1.NACCHO is encouraging all our ACCHO’s to enter the Indigenous Governance Awards – Applications Extended 20 July
2.1 NSW : Awabakal ACCHO forms a partnership that aims to deliver tangible positive employment results for healthy futures
2.2 NSW : Wellington Aboriginal Corporation Health Service facilitates Students and young children to have had their hearing tested by the Hear Our Heart Ear Bus Project
2.3 NSW : Aboriginal Mental Health The Mental Health Commission of NSW wants to understand what is important to you in community-based mental health services and supports.
3.NT : Danila Dilba ACCHO Darwin : Deadly Choices Ambassador Steven Motlop from Port Adelaide speaks out about Men’s Mental Health for recent Men’s Health Week
4.1 Apunipima ACCHO marks Men’s Health Week with an important message about Deadly Choices
4.2 At the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health Yulu-Buri-Ba hearing help to deliver children a brighter future
4.3 QLD : Minister Ken Wyatt announces funding of over $600k for the next 3 years for the Murri Carnival
5.SA : Ceduna Koonibba AHS Board, CEO and staff hosts Lowitja Board and community meeting over two days
6. ACT treaty needed to right past wrongs made against Indigenous people
7. VIC : Check out the Healthy Lifestyle Team and Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Inc. Nutrition team at the Victorian Food Forum
8. WA : Congratulations to Moorditj Koort CEO Jonathan Ford for winning the community person of the year Perth NAIDOC Award
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1.NACCHO is encouraging all our ACCHO’s to enter the Indigenous Governance Awards – Applications Extended 20 July
Reconciliation Australia has extended the application period for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led organisations to apply for the 2018 Indigenous Governance Awards. Entries are now closing on Friday 20th July.
The Awards publicly recognise and celebrate outstanding Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led organisations, projects and initiatives that make extraordinary contributions to communities and the nation.
In 2018, Reconciliation Australia and the BHP Billiton Foundation are proud to run the awards for the first time in partnership with the Australian Indigenous Governance Institute, a national centre of governance excellence.
By entering the awards, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led organisations, projects and initiatives across the country have the chance to share in $60,000 of prize money, as well as corporate mentoring, feedback from an esteemed judging panel, and media and networking opportunities.
Past winners have found the awards to be a springboard to further exposure and bigger opportunities. Western Desert Dialysis (Purple House) CEO Sarah Brown said the awards helped provide the organisation the credibility and recognition to secure further funding and expand their operations.
“Along with the prize money and the corporate sponsorship, we have made sure that we have sucked the juice out of every opportunity that has come our way because of this award,” she said.
“We have found more friends and partners, recruited fabulous staff and generally been able to lift the profile of who we are and what we do.
“It has made us all very proud and determined to work harder.”
Ms Brown said the awards play an important role in highlighting the life-changing work of organisations and groups practicing good Indigenous governance.
“It is so important that there are opportunities to tell good news stories about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations,” she said
Reconciliation Australia CEO Karen Mundine said she encouraged organisations and groups of all shapes and sizes to consider applying for an award.
“We know there are organisations, initiatives and projects around the country that are making important contributions to their communities, and the nation, by putting culture at the heart of their governance,” she said.
Ms Mundine said effective Indigenous governance melds traditional governance and responsibilities, based on culture and kinship, with the requirements of mainstream organisations, including financial and legal accountability.
“By creating governance models that are effective and legitimate in two worlds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led organisations are examples of successful self-determination and two-way governance in action,” she said.
The two award categories are Category A: Indigenous-led incorporated organisations and Category B: Indigenous-led non-incorporated initiatives or projects.
Winners in each of the two categories will receive $20,000, and highly commended organisations in each category will each be awarded $10,000.
Applications or recommendations for the 2018 Indigenous Governance Awards can be made online at
www.reconciliation.org.au/iga or by calling 02 6273 9200.
Applications close Friday 20 July 2018.
2.1 NSW : Awabakal ACCHO forms a partnership that aims to deliver tangible positive employment results for healthy futures
“From the Awabakal point of view, the AES partnership allows us to recruit local Aboriginal people through an organisation with extensive contacts and a proven record of mentoring and preparing people for work.
