- NACCHO Media Release: World Diabetes Day 2025: Building the Workforce, Strengthening Community, and Closing the Gap
- New country Victoria hub for Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-operative
- New Great Southern Indigenous Healing Service for FDV youth
- North Australia Centre for Autonomous Systems completes medical drop via drone
- Connection to ‘family, culture, and education’ key to youth justice, not jail time, says Indigenous advocate
- 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.
NACCHO Media Release: World Diabetes Day 2025: Building the Workforce, Strengthening Community, and Closing the Gap
Today, on World Diabetes Day, NACCHO and the Bupa Foundation are shining a light on the power of community-led action to change the trajectory of diabetes across Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
While the rate of diabetes-related deaths among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people has fallen, from 100 per 100,000 in 2008 to 70 per 100,000 in 2019, diabetes still contributes to 7.3 per cent of all deaths and continues to affect families across generations. In some regions, rates of type 2 diabetes are among the highest in the world.
Through the NACCHO | Bupa Foundation Health Strong, Diabetes Gone partnership, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities are taking the next step, strengthening their workforce, improving early detection and prevention, and ensuring that culturally informed care is led from within.
NACCHO CEO Pat Turner said: “This is not about short-term fixes or symbolic gestures; it’s about investing in people, in training, and in the future of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health.”
New country Victoria hub for Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-operative
Goolum Goolum Aboriginal Co-operative Limited have moved into its new digs in Victoria’s Wimmera region, following a $1 million contribution from the Indigenous Land and Sea Corporation.
GGAC’s new community hub, ‘Dalki Guli’, in Horsham, will be a service centre for the Wotjobaluk, Jaadwa, Jadawadjali, Jupagulk, and Wergaia peoples of the region.
The Aboriginal community-controlled health organisation, which delivers health, welfare, and family services to Indigenous people, had outgrown its previous home.
The new hub, which employs 22 First Nations people, will provide GGAC more space to deliver its programs, including various Indigenous training and employment opportunities to help empower future generations within the region.
Goolum Goolum board chairperson, Jake Goodes, said the hub had been designed to create an environment that feels welcoming, safe, and healing.
“One of our proudest milestones this year has been the official opening of the Dalki Guli Hub,” he said.
Image: GGAC.
New Great Southern Indigenous Healing Service for FDV youth
A new Indigenous Healing Service (IHS) for Aboriginal children and young people aged 5-18 impacted by family and domestic violence in the Great Southern will be delivered by Yorgum Healing Services Aboriginal Corporation.
- Yorgum Healing Services Aboriginal Corporation to deliver new Indigenous Healing Service in the Great Southern
- The Albany-based service will support Aboriginal children and young people impacted by family and domestic violence
- Part of an $8.2 million package to deliver accessible therapeutic services to children and young people affected by family violence
A new Indigenous Healing Service (IHS) for Aboriginal children and young people aged 5-18 impacted by family and domestic violence in the Great Southern will be delivered by Yorgum Healing Services Aboriginal Corporation.
Based in Albany, the new service recognises Aboriginal children, young people and families who experience disproportionate levels of family and domestic violence, with devastating impacts on health and wellbeing.
It forms part of the Cook Government’s $8.2 million package to deliver accessible therapeutic healing services to children and young people affected by family violence.
North Australia Centre for Autonomous Systems completes medical drop via drone
Cut off by floods and running low on medical supplies, a remote community had to think outside the box to save a life. With the help of an expert team nearby, history was made.
A team of Northern Territory researchers made Australian history this week when they used their drone to deliver essential medication to a remote community.
On Wednesday evening, health workers at Gunbalunya Health Centre were treating a patient who had gone into cardiac arrest when they were forced to think outside the box.
The clinic was running low on medication and turned to its neighboring community, Jabiru, to lend a hand.
Jabiru Health Centre had what they needed, but was cut off due to flooding.
However, a tight-knit team from Charles Darwin University – the North Australia Centre for Autonomous Systems (NACAS) – happened to be stationed in the region where they had been testing their drone.
North Australia Centre for Autonomous Systems have successfully delivered medical supplies via a drone in remote NT.
Connection to ‘family, culture, and education’ key to youth justice, not jail time, says Indigenous advocate
Justice advocacy group ‘Change the Record’ has condemned the Victorian government’s plan to introduce “adult time for violent crime” legislation, which would see children as young as 14 tried, sentenced and imprisoned as adults.
Change the Record said on Thursday that the “dangerous” laws will “expose vulnerable children to longer, harsher sentences – including life imprisonment – and will disproportionately target First Nations children”.
Change the Record CEO and Indigenous justice advocate Jade Lane said the state government’s proposal “takes us in the wrong direction as a society”.
“We must seek to help and nurture children at every opportunity, particularly vulnerable children at risk of contact with the criminal legal system. The Victorian government should be investing in First Nations-led, community-based solutions that are proven to address the underlying health, social and economic drivers of offending,” she said.
Children as young as 14 could spend up to life in prison for some offences under proposed new Victorian legislation. Image: Dechlan Brennan.
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