• On the Unfinished Business of Bringing Them Home
• NACCHO Maternal and Child Health survey – Closing date 13 June 2024
• Addressing menstrual health equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
• Professor Tom Calma awarded honorary Doctor of Letters
• Which way? World No Tobacco Day Webinar
• Sector Jobs
• Key Dates – World Schizophrenia Awareness Day – 24 May 2024

The NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News is a platform we use to showcase the important work being done in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, focusing on the work of NACCHO, NACCHO members and NACCHO affiliates.

We also share a curated selection of news stories that are of likely interest to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector, broadly.

On the Unfinished Business of Bringing Them Home

This coming Sunday, 26 May, is National Sorry Day, which remembers and acknowledges the mistreatment of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people who have been forcibly removed from their families and communities over many generations. It is also a day for reminding governments and the wider Australian community of the pressing need to do much more and better in providing redress and healing, 27 years after the landmark Bringing Them Home report was released, a national policy forum was told yesterday.

Not only have key recommendations of the 1997 Bringing Them Home report not been fully implemented nearly a generation after they were handed down, causing ongoing hurt and distress for Stolen Generations survivors, but some have been introduced in ways that actively cause harm.

That was one of the verdicts at a national policy forum, ‘The Unfinished Business of Bringing Them Home’, hosted this week by The Healing Foundation and ANU’s First Nations Portfolio in Canberra on the lands of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri peoples.

Panel members told the forum about their diverse connections to the Bringing Them Home report, including powerful and painful stories of loss and trauma, and concerns that a “shellshocked” Federal Government in the wake of the Voice referendum will find it “politically easy” not to act on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander rights.

The forum was moderated by Healing Foundation CEO Shannan Dodson, who can still recall the toll on her father Professor Mick Dodson, then the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner, who was co-chair of the National Inquiry into the Separation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Children from Their Families, which led to the Bringing Them Home report.

Dodson highlighted three key priority areas for action:

• Nationally consistent, fair, and equitable redress for Stolen Generations survivors, their families, and descendants.
• Nationally consistent access to historical and contemporary records (including births, deaths, marriages) for Stolen Generations survivors and their families.
• Tailored and targeted trauma-aware and healing-informed services to meet the unique aged care, health, mental health, disability, and housing needs of ageing Stolen Generations survivors.

To read the full Croakey Health Media article, go here.

NACCHO Maternal and Child Health survey – Closing date 13 June 2024

NACCHO is conducting a sector-wide Maternal and Child Health survey as part of a suite of upcoming consultation to inform the development of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Maternal and Child Health Plan (the Plan) 2025-2035. This Plan will set out an approach to Close the Gap for mums and bubs, and guide governments’ investment in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander MCH services over the short, medium, and long-term.

The Plan will be informed by extensive consultation with Members, including through the survey, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander MCH Expert Advisory Group, responses to a forthcoming discussion paper and a series of face-to-face opportunities for discussion.

Noting the excellent services deliver by members and common experiences faced, we are inviting you to engage in this comprehensive survey to inform NACCHO and Government on the MCH needs of ACCHOs Australia-wide. The survey will only be open until COB Thursday 13 June 2024. We kindly ask that you complete the survey by this date or contact us directly if you wish to engage in a discussion instead.

With your help, we hope to highlight and scale up your successes and sustainably address gaps and barriers to improve maternal and child health services. Please contact the NACCHO Maternal and Child Health team if you require assistance or have any questions about the survey or the consultation process.

The link to the survey has previously been sent in an email to Affiliate and Member CEO’s, EA’s and Practice Managers, if you would like the link sent again or you didn’t receive it, please contact the NACCHO Maternal and Child Health team:

Email: mumsandbubs@naccho.org.au and/or phone (02) 6246 9352.

Addressing menstrual health equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities

Last week’s Federal Budget committed $12.5 million over four years to deliver tampons, pads and other period care products to people who menstruate in rural and remote Indigenous communities. The provision of these products will be coordinated by the National Aboriginal Community-Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), the peak body for Indigenous-controlled health clinics in Australia. These clinics are often highly trusted and well-attended by people in rural and remote Indigenous communities due to their culturally sensitive and holistic approaches to health and wellbeing.

This move follows financial support for menstrual products more broadly over the past few years, including the provision of free period products in public schools across all Australian states and territories. But people who menstruate in rural and remote Indigenous communities face a unique set of challenges, and have a particular need for better access to period products.

Minnie King, Indigenous woman and article co-author says she has seen members of her family and community challenged at times during menstruation by a lack of period products, as a result of low availability and choice, and high cost. To open a positive discussion of this natural cycle, Ms King and article co-author Nina Lansbury, together with other colleagues, have been involved in a research project on menstrual health in Indigenous communities.

“Participants have told us about being unable to store period products in their crowded homes, and of other barriers to accessing and using period products, such as cost. In many cases this has meant using alternatives such as wads of toilet paper or cut up clothing,” Ms King wrote.

“…We were therefore very pleased to see funding in the budget to provide free menstrual products in these communities.

“Yet this doesn’t resolve the many associated issues affecting menstrual health in remote Indigenous communities, such as the need for culturally targeted and timely education about menstrual health. This is an opportunity for community-led efforts.

