NACCHO Sector News: 22 August 2025

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.

What happens when strong voices, shared purpose, and the right partnerships come together?

Last week on Turrbal and Yuggera Country in Meanjin (Brisbane), NACCHO, in partnership with Bupa, brought together 16 outstanding trainers and assessors to strengthen diabetes education across our communities.

Grounded in culture, connection and lived experience, they shared knowledge, explored best practice, and began shaping national training resources that reflect the strength, diversity, and realities of mob.

This gathering wasn’t just about ticking compliance boxes; it was about empowering local leaders to drive change, build capability, and deliver training that truly speaks to community.

Together, we’re building a workforce ready to make a lasting impact in diabetes prevention and care.

Meet the Worimi doctor fighting high rates of cervical cancer among First Nations women

For the past 20 years Dr Marilyn Clarke has worked on Gumbaynggirr Country as an obstetrician and gynaecologist.

The rate of cervical cancer among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women in Australia is more than double the rate among non-Indigenous women. Cultural barriers, lack of awareness, logistical challenges, and historical and systemic issues contribute to under-screening and late detection of pre-cancerous lesions, representing a system failure for Aboriginal women.

Dr Marilyn Clarke hopes to see those statistics change for the better. SISTASCREEN is a co-designed strategy being developed which aims to increase cervical screening rates by offering the test during routine antenatal checkups at Aboriginal-led health services.

“Antenatal visits at their local Aboriginal community-controlled health service is an opportune time to engage First Nations women in cervical screening in a way which ensures culturally safety and empowerment,” Dr Clarke said.

The project is set to be led by Southern Cross University in partnership with the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO), with $2.4 million in funding over three-years from the federal government through Cancer Australia.

The project will see six “early adopter” sites established from the outset: the first is the Bullinah Aboriginal Health Service in Ballina on the New South Wales Coast.
Its goal is to establish 50 sites at Aboriginal community controlled health organisations across the country over the next three years.

NACCHO CEO Pat Turner AM has welcomed the partnership.

“For too long, our women have faced barriers to lifesaving screening and care, barriers rooted in systems that weren’t designed for us, by us,” Ms Turner said.

“We cannot eliminate cervical cancer in Australia while Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women continue to be left behind.”

Read the full article here.

Worimi woman Dr Marilyn Clarke currently works for the Southern Cross University Faculty of Health at the Coffs Harbour campus.

Wuchopperen’s $2.6m air quality upgrade helping control respiratory diseases

A Far North primary health provider was awarded $2m in government funds to upgrade its clinic’s air quality, but the measure is unlikely to be rolled out across other centres in the region.

Wuchopperen Health Service tipped in about $600,000 of its own funds to upgrade air conditioning in three of its eight buildings at the Manoora clinic.

The improved filtration system, which features negative pressure rooms, will help prevent the spread of airborne infectious diseases through the centre’s ducts – an issue heightened during the Covid pandemic.

Wuchopperen chief executive Joy Savage said the project dubbed “breathe easy” was helping deliver the highest standard of air ventilation and quality, often reserved for hospitals’ acute care providers.

“We all now realise even in a primary care setting … how the air quality, how the ventilation can play an added protective weight in containing infection,” Ms Savage said.

“It is always the ambition of any health care provider to have the latest facilities available to both aid the provision of service and to keep the visitors and patients in an environment that is certainly not going to cause any harm or add any risk to their health.”

Read the full article here.

Wuchopperen chief executive Joy Savage, Assistant Health Minister Rebecca White and Member for Leichhardt, Matt Smith.

Aboriginal-led organisations honoured for suicide prevention work

Waterlily Healing Indigenous Corporation and Perfectly Imperfect Consulting, based on Larrakia Country in Darwin, have received the ‘Community’ Award at the 2025 Barbara Hocking Memorial Awards.

Hosted by suicide prevention organisation R U OK?, the awards recognise efforts to create a world where we are all connected and protected from suicide across four categories: Workplace, Education, Community and Conversation Leader.

The judging panel recognised Karyn Anne Moyle and her team for “empowering those in their world to meaningfully connect and lend support to each other when they are struggling with life, particularly through culturally safe, trauma-informed programs that empower Aboriginal communities to speak openly about mental health, grief, and suicide”.

Read the full article here.

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