulnerable members of our community, as well as the Chairperson for Wuchopperen. She will use her previous experience in the legal and health care systems to address the issues facing our community in both Cairns, and on a national level.
“Health and legal issues are intrinsically linked. It is no coincidence Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people – among the most incarcerated people in the world – also have some of the poorest health outcomes in the world. The provision of Community Controlled, holistic and culturally appropriate health care services really is a way to ensure a healthy future for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,” says Donnella.
CEO Pat Turner and the Board of NACCHO welcome her to the role of Chairperson and look forward to working with her over the next 12 months.
At the AGM, four new members were appointed to the new NACCHO Board. From Queensland, we are joined by Gail Wason, CEO of Mulungu Primary Health Care Service in Mareeba and Gary White, Chairman of Goondir Health Service in Dalby. From Victoria, we welcome Michael Graham, CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Health Service and Karen Heap, CEO of Ballarat and District Aboriginal Cooperative.
The retiring members are: Adrian Carson and Kieran Chilcott from Queensland; and John Mitchell and Rod Jackson from Victoria. The Board thanks them all for their contribution to NACCHO over the years.
1.2 National NACCHO AGM 2019 acknowledges years of ACCHO Service
Congratulations on up to 40 years of service and the outstanding contribution by ACCHO Members .
On behalf of the NACCHO Board and 145 Members we also honour the community members and staff who were all seriously concerned about the availability of health care service to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living there regions many years ago
1.Presented to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Health Service Mackay for 40 years of service WEBSITE
2.Presented to Broome Regional Aboriginal Medical Service 40 years of service WEBSITE
3.Presented to Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Services 30 years of service WEBSITE
4. Presented to Katungul Aboriginal Corporation Regional Health and Community Services 25 years of service WEBSITE
2.2 NSW : Orange ACCHO Health Service continues efforts to improve Aboriginal health
IMPROVING the health of one of the region’s most vulnerable populations has been the focus for Orange Health Service during NAIDOC Week.
The hospital held its ceremony on Thursday, including a flag raising, acknowledgement of country, dancing and a barbecue lunch complete with cake, with more than 60 people in attendance.
But general manager Catherine Nowlan said the full appreciation of the theme, ‘Because of her, we can’, came via a sustained effort for the entire week.
Health professionals shared stories about their own Aboriginal heritage and how the strong women in their lives inspired them to succeed in their adult careers, as well as about the Aboriginal patients they treated.
“One of our health leaders said she had the opportunity to meet the most wonderful Aboriginal lady and her family embraced her because she was part of the care team,” Ms Nowlan said.
“She said it was the simple things we do every day that make the difference.
“It’s all about creating a world worth living in and a responsibility to understand each other’s cultures.”
Orange Health Service has an Aboriginal component in its staff inductions on the need to involve the whole family in a patient’s treatment, as well as social conventions.
“If you haven’t asked the question, how do you know? So it’s about giving the right and appropriate care.”
Orange Health Service general manager Catherine Nowlan
However, Ms Nowlan said there had also been extra training in July to help 370 staff members be more comfortable in asking patients when they arrived at the hospital as to whether they identified as Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
“By asking the question, it helps us improve the identification of patients,” she said.
3.Vic : Njernda ACCHO chronic care coordinator, Garry Giles is empowering Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the country to improve their health
AS A Yorta Yorta man, Garry Giles knows family comes first.
Followed by housing, food, safety.
And finally, lingering right at the bottom, health.
It’s an unspoken yet age-old hierarchy not just for his mob, but Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) people across the country.
And while it’s seen him raised in a tight-knit community where aunties, uncles, cousins and siblings (blood-related or not) always had his back, it’s also a hierarchy that has caused endless heartache.
Because, as Njernda chronic care coordinator, Garry has seen how neglected health can lead to tragic outcomes, with clients, friends and family members taken too soon.
Currently, indigenous Australians are two to three times more likely to develop a chronic disease than non-indigenous people.
These include cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and chronic kidney disease.
And not only are Indigenous Australians more likely to have each of these conditions individually.
They are also more likely to have all three, and die from them.
But Garry is dreaming of a (hopefully not too distant) day when this gap is closed.
‘‘There is a huge need, our community is very sick,’’ he said.
‘‘And so many of our people seem to put their health on the backburner and don’t realise these diseases can be managed, they can be controlled.’’
Garry started working in his community when he was just 15 as a farmhand on an Indigenous farm.
He then cleaned for Berrimba Childcare Centre for five years before moving into home and community care for another five years.
From there he moved into health, completing a certificate III in ATSI health, and two years later he was an Aboriginal health worker with Njernda.
At that point, it wasn’t really a dream come true — a career in health had never been on Garry’s radar previously.
‘‘One of my aunties encouraged me to do it,’’ he said.
‘‘She said I had the compassion and the heart for it. If it weren’t for her, I probably wouldn’t have gone down this path.’’
Garry has now been chronic care coordinator for 12 months — but even in this specialised role, he still needs to keep a range of talents up to scratch.
‘‘I can be a counsellor one day, a driver or support worker the next,’’ he said.
‘‘But my main focus is chronic care. I book clients in and liaise with all allied health services.
‘‘This is a one-stop shop as a lot of our mob don’t tend to go through mainstream health services for their care — they prefer to come here.’’
Allied health staff connected to Njernda include podiatrists, dentists, endocrinologists, optometrists and child and maternal health practitioners.
As well as mental health, diabetes and drug and alcohol services.
It can sometimes feel like a 24-hour job for Garry.
‘‘Everyone is linked in some way, we’re all like family,’’ he said.
‘‘So you might run into someone in the supermarket and have a consultation there, because they just need that reassurance.
‘‘A lot of people don’t have any family, so we become that family. And while we try not to work outside our opening hours, if people have no one and are a bit scared, we’re more than happy to help.’’
Garry said education was key to better health for ATSI people.
And through his role at Njernda, he’s seen how proper support and guidance can lead to life-changing outcomes.
‘‘One of the best things is seeing people take more control of their lives,’’ he said.
‘‘A lot of our mob have low self esteem after facing so many barriers in life and a chronic illness is just another burden.
‘‘But we want to empower them to take steps to improve their health.
‘‘Because if they’re not well, they can’t help anybody — they won’t be there for their grandchildren. They won’t be there for their family.’’
4.1 QLD : IUIH and University of Queensland awarded Outstanding Collaboration in Higher Education and Training through Business Higher Education Round Table (BHERT).
Congratulations to IUIH and University of Queensland for receiving an Award last night for Outstanding Collaboration in Higher Education and Training through Business Higher Education Round Table (BHERT).
Receiving the award here is IUIH CEO Adrian Carson, Chair of the IUIH Board Aunty Lyn Shipway, UQ representative Leanne Coombe, and IUIH Director of Workforce Development Alison Nelson.
IUIH is the largest Aboriginal community-controlled, health organisation in Australia, and the largest employer of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in South East Queensland.
The partnership with UQ was designed to address indigenous health disadvantage by developing a generation of health professionals familiar with the special challenges within Indigenous health offering placements within a community controlled clinical setting.
The program has grown from providing placements to 30 students across 3 disciplines in 2010 to more than 350 students across 20 disciplines in 2017.
Congratulations to the team involved and thanks to all the students and team who have completed placements and contributed to this partnership.
4.2 QLD : Deadly Choices help celebrate 20th Anniversary of Cunnamulla Aboriginal Corporation for Health and the 150th Anniversary of the town itself.
The DC team were on the road last week, in Cunnamulla for the 20th Anniversary of Cunnamulla Aboriginal Corporation for Health and the 150th Anniversary of the town itself. They also launched Deadly Choices at Cunnamulla.
While in the region, they visited Charleville and Western Areas Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders Community Health Limited and helped launch the Charleville Men’s Group, and joined them for a morning tea.
DC Ambassador Petero Civoniceva was a big hit with the locals and he can’t wait to get back out there again!
Too deadly everyone!
5. NT : Katherine West Health Board’s Healthy Harold yarned with the Kids at Timber Creek about how to stay safe and healthy
Healthy Harold yarned with the Kids at Timber Creek about how to stay safe and healthy. One of the best ways to stay safe is to say no to drink driving.
The kids tried a driving game with beer goggles on to feel what it is like when a drunk person drives a car and everyone crashed
It is dangerous to be driving a car, or be in the car with someone who is drunk.
If you are drinking give a sober person the keys to the car and always have a sober person to drive.
Keep your family and community safe
Drink Safe, Be Safe, Have a Deadly Time
8. WA : NACCHO and Kimberley Aboriginal Medical ServicesSyphilis Test and Treat kits now available in the Kimberley region in Western Australia
NACCHO and the Australian Government Department of Health are working together to coordinate an $8.8 million response to address the syphilis outbreak in Northern Australia.
Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services is the latest ACCHS to participate in training conducted by Flinders University and the roll out of the Test and Treat kits.
Results from traditional blood tests can take up to two weeks to be processed, which cause issues with people moving on before receiving treatment and potentially spreading the disease. The Test and Treat kits allow instant diagnosis and if needed, immediate treatment.
Kimberley Aboriginal Medical Services staff completing accredited training
Left to right
Tori Jamieson, KAMSC Sexual Health and Wellbeing Officer
Jarlyn Spinks, KAMSC Peer Education Support Officer
Tracey Kitaura, DAHS Aboriginal Health Worker (EN) Chronic Disease/STI/RHD
“Success is underpinned by a team effort, with collaboration between families, communities, service providers and governments.
FASD requires a national approach, linking in closely with local solutions. We are acknowledging the scale of the issue in Australia and intensifying efforts to address it.”
The Minister for Indigenous Health and Minister for Aged Care, Ken Wyatt AM, said the Government’s approach to FASD was to invest in activities which have been shown to be effective.
“This plan will show us the way forward to tackle the tragic problem of FASD – guiding future actions for governments, service providers and communities in the priority areas of prevention, screening and diagnosis, support and management, and tailoring needs to communities.
Alongside the plan’s release, I am pleased to announce a new investment of $7.2 million to support activities that align with these priority areas.
This funding will enable work to start immediately and help protect future generations and give children the best start possible.”
Minister for Health Greg Hunt said the Government is committed to reducing the impact of FASD on individuals, families and communities.
The Federal Government is stepping up its fight against Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder (FASD) today by unveiling a new national action plan and more than $7 million in new funding.
Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder is the term used to describe the lifelong physical and neurodevelopmental impairments that can result from fetal alcohol exposure.
FASD is a condition that is an outcome of parents either not being aware of the dangers of alcohol use when pregnant or planning a pregnancy, or not being supported to stay healthy and strong during pregnancy.
This funding will enable new work to get underway and build on proven programs – to help protect future generations and give children the best possible start in life.
Key Points of action plan
FASD will be tackled across a range of fronts – including prevention, screening and diagnosis, support and management, and priority populations at increased risk of harm.
PREVENTION: $1.47 million including new consumer resources and general awareness activities – including national FASD Awareness Day, translation of awareness materials into a variety of First Nations languages, and promotion of alcohol consumption guidelines, and bottle shop point of sale warnings.
SCREENING: $1.2 million to support new screening and diagnosis activities, which will include reviewing existing tools and developing new systems and referral pathways, to assist professionals in community settings.
MANAGEMENT: $1.2 million goes to management and support activities, including tailored resources for people working in the education, justice and police sectors.
LOCAL TARGETING: $1.27 million to develop targeted resources, to meet local cultural and community needs.
BUILDING ON SUCCESS: $1.55 million to continue proven activities – with support for Australia’s FASD Hub, a one-stop shop containing the FASD Register and public awareness campaigns.
The Strategic Action Plan also establishes an expert FASD Advisory Group – which will report to the National Drug Strategy Committee on the progress being made, while promoting successful models and highlighting emerging issues and evidence.
From the FASD Workshop in Perth this week
The plan is committed to breaking FASD’s impact on
Encounters with the law
Family breakdowns
Deaths in custody
Suicides and chronic health conditions
FASD requires a national approach, linking in closely with local solutions.
We are acknowledging the scale of the issue in Australia and intensifying efforts to address it.
The activities and actions outlined in the priority areas of the Plan are intended to guide future action – they are not compulsory and can be adopted as needed, along with other interventions and programs, based on local needs.
Activities should be evidence informed and based on best available research and data – actions should be tailored to individual communities and regions.
Since 2014, the Liberal National Government has provided almost $20 million in direct funding to tackle
” The Federal Government must impose a tax on sugary drinks, mandate Health Star Ratings and ban junk food ads on TV until 9 pm if it wants to drive down Australia’s obesity rates, a Senate committee has concluded.
The Select Committee into the Obesity Epidemic, comprising senators from all major parties and chaired by Greens leader Richard Di Natale, has tabled a far-reaching report with 22 recommendations.”
Extract from Report Programs in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
The committee heard that Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) run effective programs aimed at preventing and addressing the high prevalence of obesity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Ms Pat Turner, Chief Executive Officer of National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), gave the example of the Deadly Choices program, which is about organised sports and activities for young people.
She explained that to participate in the program, prospective participants need to have a health check covered by Medicare, which is an opportunity to assess their current state of health and map out a treatment plan if necessary.
However, NACCHO is of the view that ACCHOs need to be better resourced to promote healthy nutrition and physical activity.
Access to healthy and fresh foods in remote Australia
Ms Turner also pointed out that ‘the supply of fresh foods to remote communities and regional communities is a constant problem’.
The committee recommends the proposed National Obesity Taskforce is funded to develop and oversee culturally appropriate prevention and intervention programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Recommendation 22
The committee recommends the Commonwealth develop additional initiatives and incentives aimed at increasing access, affordability and consumption of fresh foods in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
“Unhealthy weight is a major risk factor for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. Preventing obesity in children is particularly important, as it is difficult to reverse weight gain once established,”
Chair of the Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance Sharon McGowan said limiting unhealthy food marketing would reduce children’s exposure to unhealthy food and its subsequent consumption.See in full Part 3
“Obesity in this country has reached epidemic proportions, but it is not a problem without a solution. Today’s report demonstrates a willingness from representatives across all political parties to investigate the systemic causes of obesity and develop a way forward.”
A key recommendation from the Inquiry’s report is the introduction of a tax on sugary drinks; something the OPC has led calls for, and which has been supported by around 40 public health, community and academic groups in the Tipping the Scales report.
Jane Martin, Executive Manager of the Obesity Policy Coalition, said that when two thirds of Australians are overweight or obese, the Inquiry’s comprehensive report provides an acknowledgement of the scale of the problem and a blueprint for tackling it .See part 4 Below for full press release
Part 1 SMH Article
About 63 per cent of Australian adults are overweight or obese.
In a move that will likely delight health groups and enrage the food and beverage industries, it has recommended the government slap a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages (SSB), saying this would reduce sugar consumption, improve public health and push manufacturers to reformulate their products.
“The World Health Organisation has recommended governments tax sugary drinks and, at present, over 30 jurisdictions across the world have introduced a SSB tax as part of their effort and commitment toward preventing and controlling the rise of obesity,” the report said.
While health groups, such as Cancer Council, have demanded a 20 per cent levy, the committee suggested the government find the best fiscal model to achieve a price increase of at least 20 per cent.
“The impacts of sugary drinks are borne most by those on low income and they will also reap the most benefits from measures that change the behaviour of manufacturers,” it said.
About 63 per cent of Australian adults and 27 per cent of children aged 5 to 17 are overweight or obese, which increases the risk of developing heart disease and type 2 diabetes.
At the heart of the report is the recognition of the need for a National Obesity Taskforce, comprising government, health, industry and community representatives, which would sit within the Department of Health and be responsible for a National Obesity Strategy as well as a National Childhood Obesity Strategy.
“Australia does not have an overarching strategy to combat obesity,” it said.
“Many of the policy areas required to identify the causes, impacts and potential solutions to the obesity problem span every level of government.”
The committee has also urged the government to mandate the Health Star Rating (HSR) system, which is undergoing a five-year review, by 2020.
The voluntary front-of-pack labelling system has come under fire for producing questionable, confusing ratings – such as four stars for Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain – and becoming a “marketing tool”.
“Making it mandatory will drive food companies to reformulate more of their products in order to achieve higher HSR ratings,” the report said.
“The committee also believes that, once the HSR is made mandatory, the HSR calculator could be regularly adjusted to make it harder to achieve a five star rating.”
Pointing to a conflict-of-interest, it has recommended the HSR’s Technical Advisory Group expel members representing the industry.
“Representatives of the food and beverage industry sectors may be consulted for technical advice but [should] no longer sit on the HSR Calculator Technical Advisory Group,” it said.
The government has also been asked to consider introducing legislation to restrict junk food ads on free-to-air television until 9pm.
The group said existing voluntary codes were inadequate and also suggested that all junk food ads in all forms of media should display the product’s HSR.
The committee is made up of seven senators – two Liberals, two Labor, one each from the Greens and One Nation and independent Tim Storer.
The Liberals wrote dissenting statements, saying a taskforce was unnecessary, HSR should remain voluntary, there shouldn’t be a sugar tax, and current advertising regulations were enough.
“No witnesses who appeared before the inquiry could point to any jurisdiction in the world where the introduction of a sugar tax led to a fall in obesity rates,” they said.