“We are currently writing a free teaching guide on menstrual health based on remote and Indigenous students’ views and requests for what they would like to know. This includes information about the types, use, availability and disposal of period care products.”

To read the full Croakey Health Media article, go here.

Professor Tom Calma awarded honorary Doctor of Letters

From his first job working to improve employment opportunities for remote Indigenous communities, to his leadership in the campaign for the Voice to Parliament, Professor Tom Calma AO has spent a lifetime advocating for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.  The University of Sydney has awarded an honorary doctorate to the Kungarakan elder and member of the Iwaidja people. The award recognizes Calma’s work in human rights and social justice, as well as his contribution to the public sector.

Chancellor Belinda Hutchinson AC presided over the ceremony, where Calma received the degree of Doctor of Letters (honoris causa).

“Throughout his life, Professor Calma has been a champion for empowerment and inclusion, improving the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and working for a better, fairer Australia,” the Chancellor said. “We’re delighted to recognise his extraordinary contribution with this honorary degree.”

Calma’s work across employment, education and training culminated in his role as Director of Employment and Training in the Commonwealth Department of Employment, Education and Training. He served as a senior Australian Diplomat in India and Vietnam from 1995 until 2002, advancing Australia’s education and training interests, and was later appointed Senior Advisor for Indigenous Affairs to the Honourable Philip Ruddock MP, then Minister of Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs.

He served as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner at the Australian Human Rights Commission, and as Race Discrimination Commissioner. As Social Justice Commissioner, he reported to Parliament on issues facing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, highlighting the discrepancy in life expectancy between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians. He went on to work with peak health bodies and human rights organisations to establish the Close the Gap campaign, advocating for governments to commit to eliminating the discrepancy within a generation.

He played an important role in Federal Parliament’s National Apology to Australia’s Indigenous peoples through his involvement in consultation with the Stolen Generation’s representative bodies. As Social Justice Commissioner, he gave the formal response to the Apology. “By acknowledging and paying respect, Parliament has now laid the foundations for healing to take place, and for a reconciled Australia in which everybody belongs,” he said.

To read more, go here.

Which way? World No Tobacco Day Webinar

Indigenous people, globally, continue to be impacted by commercial tobacco harms. This was embedded through colonisation, including rationing of tobacco in lieu of wages, and direct targeting by the Tobacco Industry.

While overall smoking prevalence has declined, 40.2% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults smoke daily. Preventing tobacco uptake and providing cessation supports are essential in reducing smoking prevalence and tobacco related disease and death.

The Which Way project is leading community-led smoking cessation research that is developed for and by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.

This webinar is held in partnership with AH&MRC in conjunction with World No Tobacco Day 2024 to share current Indigenous-led evidence on smoking cessation care and answer any questions communities have on providing culturally safe and responsive cessation care.

 This webinar, on World No Tobacco Day, May 31, features a panel of presenters from the Which Way team including A/Prof Michelle Kennedy, Mrs Joley Foster and Mr Kayden Roberts-Barker.

For more information, go here.

Sector Jobs – you can see sector job listings on the NACCHO website here.

Advertising Jobs – to advertise a job vacancy click here to go to the NACCHO website current job listings webpage. Scroll down to the bottom of the page to find a Post A Job form. You can complete this form with your job vacancy details – it will then be approved for posting and go live on the NACCHO website.

World Schizophrenia Awareness Day – 24 May 2024

World Schizophrenia Awareness Day is observed on 24 May every year. The purpose of this day is to spread awareness about schizophrenia and eradicate the myths and superstitions around mental health in general. It is also a day to highlight the need for research and to develop new treatments to improve the quality of life for individuals experiencing schizophrenia.

Schizophrenia affects more than 21 million people worldwide according to the World Health Organization. It is characterised by persistent psychotic symptoms such as hallucinations, delusions, disorganised thoughts, and behaviour. The disorder often begins to manifest in the early twenties, but symptoms can also develop in childhood or adolescence. Men have a higher risk of experiencing schizophrenia and an earlier onset age than women. Men also tend to experience a more severe form of the disease with more negative symptoms, less chance of a full recovery and a worse outcome.

The history of schizophrenia dates to the 1700s, when cases were first recorded. The term ‘schizophrenia’ literally means “a splitting of the mind” and was coined in 1910 by Swiss psychiatrist Dr Paul Eugen Bleuler, a major figure in the early efforts to provide humane care and treatment. It was not until the 1980s that appropriate antipsychotic medications became available. These medications marked a significant breakthrough in the treatment of schizophrenia, making it possible for patients to receive the care and support they need.

Despite the significant progress made, schizophrenia remains a highly stigmatised mental health condition. The stigma surrounding schizophrenia can prevent individuals from seeking the help they may need. Talking openly about schizophrenia is an important way to raise awareness. It is important to challenge the social taboos and stereotypes that may surround schizophrenia and to promote understanding and acceptance.

You can find more information about schizophrenia on SANE’s website here. SANE is the leading national mental health organisation for people with complex mental health experiences in Australia and for the families and friends that may support them.

You can access An overview of Indigenous mental health and suicide prevention in Australia published by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare last year, here.