• NT deaths in custody reflect systemic failures, not isolated incidents, leaders say
• From mob, for mob
• New immunisation strategy takes aim at falling numbers
• Mitch Tambo to speak at Men of Bourke Forum
• NACCHO MBS Webinar
• Sector Jobs
• Events and training

The NACCHO Sector 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.

NT deaths in custody reflect systemic failures, not isolated incidents, leaders say

The recent deaths of two First Nations men in the Northern Territory are not isolated tragedies but the result of systemic over-criminalisation of Aboriginal people, according to the Coalition of Peaks.

The recent deaths of 24-year-old Warlpiri man Kumanjayi White — who had a disability and was living in supported accommodation — and of a 68-year-old Wadeye Elder, known as TN, have sparked a national outcry.

Both men died in custody within a fortnight of each other.

Their deaths have renewed scrutiny of the NT justice system, which has long been condemned by human rights, legal and First Nations groups for its disproportionate impact on First Nations people and a dramatic rise in incarceration rates.

In a statement this week Coalition of Peaks lead convenor, Pat Turner AM, expressed “full solidarity” with the Aboriginal Peak Organisations Northern Territory (APONT) and said the deaths were not “isolated” events.

Rather, she said they are “the outcome of a system that continues to criminalise, rather than care for, our people”.

Read the full article here.

Coalition of Peaks lead convenor Pat Turner. (Image: Martin Ollman/NCA NewsWire)

From mob, for mob

A new Aboriginal parenting program is being co-designed in Perth, promising to deliver culturally safe and trauma-informed support that will centre the voices of families and celebrate the strengths of Aboriginal parenting traditions.

This project at The Kids Research Institute Australia is funded by the Australian Research Council and supported by Embrace, a research collaboration focussed on the mental health of children and young people. The project team is working alongside Aboriginal Elders and parents to build the program from the ground up. Advisory groups have been formed, with meetings taking place this month to identify what parenting supports are needed. A pilot involving 50 Aboriginal families is scheduled for 2026.

Read the full article here.

A community conversation event featured items of importance in Aboriginal culture, including a didgeridoo, native leaves and shell bowls.

New immunisation strategy takes aim at falling numbers

Federal health minister Mark Butler has launched a new National Immunisation Strategy at what he says is “a really critical time” of falling immunisation rates.

“Australia is going to continue to experience increasing and more severe outbreaks, preventable deaths, significant demand on health services and reduced productivity unless action is taken now to increase vaccination coverage and turn around these disturbing trends,” the health minister said.

“Even though our childhood vaccination rates are still world leading, they are trending in exactly the wrong direction and must be turned around.”

Minister Butler launched the strategy for 2025-2030 at the Public Health Association of Australia’s Communicable Diseases and Immunisation Conference in Adelaide today, saying the government expects to invest around $2.4 billion over the next four years in vaccines, communication campaigns, immunisation registry administration, and research.

Read the full article here.

Mitch Tambo to speak at Men of Bourke Forum

Gamilaroi man Mitch Tambo will appear at the Men of Bourke Forum 2025, a two-day event focused on men’s identity, wellbeing and healing.

The forum will take place from 16–17 June at Bourke Christian Church and is led by Bourke Aboriginal Corporation Health Service (BACHS), working in partnership with local community organisations.

Tambo is scheduled to speak on Tuesday 17 June during the morning session and will also perform in the evening as part of his national ‘I Am Me’ tour.

Known for blending traditional language and storytelling with contemporary music, Tambo uses his platform to encourage honest conversation and cultural pride.

Read the full article here.

Mitch Tambo is taking his national tour to north-west New South Wales for the Men of Bourke Forum. (Image: Bourke Aboriginal Corporation Health Service)

NACCHO MBS Webinar

ACCHO staff are invited to the NACCHO MBS Webinar, Friday 20 June (1-2.30pm AEST).

This webinar focuses on the upcoming changes to the Medicare Benefits Schedule (MBS), effective from 1 July 2025. ACCHO staff are encouraged to come along to help understand the impact of the changes and hear from representatives from the Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing and Services Australia.

Topics Covered:

• Chronic disease management item changes:
• Links with MyMedicare
• Implications for PIP IHI
• Implications for nKPI’s
• Triple bulk billing and bulk billing incentive:
• Links with MyMedicare and registration requirements

Speakers:

• NACCHO: Dr Jason Agostino, Senior Medical Advisor
• Australian Government Department of Health, Disability and Ageing:
  • Louise Riley, Assistant Secretary, MBS Policy & Reviews Branch
  • Mark Roddam, First Assistant Secretary, Primary Care Division
• Services Australia:
  • David McEwen, Director My Medicare Operations
  • Diana Cooper, Program Officer My Medicare Operations

Register to the webinar

NACCHO MBS webinar – Friday 20 June

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.

