• Allyship essential to achieving health equity
• A must: solutions developed and delivered at a local level
• Yoorrook Justice Commission resumes public hearings
• How bikes are changing lives of at-risk WA kids
• Wee Waa student now registered psychologist
• Sector Jobs
• Key Date – White Wreath Day – 29 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.

Allyship essential to achieving health equity

National Reconciliation Week 2024 (27 May-3 June) is an opportunity for all Australians to learn about our shared histories, cultures, and achievements, and to explore how each of us can contribute to achieving reconciliation in Australia. This year’s theme, Now More Than Ever, is a reminder to all of us, particularly non-Indigenous people, that the fight for justice and the rights of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people must continue.

Over six million Australians voted ‘YES’ in the recent Voice to Parliament referendum, so there are still plenty of reasons why non-Indigenous people should stay engaged and connected to reconciliation efforts. Dr Julia McCartan, a senior lecturer in the Department of Nutrition, Dietetics and Food in the School of Clinical Sciences at Monash Health and an accredited practising dietitian, believes that the principles of critical allyship offer a positive way forward. A non-Indigenous person and first-generation Australian, Dr McCartan is a firm believer in non-Indigenous academics stepping up to take responsibility for preparing students to be anti-racist health practitioners with the skills to provide Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with equitable healthcare.

Dr McCartan said that teaching Indigenous health equity involved helping non-Indigenous students explore and unpack feelings, biases, and previous learnings and challenging representations of Indigenous people that promote a deficit view. “This is particularly important in health, and especially in my subject area of nutrition and dietetics,” Dr McCartan said. “We teach students to consider not just individual factors and choices, but the current and historical influence of racism and settler colonialism on Indigenous health outcomes.”

To view the Monash University article Critical allyship essential to achieving Indigenous health equity in full click here.

A must: solutions developed and delivered at a local level

The First Peoples’ Assembly’s appearance at the Yoorrook Justice Commission yesterday saw the co-chairs Rueben Berg and Ngarra Murray argue the impacts of colonisation and previous injustices are still being felt in relation to the outcomes for First Peoples in housing, health and education.

“For too long government policies have actively excluded Aboriginal people from getting ahead in life and we still face unfair barriers and carry the burden of deliberately created disadvantage,” Mr Berg said. “We need to reset the system, so Aboriginal communities have the economic opportunities we’ve been denied. That way we can create prosperity that we can hand down the generations, just like everyone else has been able to do.”

The Assembly will soon enter into treaty negotiations with the Victorian government, and the “voice” of First Peoples in the state repeatedly arguing that nothing was “off the table”. Mr Berg said one of the focuses of the talks was going to centre on how to best transfer the decision-making powers from the Government to First Peoples. “Obviously Aboriginal people are the experts when it comes to Aboriginal matters,” he said. “So, when it comes to Aboriginal communities and cultures and things like looking after our sacred sites and burial grounds and so on, of course we think it should be us making the decisions.”

To view the National Indigenous Times article “Develop and deliver practical solutions at a local level”: First Peoples’ Assembly argue Treaty will empower Aboriginal communities in full click here.

Yoorrook Commission resumes public hearings

Content warning: This article contains reference to suicide. Please refer to the services at the bottom of this article for support.

 The death of a young Aboriginal woman who died by suicide inside a Melbourne hospital earlier this year has been raised at Victoria’s truth-telling inquiry as part of its new investigation into injustice in the state’s health systems. VACCHO CEO Aunty Jill Gallagher told the Yoorrook Justice Commission she was concerned that three Aboriginal people had died by suicide in Victorian hospitals in the past two years. “They were not going there to die,” she said. “They were going there for help and to live.”

The Yoorrook Justice Commission has resumed public hearings this week with a focus on injustice and racism in the state’s health, housing and education systems. Designed and led by First Nations people, the Yoorrook Justice Commission is Victoria’s truth-telling process. It has the powers of a royal commission and is hearing evidence about the past and ongoing impacts of colonisation in Victoria.

This week, it heard evidence that Aboriginal Victorians were three times more likely than non-Aboriginal Victorians to experience high or very high levels of psychological distress. Self-harm emergency department admissions for First Nations people were four times the rate of non-Aboriginal Victorians, Yoorrook heard. Australian National University epidemiologist Ray Lovett gave evidence that, according to his research, a significant proportion of the increased distress experienced by Aboriginal people could be attributed to their experiences of racism.

To view the ABC News article Victoria’s truth-telling inquiry begins examining gaps in housing, health and education in full click here.