Labor senators also said there was no need for a sugar tax because there isn’t enough evidence.
“Labor senators are particularly concerned that an Australian SSB would likely be regressive, meaning that it would impact lower-income households disproportionately,” they said.
Committee chair, Dr Di Natale said: “We need the full suite of options recommended by the committee if we’re serious about making Australians happier, healthier, and more active.”
Part 2 ALL 22 Recommendations
Recommendation 1
The committee recommends that Commonwealth funding for overweight and obesity prevention efforts and treatment programs should be contingent on the appropriate use of language to avoid stigma and blame in all aspects of public health campaigns, program design and delivery.
Recommendation 2
The committee recommends that the Commonwealth Department of Health work with organisations responsible for training medical and allied health professionals to incorporate modules specifically aimed at increasing the understanding and awareness of stigma and blame in medical, psychological and public health interventions of overweight and obesity.
Recommendation 3
The committee recommends the establishment of a National Obesity Taskforce, comprising representatives across all knowledge sectors from federal, state, and local government, and alongside stakeholders from the NGO, private sectors and community members. The Taskforce should sit within the Commonwealth Department of Health and be responsible for all aspects of government policy direction, implementation and the management of funding
Recommendation 3.1
The committee recommends that the newly established National Obesity Taskforce develop a National Obesity Strategy, in consultation with all key stakeholders across government, the NGO and private sectors.
Recommendation 3.2
The committee recommends that the Australian Dietary Guidelines are updated every five years.
Recommendation 6
The committee recommends the Minister for Rural Health promote to the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation the adoption of the following changes to the current Health Star Rating system:
The Health Star Rating Calculator be modified to address inconsistencies in the calculation of ratings in relation to:
foods high in sugar, sodium and saturated fat;
the current treatment of added sugar;
the current treatment of fruit juices;
the current treatment of unprocessed fruit and vegetables; and
the ‘as prepared’ rules.
Representatives of the food and beverage industry sectors may be consulted for technical advice but no longer sit on the HSR Calculator Technical Advisory Group.
The Health Star Rating system be made mandatory by 2020.
Recommendation 7
The committee recommends Food Standards Australia New Zealand undertake a review of voluntary front-of-pack labelling schemes to ensure they are fit-forpurpose and adequately represent the nutritional value of foods and beverages.
Recommendation 8
The committee recommends the Minister for Rural Health promote to the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation the adoption of mandatory labelling of added sugar on packaged foods and drinks.
Recommendation 9
The committee recommends that the Council of Australian Governments (COAG) Health Council work with the Department of Health to develop a nutritional information label for fast food menus with the goal of achieving national consistency and making it mandatory in all jurisdictions.
Recommendation 10
The committee recommends the Australian Government introduce a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages, with the objectives of reducing consumption, improving public health and accelerating the reformulation of products.
Recommendation 11
The committee recommends that, as part of the 2019 annual review of the Commercial Television Industry Code of Practice, Free TV Australia introduce restrictions on discretionary food and drink advertising on free-to-air television until 9.00pm.
Recommendation 12
The committee recommends that the Australian Government consider introducing legislation to restrict discretionary food and drink advertising on free-toair television until 9.00pm if these restrictions are not voluntary introduced by Free TV Australia by 2020.
Recommendation 13
The committee recommends the Australian Government make mandatory the display of the Health Star Rating for food and beverage products advertised on all forms of media.
Recommendation 14
The committee recommends the proposed National Obesity Taskforce is funded to develop and oversee the implementation of a range of National Education Campaigns with different sectors of the Australian community. Educational campaigns will be context dependent and aimed at supporting individuals, families and communities to build on cultural practices and improve nutrition literacy and behaviours around diet, physical activity and well-being.
Recommendation 15
The committee recommends that the National Obesity Taskforce, when established, form a sub-committee directly responsible for the development and management of a National Childhood Obesity Strategy.
Recommendation 16
The committee recommends the Medical Services Advisory Committee (MSAC) consider adding obesity to the list of medical conditions eligible for the Chronic Disease Management scheme.
Recommendation 17
The committee recommends the Australian Medical Association, the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners and other college of professional bodies educate their members about the benefits of bariatric surgical interventions for some patients.
Recommendation 18
The committee recommends the proposed National Obesity Taskforce commission evaluations informed by multiple methods of past and current multistrategy prevention programs with the view of designing future programs.
Recommendation 19
The committee recommends the proposed National Obesity Taskforce is funded to develop and oversee the implementation of multi-strategy, community based prevention programs in partnership with communities.
Recommendation 20
The committee recommends the proposed National Obesity Taskforce develop a National Physical Activity Strategy.
Recommendation 21
The committee recommends the proposed National Obesity Taskforce is funded to develop and oversee culturally appropriate prevention and intervention programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Recommendation 22
The committee recommends the Commonwealth develop additional initiatives and incentives aimed at increasing access, affordability and consumption of fresh foods in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
Part 3 Protect our children chronic disease groups support calls to restrict junk food advertising
Junk food advertising to children urgently needs to be better regulated.
That’s a recommendation from the Senate report on obesity, released last night, and a message that the Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance strongly supports.
Chair of the Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance Sharon McGowan said limiting unhealthy food marketing would reduce children’s exposure to unhealthy food and its subsequent consumption.
“Unhealthy weight is a major risk factor for cancer, diabetes, heart disease, stroke and kidney disease. Preventing obesity in children is particularly important, as it is difficult to reverse weight gain once established,” Ms McGowan said.
Ms McGowan said one in four children are already overweight or obese, and more likely to grow into adults who are overweight or obese with greater risk of chronic disease.
“While there are multiple factors influencing unhealthy weight gain, this is not an excuse for inaction,” she said. “Food companies are spending big money targeting our kids, unhealthy food advertising fills our television screens, our smartphones and digital media channels.
“Currently, self-regulation by industry is limited and there are almost no restrictions for advertising unhealthy foods online – this has to stop.
“We need to act now to stem this tide of obesity and preventable chronic disease, or we risk being the first generation to leave our children with a shorter life expectancy than our own.”
The Australian Chronic Disease Prevention Alliance also welcomed the Report’s recommendations for the establishment of a National Obesity Taskforce, improvements to the Health Star Rating food labelling system, development a National Physical Activity Strategy and introduction of a sugary drinks levy.
“We support the recent Government commitment to develop a national approach to obesity and urge the government to incorporate the recommendations from the Senate report for a well-rounded approach to tackle obesity in Australia,” Ms McGowan said.
Jane Martin, Executive Manager of the Obesity Policy Coalition, said that when two thirds of Australians are overweight or obese, the Inquiry’s comprehensive report provides an acknowledgement of the scale of the problem and a blueprint for tackling it.
“Obesity in this country has reached epidemic proportions, but it is not a problem without a solution. Today’s report demonstrates a willingness from representatives across all political parties to investigate the systemic causes of obesity and develop a way forward.”
A key recommendation from the Inquiry’s report is the introduction of a tax on sugary drinks; something the OPC has led calls for, and which has been supported by around 40 public health, community and academic groups in the Tipping the Scales report.
“Sugar is a problem in our diets and sugary drinks are the largest contributor of added sugar for Australians. Consumption of these beverages is associated with chronic health conditions including type 2 diabetes, heart disease, some cancers and tooth decay,” Ms Martin said.
“We have been calling for a 20% health levy on sugary drinks for a number of years, but Australia continues to lag behind 45 other jurisdictions around the world that have introduced levies. When sugary drinks are often cheaper than water, it’s time to take action.”
The report also calls for a review of the current rules around junk food advertising to children.
Ms Martin insisted any review should prioritise an end to the advertising industry’s selfregulated codes.
“We know industry marketing is having a negative effect; it directly impacts what children eat and what they pester their parents for. It’s wallpaper in their lives, bombarding them during their favourite TV shows, infiltrating their social media feeds and plastering their sports grounds and uniforms when they play sport,” Ms Martin said.
“With more than one in four Australian children overweight or obese, it’s time for the Government to acknowledge that leaving food and beverage companies to make their own sham rules allows them to continue to prioritise profits over kids’ health.”
While the Inquiry’s report calls for a National Obesity Strategy, a commitment announced by the COAG Health Ministers earlier this year, Ms Martin stressed that this must be developed independently, without the involvement of the ultra-processed food industry, which has already hampered progress to date.
“The OPC, along with 40 leading community and public health groups, have set out clear actions on how best to tackle obesity in our consensus report, Tipping the Scales. These actions came through strongly from many of the groups who participated in the inquiry and we are pleased to see them reflected in the recommendations.
“The evidence is clear on what works to prevent and reduce obesity, but for real impact we need leadership from policy makers. We need to stop placing the blame on individuals. The Federal and State governments must now work together to push those levers under their control to stem the tide of obesity.”
