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Mar 8 2023

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: International Women’s Day 2023

feature tile photo of woman with loud speaker, text: Reflections on IWD 2023 & opportunities for ATSI women

The image in the feature tile is from the International Women’s Development Agency website, available here.

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. The content included in these new stories are not necessarily NACCHO endorsed.

International Women’s Day 2023

International Women’s Day (IWD) is held on 8 March each year, with events and activities taking place across the globe. It celebrates the social, economic, cultural and political achievements of women. IWD is an opportunity to celebrate the contributions women make to our communities and marks a call to action for accelerating gender equality to create a world where women and girls everywhere have equal rights and opportunities.

The IWD 2023 theme is Cracking the Code: Innovation for a gender-equal future. The theme emphasises the importance of bold, transformative ideas, inclusive technologies, and accessible education in combating discrimination and marginalisation of women around the world. The message being that innovation can accelerate our progress towards a gender equal future.

In an interview on NITV Radio earlier today Reconciliation Australia CEO Karen Mundine reflected on IWD 2023 and the opportunities for First Nations women. With more than 20 years’ experience leading community engagement, public advocacy, communications and social marketing campaigns; Karen has shaped the national journey towards a just, equitable and reconciled Australia. You can listen to her interview in full here. You can also find out more about IWD on the International Women’s Development Agency’s website here.

NITV Radio logo, portrait of Karen Mundine, Reconciliation Australia CEO & 08:47 minute icon

Karen Mundine, Reconciliation Australia CEO. Image source: NIT 1 March 2023.

NACCHO delegation to Timor-Leste

A NACCHO delegation, accompanied by a Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade representative, are in Timor-Leste this week (Sunday 5  – Friday 10 March 2023) to:

  • gain an understanding of the country, cultural, political and health service delivery context of a potential First Nations partnership
  • gain an understanding of a Timorese perspective of how primary health care is delivered, with a focus on workforce training and community ownership of primary health care programs
  • initiate relationships with key Ministry of Health officials that could form the basis of future potential First Nations partnership work

and along with DFAT:

  • identify key issues which may be addressed in partnership
  • identify issues to inform the further refinement of the concept note and key stages and timeframes for the potential First Nations partnership

The delegation is comprised of:

  • Donnella Mills, NACCHO Chair (Cairns)
  • Pat Turner, NACCHO CEO and Lead Convenor of the Coalition of Peaks (Canberra)
  • Rob McPhee, CEO of the Danila Dilba Health Service (Darwin)
  • Jenny Bedford, Executive Manager, Kimberley Aboriginal Health Services (Broome)
  • Alice Kemble (Dili)
  • Sara Moriarty, First Nations Taskforce (Canberra), Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade

During the visit the delegation will meet with:

  • Partnerships for Human Development (overview of the structure of the Timorese health system)
  • East Timor Development Agency (NFP provided training and guidance to strengthen the capacity of Timorese people to plan an integral, role in the development of their Nation)
  • Ministry of Health (introduction to community health services in Timor Leste, including model of care, workforce training and service delivery)
  • National Health Institute (responsible for planning and delivery of health workforce and clinical training)
  • Maluk Timor (an Australian and Timorese NGO seeking to advance primary healthcare in Timor-Leste)
  • Agora Food Studio (a social enterprise mentoring Timorese innovators and storytellers and elevating local food)
  • Comoro Community Health Clinic in Dili (urban health centre)
  • Gleno, Ermera district (remote health post)
  • Nabilan (program to end violence against women and improve wellbeing for women and children affected by violence)
  • ProEma (NFP promoting capacity-building for vulnerable girls and young women living in underdeveloped communities in Timor-Leste)
Left-Right: Rob McPhee, CEO Danila Dilba Health Service, Dr Odete Maria Freitas Belo, Minister for Health, Timor-Leste, Pat Turner, NACCHO CEO and Lead Convenor of the Coalition of Peaks, Jenny Bedford, Executive Manager, Kimberley Aboriginal Health Services and Donnella Mills, NACCHO Chair

Left-Right: Rob McPhee, CEO Danila Dilba Health Service, Dr Odete Maria Freitas Belo, Minister for Health, Timor-Leste, Pat Turner, NACCHO CEO and Lead Convenor of the Coalition of Peaks, Jenny Bedford, Executive Manager, Kimberley Aboriginal Health Services and Donnella Mills, NACCHO Chair.

ACCHO worker makes inspirational women list

Goondir Health Services’ Medicare co-ordinator Ethel Hayden has been named as one of the 50 most inspirational women in the Western Downs region in celebration of International Women’s Day 2023. Ethel Hayden hopes to leave behind a legacy of helping others and having made a difference in her community. The Dalby woman has achieved so much in her life, which included beginning life-changing programs for young people.

Ms Hayden was responsible for rolling out some of the onsite health services for Goondir Health in 2014 when they moved into their Jimbour St location. She also developed a Youth Project with programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the Western Downs region such as the Big Buddy Program, which aimed to empower Indigenous youth to achieve their full potential through mentorship and education.

She said she was most passionate about making a difference, and knows she has the experience to do so. A major achievement under Ms Hayden’s belt was being involved in the ‘Closing the Gap’ event that’s held each year, with the upcoming event being in Dalby next week.

To view The Courier Mail article Celebrating 50 of the most inspirational women in the Western Downs region for International Women’s Day in full click here. You can also access the Goondir Health Services’ website here to learn more about their clinics in Chincilla, Dalby, Oakey and St George, Queensland.

Ethel Hayden, Goondir Health Services, Dalby QLD

Ethel Hayden. Image source: The Courier Mail.

Prison healthcare should match community standards

On this International Women’s Day, let’s not forget women in prison. There are 3,088 women imprisoned in Australia on any given day, representing 7.5% of the prison population. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are over-represented in these numbers.

Annually Australia spends over $4b on prisons. Despite this, reproductive health care equivalent to that in the community is often not available where women are being detained. Reproductive health care must be delivered in appropriate ways to those who require it. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people require culturally safe health care, free from racism. There must also be inclusive care for non-binary and transgender people.

Failing to provide access to sanitary pads and tampons is a form of degrading treatment, according to the European Committee for the Prevention of Torture and Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment. It can leave women and people who menstruate vulnerable to exploitation. For example, limited access to sanitary pads can lead to them being traded for favours.

In Australia, there have been instances of an Aboriginal woman giving birth alone in a locked prison cell while staff observed through the hatch. Another example featured attempts to remove a baby from their Aboriginal mother against medical advice due to insufficient capacity at the prison. And an Aboriginal woman was denied the right to bond with her newborn and breastfeed them.

To view The Conversation article Health care offered to women in prison should match community standards – and their rights in full click here.

torsos of ATSI women in prison, green clothes

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women make up a third of all female prisoners in Australia. Image source: ABC News.

NACCHO provides quality use of medicines program for mob

NACCHO will now provide the NPS MedicineWise online learning modules and resources, which are available on the NACCHO website. Programs include:

  • Good Medicines Better Health – eLearning modules and consumer resources developed for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners and their communities to improve quality use of medicines and medical tests. The online learning modules are available now.
  • Medicines Lists and Templates – Principles for producing best possible medicines lists for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
  • Remote Area Aboriginal Health Services – Tools and resources to support the safe and effective provision of medicines in remote communities.

You can view the eLearning modules and resources here and here.

NACCHO looks forward to being able to provide sustained support in quality use of medicines programs for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people based on ongoing funding from the Department of Health and Aged Care. We acknowledge some of these programs were developed by NPS MedicineWise prior to their closure and thank NPS staff for their work.

If you have any queries regarding these resources, you can contact the NACCHO Medicines team by email by clicking here.

ATSI woman & young girl & boy smiling; text: NACCHO logo, Good Medicine Better Health; Medicines Lists and Templates; Remote Area Aboriginal Health Services

Data shows gap closing too slowly

The gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians isn’t closing fast enough, Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney admits. Productivity Commission data shows a number of key Closing the Gap targets are not on track and some are going backwards. Closing the Gap is a strategy that aims to achieve equality for Indigenous people by improving health, social, education and economic outcomes. “I know many people are frustrated by the lack of progress,” Ms Burney said.