If this article brought up anything for you or someone you love, please reach out to, call or visit the online resources listed below for support:

13YARN – 13 92 76, 13yarn.org.au

Lifeline – 13 11 14, lifeline.org.au

Beyond Blue – 1300 224 636, beyondblue.org.au/forums

MensLine – 1300 789 978

Kids Helpline – 1800 551 800

Suicide Call Back Service – 1300 659 467

How bikes are changing lives of at-risk WA kids

A bike is more than just a bike. It can be: transport, exercise and sport, health, freedom, and importantly can build a sense of connection and community. That’s the ideology behind the Cycling Development Foundation’s (CDF) Indigenous bike education program in remote WA, which uses the power of the bike to engage with, educate and empower, at-risk and Indigenous youth and communities.

The CDF’s Laverton Cycling Project started as a two-week trial in 2018 in the Goldfields town of Laverton, 1,100 km east of Perth. Hosted alongside the Laverton school and with support from the Laverton Leonora Cross Cultural Association, the goal was the mentoring of youths through rebuilding second-hand bikes and providing guidance and practical skills, by fostering a sense of community, self-sustainability, and pride. It also incorporated an exercise program using cycling to educate the local community about how exercise could be brief, effective, and improve health and wellbeing.

Six years on, the project is now the longest running dedicated Indigenous cycling program in Australia, and continues to grow each year, CDF managing director Brad Hall said. “It keeps scaling up each year, and with that comes an increase in service,” Hall explains. “We are now running programs in some of the Aboriginal communities in Cosmo Newbery and Mulga Queen in really remote communities where they haven’t seen non-government organisations working out there. It’s a nice frontier to be working on with these kids and providing opportunity for them to access cycling.”

To view the AusCycling article How bikes are changing the lives of at-risk and Indigenous kids in remote Western Australia in full click here.

Wee Waa student now registered psychologist

Michelle Combo’s natural leadership skills, outstanding academic abilities and strong work ethic meant she was always destined to achieve great success, according to former Wee Waa Public School teacher Kath Hamilton. While Michelle still considers Wee Waa home, she is currently living in Brisbane with her family, where her career progression continues to go from strength to strength.

“I am a registered psychologist, and I am currently working at the Mental Health Alcohol and Other Drugs Strategy and Planning Branch as the manager, First Nations. “I wanted to pursue psychology because people had been coming to me for pseudo-counselling during high school years, possibly due to my personality or just being able to listen to their problems. I also had grown up observing what I perceived to be mental health issues around our community and wanted to find a way to help, especially for Aboriginal people – being mindful of historical trauma and the ongoing impacts of colonisation.”

“Seeing and experiencing the difference I can and have made as an Aboriginal woman working in mental health and addictions – has been incredibly rewarding and confirmed my initial thoughts that more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people would access mental health help if they could do so with someone who they felt safe and comfortable to speak to.” A true testament to the saying ‘you can’t be what you can’t see’, Michelle has stepped up as an incredible role model and confidante to many, creating positive changes while providing professional guidance and comforting assistance.

To view The Courier article WWPS and high school graduate goes from strength to strength in full click 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.

White Wreath Day – 29 May 2024

The White Wreath Association (WWA) established National White Wreath Day, held annually on 29 May, in remembrance of all those who have died by suicide. All around Australia thousands of white wreaths are laid in remembrance of individuals who have died tragically by suicide circumstances.

According to WWA, in Australia, we have to come to terms with the trauma of thousands of our fellow citizens (men, women and children) dying by suicide every year. Society’s response to these surviving families and friends is vastly different from the help offered in other kinds of medical and social tragedies. WWA says the families and friends of those who die by suicide are in as much need of help, support, understanding and respect as the family and friends of people who die from other causes. WWA aims to bring awareness to the Australian society that people who die by suicide are not statistic figures but dearly loved human beings loved by their family, carers and friends.

Suicide is one of the leading causes of death for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. A recent study found that ‘silence’ around suicide, the ‘ripple’ effect of trauma and feeling ‘powerless’ to prevent suicide were important drivers of barriers to discussing suicide and seeking assistance for Aboriginal people when experiencing a suicide crisis. The findings highlight the interrelatedness between individual and community-level barriers of fear and shame and system-level considerations that result in Aboriginal people not receiving appropriate mental health care.

Authors of the study argue that to be effective, future suicide prevention initiatives must address both the ‘silence’ around suicide and the ‘ripple effect’ of trauma that already exists within Aboriginal communities and seek to improve access to culturally competent mental health care for Aboriginal communities.  Caution must be exercised in attempts to address these factors independently, as this may unintentionally result in an increased risk of suicide. Instead, a holistic and community-led approach is required.

You can also find more information about White Wreath Day on the White Wreath Association Ltd “Action Against Suicide” website here and read the related article The ripple effect, silence and powerlessness: hidden barriers to discussing suicide in Australian Aboriginal communities published in BMC Psychology on 7 February 2022 here.