The senate inquiry report contains 22 recommendations which address the causes, control of obesity, including:
The establishment of a National Obesity Taskforce, with a view to develop a National Obesity Strategy
Introduction of a tax on sugar-sweetened beverages
The Health Star Rating system be made mandatory by 2020
Adoption of mandatory labelling of added sugar
Restrictions on discretionary food and drink advertising on free-to-air television until 9pm
Implementation of a National Education Campaign aimed at improving nutrition literacy and behaviours around diet and physical activity
Form a sub-committee from the National Obesity Taskforce around the development and management of a National Childhood Obesity Strategy
BACKGROUND:
On 10 May 2018, the Senate voted to establish an inquiry to examine the impacts of Australia’s obesity epidemic.
The Select Committee into the obesity epidemic was established on 16 May 2018 to look at the causes of rising levels of obese and overweight people in Australia and how the issue affects children. It also considered the economic burden of the health concern and the effectiveness of existing programs to improve diets and tackle childhood obesity. The inquiry has received 145 submissions and has published its full report today.
The Committee held public hearings from public health, industry and community groups. The OPC provided a submission and Jane Martin gave evidence at one of these sessions.
Picture above staff Santa Xmas Party atWuchopperen ACCHO Cairns
1.1 National:1.1 National : Our CEO Pat Turner launches AIHW 4th Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and is interviewed by Speaking Out
1.2 National : Pat Turner Scholarship winners announced
1.3 National : NACCHO launches all AGM speaker and sponsor interview on NACCHO TV
2.1 NSW : Redfern AMS wins Dreamtime Community Organisation of the Year 2018
2.2 Awabakal ACCHO Newcastle spreads the Christmas cheer with hamper deliveries
3.1 VIC : Deadly news! VAHS ACCHO very own Deadly Dan just won the 2018 Victorian Health award in Tobacco Prevention.
4.2 QLD : Wuchopperen ACCHO Expands Exercise Program Into Local Schools
5. SA: The South Australian Government is committed to improving the opportunities and services available to Aboriginal South Australians.
6. WA : The WA Aboriginal Tobacco Control Strategic Leadership Team received the Bob Elphick Medal from the Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH
7. NT Danila Dilba Health Service Darwin wins Stan Grant Indigenous Employment Award recognises excellence in Indigenous employment initiatives and programs in the workplace.
8. ACT : Winnunga ACCHO Newsletter launched
9. TAS : Tasmania Aboriginal Centre Training For Success end of program celebrations. Congratulations to all involved
How to submit a NACCHO Affiliate or Members Good News Story ?
Wednesday by 4.30 pm for publication 24 January Thursday /Friday
1.1 National : Our CEO Pat Turner launches AIHW 4th Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) and is interviewed by Speaking Out
Last week, the AIHW celebrated the launch of our 4th Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP). This important occasion began with a Welcome to Country from Ngunnawal Elder Ms Violet Sheridan, followed by CEO Patricia Turner’s story and thoughts on reconciliation.
Ten years on from the introduction of the Close The Gap strategy, the push for a community-led partnership in policy development is as strong as ever.
But what are the prospects of gaining a seat at the government’s table?
Aunty Pat Turner has had a long and distinguished career in Indigenous Affairs, and in 1990, was awarded the Order of Australia for her service to the sector.
She is currently the CEO of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), and shares her thoughts on the highs and lows of 2018.
1.2 National : Pat Turner Scholarship winners announced
The Pat Turner Scholarship Program provides full pay scholarships for Australian Public Service employees to complete full time post-graduate study at the Australian National University or Charles Darwin University.
The scholarship program contributes to the improvement of Australian public policy by scholars researching complex topics of national significance and by building the leadership capabilities of Indigenous APS employees through targeted leadership training and networking opportunities.
The scholarship program is only available to Indigenous staff employed in participating APS agencies.
NACCHO CEO Patricia Turner, AM is the daughter of an Arrente man and a Gurdanji woman and was raised in Alice Springs.
Pat’s career as a public servant included many great achievements. She was the Deputy Secretary of the Department of Aboriginal Affairs and the Deputy CEO of ATSIC at its inception. She was also responsible for setting up the Council for Aboriginal Reconciliation when working in the Dept of Prime Minister & Cabinet.
After winning the Monash Chair of Australian Studies, Georgetown University she moved to Washington DC as Professor of Australian Studies. She was the inaugural CEO of NITV, and was appointed NACCHO Chief Executive Officer in April 2016.
Pat has actively promoted self-determination and social justice for Aboriginal people throughout her career.
2.1 NSW : Redfern AMS wins Dreamtime Community Organisation of the Year 2018
Awarded to a community not-for-profit organisation in recognition of their contribution to their local community or region in one or more of the following: leadership, advocacy, capacity building, partnerships, and wellbeing.
The Board of Directors, Chief Executive Officer and staff, would like to take this opportunity to thank the wider community for their continuous support over our 46 years of service delivery.
We endeavour to continue to reduce the health inequalities faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people by empowering our community to make more informed decisions that will result in better health outcomes.
2.2 Awabakal ACCHO Newcastle spreads the Christmas cheer with hamper deliveries
The Christmas spirit is in the air at Awabakal Ltd as the organisation gets ready to surprise the Newcastle community with a surprise Christmas hamper delivery run this week.
Awabakal’s Board of Directors are excited to be partnering with Newcastle’s Telstra Business team, the Newcastle Knights and the Australian Defence Force to deliver 360 Christmas hampers to Awabakal’s community groups and individuals in need of support, including women, men and members of Mums and Bubs groups, Awabakal Preschool parents, and their aged care group and Elders.
Acting Chief Executive Officer of Awabakal, Toni Johnston has praised the community spirit of Telstra, Newcastle Knights and Australian Defence Force, saying the hamper run wouldn’t have been possible without their support.
“Our partners Telstra, Newcastle Knights and Australian Defence Force see the benefits of contributing to such a wonderful community initiative,” said Toni. “Telstra has been on board for three years and their staff volunteer their time to assist in the delivery of hampers. The Newcastle Knights and Australian Defence Force have kindly joined us for the first time and it’s great to see such great role models lend a helping hand during the festive season.”
“It takes a lot of different resources to pull together such a wonderful community initiative. We would like to thank our Board of Directors, corporate partners, volunteers and staff, Toll Group for couriering the hampers, Foodbank for supplying the hampers and of course our valued community members who access our services,” said Toni.
The hamper delivery will run throughout this week from Awabakal’s Head Office in Wickham, with Telstra, several Newcastle Knights players, and indigenous members of the Australian Defence Force assisting in delivering the hampers to the community.
3.1 VIC : Deadly news! VAHS ACCHO very own Deadly Dan just won the 2018 Victorian Health award in Tobacco Prevention.
Deadly Dan is a smoke free superhero. His motto is “You smoke you choke!” and he flies around country teaching the mob about the importance of making healthy choices and staying smoke free.
Deadly Dan includes a suite of expanding, culturally relevant, age-appropriate, teaching and learning resources including two editions of a beautiful illustrated children’s book (Deadly Dan at the League), a film and a growing base of lesson plans for schools. The latter two are readily accessible on the VAHS website.
Deadly Dan also has a costume and possum skin cloak which are equally important artefacts of this project, allowing for accessibility and interaction between children, families and community with this culturally respected and respectful superhero.
Deadly Dan at the League reflects on four important practices of effective health promotion education:
• excellent quality, culturally appropriate, evidence-based, ‘entertainment-education’ as the pivotal methodology relevant to young children and their families
• interrogates and affirms the power of both positive education and peer relationships as a critical influence in children and young people’s behaviour ( the Deadly Dan at the League film is especially strong on highlighting both aspects) https://www.vahs.org.au/deadly-dan/
• affirming self-determination including the active participation of community members as experts in the development of all resources (e.g. Aunty Diane Kerr and Jacqueline Morris in the design and creation of Deadly Dan’s Possum Skin Cloak 2017 ; and children of Bubub Wilam for Early Learning and Yappera Children’s Services and families for critical input into the development of the Deadly Dan at the League story book; and local Aboriginal children, young people and community members as actors and co-collaborators in the Deadly Dan film)
• collaborating with a diverse range of organisational partners, for broader communication and promotion of all Deadly Dan resources ( e.g.Darebin Schools’ and Early Years Services Professional Development of Deadly Dan at the League, held at the Aborigines Advancement League, 2018 in collaboration with Darebin City Council)
Developed as an early childhood Aboriginal health promotion tool, Deadly Dan at the League also allows teaching and learning of non-Aboriginal children about place-based Aboriginal history and culture.