NACCHO events

See all the NACCHO events

• Connecting Our Mob: Patient navigators As Sustainable Supports
• New technology playing key role in improving First Nations eye health in remote communities
• New Young Fellas Gathering Calls for More On-Country, Cultural Excursions
• Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease—Australian facts
• Sector Jobs
• Events and training

The NACCHO Sector 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.

Connecting Our Mob: Patient navigators As Sustainable Supports

“COMPASS is a co-designed project that brings together the lived experiences, research expertise, and voices of Community to implement a sustainable, coordinated model of kidney care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. Through our research, we aim to understand how coordinating Patient Navigator programs across four settings (Port Augusta, Adelaide, Alice Springs, and Darwin) can help facilitate better care and outcomes for patients.”
National Indigenous Kidney Transplantation Taskforce’s (NIKTT).

Patient Navigators are Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people with lived experience of kidney disease and transplantation, with the job of helping other kidney patients understand and navigate the complex kidney health pathway.

Lear more about this program here.

Compass: Connecting Our Mob: Patient navigators As Sustainable Supports

New technology playing key role in improving First Nations eye health in remote communities

Cutting-edge medical technology is being used to dramatically improve health outcomes for First Nations people in remote communities.

The devices, some powered by artificial intelligence, include an inexpensive TGA-approved portable eye screening system known as the TeleEye Scan which was recently evaluated over an extended period at two remote communities in Western Australia’s Kimberley region.

Results for the University of Notre Dame Australia-developed device saw multiple serious health conditions detected which had not been previously diagnosed.

They eye screening system uses AI to instantly detect a range of conditions including glaucoma, macular degeneration and diabetic retinopathy with 95 per cent accuracy.

Read the full article here.

A recent trial has seen AI-powered medical technology used to address the eye health of First Nations peoples in Western Australia’s Kimberley region. (Image: The University of Notre Dame Australia)

New Young Fellas Gathering Calls for More On-Country, Cultural Excursions

Wednesday, May 21 was a massive occasion for the East Gippsland Aboriginal Cooperative (GEGAC) and community, with the first ever GEGAC Young Fellas Gathering held here at Dalmahoy Street.
Hosted by GEGAC Engagement Officers Peter Harrison and Zac Stewart, the aim of the gathering was to give young men in community a space to contribute their ideas for things GEGAC can do to better engage and serve them and their peers.

Read the full story here.

The Young Fellas Gathering at GEGAC on May 21 was the first in what will be an ongoing series of events specifically for young men in community.

Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease—Australian facts

Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease—Australian facts is a series of 5 reports by the National Centre for Monitoring Vascular Diseases at the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare that describe the combined burden of cardiovascular disease (CVD), diabetes and chronic kidney disease (CKD). This report on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people presents up-to-date statistics on risk factors, prevalence, hospitalisation and deaths from these 3 chronic diseases. It examines age and sex characteristics and variations by geographical location and compares these with the non-Indigenous population.

Find out more and download here.

Cardiovascular disease, diabetes and chronic kidney disease—Australian facts

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.

Health, Climate & Our Future – Online Consultation for ACCHOs & ACCOs

Hey Mob, we want to hear from you! Climate change isn’t just something happening out there—it’s something we’re feeling in our Communities, in our health, and in the way we do our jobs. Join us for a deadly online yarn about how climate and environment shifts are impacting our ACCOs and ACCHOs, our way of working, and our ways of keeping Mob safe and strong.

Come along to one of the following upcoming sessions:

Session 1: Wednesday 11 June (3-4.30PM AEST)

Session 2: Friday 13 June (12-1.30PM AEST)

Health, Climate & Our Future – Online Consultation for ACCHOs & ACCOs

• The Indispensable Role of First Nations Health Workers
• Exploring non‐communicable diseases in Australian communities
• Stroke Foundation launches Innovative Reconciliation Action Plan
• Gerry Merritt is ‘proud’ to be an example for his First Nations brothers and sisters
• “You can’t have reconciliation without truth-telling and without vision” – Tremane Baxter-Edwards calls it how he sees it
• Sector Jobs
• Events and training

The NACCHO Sector 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.

The Indispensable Role of First Nations Health Workers

A new guide for doctors offices around Australia reinforces the case that culturally safe and clinically sound health care is a must in order to achieve the best health and wellbeing outcomes for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Leading into Reconciliation Week, the Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Health Practitioners in Primary Health Care – Guide for General Practice was launched.