Last month, in partnership with the Coalition of Peaks – which represents more than 80 Indigenous organisations – the federal government announced its implementation plan for Closing the Gap, which included more than $400m in extra funding. There are 19 socio-economic targets in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. The Productivity Commission has released data on nine of those targets, which shows two are on track to meet their goals, but seven are not.

Ms Burney said the data showed “encouraging” increases in employment and land rights, but in other areas figures were going backwards. “It is particularly disappointing to see the target for healthy birth weights for babies has gone from being on track to not on track,” she said. “More of the same isn’t good enough. We need to do things differently by working in partnership with communities to get better results.”

To view The Canberra Times article Data shows Indigenous gap closing too slowly: Minister in full click here.

Minister Linda Burney carrying folders in Parliament

Minister Linda Burney says there is a lot of frustration surrounding the lack of progress. Photo: Mick Tsikas/AAP. Image source: The Canberra Times.

Ambassador for First Nations People appointed

The federal government has appointed Mr Justin Mohamed as Australia’s inaugural Ambassador for First Nations People. Mr Mohamed will lead the Office of First Nations Engagement in the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney, Foreign Minister Penny Wong and Special Envoy Senator Pat Dodson announced the appointment in a joint statement on Tuesday.

The government said the Office of First Nations Engagement and the foreign affairs and trade department will work in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people “to progress Indigenous rights globally, and help grow First Nations trade and investment”. The joint statement said that “elevating the perspectives of First Nations people – this land’s first diplomats – enables deeper engagement with many of our closest partners including the Pacific family”. The new position marks the first time Australia will have dedicated Indigenous representation in international engagement.

Mr Mohamed said he felt honoured to be appointed is” looking forward to sitting down and listening to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people across the country, as we develop foreign policies that have First Nations People’s knowledges, voice and connection to country front and centre,” he said.

To view the National Indigenous Times article Australian government appoints the first official Ambassador for First Nations People in full click here.

Incoming Ambassador Justin Mohamed and Minister Linda Burney

Incoming Ambassador Justin Mohamed and Minister Linda Burney. Photo source: National Indigenous Times.

Sector Jobs

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.

Feb 15 2023

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: NIAA adopts new ‘Closing the Gap’ targets

The image in the feature tile is from an an article Some Closing the Gap targets missed published in The Senior on 31 March 2022.

The NACCHO Daily Health News is 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 content included in these new stories are not necessarily NACCHO endorsed.

NIAA adopts new ‘Closing the Gap’ targets

The National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) has launched a new plan to turn the tide on stalled and backsliding measures in the National Agreement on ‘Closing the Gap’ with the lives of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Welcoming the NIAA’s 2023 Commonwealth Closing the Gap Implementation Plan, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney said the Plan was about practical action.

“The gap is not closing fast enough and on some measures it is going backwards,” Ms Burney said. “[The Plan] moves beyond the foundational Commonwealth attitude to Closing the Gap planning,” she said. “It outlines specific and actionable plans for accelerating efforts to embed the Priority Reforms and achieve the socio-economic targets.”

Ms Burney said the new Implementation Plan responded directly to the NIAA’s Commonwealth Closing the Gap Annual Report 2022 which found only four socio-economic targets were on track and 14 targets were worsening or not on tack. She said the whole-of-government approach outlined in the Plan brought together all the actions that each Department and Agency was taking to achieve the Closing the Gap outcomes, “so that we can be held to account and coordinate with the Coalition of Peaks and our State and Territory Government and local government partners.”

The above has been extracted from an article published yesterday on the psnews.com.au website’s APS News webpage. The article, including a link to NIAA’s 137-page Plan are available in full here.

Cover of the Commonwealth Closing the Gap Implementation Plan 2023. Image source: Analysis & Policy Observatory (APO) webpage.

Mob need to co-design diabetes remission strategies

Effective targeting of diabetes and metabolic syndrome in Australian Indigenous people requires remission strategies that are co-designed by Indigenous communities, according to a team of Flinders University researchers. An article published in Nature Medicine identifies a project in SA’s Coorong region being led by Flinders University that takes a fresh approach through involving Ngarrindjeri leaders with clinicians trained in Eurocentric-based medicine to help tackle diabetes remission within its local community.

Diabetes contributes to 11% of all deaths in Australia, costing the healthcare system $2.7 million each year, and Australian Indigenous communities are disproportionately affected. Their prevalence rates are three times greater, hospitalisation rates four times higher, and death due to complications five times more likely than in non-Indigenous Australians. Of equal concern is metabolic syndrome, responsible for earlier and more severe complications in individuals diagnosed with diabetes, including such conditions as hypertension, dyslipidemia, abdominal obesity and insulin resistance.

“Rates of diabetes in Australian Indigenous communities are rising, which suggests that current approaches for detection, care and management are failing,” says Associate Professor Courtney Ryder, from Flinders University’s College of Medicine and Public Health. This leaves many Australian Indigenous communities feeling that a diagnosis of diabetes or metabolic syndrome is an unavoidable death sentence, creating a ripple effect beyond the individual, affecting the whole family and community.”

To view the Community co-design targets Indigenous diabetes article published earlier today in Open Forum (a policy discussion website produced by Global Access Partners – Australia’s Institute for Active Policy) in full click here.

Image source: Open Forum website.

New network for GPs in areas of poverty

Dr Tim Senior is a GP who practices, teaches, develops policy and writes about general practice and primary care. He works at Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation, the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Service in South West Sydney and is on the The Medical Republic (TMR) editorial board. In an article published yesterday, Dr Senior says when covid took hold it exposed “exactly the cracks in our society and health services that we already knew about.”

“One of the main geographical areas affected was west and southwest Sydney. That covid took hold here was entirely predictable. People living here were on lower income jobs, the sort of jobs that are essential, and can’t be done from home. People lived in overcrowded housing or high-density apartments, because that’s what people can afford when housing is so expensive. This profoundly affected the ability of people to follow the advice about social distancing. People in these communities at the lower end of the social gradient already had more pre-existing diabetes, heart disease or renal disease, and often multi-morbidity at a younger age, making them more vulnerable to severe covid.”

“Working as a GP in an area of deprivation, then, is a specific interest, and being effective requires us to draw on the legacy of academic research, thought and specific teaching. It requires peer support and discussion, especially as the work itself, like all work that is worth doing, can be challenging. For this reason, Dr Liz Sturgiss and I have set up the Specific Interests Network on Poverty and Deprivation within the RACGP’s Specific Interests Faculty. We hope to provide support for those of us working in this area, and guide each other to better practice. We hope to make working in areas of poverty visible to our peers, and to be able to provide reminders of the joys of effective general practice to our registrars. The voice of the RACGP’s advocacy will also be enhanced in advocating alongside other specific interest groups on issues of health equity.”

You can view Dr Senior’s article Support for GPs Working at the Deep End, published in TMR in full here.

Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation (TAC), Airds, NSW. Image source: TAC website.

New report celebrates CATSINaM’s achievements

A new report, which compiles a series of articles celebrating the achievements of the Congress of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Nurses and Midwives (CATSINaM), and the organisations’ Elders and members. The articles contained in the report were produced by Croakey Professional Services to mark the 25-year anniversary of CATSINaM and published between March 2022 and February 2023.

Croakey Health Media says it encourages readers to share the publication widely, and to draw upon the knowledge it contains in health education and training, service delivery and policy-making.

You can download the report Celebrating #CATSINaM25Years Articles published March, 2022 – February, 2023 in full here.

Cover of the Croakey Professional Services Report containing CATSINaM articles from March 2022 to February 2023. Image source: Croakey Health Media.

Sector Jobs

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.

Feb 14 2023

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: How will the Voice help close the gap?

The NACCHO Daily Health News is 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 content included in these new stories are not necessarily NACCHO endorsed.