Not only are we supporting another Aboriginal organisation, we’ve gained some great employees who have a passion for working in this sector, and that can be hard to find,”
Awabakal CEO, Raylene Gordon.
In Newcastle on the New South Wales North Coast, idyllic images of a coastal paradise with pristine golden beaches and perfect surf give way to some far less postcard friendly realities for the region’s Indigenous population who experience lower rates of employment than non-Indigenous people and lag behind in key mental and physical health barometers.
It is no secret that good health and financial security go hand-in-hand. Improving health outcomes for Aboriginal people of the region means also improving their opportunities for employment, which is why two of Newcastle’s key Indigenous organisations, the Aboriginal Employment Strategy (AES) and Awabakal, have formed a partnership that aims to deliver tangible positive results for the local community.
The partnership has been driven by an AES national strategy to work with more Aboriginal businesses and organisations around the country, and has already led to 35 placements of Aboriginal people at Awabakal by the AES since November 2016.
“The AES and Awabakal share a mutual purpose of existence, both organisations work towards creating social impact. We want to show that through collaboration we can achieve more, we’re combining our respective areas of expertise to support local people and grow Aboriginal employment opportunities and Aboriginal business, together,” says Leroy Wilkinson, AES Manager, People and Culture.
Founded in Newcastle in 1977, Awabakal is an Aboriginal community controlled health service that delivers culturally appropriate primary health care services, advocacy and social and emotional support to Aboriginal people.
Awabakal is also the largest employer of Aboriginal people from the local area, currently employing around 100 Aboriginal staff. Awabakal offers opportunities in a growing number of positions across a wide range of sectors, including medical, transport, aged care, early childhood, and mental health, among others.
The partnership between the organisations has been shaped by the AES’ holistic approach to recruitment which includes supporting clients to identify and overcome broader challenges.
For example, if an AES client is facing issues with housing, or issues with health, the AES will work directly with Awabakal to address those issues. AES recruits also receive up to six months of mentoring and support after their placement at Awabakal, meaning they are more likely to move into positions they are most likely to succeed in and enjoy.
As well as significant recruitment into existing positions at Awabakal, the two organisations have worked together on identifying and creating new positions entirely, such as an all new Community Liaison position created to achieve closer grassroots promotion of Awabakal services and personalised support for local people.
27 year-old Aaron Simon is one of Awabakal’s recent recruits through the AES and one of two new Awabakal Community Liaison workers. The position is Aaron’s first full-time job and one he’s excelling at after nine months in the role, despite having no prior health work experience, proving him to be one of the major success stories of the partnership so far. Aaron has now joined Awabakal’s Tackling Indigenous Smoking team and is about to complete a Certificate IV in Mental Health.
“When I went to the AES I was desperate for any work at the time, I didn’t have any experience working in health, but the opportunity at Awabakal came up and I thought I’d give it a shot and it’s been great for me,” says Aaron.
“I see a lot of unemployed people out where I live and a partnership like this creates opportunities for people in the community who are wanting to get a start in life.”
The valuable employment and mentoring services provided by the AES are supported by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet.
2.2 NSW : Wellington Aboriginal Corporation Health Service facilitates Students and young children to have had their hearing tested by the Hear Our Heart Ear Bus Project.
Hearing check: Macquarie University audiology student Kim Laing tests Ryan Finn after the Ear Bus Project visited Wellington on Monday. Photo: MARK RAYNER
The bus was in town on Monday, where it visited Barnardos Early Learning Centre for the first time, before going to all primary and high schools later that day and on Tuesday.
The bus comes to town once a term for two or three days to test children and provide follow-up checks and has a partnership with the Wellington Aboriginal Corporation Health Service.
READ MORE: Hear Our Heart receives $750,000
The not-for-profit project had good news earlier this week when was awarded $750,000 over the next five years from the Sydney-based Walter and Eliza Hall Charitable Foundation.
“We have been looking for a special organisation to partner with for some time that has a genuine focus on Indigenous health,” Walter and Eliza Hall Charitable Foundation Chief Executive Officer Helen Cook said.