Deadly Dan at the League strongly mirrors the principles and strategies of both Korin Korin Balit-Djak Aboriginal health, wellbeing and safety plan 2017–2027 and Marrung – The Aboriginal Education Plan 2016-2026.
3.2 VIC : VACCHO Ditching the sugary drinks! A Victorian Aboriginal sugary drinks ad is kicking goals.
First evaluation results from the Aboriginal Rethink Sugary Drink campaign show that these important health messages are resonating with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
The evaluation published in the Health Promotion Journal of Australia highlights that the over half of people who saw the Aboriginal Rethink Sugary Drink ad cut down on their sugary drink intake and also agreed it had an important message for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population.
The Aboriginal campaign, developed by the Rethink Sugary Drink alliance, stresses how much sugar is loaded into sugary drinks and the health risks associated with regular consumption. The ad was seen to be more believable, to be more relevant and to have an important message for the Aboriginal community compared to the LiveLighter advertisement.
Louise Lyons, Director of the Public Health and Research Unit, Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), said the evaluation results demonstrate the cut through and value of having ads directed primarily at an Aboriginal audience. “Because this ad was developed in consultation with local Aboriginal people, it delivers a relevant and culturally appropriate message to our communities – sugary drinks are not good for our health and to go for water instead”.
Launched online in 2015 and broadcast on NITV in the same year, the Victorian-made ad is hitting the mark with Victorian Aboriginal communities and other Aboriginal communities around Australia.
Online surveys completed by 150 Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander adults from around Australia showed that 60% of participants who had seen the ad reported that they drank less sugary drinks.
A key message of the ad is that there are 16 teaspoons of sugar in a regular 600mL bottle of soft drink. Almost two-thirds (64%) of survey respondents who had seen the ad previously were able to correctly identify the sugar content of regular soft drink, compared with less than half (49%) those who had not seen it previously.
Check out the latest campaign from Rethink Sugary Drink featuring Victorian Aboriginal community members sharing how cutting back on sugary drinks helped their health and wellbeing here!
4. 1 QLD : Institute for Urban Indigenous Health named joint winner in Indigenous Governance Awards
The quality of Indigenous governance was on show at a gala event in Melbourne last month
The Indigenous Governance Awards ‘identify, celebrate and promote effective Indigenous governance, which is about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people making and implementing decisions about their communities, lives and futures.’
After a rigorous judging process the winners of the 2 awards were selected from amongst 9 finalists.
In Category A, for incorporated organisations, the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health (Windsor, QLD) and Nyamba Buru Yawuru (Broome, WA) were named joint winners.
The Warlpiri Education and Training Trust (Alice Springs, NT) won the Category B award for non-incorporated organisations. The Alekarenge Community Development Working Group (Ali Curung, NT) was highly commended in this category.
Professor Mick Dodson, the Indigenous Governance Awards Chair, commented on the calibre of finalists.
‘In the 14 years I’ve been involved with the Awards, I’ve seen the quality of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander governance practiced by the applicants rise and rise,’ Professor Dodson said.
‘This year, again, I can say that the finalists are the best we’ve ever had.’
The awards highlight success in leadership, good management, partnerships and brave, creative thinking.
South East Queensland is home to 38 per cent of Queensland’s and 11 per cent of Australia’s Indigenous people. The region has the largest and fastest growing Indigenous population in the nation and the biggest health gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
In 2009, only a fraction of this population were accessing community controlled comprehensive primary health care.
The imperative to address these challenges shaped the blueprint for a ground-breaking new regional community governance architecture and the formation of a regional backbone organisation – the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health (IUIH).
Critically, this contemporary regional model was underpinned by strong cultural foundations and goes back to traditional ways of being, doing and belonging, when for thousands of years, Aboriginal tribes and nations across South East Queensland came together to achieve shared and cross-territorial goals.
Through strengthened community self-determination, an entrepreneurial business model, and pioneering a brand new regional health ‘ecosystem’, IUIH has now been able to make the biggest single health impact of any Indigenous organisation in Australia, in the shortest time period, and with a national best practice standard of care.
In just nine years, the numbers of Indigenous clients accessing comprehensive and culturally safe care in South East Queensland has increased by 340 per cent (from 8000 to 35,000); annual health checks have increased by 4100 per cent (from 500 to 21,000); and, progress against Closing the Gap targets is being made faster than predicted trajectories.
Further challenges lie ahead. In response to even more rapid Indigenous population growth – expected to reach 130,000 in South East Queensland by 2031
IUIH is now exploring further transformative models which, if realised, have the potential to double its existing client population.
4.2 QLD : Wuchopperen ACCHO Expands Exercise Program Into Local Schools
Wuchopperen Health Service Limited’s successful exercise program has expanded with a new partnership engaging two Cairns primary schools to tackle unhealthy lifestyles and obesity rates in children.
The Wuchopperen team will visit Cairns West and Balaclava Primary Schools every week to work with over 60 children in year five on exercise sessions and making healthy life choices.
Exercise Physiologist at Wuchopperen, Myles Hardy says the program is tackling unhealthy lifestyle factors and making long term change for children in our community.
“There is so much research out there which shows obesity and unhealthy lifestyles in childhood carry over into adulthood, resulting in an increase in the risk of developing chronic disease, and reducing overall life expectancy,” says Myles.
In Queensland alone, 27 per cent of children are overweight or obese and according to research from 2013, around 30 per cent of Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander children were overweight or obese.
“We want to work with young people to establish healthy habits in the younger years. Our program will focus on exercise, but will also have other members of the Wuchopperen team working with the kids in the program on mental health, nutrition and overall healthy lifestyle factors,” says Myles.
The program is now in its second week and will run until the end of the school term.
Wuchopperen also works with our Elders in the community to increase exercise and improve social and physical health outcomes, with a total of 976 sessions provided to both men’s and women’s groups in the last financial year.
“You’re never too young or too old to make change and start living a healthier life. We see people come through Wuchopperen who have never exercised before and start training in their 60s. It is really inspiring see people take their health in their own hands at any age, but the sooner we can get people focused on living a healthy life, the easier it is to implement life-long health habits,” says Myles.
Before starting any new exercise regime, Wuchopperen recommends consulting with a healthcare professional.
5. SA: The South Australian Government is committed to improving the opportunities and services available to Aboriginal South Australians.
To achieve this ambition, the government has developed the Aboriginal Affairs Action Plan that outlines a series of initiatives and actions for completion by agencies during 2019-20.
These actions fall within three objectives:
Creating opportunities for Aboriginal jobs and businesses
Improving the quality and the delivery of services to Aboriginal South Australians
Building strong and capable Aboriginal communities
Once available, progress updates will be published on this page
6. WA : The WA Aboriginal Tobacco Control Strategic Leadership Team received the Bob Elphick Medal from the Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH)
Members of the WA Aboriginal Tobacco Control Strategic Leadership Team from BRAMS, AHCWA, Wirraka Maya, GRAMS and QALT with staff members from ACOSH and the Hon. Roger Cook MLA
The WA Aboriginal Tobacco Control Strategic Leadership Team received the Bob Elphick Medal from the Australian Council on Smoking and Health (ACOSH), in recognition of a distinguished contribution to tobacco control in Western Australia.
Here are a few photos from the award ceremony.
Staff members from Wirraka Maya with their Bob Elphick medal
Acceptance speech from Tricia Pearce , Tackling Indigenous Smoking Coordinator from AHCWA.
7. NT Danila Dilba Health Service Darwin wins Stan Grant Indigenous Employment Award recognises excellence in Indigenous employment initiatives and programs in the workplace.
The Stan Grant Indigenous Employment Award recognises excellence in Indigenous employment initiatives and programs in the workplace. This year’s award was won by Danila Dilba Health Service! In a Recruitment Marketing Magazine exclusive, we interviewed their CEO Olga Havnen and HR Manager Sulal Mathai who shared how their employer branding efforts have made an impact.
Danila Dilba Health Service is an Aboriginal community-controlled organisation providing culturally-appropriate, comprehensive primary health care and community services to Biluru (Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander) people in the Yilli Rreung (greater Darwin) region of the Northern Territory.
Last year, the organisation launched their career pathways project as part of their HR strategy to promote Indigenous staffing across all levels in their organisation, including leadership positions. The project has been a huge success, with Indigenous employees now comprising 50 per cent of their overall workforce and 65 per cent of their executive leadership team
As Danila Dilba’s CEO, Olga Havnen explains, “our aim is to maintain our status as an employer of choice, both to attract talented employees and increase the professionalism and capability of employees at every level of the organisation. Our vision is to ensure continuing leadership by a well-qualified, skilled Indigenous management team.”