How will the Voice close the gap?

y and Coalition of Peaks Lead Convenor and NACCHO CEO Pat Turner and Indigenous Australians Minister Linda Burne spoke on ABC News last night about specific actions required on investments in Closing the Gap in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health, and how the Voice to parliament will help close the gap.

Click here to watch the interview on ABC News in full.

Anniversary of the Apology to the Stolen Generations

In a speech yesterday marking the 15th anniversary of The Apology to the Stolen Generations, Minister for Indigenous Australians, The Hon Linder Burney MP read out a verse from the late great Archie Roach’s song “Took the Children Away” which was first performed more than 33 year ago. Minister Burney said “Archie spoke of a truth that for many years was denied. Denied by governments. And denied by parliaments. Children were removed from their families because of the colour of their skin. And it was governments that did it. Most Australians did not know of this reality. For decades there was a stubborn silence. While many of those removed suffered a private pain of unbearable loss. It was and is one the darkest chapters in our history.”

Minister Burney went on to speak about the 1991 Royal Commission into Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Deaths in Custody which found that of the 99 deaths it investigated 43 were of people who were separated from their families and the subsequent 1997 Bringing Them Home report which took evidence from hundreds of people from across the country. A key recommendation of the Bringing Them Home report was for an apology to be given by governments.

Minister Burney then spoke of the Closing The Gap Implementation Plan and the government’s commitment to work in partnership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people through the Coalition of Peaks towards achieving the targets and priority reforms of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.

You can access Minister Burney’s speech in full published in The National Tribune here.

Linda Burney made the comments during an event in Canberra marking the anniversary of the apology. Image source: ABC News: Matt Roberts, file.

$242m for second CTG Implementation Plan

The Federal Government will spend over $420 million to provide clean water, food security and housing to Indigenous Australians.

The next step in the government’s Closing the Gap implementation plan accompanies the Coalition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peak Organisations (Coalition of Peaks) annual implementation plan.

Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney, says that “foundational work” has been completed over the past two years, and “now we can really turn our efforts towards real action and real change”.

“We saw the outcomes in the 2022 Closing the Gap Annual Report and know that we need to be doing more as a government,” Ms Burney said.

“Our measures are going to be more specific and more targeted, making real impacts that complement work underway in states and territories, and back-in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled organisations to lead work in their communities.”

The Coalition of Peaks lead convenor and chief executive of the National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Pat Turner, says the funding will help accelerate reforms.

“We have decades of underinvestment in our communities and organisations to be addressed and this funding will go some way to overturning that,” she said.

The funding is set to be delivered through formal partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations and communities, with support from state, territory and local governments.

The above new story was published yesterday on the Local GovernmentCareer website under the title Gap goals backed further, and is available here.

Image source: Local Government Career website.

Needs cannot be met without Indigenous voices

Opponents of an Indigenous Voice to parliament say the Voice is merely symbolic and another pointless layer of bureaucracy. They say that what is needed are “practical measures”.

However decades of government-led “practical measures” have achieved little measurable progress and in some cases, caused considerable harm to Indigenous communities. So the question is, will the Voice, in delivering Indigenous perspectives direct to parliament, make any practical difference to outcomes for Indigenous peoples?

Indigenous people have long been calling for more Indigenous-informed solutions. The current debate on alcohol bans in the NTis just one recent example.

Our research has found including the perspectives of Indigenous people can disrupt long-held assumptions behind previously accepted policy measures. This indicates mechanisms such as the Voice could help deliver better policy by building better understanding of Indigenous affairs.

The above is an excerpt from the article Our research has shown Indigenous peoples’ needs cannot be understood and met, without Indigenous voices published in The Conversation today. To view the article in full click here. You can also listen to Stolen Generation survivor Judith Kelly here as she reflects on the 15th anniversary of the National Apology.

South West woman and survivor of the stolen generation Judith Kelly reflects on the 15th anniversary of then-prime minister Kevin Rudd’s historic apology. Photo. Zoe Keenan, ABC News.

Sector Jobs

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.

Dec 16 2022

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: Over $120m for Indigenous health infrastructure

The image in the feature tile is from the Build Australia website.

Over $120m for Indigenous health infrastructure

The Australian Government is funding 52 new health infrastructure projects across the country – building and renovating clinics, improving staff housing and building the capacity of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled health sector. As Co-Chairs of Joint Council on Closing the Gap, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Linda Burney and the Lead Convener of the Coalition of the Peaks (CoPs), Pat Turner, will jointly announce, at the Joint Council meeting in Sydney today, more than $120m for major capital works at community‑controlled organisations.

The projects will improve First Nations health services, as well as provide the facilities clinical staff need to deliver culturally-safe and appropriate care.  In a clear commitment to Closing the Gap Priority Reform One to support formal partnerships and shared decision-making, applications were jointly assessed and approved by the sector’s peak body, NACCHO and the Australian Government, through the Department of Health and Aged Care. A further $20m from this grant round will be committed in early 2023 and a second grant round will also be run in 2023 to see even more projects provide the services people need, closer to where they live.

The more than $120m is in addition to the $164.3m for 17 vital Indigenous health infrastructure projects across the country announced in the October budget to invest in health clinics in areas of large and growing First Nations populations. This represents a significant investment of more than $284.3m for Aboriginal health services.

Lead Convenor of the CoPs and NACCHO CEO, Pat Turner said “The Government’s support for Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Services reflects their vital role in the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. NACCHO has advocated for a long time for increased funding for infrastructure for the health sector and this funding supports and recognises the critical role that ACCHS play in the Australian primary health care architecture. I am pleased to see that this funding is being delivered consistent with the Priority Reforms in the National Agreement, where programs and services are developed in partnership with our people and funding is delivered through our community-controlled organisations.”

The above has been extracted from the media release Joint Council on Closing the Gap more than $120 million for Indigenous health infrastructure. To view the media release in full click here.

Walgett Aboriginal Medical Service will receive almost $5m to construct a purpose build AMS building in Brewarrina. Image source: Barnson.

End of year message from Chair and CEO

NACCHO Chair Donnella Mills and NACCHO CEO have released the following end-of year message:

The last three years have been dominated by the pandemic and natural disasters and despite the challenges, our sector’s efforts and outcomes have been phenomenal.

Our 145 members deliver more than 3.1 million episodes of care to our mob each year. This equates to an incredible amount of time, hard work, energy and dedication which has translated into a stronger, savvier self-determined ACCHO sector. Every person working in our ACCHOs deserve congratulations.

A big thank you also to all on the NACCHO Board, whose dedication, important and unique perspectives guide the vision and strategy of our sector.

The NACCHO staff have also done a remarkable job advocating for community-developed solutions, structural reform, developing national level programs, and importantly, securing ongoing funding for our sector.

To all our partners and colleagues, thank you for your ongoing support and perseverance.

Now, it is time to take a well-deserved break.

The new year will be about rejuvenation, an invitation to harness our strengths and continue to develop and grow as individuals and as a collective working towards, Aboriginal health in Aboriginal hands.

On behalf of the NACCHO Board and our team, we would like to thank you all and wish you and your family a safe and enjoyable festive season.

You can access the above letter here. and view the NACCHO Chair and CEO’s 2022 end-of-year message in the below video:

Aboriginal doctor keen to improve Pilbara healthcare

A trailblazing young Aboriginal doctor from the Pilbara, who won WA’s Young Australian of the Year 2020, has welcomed a global search for ground-breaking solutions to deliver quality healthcare in the Pilbara. Launched by Medical Research Minister Stephen Dawson yesterday, “The Challenge” offers a $5m prize for the development of a technology solution, based on research, to improve health outcomes for people living in the Pilbara, a region that spans more than 500,000sqkm.

Pilbara scholar Yarlalu Thomas joined Mr Dawson at the launch to share the challenges he faced growing up, which led him to a career in health. As WA’s Young Australian of the Year in 2020, he was considering a career in the AFL, but instead turned his attention to studying medicine. Mr Thomas is focusing his medical studies on Pilbara faces to better understand 3D facial variation for quicker and non-invasive diagnosis of children with rare and genetic diseases.