The Dubbo-founded Hear our Heart ear bus project provides free ear health education, targeted hearing testing and free access to ear specialists to children.
2.3 NSW : Aboriginal Mental Health The Mental Health Commission of NSW wants to understand what is important to you in community-based mental health services and supports.
Your survey response will help the Commission to develop a set of evidence-based principles for planning, developing and monitoring community services and supports in NSW that work for people living with mental health issues and their families and carers.
We want to know what is working well and what is not working and what your vision of community support is.
Please consider filling in the 10-minute online survey. It will be open until 29 June 2018.
If you have any questions, please contact Reena Masrani, who can be reached on
02 9859 5200 or at reena.masrani@mhc.nsw.gov.au
3.NT : Danila Dilba ACCHO Darwin : Deadly Choices Ambassador Steven Motlop from Port Adelaide speaks out about Men’s Mental Health for recent Men’s Health Week
If you are worried about how you are feeling, book an appointment at any Danila Dilba clinic with a GP to arrange to speak to one of our experiences counsellors. #MensHealthWeek
Also for men’s health week Danila Dilba staff took part with a stall at Raintree Park in Darwin
4.1 Apunipima ACCHO marks Men’s Health Week with an important message about Deadly Choices
” Joseph Oui, BJ Saylor and Jermane Herbohn from Apunipima attended the official opening of the Mulungu Mens Health Hub in Mareeba.
The event was supported by supported by Deadly Choices advocate Patrick Johnson and staff from Mulungu, community groups and locals from the Mareeba district.
It is great to see this important space made available for men’s healing “
From the 11th -17th June it was International Men’s Health Week, an annual event to promote awareness of preventable health problems in men and boys.
The theme this year is, “Men and Families: Making Healthy Connections,” a timely reminder to men and boys that good health means more than a visit to the doctor.
This week Apunipima is encouraging all men to participate in an activity that will assist them in connecting to culture, country, family and community. This form of connection is a vital component of men’s health and empowers men to take greater control and responsibility for their health.
Across Cairns and Cape York, Apunipima staff have been involved in a variety of activities to celebrate International Men’s Health Week.
These include a reef fishing trip, the opening of a Mens Wellbeing Centre in Mareeba and men’s group gatherings across Cape York.
Apunipima Cape York Health Council offers a comprehensive suite of men’s health programs throughout the year; these include Men’s Groups, Workshops, Education Sessions, Counselling, Culture Workshops and Men’s Health Clinics delivered by Apunipima’s Social and Emotional Wellbeing Centres and Primary Health Care Centres throughout Cape York
4.2 At the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health Yulu-Buri-Ba hearing help to deliver children a brighter future
” Thank you to the wonderful staff from Yulu-Buri-Ba Aboriginal health clinic for your contribution and care to those in the community.
What a way to finish off the day, announcing new audiology equipment for the Yulu-Buri-Ba Aboriginal Health centre.
This gear will have a massive impact for children across SE Queensland, with additional ear screening available for children 0-4 years.
Ken Wyatt Minister for Indigenous Health, Ken Wyatt AM
The Turnbull Government is taking action to ensure the early detection and treatment of hearing loss in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in South-East Queensland.
The Minister for Indigenous Health, Ken Wyatt AM, said children needed to grow up with good hearing so they could reach their full potential and be able to embrace all of the opportunities that come their way.
“Hearing loss at a young age can have lifelong consequences in education, employment and overall wellbeing so early detection and treatment is essential to minimise its impact,” Minister Wyatt said.
“Infants and children are like little sponges—their young lives are about soaking up information and developing language and social skills daily, which is why good ear health is critical.
Minister Wyatt joined Member for Bonner, Ross Vasta, at the local Yulu-Burri-Ba clinic in Wynnum to meet local families.
“The Australian Government will provide the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health with more than $27,000 for the purchase of audiology equipment to conduct diagnostic audiology tests in local clinics including Yulu-Burri-Ba,” Minister Wyatt said.
“The results of these tests will trigger appropriate and swift follow up measures where necessary, to address any potential hearing loss.