Danila Dilba offers traineeships, leadership opportunities, mentoring for emerging leaders, and has introduced new positions for safety and community liaison officers who engage with clients in their clinics. All their new positions are opportunities to bring more Indigenous employees on board.
Danila Dilba’s Indigenous Emerging Leadership program enables their Indigenous employees to put forward expressions of interest to receive formal mentoring opportunities through external pathways. This facilitates leadership pathways for these employees and eases their transition into these positions.
They also have a program called the Australian Nurse Family Partnership Program (ANSPP), a new home visiting social support service for Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander mothers and babies.
“The program is part of eight different Australian organisations, including Danila Dilba,” said Hiring Manager Sulal Mathai. “We are the only location where all our team members are Aboriginal Torres Strait Islander women. This makes a difference because they bring cultural appropriateness and understanding when visiting homes, which is a special outcome for the program.”
To promote all these great initiatives, they conducted an employer branding project with external specialists from Employment Office. Their employer branding project was amplified through digital initiatives, such as restructuring and updating their careers website, and showcasing their employees in various roles through written and video content.
“The project helped Danila Dilba strengthen our employer brand and market our unique employee value proposition across Australia. Along with the branding project we revamped our website and careers pages which helped us attract quality applicants to join Danila Dilba in 2018 across all levels of our organisation.”
Mathai measured their return on investment through analysing key metrics, such as visits to their careers website (which increased by 60%!). They also managed to fill 80% of their advertised opportunities, which was also a significant increase for them.
“Our employer branding initiatives have been very successful in ensuring we receive our fair share of quality talent. It’s helped us in both recruitment and retention. We’ve retained a greater number of employees as we’ve opened more leadership positions.”
Conducting an employer branding through external specialists enabled Danila Dilba to see the bigger picture and connect the dots.
“This made a big difference. We used to do things in a silo, and Employment Office’s Employer Branding specialists provided a unified approach. They were able to produce feature stories of our people and their successful career pathways, and use consistent wording to showcase our organisation, increasing the quality of our recruitment process and content.”
Mathai also implemented social media campaigns to showcase their employee profile story videos.
“Now, when we advertise, we don’t need to rely on recruitment partners. We received a large number of quality responses!”
“Employer Branding Specialists took a comprehensive approach that helped us to understand and amplify our brand, and the also conducted a talent competitor analysis of what similar organisations were doing with their employer brand. This helped us to ensure we are presenting a unique employer offering that was one step ahead of other primary healthcare providers in our state. We knew what our industry was doing and we could take a step forward to brand ourselves with more strength.
Winning the 2018 AHRI Stan Grant Indigenous Employment Award
As a community-focused Indigenous organisation, Danila Dilba’s goal was to promote Indigenous employment and career pathways across their whole organisation at all levels.
“We wanted to demonstrate our high-standard for employment,” said Mathai. “We applied for AHRI’s Stan Grant Indigenous Employment Award, one of Australia’s most prestigious awards for excellence in Indigenous employment initiatives in the workplace, to see how our practices stood in comparison to the rest of Australia. Through winning the award, we’re so pleased to demonstrate how we do well in this sector!”
“In Darwin, we cater to the community. But that doesn’t mean we want to limit our practices. We want to have world-class processes and practices, and continue to enhance the reputation and credibility of our organisation. Winning the award affirmed our knowledge that our HR and business practices should be recognised and celebrated. It’s proven the success of our Indigenous employment and career pathways.”
“We’ve known for several years that 15,000 additional early learning places are needed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children’s enrolment to be level with the general population.”
Geraldine Atkinson, SNAICC Deputy Chairperson
“This is a problem we can solve – it requires the political will to make sure that every single First Nations child has access to, and participates in, quality early learning for at least three days per week in the two years before school.”
More than thirty leading child welfare, education and research organisations have endorsed a new call by Early Childhood Australia (ECA) and SNAICC – National Voice for our Children to ensure all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children receive quality early learning and family support.
The data we have tells us that our children are half as likely to attend a Child Care Benefit approved early childhood service than non-indigenous children.
Everyone who cares about child welfare in Australia is concerned that too many children are starting school with developmental vulnerability, and that two out of five Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children are vulnerable when they start school; that’s twice the rate of vulnerability overall.
The most important thing for our children to thrive is that we need ongoing support for culturally appropriate, community-controlled services, and help to improve the quality of those services and professional development for their staff.
“We can see from the great results in high-quality Aboriginal Child and Family Centres, that families feel welcome, the children love to come, and they make a good transition to school.”
– Geraldine Atkinson, SNAICC Deputy Chairperson
Children and families are already benefitting from evidence-based, targeted family support services, like Families as First Teachers, Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY), Parents as Teachers (PAT) and Best Start (in WA).
“We want to see all First Nations families get this vital support in the early years because supporting parents in the home environment is as important as access to early learning services to improve outcomes for children.”
– Samantha Page, ECA CEO
The joint position paper by ECA and SNAICC urges the Commonwealth Government to work alongside state and territory governments to take these actions:
Establish new early childhood development targets to close the gap in the AEDC domains by 2030, and an accompanying strategy—through the Closing the Gap refresh
Commit to permanently fund universal access to high-quality early education for three- and four-year-olds, including additional funding to ensure that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children get access to a minimum of three days per week of high-quality preschool, with bachelor-qualified teachers
Invest in quality Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled integrated early years services, through a specific early education program, with clear targets to increase coverage in areas of high Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander population, and high levels of disadvantage.
Further recommendations include:
COAG to fund a targeted program to support evidence-informed, culturally safe, integrated early childhood and family-focused programs, across the nurturing care spectrum, in early education and care services that work with high numbers of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.
The paper and its recommendations are endorsed by peak bodies, children‘s education and care service organisations and major children’s organisations who all that support the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children including: Save the Children, National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO); UNICEF, Brotherhood of St Laurence; Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS); Murdoch Children’s Research Institute; Queensland Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Child Protection Peak (QATSICPP); Victorian Aboriginal Child Care Agency (VACCA) and many more.
See the full list of endorsing organisations in the position paper.
The broad range of support for these recommendations shows the high level of agreement and concern that action needs to be taken to make sure that Australia improves our support for First Nations children to give them the best start in life.
“Today is a game-changing step. Ending RHD is a critical, tangible target to close the gap in Indigenous life expectancy.
Our Government is building on the work of the Coalition to Advance New Vaccines Against Group A Streptococcus (CANVAS) initiative, by providing $35 million over 3 years to fund the creation of a vaccine that will bring an end, once and for all, to RHD in Australia.
The trials and development, led by Australia’s leading infectious disease experts and coordinated by the Telethon Kids Institute, will give hope to thousands of First Nations people whose lives and families have been catastrophically affected by this illness.”
The funding announced today by Indigenous Health Minister Ken Wyatt AM is being provided from the Medical Research Future Fund (MRFF).
The eradication of rheumatic heart disease, a deadly and devastating illness largely affecting Indigenous communities, is taking a major step forward, with the Federal Government investing $35 million in the development of a vaccine to combat the disease.
SEE Full Press Release Part 2 Below
Pictured below : Saving the lives of children like 7 year old Tenaya, who has Rheumatic Heart Disease – Perth Hospital
“It is wonderful that the Commonwealth Government research funds have been directed to address this leading cause of inequality for young Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Australia. It is a turning point in progress towards a Strep A vaccine.
The Aboriginal Community Controlled Health sector welcomes this funding for the Strep A vaccine as one part of the work needed to end RHD.
It does not distract us from the ultimate goal of addressing the social and environmental factors – such as inequality, overcrowding, inadequate housing infrastructure, insufficient hygiene infrastructure and limited access to appropriate health services – which drive the high rates of RHD in Australia.
We hope that research funds will be mirrored by investment in frontline health services, such as ours, as part of a comprehensive strategy to end rheumatic heart disease in Australia”
NACCHO CEO Ms Pat Turner AM
ACHWA was represented at the launch by Vicki O’Donnell Chairperson
Part 1 :Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak bodies welcome Federal Government funding for new Australian-led Strep A vaccine
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peak bodies for the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health sector as leaders of END RHD advocacy alliance, warmly welcome Minister Wyatt’s announcement today of $35 million of funding for the acceleration of an Australian-led Strep A vaccine.
The National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT), Aboriginal Health Council of South Australia (AHCSA), Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC), Aboriginal Health Medical Research Council of New South Wales (AH&MRC), Aboriginal Health Council of Western Australia (AHCWA) are Founding Members of END RHD, leading a campaign calling for an end to rheumatic heart disease in Australia.
We congratulate Telethon Kids Institute, one of our fellow END RHD founding members, on being awarded this vital funding, and look forward to further engagement with researchers, communities, and other stakeholders as the project progresses.