He is also working on translating medical terms into Indigenous languages internationally and hopes to one day work in the Pilbara. Mr Thomas said that barriers to healthcare access for Aboriginal people could include lack of transport, hospital settings, language and other communication barriers, inflexible treatment options and lack of centralised patient records. “This is a particular problem for doctors trying to provide care for Aboriginal patients who regularly travel far and wide,” he said.

To view The Kimberley Echo article Trailblazing young Aboriginal doctor Yarlalu Thomas welcomes search to improve Pilbara healthcare in full click here.

Trailblazing Pilbara-raised Aboriginal medical student Yarlalu Thomas. Image source: The Kimberley Echo.

New scholarships honour two incredible women

The University of Melbourne has announced two exciting scholarship opportunities for Indigenous students, honouring two incredible women:

Aunty Angela Clarke (Graduate Certificate) – applications close Tuesday 31 January 2023

Aunty Angela Clarke worked as the Koori Hospital Liaison Officer at the Royal Children’s Hospital and later was the Deputy Director of the VicHealth Koori Health Research Unit (Onemda). Her contribution to Aboriginal health was transformative, pioneering new models of community participation in research and embedding culturally responsive clinical practice for Indigenous patients.

Aunty Joan Vickery (Masters) – applications close Tuesday 31 January 2023

Aunty Joan Vickery’s impressive leadership and advocacy over many decades improved Indigenous health outcomes and delivery of services across Victoria. Helping to establish the Ngwala Willumbong Co-operative in 1975 – which continues to deliver outreach services to Aboriginal people affected by substance abuse – she later worked to improve understanding of diabetes among Indigenous families as the first Aboriginal Liaison Officer at St Vincent’s Hospital through rolling out a series of programs and support networks.

These scholarships aim to continue the legacy of these incredible women in nurturing the next generation of public health leaders.

For more information about the:

  • Angela Clarke Scholarship click here
  • Aunty Joan Vickery Scholarship click here

You can also access The University of Melbourne website’s webpage Scholarships, Bursaries and Prizes here.

The University of Melbourne current Indigenous graduate students. Image source: The University of Melbourne website.

AMA Indigenous medical scholarship applications open

Applications are open to enrolled Indigenous medical students to apply for the next year’s AMA Indigenous Medical Scholarships.

Applications are now open for the AMA’s 2023 Indigenous Medical Scholarship program, with applicants having until Tuesday 31 January to submit their application.

The scholarship, made possible by the generosity of members, helps an Indigenous medical student who has completed their first year with $10,000 per year for the remainder of their medical degree.

For more information on how to apply visit the AMA website’s AMA Indigenous Medical Scholarship webpage here.

To view the Mirage article AMA Indigenous medical scholarship applications open in full click here.

Season’s Greetings from NACCHO

NACCHO extends Season’s Greetings to you and your family for a very happy and safe summer.

NACCHO office closure over Dec / Jan

NACCHO will be closed from COB Friday 16 December 2022, reopening in the New Year on Tuesday 3 January 2023.

This is the last NACCHO newsletter for 2022. Publication of the newsletter will resume in the New Year. We will let you know closer to the date when the first edition for 2023 will hit your in-box!

Christmas decorations by artists of Warlukurlangu, Yuendumu. Image source: Koskela website.

Sector Jobs

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.

Dec 15 2022

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: National Indigenous Legal and Health Justice Conference

The image in the feature tile is of NACCO CEO Pat Turner speaking at the National Indigenous Legal and Health Justice Conference 2022 held in Hobart from 4–6 December 2022.

National Indigenous Legal and Health Justice Conference

The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre (TAC) hosted the National Indigenous Legal & Health Justice Conference from 4-6 December 2022 with Pat Turner and Donnella Mills among other expert speakers from across the nation inspiring, encouraging and motivating delegates on some of the big challenges facing us today.

Discussions ranged from conversations around Voice, Treaty and Truth, to how we keep our children out of care and connected to community, culture and country, cultural competency pathways, native title versus land rights, and the future of Aboriginal Legal Aid.

You can find out more about the conference on the Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre website here and photos here.

NACCHO CEO Pat Turner with other participants of the National Indigenous Legal and Health Justice Conference.

Encouraging deadly choices for community

Proud Gooreng Gooreng woman Kimberley Appo is using her passion for her culture and heritage to help close the gap by promoting kindy as a deadly choice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children. Coming from a large, close-knit family, Kimberley’s passion for educating and caring for children started from a young age. “My father is one of five children, my mother is one of eight, I’m the youngest of nine and I have 21 nieces and nephews — not to mention countless cousins,” Kimberley said.

But, like many students Kimberley didn’t always excel in the traditional schooling system, and despite her obvious passion for the industry she was initially reluctant about returning to study. “I guess schools have such an unrealistic curriculum that’s just one-size-fits-all, rather than having a curriculum that’s for individual children. And when you finish school, if you didn’t do as well as you should have, there seems like there’s nothing else for you,” she said.

But after dipping her toe in by enrolling in the Certificate III in Early Childhood Education and Care , Kimberley quickly discovered that studying at TAFE Queensland was very different to being at school. “You’re not going in just to get a piece of paper, you’re going in and you’re learning and you’re finding your passions through TAFE,” she said.

To view the TAFE Queensland article Encouraging deadly choices for her community in full click here.

Kimberley Appo. Image source: TAFE Queensland website.

Why we must keep fighting for Medicare

Dr Tim Senior has written an article for The Medical Republic called Why we mustn’t stop fighting for Medicare. Dr Senior says many practices can walk away from bulk billing, but there are communities where people simply can’t afford to pay, “When patient rebates alone are inadequate to fund the staff resources and infrastructure to provide high-quality care, and there’s the added regulatory and compliance burden and the threat of the PSR, who can blame us for opting out?”

Dr Senior continued “Most services in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector, in which I work, are ACCHOs, meaning that they are owned and run by the local Aboriginal community along co-operative lines. Just about all services are bulk billed. The reason for this is that they are there to provide medical services for a community where the vast majority of people can’t afford to pay. Median household income for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander adults is $553, while for non-Indigenous Australians it’s $915.”

“Closing the Gap” has been a government policy imperative for over a decade, aiming to improve a range of health and social indicators. Health, of course, depends on good primary care, including general practice, to provide cradle-to-grave care. Even though Medicare is available to all Australians, on the latest figures available, Medicare spending on general practice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people was $180 per person, compared to $243 per person for non-Indigenous people. This is 0.74 times as much, despite there being twice the need.”

“Where people have more complex needs – for example, due to the mix of multi-morbidity, mental health needs and social circumstances common in the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health sector – then longer consultations are needed. The longer the consultation, the more suppressed is the funding we get through Medicare. Clearly, as we all know, Medicare rebates alone are not enough to fund the primary care required. While there is top-up funding to ACCHOs, to try to compensate for the longer consultations and more health professionals seen at each visit, this is capped and comes with significant reporting requirements. There is a lot of encouragement made to Aboriginal Medical Services to increase Medicare billing to fund services.”

To view The Medical Republic article Why we mustn’t stop fighting for Medicare in full click here.

Graduate’s chance pathway to medicine

A University of Queensland graduate can partly thank school holiday boredom for setting her on a career path in medicine. The newly conferred Dr Ella Ceolin was encouraged by a high school teacher to attend UQ’s Indigenous outreach program, InspireU when she was in Year 11. “It was in the school holidays which I wasn’t too keen on, but I had nothing much else to do and went on a bit of a whim,” Dr Ceolin said. “It was a huge eye-opener and I actually came away from that deciding that I wanted to be a doctor.” The proud Djabuguy/Wulgurukaba woman, who also has Italian and Malaysian heritage, this week graduated from UQ as a Doctor of Medicine.

“I’d always thought I’d follow my mum, auntie and sister into teaching because that’s what I saw, and what I knew,” Dr Ceolin said. “Before I started medicine I didn’t know any Indigenous doctors, that visibility just wasn’t there for me. But it can make a huge difference. When my nephew was younger, he said ‘If you’re going to be a doctor, does that mean that I could be too?’”

