- Recognising hidden harms of multiple medicines — Strengthening safe medicine use in ACCHOs
- Express your interest in guiding the Medical Research Future Fund’s Reducing Health Inequities Mission
- Scholarship supporting First Nations woman’s path to paediatrics
- Jack Beetson, a Ngemba Aboriginal man from western New South Wales, shares his remarkable personal story.
- Sector Jobs
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.
Recognising hidden harms of multiple medicines — Strengthening safe medicine use in ACCHOs
This resource developed by NACCHO and developed through the national MAIA project supports GPs and other clinicians working in Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) to strengthen the way medicine related harms are identified and managed, using a structured approach to deprescribing, when clients are on multiple medicines.
Polypharmacy (five or more medicines) is linked to increased risks of:
- falls and fractures
- frailty and disability
- hospitalisation and death.
While every medicine has the potential for harm, there are some classes of medicine that confer a higher risk. These include anticholinergics, antipsychotics, diuretics, antidepressants, opioids, and NSAIDs. The risk becomes even higher when these classes of medicines are prescribed and taken together.2
Reducing the number of medicines a client takes can significantly lower the risk of harm. GPs play a vital role in supporting clients by creating space for open, culturally safe conversations about their medicines and working in partnership with pharmacists, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Health Practitioners and other team members to reduce the hidden harms of polypharmacy and improve health outcomes for clients.
Express your interest in guiding the Medical Research Future Fund’s Reducing Health Inequities Mission
The Department of Health, Disability and Ageing is seeking expressions of interest for the Reducing Health Inequities Mission Expert Advisory Panel (EAP). This EAP will advise the Australian Government on the Medical Research Future Fund’s (MRFF) newest mission. Applications close on 17 October 2025.
Australia’s priority populations can struggle with poor health and wellbeing because of system inequities, social exclusion and limited access to care. These health challenges can be made worse by cultural differences, remote locations and financial hardship.
The MRFF’s Reducing Health Inequities Mission is investing $150 million for research that helps priority populations access quality health care and improve their overall health outcomes.
Scholarship supporting First Nations woman’s path to paediatrics
Wongutha, Ngarluma and Wudjari-Noongar woman Kayla Williams-Tucker is in her third year of medicine at the University of Notre Dame WA, and was recently named one of three recipients of the 2025 AMA Indigenous Medical Scholarship.
She now hopes to specialise in paediatrics to improve the health and wellbeing of First Nations children, saying her motivation is personal.
“I want to provide care that is not only high quality, but also compassionate and culturally safe – care that ensures our children grow up healthy, strong and supported,” Ms Williams-Tucker said.
“As a mother to a child with developmental needs, I know firsthand how difficult it can be to navigate a healthcare system that too often feels like it was not built for us.
“These personal and lived experiences drive my determination to be a doctor who listens, understands, and walks alongside families during their most vulnerable times.”
AMA President Dr Danielle McMullen presents Kayla Williams-Tucker (pictured with son Ezra) a 2025 AMA Indigenous Medical Scholarship. (Image: AMA)
Jack Beetson, a Ngemba Aboriginal man from western New South Wales, shares his remarkable personal story.
The BBC wrote on their website:
Jack Beetson is a Ngemba Aboriginal man from western New South Wales in Australia.
In the late 1960s when he was choosing subjects for high school, Jack was interested in studying commerce and history. Then a teacher told him; “Aboriginal kids don’t study those subjects,” diverting him to woodwork and metalwork instead. One year later aged 13, Jack was expelled with the other Aboriginal boys in his class and earned money picking cotton in the cottonfields.
It wasn’t until Jack was 28 years old and living in Sydney that he decided to go back to school and complete his education. He enrolled at Tranby College, Australia’s oldest Indigenous college. After graduating he went on to become a teacher at Tranby and then the college Principal.
He quickly became a well-known name in education in Australia, playing a role in drafting the UN’s Declaration on the Rights of First Nations Peoples and was awarded a UN Unsung Hero Award.
Today he’s director of the Literacy for Life Foundation, championing First Nations adult literacy programmes across Australia.
Jack Beetson, a Ngemba Aboriginal man from western New South Wales, shares his remarkable personal story.
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.