END RHD has been calling for investment in strategic research and technology – including the development of a vaccine – as part of a range of funding priorities needed to eliminate rheumatic heart disease (RHD) in Australia. This funding is an important step towards that goal.
A vaccine has an important role to play in reducing the rates of rheumatic heart disease in years to come. We celebrate this announcement and recognise it is one important part of the comprehensive action needed to end RHD in Australia, and truly close the gap in health outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians.
We invite you to join the movement to end rheumatic heart disease in Australia. You can pledge your support for the END RHD campaign at https://endrhd.org.au/take-action/
Part 2
It will allow manufacture and testing of a number of vaccines currently being developed, and fast-tracking and funding of clinical trials in Australia. The aim is to accelerate availability of a vaccine for use in Australia and internationally.
“Today is a game-changing step,” said Minister Wyatt. “Ending RHD is a critical, tangible target to close the gap in Indigenous life expectancy.
“Our Government is building on the work of the Coalition to Advance New Vaccines Against Group A Streptococcus (CANVAS) initiative, by providing $35 million over 3 years to fund the creation of a vaccine that will bring an end, once and for all, to RHD in Australia.
“The trials and development, led by Australia’s leading infectious disease experts and coordinated by the Telethon Kids Institute, will give hope to thousands of First Nations people whose lives and families have been catastrophically affected by this illness.”
Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) is a complication of bacterial Streptococcus A infections of the throat and skin. Strep A and RHD are major causes of death around the world, with Strep A killing more than 500,000 people each year.
Australia has one of the highest incidences of rheumatic heart disease in the world. It is the leading cause of cardiovascular inequality between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians and is most commonly seen in adolescents and young adults.
Alarmingly, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people are 64 times more likely than non Indigenous people to develop rheumatic heart disease, and nearly 20 times as likely to die from it.
Every year in Australia, nearly 250 children are diagnosed with acute rheumatic fever at an average age of 10 years. 50 – 150 people, mainly indigenous children or adolescents, die from RHD every year.
“Rheumatic heart disease kills young people and devastates families. This funding will save countless lives in Australia and beyond,” said Health Minister Greg Hunt.
“This initiative will also benefit Australia by ensuring it continues to be the global leader in Strep A and RHD research and public health implementation, and can build on its worldclass clinical trial and medical industry.
“Vulnerable communities, in particular Indigenous communities, will get the medicines they need; and Australian industry will have the opportunity to collaborate in developing and distributing the breakthrough vaccine, both here and overseas.”
The End RHD vaccine initiative will be directed by Prof Jonathan Carapetis AM (Director of the Telethon Kids Institute in Perth) and overseen by a Scientific Advisory Board including leading Australian and International experts.
The project will also be informed by an Indigenous Advisory Committee who will ensure that the voices of our First Nations people are heard and acknowledged, and that all components of the work are culturally safe and appropriate.
This latest initiative builds on funding already provided under our Government’s Rheumatic Fever Strategy. This includes $12.8 million to continue support for the existing state-based register and control programs in the Northern Territory, Western Australia, Queensland and South Australia; and new funding of $6 million for focused prevention activities in high-risk communities to prevent the initial incidence of acute rheumatic fever.
Our Government has also provided $165,000 to the END RHD Alliance to complete development of a roadmap to eliminate the disease in Australia.
“The death and suffering caused by Strep A and RHD is preventable,” said Minister Hunt. “RHD can be stopped and we want to end it on our watch.
“This is a further demonstration of our Government’s strong commitment to health and medical research, which is a key pillar of our Government’s long term health plan.”
” For Aboriginal people, connection to our country, culture and family can be profoundly healing. But in the many decades we’ve spent working to improve the health of Australia’s first peoples, it’s a strength that has too often been ignored and squandered.
We need to change that, especially when it comes to addressing the health deficits that young Aboriginal people face, the great burden of which is their mental health.
And in their case, the strengths we need to build on includes the young people themselves.”
PROFESSOR SANDRA EADES Associate Dean (Indigenous), Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health Sciences, University of Melbourne
” Culturally-appropriate care and safety has a vast role to play in improving the health and wellbeing of our people.
In this respect, I want to make special mention of the proven record of the Aboriginal Community Health Organisations in increasing the health and wellbeing of First Peoples by delivering culturally competent care.
I’m pleased to be here at this conference, which aims to make a difference with a simple but sentinel theme of investing in what works, surely a guiding principle for all that we do
Providing strong pointers for this is a new youth report from the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.
Equipped with this information, we can connect the dots – what is working well and where we need to focus our energies, invest our expertise, so our young people can reap the benefits of better health and wellbeing “
Minister Ken Wyatt launching AIHWAboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Adolescent and Youth Health and Wellbeing 2018 report at NACCHO Conference 31 October attended by over 500 ACCHO delegates including 75 ACCHO Youth delegates
The report also found that over 60 per cent of Aboriginal young people recognise their traditional homelands, and over half identify with their clan or language group.
And they are increasingly finishing school and saying no to smoking. In the ten years to 2016, the proportion of Aboriginal young people completing Year 12 rose from 47 per cent to 65 per cent. Among 15 to 24-year-olds, some 56 per cent now report never having smoked compared with just 44 per cent in 2002.
In terms of alcohol consumption among Aboriginal aged 18 to 24 years old, some 65 per cent report that in the last two weeks they either hadn’t had a drink or hadn’t exceeded alcohol risk guidelines. That compares with just 33 per cent of non-Aboriginal 18 to 24-year-olds.
And what do they say when we ask them what they stress about most? Getting a job.
Aboriginal young people know the trajectory they want to take. They want to complete school, go to TAFE or University, and most of all get into work.
This tells us that we have a real opportunity to help them. Like all young people, it’s about helping them achieve small wins that can then build into bigger victories.
If you were to say to someone of British heritage that to be really Australian they had to leave Britain behind, forget their connection to their heritage and integrate, you would be laughed at.
But that is the message that has long been given to Aboriginal people even though we have over 50,000 years of connection to this country.
So, it should be no surprise we don’t feel we have to let go of our culture or let go of the strengths that go with being Aboriginal.
It is these unique strengths that we need to get better at integrating into how we deliver healthcare if we are to address the health gap. And the health gap is real.
Aboriginal young people have higher rates of mortality, self-harm and psychological distress.
Youth is a period of our lives when we are supposed to experiment and take risks. But if you are from a disadvantaged group, and being Aboriginal is the most disadvantaged group in the Australia, the issues of living with this disadvantage and intergenerational trauma, can tip the balance towards unhealthy risk taking.
The mental balance can tip towards hopelessness and despair.
But the overwhelming message from this report is that these health deficits are preventable conditions, and that a large part of the problem is gaps in services and support.
Young people aren’t easy to reach. In my career I’ve researched Aboriginal mothers, babies, young children and older people, and they are all much easier to engage with in health settings – but young people don’t tend to hang out at health clinics.
Engaging with young people isn’t an impossible challenge. In our NextGen research, in which we are surveying face-to-face over 2,000 Aboriginal young people about sensitive health topics, we have had to work differently to connect with them. Where we have had success is in the home and in community neighbourhood centres.
In many respects it is obvious. In our preliminary data, of the young people who tell us they have mental health issues, some 70 per cent say their parent and families are the first people they talk to about their problems.
It tells you that if you want to engage with Aboriginal young people you need to be engaging with their families. We need to rethink how services are delivered if we are to make them more effective in engaging with young people.
Since the 1970s, when the first Aboriginal health service opened in Sydney’s Redfern, a whole network has emerged and they are terrific. But they are largely geared toward maternal and child health, and the treatment of chronic conditions that affect mostly older people.
We need to think about how services can be made more accessible to young people specifically, and look at different delivery models. It might be that we need to extend existing services or we might need to look at creating dedicated services, in the same way that the Headspace mental health services are targeted at youth.
Whatever we do it will require more investment at a time when Aboriginal health services have been under severe funding pressure ever since the 2014 Federal government budget cuts.
But improving the health of young Aboriginals goes well beyond the health sector.
According to the report, among Aboriginal 15 to 24-year-olds, a third reported being unfairly treated because of their indigeneity in the last 12 months. And the most frequent setting for unfair treatment was school, in a training course, or at university.
This underlines the importance of educational institutions in embracing Aboriginal culture.
When I went to university in the 1980s the expectation was that we would have to leave our culture at the door. That is now changing thanks to the hard work of many people and universities have created dedicated centres of Aboriginal culture, like Murrup Barak at the University of Melbourne. This work needs to continue.
We need to allow Aboriginal young people to be who they are, and that means helping them to draw on the strengths in themselves and the strengths in the culture and community they rely on.