Dr Ceolin has since served on the board of the Australian Indigenous Doctors Association, which supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander doctors and medical students. “It’s about advocating for more of a presence in the health workforce and contributing to equitable health outcomes,” she said.

To view the First Nations Telegraph article Indigenous graduate’s chance pathway to medicine in full click here.

Dr Ella Ceolin. Image source: First Nations Telegraph.

Is it ever ok to ask that?

Is it ever OK to ask Racsomeone how Aboriginal they are? University of Sydney students and staff have participated in a video to answer anonymously submitted questions and confront myths and stereotypes about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. You can find out more about the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community on the Sydney University campus here and enrol in the Cultural Competence MOOC: Aboriginal Sydney here.

Tanika supported by Yapug pathway program

Never underestimate what’s possible. That’s what the past three years have taught Tanika Ridgeway, a Proud Worimi woman from Port Stephens, who is graduating as part of the University of Newcastle’s Yapug program. Yapug is a pathway program designed to help Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people gain skills for entry into undergraduate degrees at the University of Newcastle. When students embark on a Yapug pathway program, they also benefit from a range of support services offered by the Wollotuka Institute.

After nine years working in pathology at the John Hunter Hospital, Tanika was interested in becoming a primary school teacher. She was encouraged by her mentors to try medicine, something she didn’t think was a possibility for her. “Hannah Pipe, the Indigenous Advancement Officer at Wollotuka told me that I should consider medicine. I grew up in a housing commission in Raymond Terrace. I didn’t do science in my senior years of high school, and my ATAR was 32. So, I am not your typical medical student – but here I am.”

“I didn’t go to university straight from school and didn’t realise how much my life experiences would help me in my current studies. I’m currently working as a Research Assistant with Dr Michelle Kennedy in Indigenous Health Research, and I’m just so happy that I took the step to find out what was possible for me. Having people like Michelle and Hannah believe in me and support me throughout my university journey has meant that I have had the confidence to pursue new opportunities I would never have considered if not for them.”

To view the University of Newcastle article Ready to make a difference: University of Newcastle 2022 graduates in full click here.

Tanika Ridgeway. Image source: University of Newcastle website.

Sector Jobs

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.

Oct 25 2022

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: NACCHO Annual Report 2021–2022

NACCHO Annual Report 2021–2022

The NACCHO Annual Report 2021–2022 s now available to view.

The cover illustration symbolises NACCHO as the peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health working together with its members and affiliates towards the delivery of comprehensive and culturally competent primary health care.

It showcases the work and achievements of the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health sector and includes the audited financial statements for 2021–2022 and can be accessed here.

NACCHO and BHP partner to improve RHD outcomes

NACCHO and BHP have announced a partnership aimed at eliminating Rheumatic Heart Disease (RHD) and Acute Rheumatic Fever (ARF) among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. ARF and RHD are preventable diseases disproportionately affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples living in regional and remote areas. Between 2016 and 2020, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples accounted for 92% of all ARF diagnoses in Australia.

As part of the agreement, BHP will provide $9.7m over three years, helping to fund critical health care initiatives delivered by ACCHOs across Australia. The funding complements the $18m already committed by the Australian Government. An additional $13.5m is also anticipated following the Labour Party’s election commitment to combat RHD in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This includes $1.5m that is prioritised for the investment in portable echo-cardiogram machines, training and support for primary health care workers, including Aboriginal Health Workers and Practitioners.

NACCHO CEO, Pat Turner, said: “NACCHO’s partnership with BHP and the Australian Government is the first-ever national Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Sector-led initiative to combat RHD in our communities. This partnership recognises that we are best placed to design and implement health services, including prevention, screening, early diagnosis, treatment and supportive care, for our own communities. This additional investment will expand the support provided by ACCHOs to deliver evidence-based ARF and RHD activities in their communities.”

BHP’s Chief Legal, Governance and External Affairs Officer Caroline Cox said: “BHP is proud to continue its support of NACCHO, building on partnerships established with the Aboriginal community-led health sector over many years. It is important that we back Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leadership and put Aboriginal health in Aboriginal hands, as NACCHO’s vision sets out. We are determined to play our part in the collective action required to address the underlying causes of these health issues, such as inequality, inadequate housing and long-standing health inequities.”

BHP’s investment follows $5.9m of donations to ACCHOs throughout the pandemic for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-led COVID responses across the country.

You can view the joint NACCHO and BHP media release NACCHO and BHP partner to improve ARF and RHD outcomes in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in full on the NACCHO website here.

Image source: BHP.

Killings, disappearances a crisis in plain sight

Last night ABC Four Corners aired a story “How Many More?” – a special investigation into Australia’s murdered and missing Indigenous women. In Australia Aboriginal women are among the most victimised groups in the world, murdered up to 12 times the national average. In some regions, their deaths make up some of the highest homicide rates in the world. The killings and disappearances of Indigenous women across Australia were described in the program a crisis hidden in plain sight.

The program shows a snapshot of what this tragedy looks like. Four Corners revealed that at least 315 First Nations women have either gone missing or been murdered or killed in suspicious circumstances since 2000. But this is an incomplete picture. We will likely never know the true scale of how many First Nations women have been lost over the decades. This is because there is no agency in Australia keeping count, and there is no standard way of collecting this important data in each state and territory.

Canada calls it a genocide. The United States considers it an epidemic. But here in Australia, we’re only just waking up to the scale of the crisis.

To read the ABC News article The killings and disappearances of Indigenous women across Australia is a crisis hidden in plain sight click here and view the Four Corners episode here.

Prevalence of hearing loss research

The Australian Government has announced close to $7.5m funding to support research that will help prevent hearing loss and improve the health and wellbeing of those who live with hearing impairment. Nine projects have been funded, including a number of projects focused on improving access to hearing health for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children.

Researchers at Flinders University will co-design culturally appropriate methods to overcome difficulties experienced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children accessing hearing healthcare. At Curtin University, researchers will provide the first estimates of the number of Aboriginal children who have ear infections and hearing loss from 0 to 5 years of age and will demonstrate the feasibility of screening for ear infections and hearing loss from 2 months of age.

The grants are funded for three years through the National Health and Medical Research Council’s (NHMRC) Targeted Call for Research into Hearing Health 2021: Evidence-based support services.

To read Minister Butler’s media release $7.5m for hearing health in full click here.

Image source: Central Australian Aboriginal Congress (CAAC) Ear and Hearing Health webpage or CAAC website.

Mental health stigma a barrier for veterans

An Indigenous Navy veteran says the Australian Defence Force (ADF) has failed to address stigma around mental health among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander veterans. Professor Brad Murphy OAM, who now runs a veteran-focused GP clinic after serving in the Navy as a leading senior medic, has given evidence before the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.

He told the commission the stigma attached to seeking help for mental health issues remained a “huge impediment” to caring for Indigenous veterans. “We’ve worked so terribly hard over the years to remove stigma associated with mental health,” Professor Murphy said. “No matter how much we’ve tried, we have failed in this regard. Having [Indigenous veterans] actually reach out, or having family or community that are strong enough and well resourced to actually reach out on their behalf is a significant challenge.”

Professor Murphy told the commission more support was needed for members transitioning out of service and back into civilian life. He said many members leaving the ADF were left disconnected from their sense of family and belonging. “Indigenous culture is very much about family and my own experience and certainly my understanding of military culture is of family,” Professor Murphy said.

To read the ABC News article Indigenous veteran Professor Brad Murphy tells Defence Suicide Royal Commission mental health stigma remains a barrier in full click here.

Photo: Siobhan Heanue, ABC News.

No progress in tackling obesity

Calls for a tax on sugary drinks and warning labels on junk food have increased after a new report showed Australia has made no progress in the fight to tackle obesity. Since 2017, the Food Policy Index has been tracking progress on federal and state government policies to reduce obesity rates in Australia. “Obesity is really a public health crisis in Australia,” said Gary Sacks, an Associate Professor at Victoria’s Deakin University, and a co-author of the latest update on the Food Policy Index. “We’ve got two thirds of adults are overweight or obese, and a quarter of kids are overweight or obese.