“Work like this is critical because the overall rate of hearing loss in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children is among the highest in the world, up to 10 times more than among the broader Australian population of children.”
Mr Vasta said the new equipment would help ensure local children had the best start in life.
“In the hands of trained health professionals like those at Yulu-Burri-Ba, this funding will make a significant difference to children and their families accessing timely hearing assessments,” said Mr Vasta.
“I commend the Institute for Urban Indigenous Health for its key role in the planning, development and delivery of comprehensive healthcare services to First Nations people in South-East Queensland.”
The Turnbull Government is making a significant investment of more than $79 million (2018–19 to 2021–22) for a range of activities to improve the ear and hearing health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the nation.
This includes $30 million announced in the 2018–19 Budget for a new outreach program to provide an annual hearing assessment and referral for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children aged 0–6 years.
The Government is also increasing access to clinical services, including surgery, providing equipment, training health professionals and raising awareness of otitis media symptoms and the need for regular surveillance and early treatment.
4.3 QLD : Minister Ken Wyatt announces funding of over $600k for the next 3 years for the Murri Carnival
A partnership between Deadly Choices IUIH and QAIHC which will have a specific focus on targeting STI and BBV.
5.SA : Ceduna Koonibba AHS Board, CEO and staff hosts Lowitja Board and community meeting over two days.
We are inspired by your work and strong vision for the future.
6. ACT treaty needed to right past wrongs made against Indigenous people
“It is an interesting coincidence that the newly declared ACT Reconciliation Day public holiday falls between two significant anniversaries relevant to Aboriginal demands for sovereignty and self-determination without which reconciliation is illusory. It was held the day after the first anniversary of the presentation of the Uluru Statement and two weeks before the thirtieth anniversary of the Barunga Statement.”
Julie Tongs OAM is the CEO of Winnunga Nimmityjah Aboriginal Health and Community Service
The Barunga Statement, despite having been effectively ignored for the last 30 years, has been given life by the Northern Territory government which has announced that it will, consistent with the demands incorporated in the statement, begin negotiations with the Aboriginal people of the Northern Territory for a treaty.
In committing to negotiations for a treaty, the Northern Territory has followed the example of the governments of South Australia and Victoria where the path to a treaty has been the subject of detailed consideration. Regrettably, the incoming Liberal government in South Australia has terminated the process for a treaty in that state. However Luke Foley, the Opposition Leader in New South Wales, the jurisdiction with the largest Indigenous population in Australia, has accelerated the momentum for state-based treaties by committing a Labor government in NSW to a treaty with that state’s Aboriginal people.
While differing in content and structure, the Barunga and Uluru Statements are in essence concerned with the same issues, namely self-determination, self-management, sovereignty, land rights, truth telling, an historical reckoning and justice. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people of Australia are calling for these rights to be recognised and guaranteed through a treaty or a makarrata.
The response of successive national governments, of both persuasion, over the last 30 years to the widespread aspiration of Indigenous Australians for a treaty has been disappointing, to say the least.
Then prime minister Bob Hawke receives the Barunga statement from Galarrwuy Yunupingu in Arnhem Land in 1988.Photo: Fairfax Media
On June 12, 1988 when the then-Prime Minister Bob Hawke was handed the Barunga Statement by one of its main proponents, the then-chairman of the Northern Land Council, Galarrwuy Yunupingu, he promised that he would enter into a treaty with Indigenous Australia during that term of government, before 1990. Unfortunately, after returning to Canberra with the Burunga Statement, the Prime Minister abandoned his commitment to a treaty. So disappointed was Galarrwuy Yunupingu that the promised treaty did not eventuate that he asked for the Barunga Statement to be returned to his people. In doing so he made the following comment:
“Sovereignty turned into a treaty, the treaty turned into reconciliation and reconciliation turned into nothing.”
He asked, therefore, for the Statement to be returned to Barunga, where he said: “. . . we will hold a sorry funeral ceremony. We will dig a hole and bury it. It will be a protest . . . The time has come to send a strong message to Canberra and the world about the disgraceful state of Indigenous Australia, where governments have failed . . .”