22 March : The experts priorities for the 2019 Federal Election
24 -27 March National Rural Health Alliance Conference
20 -24 May 2019 World Indigenous Housing Conference. Gold Coast
18 -20 June Lowitja Health Conference Darwin
2019 Dr Tracey Westerman’s Workshops
7 -14 July 2019 National NAIDOC Grant funding round opens
23 -25 September IAHA Conference Darwin
24 -26 September 2019 CATSINaM National Professional Development Conference
16 October Melbourne Uni: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Wellbeing Conference
5-8 November The Lime Network Conference New Zealand
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21 March National Close the Gap Day
For the last 10 years many thousands of Australians from every corner of the country, in schools, businesses and community groups, have shown their support for Close the Gap by marking National Close the Gap Day each March.
This National Close the Gap Day, we have an opportunity to send our governments a clear message that Australians value health equality as a fundamental right for all.
On National Close the Gap Day we encourage you to host an activity in your workplace, home, community or school.
Our aim is to bring people together to share information, and most importantly, to take meaningful action in support of achieving Indigenous health equality by 2030.
How to get involved in National Close the Gap Day
Register your activity. You can download some online resources to support your event
Invite your friends, workmates and family to join you
Take action by signing the Close the Gap pledge and asking your friends and colleagues to do the same
Call, tweet or write to your local Member of Parliament and tell them that you want them to Close the Gap
With events ranging from workplace morning teas, sports days, school events and public events in hospitals and offices around the country — tens of thousands of people take part each year to make a difference.
Too many health gaps exist between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.
We must work to create equal access to healthcare for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.
Your actions can create lasting change. Be part of the generation that closes the gap.
National Close the Gap Day is a time for all Australians to come together and commit to achieving health equality for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
The Close the Gap Campaign will partner with Tharawal Aboriginal Aboriginal Medical Services, South Western Sydney, to host an exciting community event and launch our Annual Report.
The Australian Society of Otolaryngology Head and Neck Surgery is hosting a workshop on Indigenous Ear Health in Brisbane on Thursday, 21 March 2019.
This meeting is the 7th to be organised by ASOHNS and is designed to facilitate discussion about the crucial health issue and impact of ear disease amongst Indigenous people.
The meeting is aimed at bringing together all stakeholders involved in managing Indigenous health and specifically ear disease, such as: ENT surgeons, GPs, Paediatricians, Nurses, Audiologists, Speech Therapists, Allied Health Workers and other health administrators (both State and Federal).
24 -27 March National Rural Health Alliance Conference
Interested in the health and wellbeing of rural or remote Australia?
This is the conference for you.
In March 2019 the rural health sector will gather in Hobart for the 15th National Rural Conference. Every two years we meet to learn, listen and share ideas about how to improve health outcomes in rural and remote Australia.
Proudly managed by the National Rural Health Alliance, the Conference has a well-earned reputation as Australia’s premier rural health event. Not just for health professionals, the Conference recognises the critical roles that education, regional development and infrastructure play in determining health outcomes, and we welcome people working across a wide variety of industries.
Join us as we celebrate our 15th Conference and help achieve equitable health for the 7 million Australians living in rural and remote areas.
Hobart and its surrounds was home to the Muwinina people who the Alliance acknowledges as the traditional and original owners of this land. We pay respect to those that have passed before us and acknowledge today’s Tasmanian Aboriginal community as the custodians of the land on which we will meet.
28 March Close : DSS are drafting the Terms of Reference for the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect & Exploitation of People with Disability. @FPDNAus
20 -24 May 2019 World Indigenous Housing Conference. Gold Coast
Thank you for your interest in the 2019 World Indigenous Housing Conference.
The 2019 World Indigenous Housing Conference will bring together Indigenous leaders, government, industry and academia representing Housing, health, and education from around the world including:
National and International Indigenous Organisation leadership
Senior housing, health, and education government officials Industry CEOs, executives and senior managers from public and private sectors
Housing, Healthcare, and Education professionals and regulators
Consumer associations
Academics in Housing, Healthcare, and Education.
The 2019 World Indigenous Housing Conference #2019WIHC is the principal conference to provide a platform for leaders in housing, health, education and related services from around the world to come together. Up to 2000 delegates will share experiences, explore opportunities and innovative solutions, work to improve access to adequate housing and related services for the world’s Indigenous people.
Event Information:
Key event details as follows:
Venue: Gold Coast Convention and Exhibition Centre
Address: 2684-2690 Gold Coast Hwy, Broadbeach QLD 4218
Dates: Monday 20th – Thursday 23rd May, 2019 (24th May)
Registration Costs
EARLY BIRD – FULL CONFERENCE & TRADE EXHIBITION REGISTRATION: $1950 AUD plus booking fees
After 1 February FULL CONFERENCE & TRADE EXHIBITION REGISTRATION $2245 AUD plus booking fees
PLEASE NOTE: The Trade Exhibition is open Tuesday 21st May – Thursday 23rd May 2019
Please visit www.2019wihc.com for further information on transport and accommodation options, conference, exhibition and speaker updates.
Methods of Payment:
2019WIHC online registrations accept all major credit cards, by Invoice and direct debit. PLEASE NOTE: Invoices must be paid in full and monies received by COB Monday 20 May 2019.
Please note: The 2019 WIHC organisers reserve the right of admission. Speakers, programs and topics are subject to change. Please visit http://www.2019wihc.comfor up to date information.
Conference Cancellation Policy
If a registrant is unable to attend 2019 WIHC for any reason they may substitute, by arrangement with the registrar, someone else to attend in their place and must attend any session that has been previously selected by the original registrant.
Where the registrant is unable to attend and is not in a position to transfer his/her place to another person, or to another event, then the following refund arrangements apply:
Registrations cancelled less than 60 days, but more than 30 days before the event are eligible for a 50% refund of the registration fees paid.
Registrations cancelled less than 30 days before the event are no longer eligible for a refund.
Refunds will be made in the following ways:
For payments received by credit or debit cards, the same credit/debit card will be refunded.
For all other payments, a bank transfer will be made to the payee’s nominated account.
Important: For payments received from outside Australia by bank transfer, the refund will be made by bank transfer and all bank charges will be for the registrant’s account. The Cancellation Policy as stated on this page is valid from 1 October 2018.
At the Lowitja Institute International Indigenous Health and Wellbeing Conference 2019 delegates from around the world will discuss the role of First Nations in leading change and will showcase Indigenous solutions.
The conference program will highlight ways of thinking, speaking and being for the benefit of Indigenous peoples everywhere.
Join Indigenous leaders, researchers, health professionals, decision makers, community representatives, and our non-Indigenous colleagues in this important conversation.
7 -14 July 2019 National NAIDOC Grant funding round opens
The opening of the 2019 National NAIDOC Grant funding round has been moved forward! The National NAIDOC Grants will now officially open on Thursday 24 January 2019.
Head to www.naidoc.org.au to join the National NAIDOC Mailing List and keep up with all things grants or check out the below links for more information now!
24 -26 September 2019 CATSINaM National Professional Development Conference
The 2019 CATSINaM National Professional Development Conference will be held in Sydney, 24th – 26th September 2019. Make sure you save the dates in your calendar.
Further information to follow soon.
Date: Tuesday the 24th to Thursday the 26th September 2019
Location: Sydney, Australia
Organiser: Chloe Peters
Phone: 02 6262 5761
Email: admin@catsinam.org.au
16 October Melbourne Uni: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and Wellbeing Conference
The University of Melbourne, Department of Rural Health are pleased to advise that abstract
submissions are now being invited that address Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and
wellbeing.
The Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health Conference is an opportunity for sharing information and connecting people that are committed to reforming the practice and research of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander health and celebrates Aboriginal knowledge systems and strength-based approaches to improving the health outcomes of Aboriginal communities.
This is an opportunity to present evidence-based approaches, Aboriginal methods and models of
practice, Aboriginal perspectives and contribution to health or community led solutions, underpinned by cultural theories to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health and wellbeing.
In 2018 the Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health Conference attracted over 180 delegates from across the community and state.
We welcome submissions from collaborators whose expertise and interests are embedded in Aboriginal health and wellbeing, and particularly presented or co-presented by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and community members.
closing date for abstract submission is Friday 3 rd May 2019.
As per speaker registration link request please email your professional photo for our program or any conference enquiries to E. aboriginal-health@unimelb.edu.au.
Kind regards
Leah Lindrea-Morrison
Aboriginal Partnerships and Community Engagement Officer
Department of Rural Health, University of Melbourne T. 03 5823 4554 E. leah.lindrea@unimelb.edu.au
5-8 November The Lime Network Conference New Zealand
This years #LIMEConnection whakatauki (theme for the conference) was developed by the Scientific Committee, along with Māori elder, Te Marino Lenihan & Tania Huria from @otago.