Inequities in socioeconomic status have meant certain populations are even more impacted by the prevalence of obesity. The groups include those at higher risk of chronic disease, such as Indigenous Australians and newly arrived migrants. “These communities are at extreme risk. In Central Australia, we’ve got 60% of the Aboriginal population living with Type 2 diabetes. Access to care, such as dialysis, is really complicated, you have to come off Country, water is a real issue,” Ms Martin said. “The supply of fresh food and sometimes flying food in when the wet comes is really, really challenging.”

The prevalence of being overweight or obese is higher in Indigenous Australians compared to the general population. Of First Nations people aged between 2 and 17, the prevalence is 38% versus 24% for non-Indigenous youths, according to the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare.

To read the SBS News article ‘A public health crisis’: This is how many Australians eat a healthy diet in full click here.

Image source: The Medical Journal of Australia.

Extending scope of practice concerns

Louise Stone, a GP with clinical, research, teaching and policy expertise in mental health and Associate Professor in the Social Foundations of Medicine group, Australian National University (ANU) Medical School has written an article for AMA InSight about the push to enable health care workers to work “top of scope”.

Professor Stone says that while the scope of practice is traditionally defined by professional standards, codes of ethics and codes of professional conduct, and includes skills that an individual practitioner is “educated, authorised, competent and confident to perform” it has often implied extending practice beyond the traditional limits of a particular role.

According to Professor Stone, there seems to be an assumption that this is a good thing for health care workers, will be cheaper for the health service, and any opposition to it is merely a “turf war” argument designed to protect existing siloes. Professor Stone however doesn’t think any of us have the right to extend our scope of practice without accepting the responsibility of submitting to appropriate oversight to keep the public safe.

To view the InSight+ article “Top of scope”: no rights without responsibilities in full click here.

Associate Professor Louise Stone. Image source: InSight+.

Australia’s Biggest Quiz to end hep C 

Australia’s Biggest Quiz is coming up TOMORROW Wednesday 26 October 2022.

Hepatitis Australia is asking everyone to register and participate in Australia’s Biggest Quiz which is the national community activation of the Ending Hepatitis C Campaign. Register here and join this history-making world record breaking trivia event to have some fun while raising awareness about hepatitis C and its cure!

In the five years since hepatitis C cures became available to everyone, the number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living with hepatitis C has declined by 17%. But more work is needed to close the gap! Australia’s Biggest Quiz aims to raise awareness that hepatitis C has a simple cure. You can get tested at your local Aboriginal Medical Service or GP. Australia’s Biggest Quiz will take place at 16 venues in all states and territories, alongside a national virtual audience, to try break a Guinness World Record, while raising awareness of hepatitis C, and its cure.

You can help promote Australia’s Biggest Quiz using the Stakeholder General Communications Kit, available here. The kit contains: tiles for social media, guidance on how to use the digital communications material, Australia’s Biggest Quiz logo, posters, social media tiles and zoom backgrounds!

This campaign is brought to you by Hepatitis Australia who is working in partnership with 80+ community groups, supported by the Australian Department of Health and Aged Care.

Sector Jobs

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.

Oct 21 2022

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: NACCHO CEO reflects on successful conference

The image in the feature tile is of Jadlyn David De Bush and Daniel Rosedal presenting feedback from the 76 delegates at the NACCHO Youth Conference 2022 to the 500 delegates at the NACCHO Members’ Conference 2022. Image source: NACCHO Australia Twitter post, 20 October 2022.

NACCHO CEO reflects on successful conference

In closing the NACCHO Members’ Conference 2022, NACCHO CEO Pat Turner AM said it had been a wonderful event, with it being “great to be able connect to people face-to-face rather than the virtual connections we’ve had over the last 3 years with COVID-19 preventing us from being able to get together like this.”

Ms Turner said the NACCHO Members’ Conference is not only an opportunity to strengthen our network and get to know each other better but to hear about the amazing work that is being done right around the country, saying it was a testimony to the strength of the sector to come together, noting it was a long way for many and expensive.

Ms Turner said she hoped attendees at the conference had been inspired to pick up on good ideas and best practice shared at the conference and that they would be used to continue to strengthen the delivery of health services to our people. Ms Turner said we have got to be able to get the governments to understand the importance of the environments our people live in and what a negative effect overcrowded housing and unhealthy environments have on our people’s health, “as part of the comprehensive primary health care model its our job at every level to advocate for our communities in those areas as well.”

Housing shortage potentially “life-threatening”

Preston Mapuyu is on a public housing waitlist that on average takes more than half a decade to see any movement – but due to a chronic lung condition, he may not have that long to wait. Nurses in remote north-east Arnhem Land say a housing shortage has become potentially “life-threatening for patients” such as Mr Mapuyu, and is simultaneously burdening the health system.

Mr Mapuyu’s inability to access public housing has meant he’s been forced to rely on the kindness of relatives for accommodation, often overcrowded and unsuitable for someone with his condition. He and his wife, Serena Munyarryun, were living on a remote homeland 100km from the nearest hospital, where access via dirt road is seasonal and emergency planes can only land during the day. “If we call emergency for ambulance to get here, sometimes it takes them three to four hours to get here,” Ms Munyarryun said.

The pair has applied to access public housing in the nearest township of Nhulunbuy but, given a Territory-wide public housing shortage, they’re up against it. NT government data shows there is an average wait of six to eight years for applicants in Nhulunbuy. That stretches up to a decade for those seeking housing in hubs like Alice Springs. Across the NT there are nearly 6,000 applications for housing, but only 162 homes listed as vacant.

To view the ABC News article NT government’s years-long public housing waitlist putting a strain on remote health system in full click here.

Serena Munyarryun and Preston Mapuyu could be forced to wait years for public housing. Photo: Michael Franchi, ABC News.

RHD landmark study makes inroads

An entirely preventable “killer” disease plaguing remote communities in the NT will never end unless Aboriginal workers become the backbone of prevention, an Indigenous health organisation warns. Sunrise Health chairperson Anne-Marie Lee is the co-author of a four-year, landmark study – published in the International Journal of Environmental Research Public Health – which was conducted in three Aboriginal communities where it is not uncommon to see children under 10 bearing the vertical, long scars of open-heart surgery.

“Nothing can work in Indigenous communities unless you employ local people,” Ms Lee said. “Rheumatic heart disease (RHD) is a killer. It’s a killer, and it’s killing a lot of my young ones.” RHD is mostly eradicated in first world countries and is only found in the most disadvantaged areas of developing countries. But in Australia, rates in remote Aboriginal communities beset by social disadvantage are among the highest in the world.

Studies to date have largely focused on secondary and tertiary prevention once somebody’s already been diagnosed, instead of the root causes, such as addressing severe overcrowding in houses and a lack of effective education. Ms Lee said in her community of Barunga, about an hour’s drive from Katherine, there was not enough suitable information about the disease for families. She lamented the notion that short-term fly-in-fly-out health workers could make meaningful inroads. “We need more of me … because they trust us,” Ms Lee said.

To view the ABC News article Rheumatic heart disease still killing Australian children but a landmark study makes inroads in full click here.

Anne-Marie Lee [L] says rates of RHD fell in her community during the study. Photo: Menzies School of Health. Image source: ABC News.

Improving health for people with intellectual disability

The Australian Government is investing more than $5 million in four research projects to improve the long-term health outcomes of people with intellectual disability. Funded by the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC), the research will develop the evidence base for future policies, interventions and other initiatives to improve the quality of life of people with an intellectual disability. A key factor in each of the projects is the involvement of people with intellectual disability, their families and carers in the design of the research and implementation.

Professor Sandra Eades from the University of Melbourne has received $792,020 to undertake a research project: Equitable access to health and disability services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children with intellectual disability.

