“ Our Shadow Cabinet, guided by our First Nations’ Caucus Committee, has identified targeted and focused initiatives, launched today, that will bring the vision of justice and fairness to the lives of First nations’ peoples.
In education, we have many new and powerful initiatives that work directly to build bridges for the futures of our young people.
Our unprecedented investments in Indigenous health will be community designed and delivered, more than ever before.
Our new policies and programs in the environment will help visitors to understand the complex national cultural web from which our landscapes arise from.
It will be a challenge for us, to do all we have set out in our new policies and programs.
But we will work to achieve that.
We want to be the party of choice for First Nations Peoples “
Senator Patrick Dodson speaking at the Australian Labor Party national launch in Brisbane Sunday full speech Part 1 below
Download 13 Pages PDF ALP Election 2019 Fair_Go_for_First_Nations
” South East Queensland is home to Australia’s second-largest Indigenous population. Over 65,000 Indigenous Australians live in urban South East Queensland – more than the Indigenous population of Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Since 2009, IUIH has led the planning and delivery of primary health care to Indigenous people in this area. It currently has a network of 20 multidisciplinary primary health clinics, providing Indigenous-led and culturally appropriate services to 30,000 people.
However, population growth means that 70,000 Indigenous people won’t have access to IUIH’s services within three years.
There is also an imperative to expand IUIH’s services in line with the best models of care for First Nations people around the world, such as in Alaska.
That’s why a Shorten Labor Government will invest $11.8 million to establish two new IUIH hubs at Kallangur and Coomera.”
See Australian Labor Party Press Release Part 2 below
“NACCHO has developed a set of policy #Election2019 recommendations that if adopted, fully funded and implemented by the incoming Federal Government, will provide a pathway forward for improvements in our health outcomes.
We are calling on all political parties to include these recommendations in their election platforms and make a real commitment to improving the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and help us Close the Gap.
With your action and support of our #VoteACCHO campaign we can make the incoming Federal Government accountable.
See NACCHO Election 2019 Website
Part 1
My friends.
I thank the Turrbal and Yagera dancers for their inspiring Welcome to their Country here in Brisbane.
On behalf of the Shorten Labor team, I pay my respects to both the Yagera people and the Turrbal people and their Elders, past, present and emerging.
I am a Yawuru man from the far reaches of the Kimberley.
I come to you today after visiting people in the remote towns of the East Kimberley, on the campaign trail.
At Fitzroy Crossing, I sat down with the First Nation service managers in the complex areas of health, of women’s shelters, of repatriation of human remains, of community safety, young people’s futures and the trials of humanising the CDP program.
One of the senior women was in a very sombre mood.
There had been another youth suicide the night before.
She looked out into the distance and quietly said through her tears, “Sometimes I wake up and I go to work simply hoping that one small child sees this old lady going to work and thinks, maybe that they can get a job and become a future role model as well.
“The future of our kids keeps us going. Sometimes it gets too hard and you want to chuck it all in.
“The only things that keeps me going is the children and hope.”
The funding is always difficult, the rules are always hard and prolific, and the officials controlling the programs don’t listen to them.
They are desperate for change, for a change of government.
The Howard, Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison regimes have worn them out.
Constantly being treated as of no value and incapable of managing one’s own affairs is so disrespectful.
Today I am standing with you conscious of the aspirations and dreams entrusted to us.
Our pledge is to walk with First Nations peoples’ and allow them to lead us forward, together.
A Shorten Labor government has plans and commitments to bring back a fair go for all Australians and a fair go for First Nations people.
Justice can be delivered, and must be pursued.
We know that Government decision-making processes have led to pain, to poverty and to powerlessness.
First Nations people deserve better than this:
- Like the massive cuts of First nations’ programs under Tony Abbott
- Like dismissing the simple aspiration of a Voice as a third chamber
- Like the cruel penalties of the CDP program causing starvation and hunger to families
Labor will reset this relationship. Our new programs will be set with First Nations leadership, across the country.
We will work with First Nations on the principles of co-design and free, prior and informed consent.
A Shorten Labor Government is ready, willing and able:
- to step up and work in partnership with First Nations leadership;
- to deliver long overdue justice and equality for First Nations peoples and all Australians;
- to create a Voice to the National Parliament;
- to deliver Constitutional change in our first term; and
- begin the journey of truth telling and treaty making.
We will be building together a framework of Regional Assemblies, where First Nations peoples are empowered to make decisions, to identify their priorities, to sponsor place-based solutions, and deliver lasting change recognizing the cultural and well-being drivers within First Nations communities.
Labor, under a Shorten Government, will apply the principles of Honour, Equality, Respect, and Recognition as we develop our new relationship and approaches to reconciliation through:
- a national Makarrata commission;
- local Truth-telling programs;
- a National Resting Place for the unknown warriors; and
- justice and compensation for survivors of the Stolen Generation.
Our Shadow Cabinet, guided by our First Nations’ Caucus Committee, has identified targeted and focused initiatives, launched today, that will bring the vision of justice and fairness to the lives of First nations’ peoples.
In education, we have many new and powerful initiatives that work directly to build bridges for the futures of our young people.
Our unprecedented investments in Indigenous health will be community designed and delivered, more than ever before.
Our new policies and programs in the environment will help visitors to understand the complex national cultural web from which our landscapes arise from.
It will be a challenge for us, to do all we have set out in our new policies and programs.
But we will work to achieve that.
We want to be the party of choice for First Nations Peoples.
And we can become that party.
We want to deliver for Australians across the country who yearn for a decent, responsible and committed Government.
Under Prime Minister Bill Shorten and our team, we will be that.
Kaliya.
Part 2 :A Shorten Labor Government will improve the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in South East Queensland with an $11.8 million investment in two new Institute for Urban Indigenous Health (IUIH) hubs.
South East Queensland is home to Australia’s second-largest Indigenous population. Over 65,000 Indigenous Australians live in urban South East Queensland – more than the Indigenous population of Victoria, South Australia and the Northern Territory.
Since 2009, IUIH has led the planning and delivery of primary health care to Indigenous people in this area. It currently has a network of 20 multidisciplinary primary health clinics, providing Indigenous-led and culturally appropriate services to 30,000 people.
However, population growth means that 70,000 Indigenous people won’t have access to IUIH’s services within three years. There is also an imperative to expand IUIH’s services in line with the best models of care for First Nations people around the world, such as in Alaska.
That’s why a Shorten Labor Government will invest $11.8 million to establish two new IUIH hubs at Kallangur and Coomera.
Building on IUIH’s existing System of Care, the hubs will provide a range of colocated health services, including GP care, allied health including optometry and audiology, pharmacy and dental care.
The hubs will also focus on the social determinants of health – the ‘causes of the causes’ of illness. As well as health services, they will provide early years education, employment and social services – giving all kids the best start in life and supporting people across the life course.
Labor believes innovative and culturally appropriate healthcare models are central to improving the health outcomes of First Australians and closing the gap.
This election is a choice between Labor’s plan for better hospitals and health care for Indigenous Australians, or bigger tax loopholes for the top end of town under the Liberals.
This investment is part of Labor’s plan to invest $1 billion in vital upgrades to Australia’s hospitals and health infrastructure.
It also builds on Labor’s $115 million commitment to improve the health of First Nations peoples – including a $16.5 million investment to roll out IUIH’s ‘Deadly Choices’ program nationally.
Labor can afford to spend more on health care because we’ve made the tough decisions to make multinationals pay their fair share and close unfair tax loopholes.
Only Labor can be trusted to fix Australia’s hospitals and health infrastructure and deliver new IUIH hubs at Kallangur and Coomera.