Developed by the National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners (NAATSIHWP), the workforce’s national peak body, and endorsed by the Royal Australian College of GPs (RACGP), the guide will help ‘plug a gap’ for First Nations patients attending medical appointments away from Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.

“Our workforce, they provide a level of care that no other mainstream health professional can provide. So they are very unique in this space,” NAATSIHWP chief executive Karl Briscoe told National Indigenous Times.

Read the full article here.

National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners chief executive Karl Briscoe. (Image: Croakey Health Media)

Exploring non‐communicable diseases in Australian communities

Australia continues to experience a high burden due to non‐communicable diseases,1 with cancer, cardiovascular diseases and neurological conditions among the disease groups causing the greatest burden.2 In this issue of the MJA, several articles explore patterns, drivers, inequities and potential interventions for non‐communicable diseases in Australia, including how centring Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander knowledges and leadership is crucial to improving outcomes for affected communities.

Read the full article here.

Stroke Foundation launches Innovative Reconciliation Action Plan

The Stroke Foundation has marked a significant milestone in its reconciliation journey by launching its Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan.

The Innovative RAP focuses on four key areas; relationships, respect, opportunities and governance, and builds on progress of the organisation’s Reflect RAP completed in September 2023.

The Foundation said it decided to launch the Innovate RAP during this year’s National Reconciliation Week which under the theme Bridging Now to Next, calls on on all Australians to learn from the past, act in the present, and work towards a better future through its commitment to ongoing relationships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations.

Stroke Foundation RAP Working Group member and stroke survivor, Courtney Rubie, said she is excited to see the Foundation take larger strides with First Nations communities and leaders in the spirit of building relationships and partnerships for meaningful change.

The Wiradjuri woman also said she is deeply encouraged by the genuine respect, commitment, and willingness to listen, to learn and to act meaningfully that the Stroke Foundation has shown throughout its Reconciliation Action Plan journey.

Read the full article here.

Stroke Foundation chief executive officer Lisa Murphy. (Image: Stroke Foundation)

Gerry Merritt is ‘proud’ to be an example for his First Nations brothers and sisters

Former Juvenile Justice Youth Officer, Gerald ‘Gerry’ Merritt joined Corrective Services NSW 15 years ago to continue his calling.

His goal? To make change for his people by helping them break the cycle of crime.

The proud Wiradjuri man is currently the Aboriginal Community and Culture Engagement Officer at Dubbo Community Corrections.
Decades into the task, Mr Merritt has gone above and beyond, establishing men’s groups, contributing to domestic violence and mental health initiatives, getting involved in Aboriginal sporting and NAIDOC events.

The 56-year-old says working within his local community has its positives and challenges. “This job allows me to create better outcomes for Aboriginal men and women who are on supervision, and I get to see the positive effect that supervision can have, not just on an individual but their whole family,” he said.

Read the full article here.

Gerald ‘Gerry’ Merritt is an Aboriginal Community and Culture Engagement Officer based at Dubbo Community Corrections. Picture by Corrective Services NSW.

“You can’t have reconciliation without truth-telling and without vision” – Tremane Baxter-Edwards calls it how he sees it

Eighteen-year-old Tremane Baxter-Edwards, a Ngarinyin-Walmajarri man from Wyndham, WA, is a prominent young leader passionate about Reconciliation. He recently spoke alongside former Senator Pat Dodson at National Reconciliation Week events in Perth.

Mr. Baxter-Edwards, a tour guide with an interest in policy development, also works with Minister Malarndirri McCarthy. He expressed his deep commitment to learning, interacting with people, and his love for Australia.

He views recent reconciliation efforts as “very challenging” and believes the post-referendum period has led to increased racism against Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. While acknowledging the referendum as a “setback,” he emphasises it’s not the end of the reconciliation movement, which he sees as a long-term journey.

Mr. Baxter-Edwards believes the next steps require collaboration from all sectors, noting the federal Labor government’s commitment to the Uluru Statement from the Heart as a positive sign for the future of reconciliation.

Read the full article here.

Tremane Baxter-Edwards. Image: Maria Marouchtchak

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.

Webinar 1: Program entry and eligibility – National Lung Cancer Screening Program

Join the NACCHO Cancer Team for an informative webinar designed for ACCHO staff and healthcare professionals working with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. Learn how to identify and engage individuals who may be eligible to participate in the National Lung Cancer Screening Program.

The session will provide an overview of how to support community members to access the program, including guidance on entry pathways and assessing eligibility for the program.

Register to the webinar