The rejection by the current Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, of the central features of the Uluru Statement from the Heart was far more categorical than that of Bob Hawke 30 years earlier. It is of course not only the federal government that has failed to meet the expectations or needs of Aboriginal people. ACT-specific data on Indigenous disadvantage in Canberra, whether it be incarceration rates, child protection, housing, educational outcomes, rough sleeping, homelessness, drug abuse, mental health or poverty, is as bad, and in many cases worse, than in other jurisdictions in Australia.
In response to the aspiration of Aboriginal people across Australia for formal recognition of their sovereign rights and rightful place in their own country, progressive governments in South Australia and Victoria, followed by the Northern Territory government and now the Labor Opposition in NSW, have not been prepared to wait for leadership or action from the Commonwealth, and each has formally committed to the negotiation of a state-based treaty.
However, in light of the example of these other jurisdictions, it is a matter of some surprise that the ACT government has not evinced any interest in exploring the question of a treaty with the Aboriginal community of Canberra. The fanfare greeting the declaration by the ACT government of the Reconciliation Day Public Holiday, and its purported commitment to reconciliation, should be considered against its apparent disinterest in a treaty and indeed the paucity of new Indigenous-specific funding in the recent ACT budget. It is, after all, a widely, if not universally-held view within the Aboriginal community that a negotiated treaty is a pre-condition to achieving reconciliation.
An additional barrier to reconciliation in the ACT is the assumption that native title in the Territory was extinguished by the conversion of all land in the Territory (other, perhaps, than some historical cemeteries and old stock routes) into leasehold following the transfer of the land from NSW to form the national capital. This issue presents a massive challenge to our capacity to ever achieve reconciliation in Canberra.
If we in the ACT cannot find a way of reversing the extinguishment of native title, even if that requires us to deem that native title is to be treated as having not been extinguished, or alternatively by establishing an appropriate compensation regime in recognition of the fact that it has been extinguished, then we are doomed to never be reconciled.
It is time for the ACT government to get serious about reconciliation. It is time we in Canberra began to talk about a treaty to acknowledge and right the wrongs perpetrated by the dispossession of Aboriginal people in the ACT from their lands, without consent and without compensation.
7. VIC : Check out the Healthy Lifestyle Team and Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation Inc Nutrition team at the Victorian Food Forum
We presented to over 400 nutrition experts and industry professionals about how Deadly Dan can influence our kids to make healthy lifestyle choices. We loved sitting alongside The Community Grocer and Parents Voice to discuss making the healthy choice the easy choice!
We also got to screen the Deadly Dan film. Haven’t seen it yet? Check it out on our Facebook page, website or follow this link!
https://youtu.be/1eYSHoD45SE
#VFF2018 #vahshealthylifestyleteam #staysmokefree
8. WA : Congratulations to Moorditj Koort CEO Jonathan Ford for winning the community person of the year Perth NAIDOC Award.
Jonathan has put in extreme amount of commitment into his community by gaining long term funding for Moorditj Koort, he’s triple the size in 12 months to provide Health service across Perth area, establishing two new site’s one in Midland and the other in Cockburn currently deliver…ing services to 500+ chronic disease, 400 Aboriginal children receiving health checks per year 60+ healthy lifestyle participates per year.
Early 2018 The Department of Communities, Child Protection and Family Support has awarded a $20 million contract to a consortium of four Noongar Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to provide Aboriginal In-Home Support Services.
Jonathon had joined with Wungening Aboriginal Corporation, Coolabaroo Community service and Ebenzer home to make this happen for our noongar people, not only that he sits on numerals panels Telethon Kids Institute Aboriginal reference group, State Government supporting community Forums, Ngala Reconciliation Action group, former chair of the premier and cabinet emerging leaders group.
Jonathon participants in regular cultural awareness sessions to GP’s, Health professionals and social service to improve system change and increased cultural security. In the past 4 years Jonathon has help 20 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders become full qualified Health Practitioners, he encourages our people to live the dream and is open to help other succeed in their career choice. Well done Jon.See More
— with Jonny Ford.