This project will improve the health and wellbeing of Indigenous children with intellectual disability by recommending effective models of care to ensure appropriate, timely diagnoses and access to high-quality health and disability services. National Disability Insurance Scheme data and interviews with families, adolescents with intellectual disability, and healthcare and disability services will be analysed to identify barriers and facilitators to meeting the healthcare needs of Indigenous children with intellectual disability.

To view Minister Butler’s media release Improving long-term health outcomes for people with intellectual disability in full click here.

Image source: Supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families of children with disabilities webpage of Community Early Learning Australia website.

Urapunga Store’s sugar cut success

Remote residents of Urapunga in the NT have reduced consumption of sugary drinks by 43% in the past year, due to a range of sugar-reduction measures implemented at their local grocery store. Urapunga Store, operated by the Urapunga Aboriginal Corporation and serviced by Outback Stores, has restricted the size of soft drinks sold, and implemented “Sugar-Free Wednesdays” – a day in which no full-sugar soft drinks are available for purchase.

“We knew the community was drinking too much sugar, so we came up with a plan to start changing that,” said Antonella Pascoe, board member of Urapunga Aboriginal Corporation. “As directors of the store, we felt like we could make a positive change.”

In the first six months, the proportion of sugary drinks sold has fallen by 4.7% which equates to 1,921 litres, or twelve bathtubs less of full-sugar soft drink consumed in the community. “We know that the community is now drinking less sugar,” says Ms Pascoe. “One of the best things is the way it has made the community think about what they are drinking, even on days when they can buy sugary drinks.

To view the Retail World article Urapunga Store’s sugar cut success in full click here.

Photo: Isabella Higgins, ABC News.

Sax Institute, a community-led research pioneer

The Sax Institute are pioneers of the community-led research model and have been building strong relationships with Aboriginal health organisations since 2003. These partnerships have been critical to enabling the design and conduct of health research that is most likely to meet the needs of Aboriginal communities and policy makers. The Sax Institute says these partnerships are an essential part of how they work and central to their success.

In 2003, Sax Institute formed a partnership with the Aboriginal Health and Medical Research Council (AH&MRC) to set up the Coalition for Research to Improve Aboriginal Health (CRIAH) as a vehicle for bringing together Aboriginal communities and leading research expertise to support better health outcomes.

Over the past 15 years, the Sax Institute has worked with a number of ACCHOs across NSW to improve the health and wellbeing of Aboriginal people. Through these partnerships, ACCHOs nominate their research priorities, control how the research is conducted and take the lead in determining what works for them and their communities.

Four ACCHOs – Tharawal Aboriginal Corporation, Riverina Medical and Dental Aboriginal Corporation, Awabakal and Greater Western Aboriginal Health Service – have been cornerstone partners with the Institute in developing the Study of Environment on Aboriginal Resilience and Child Health (SEARCH), Australia’s largest long-term study of the health and wellbeing of urban Aboriginal children.

You can find more information on the Partnerships – How we work webpage of the Sax Institute website here.

Image source: Sax Institute website.

Sector Jobs

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.

Children’s Week 2022

Saturday marked the beginning of Children’s Week 2022 (22-30 October). Children’s Week is an annual event celebrated in Australia held around the fourth Wednesday in October. A diverse range of events and activities at national, state and local levels focus the attention of the wider community on children, their rights and achievements. Children’s Week celebrates the right of children to enjoy childhood.

Children’s Week promotes the Rights of the Child as proclaimed by the United Nations in 1954. It also exists to remind us of our responsibility to advocate for children as citizens and their right to a positive childhood.

The 2022 Children’s Week theme All Children have the right to a standard of living that supports their wellbeing and healthy development aligns with Article 27 of the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child.

For more information about Children’s Week click here.

Logo: ClipartMax. Photo: The North West Star. Image source: The Pulse.

Oct 19 2022

NACCHO Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health News: Day 1 NACCHO Members’ Conference 2022

The Core Services and Outcomes Framework artwork in the feature tile was created by Kamilaroi artist, Ethan French. The diagram is a visual representation of the Core Services and Outcomes Framework foundations for community-controlled primary health care. At the centre of the diagram is a meeting place which represents members of the community being the heart of this document. Each ring and section of the diagram represents each component of the Core Services and Outcomes Framework, with culture surrounding the whole diagram and foundations, which is a representation showing that culture is involved in all aspects of the Core Services and Outcomes Framework.

Day 1 NACCHO Members’ Conference 2022

On Day 1 of the NACCHO Members’ Conference 2002 NACCHO’s Deputy CEO, Dr Dawn Casey launched a new resource for the sector, the Core Services and Outcomes Framework. Dr Casey explained that in 2019, the NACCHO Board decided it was time for the sector as a whole to communicate their ways of working by producing a Core Services Framework. This proved to be a challenge when attempted by the Department of Health and Aged Care within the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Plan that commenced in 2013.

When the NACCHO Board instructed NACCHO to address the vacuum NACCHO enlisted expertise from within the sector and obtained extensive feedback from key allies and partner organisations. In its final endorsed form, the Framework shows how the sector integrates community priorities and health care needs in a unique model, combining population health and clinical approaches. The Framework shows how culture wraps around the way community-controlled primary care is directed and the service delivery models used on the ground.

The Core Services and Outcomes Framework is already being used to calculate how to fund the sector to respond to the population it serves, its burden of disease, disadvantage and location.

The Core Services and Outcomes Framework can be accessed via the following:

 

Artwork: Core Services and Outcomes Framework Model

The Core Services and Outcomes Framework artwork was created by Kamilaroi artist, Ethan French.

The diagram is a visual representation of the Core Services and Outcomes Framework foundations for community-controlled primary health care. At the centre of the diagram is a meeting place which represents members of the community being the heart of this document. Each ring and section of the diagram represents each component of the Core Services and Outcomes Framework, with culture surrounding the whole diagram and foundations, which is a representation showing that culture is involved in all aspects of the Core Services and Outcomes Framework.

A new Board with big agenda ahead

Hon Mark Butler, Minister for Health – representing the Prime Minister – opened the NACCHO Members’ Conference yesterday in Canberra.

Over 500 delegates from Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations (ACCHOs) are coming together over three days in Canberra. It is the first major gathering for the sector since the pandemic.

They re-elected Donnella Mills as Chairperson of NACCHO. Ms Mills, a Torres Strait Islander woman, is also the Chair of Wuchopperen Health Service in Cairns and works as a Senior Associate at King & Wood Mallesons, an international law firm. She said, ‘I was honoured to be elected for a second term by our deadly ACCHOs across the country for another term.’ She, along with her Broome-based Deputy, Chris Bin Kali, will lead a Board of 16 directors in addressing a big agenda in front of them.

‘We have a challenging agenda ahead. I took the opportunity to say to Minister Butler that, while we understand that the new Government has a thankless task ahead of itself in repairing the Budget and guiding the country through a period of fiscal restraint, we still need to ensure that the health funding gap for First Nations communities does not widen. Our health funding cannot slip further behind.’

‘So, our challenge – when the Budget well is dry – is threefold. First, we must maximise what funding we do have to best effect. Second, we must get a fairer share of existing mainstream funding. Third, we need to implement structural reform in line with the priority reforms of the new National Agreement on Closing the Gap’.

NACCHO commissioned Equity Economics earlier this year to estimate the health funding gap. They found in their report that the gap is a staggering $4.4b per year. That is, over $5,000 per year for every Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander person in Australia. Ms Mills said, ‘We have the data. The gap is real. Yet dangerous myths prevail that Aboriginal programs are over-funded.’

The next two days will be spent at the NACCHO conference by delegates from most of the major Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Australia. They will hear presentations from experts in the Pilbara, the west coast of SA, and Ballina NSW (on the impact of the floods). There will also be presentations from the Kimberley, the Northern Territory and Yarrabah on efforts against acute rheumatic fever as well as by experts and leaders ranging from Pat Anderson, Fran Baum, Mary Belfrage, Alex Brown, Kelvin Kong, Tamara Mackean, Seth Westhead, and many more. The event is being MC-ed by Dan Bourchier.

To read NACCHO’s media release A new NACCHO board with a big agenda ahead in full click here.

Donnella Mills at the 2022 NACCHO Members’ Conference yesterday.

Health Minister opens NACCHO Member’s Conference 2022

Yesterday, Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon. Mark Butler officially opened the NACCHO Members’ Conference 2022. Minister Butler’s opening remarks included:

National Convention Centre Canberra, 18 October 2022

  • Good afternoon. Thank you Donnella and Pat for welcoming me here today.
  • I would like to acknowledge we meet today on the land of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people and pay my respects to the elders, past, present and to our emerging leaders.
  • It is a pleasure to be here on behalf of the Prime Minister who was regrettably unable to attend this event.
  • Many of those emerging First Nations leaders have attended your youth conference here over the past day. I hope they found this opportunity to be beneficial and formed new connections.
  • It is great to see our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth participating in these forums and interacting with each other and sharing their unique cultural learnings and understandings; bringing forward their culture and their identity to be part of a better and informed future.

Picture: Gary Ramage NACCHO Chair Donnella Mills with Minister for Health and Aged Care, the Hon. Mark Butler at the NACCHO Members’ Conference 2022.

Health Ministers’ Meeting

  • Just over a week ago, it was great to be able to reconvene what we call the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander roundtable for health – bringing together all the Health Ministers from States and Territories and the Commonwealth along with representatives from across the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community-controlled and health sector leadership.
  • The Roundtable has been unable to meet recently, and it was a priority for this government to convene it as quickly as possible following our election.
  • The Roundtable was important for highlighting the challenges in workforce, in service delivery, in embedding culturally safe practices across the health system.
  • All health ministers have prioritised this work, including the Commonwealth through myself and Assistant Minister Malarndirri McCarthy.

Puggy Hunter

  • One way that the Commonwealth Government can lead in this work is to take real steps to implement the letter and the spirit of the Coalition of Peaks Priority Reforms.
  • Priority Reform 2 emphasises the role of the community-controlled health sector, and the role of governments in building and strengthening the sector.
  • This is a critical area for this government to build and grow. The work of ACCHOs around the country isn’t just a model for First Nations health, it’s a model for the whole health sector.
  • It’s why I have directed the Commonwealth Department of Health and Aged Care to audit all programs delivering services to First Nations communities that are not currently being delivered by First Nations organisations.
  • It’s why I announced last week that the Puggy Hunter Scholarship Scheme – our leading program encouraging entry-level Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health students to complete their studies and join the health workforce – needed to be handed over to First Nations control.
  • For me, there couldn’t be a more important first step in this process. Dr Arnold ‘Puggy’ Hunter was of course an incredible health leader and Chair of NACCHO.
  • Our ambition is to transition more programs to First Nations control over the course of this government.

You can download Minister Butler’s speech in full here.

Oct 17 2022

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: NACCHO’s Youth Conference – it’s started!

NACCHO’s Youth Conference – it’s started!

The National Youth Conference, being held today, Monday 17 October 2022 at the National Convention Centre, Canberra, has brought together almost 100 youth from around Australia to gain experience and exposure to the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sector on a national level. During the conference the youth will engage in discussion, share their experience and learn from other peers from across the country. The conference will allow the youth to learn about informing policy, influencing change and provide a pathway so their voices are heard and represented by NACCHO throughout the sector.

For further information about the NACCHO Youth Conference click here. Below is a short video of about the 2019 NACCHO Youth Conference.

Health Literacy Strategy Framework

The National Health Literacy Strategy Framework Paper is now open for public consultation, with feedback being sought on the framework’s content and design.

The document is now live on the Australian Governments Department of Health and Aged Care Consultation Hub here and will be available online for comment for a four-week period and will close at 11:59 pm on Wednesday 9 November 2022.

You can access the strategy and online survey below:

Consultation Paper – Development of the National Health Literacy Strategy

National Health Literacy Strategy Framework Consultation Survey Questions

National Health Literacy Strategy Consultation Online Survey, available here.

Image source: Australian Commission of Safety and Quality in Health Care.

First care standard on stillbirth

You are invited to join the online launch of the first national Stillbirth Clinical Care Standard, developed by the Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. The event will be streamed live from the Annual National Stillbirth Forum being held from 3–4 November 2022.

Stillbirth is a tragic and profound experience that affects more than 2,000 families in Australia every year. Despite being the most common form of perinatal death in Australia, the experience of stillbirth can be hidden due to stigma, taboo and a culture of silence.

At the launch of the Stillbirth Clinical Care Standard from12:30 PM – 1:30 PM AEDT Friday 4 November 2022 you can hear leading experts discuss best practice in preventing stillbirth, investigations after stillbirth and the importance of bereavement care after perinatal loss. This event is relevant to all healthcare professionals involved in providing care during pregnancy, and after stillbirth or other forms of perinatal loss.

Click here to register.

Supporting child health in remote Australia

An article Needs and strengths: supporting child health in remote Australia published in the InSight+ newsletter today begins with words from Ms June Oscar AO, a senior Bunuba woman from the Fitzroy Valley and Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner:

“The failure to close the gaps in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health inequality, and other measures of social and economic disadvantage, cannot be justified by more rhetoric or data in another report. For us, the harrowing failure to close the gap is felt through sorry business, the countless funerals of family and friends, the hospital visits and the coronial inquiries that we continue to painfully endure. So many of our losses were and are preventable – that is the failure and pain we carry. A sensible way of doing business is long overdue as, apart from small gains, the attempts to close the gaps in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander life expectancy, health and education have failed.”

The article outlines the poor health and wellbeing of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, the reasons for such poor health and efforts to date to support child and family health. The authors review strategies to improve health care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children and what is needed to successfully implement those strategies.

To view the article in full click here.

Photo: Getty Images. Image source: BBC.

Overcrowding reduced by only 3.2%

The NT government has spent $2.65bn over the past 15 years to improve the quality of housing in remote Indigenous communities, but overcrowding remains a problem and many houses need repairs. Under the national partnership for remote housing NT policy, the government was supposed to improve housing conditions and reduce overcrowding in 73 remote communities and 17 town camps around Alice Springs. But the most recent data on overcrowding in remote communities managed by the national partnership reveals it has only been reduced by 3.2% in five years.

None of this is new to Miriam Charlie. Since 2015, the Yanyuwa Garrwa artist has been capturing the state of housing across all four town camps at Borroloola, with her Polaroid camera. “All them houses, they’re too small, overcrowded,” she says. “So I went around and took photos of everybody’s houses. What part wasn’t fixed and what part was fixed.”

NACCHO CEO, Pat Turner, said in an interview with The Australian in March this year, the standard of housing in remote communities underpinned several targets in Closing the Gap and outlined that if the targets are not achieved, it would be because governments had not “invested the necessary resources in programs and services to support our people”.

To view The Guardian article ‘Waiting for too long’: Why Miriam Charlie photographs overcrowded Indigenous housing in full click here.

Miriam Charlie photographing her eldest daughter, Jade, and other family at Yanyuwa camp. Image source: The Guardian.

Videos to tackle men’s mental health

In the Central Australian desert, there’s a growing and often silent, crisis of male suicide in Aboriginal town camps. But a group of men is speaking out for change. You can watch a short video about the Tangentyere Men’s Family Safety Group, a group town camp leaders, who are focused on improving safety and wellbeing in their community. They have written, performed and directed a series of videos in English and in language hoping to shatter stigma around mental health and suicide. For these men it has been a deeply personal project.

You can view the short video in full here.

Free tool to measure LGBTQ inclusive care

Pride in Health + Wellbeing runs a national annual index (Health + Wellbeing Equality Index) that is FREE and open to every organisation to measure their LGBTQ inclusive across their service delivery and internal workforce.

This benchmarking index has been designed based on international best practice standards for LGBTQ inclusive care and can assist service providers to baseline their current LGBTQ inclusion work, benchmark across the sector and identify gaps and areas for improvement as well as year-on-year growth. Individualised reports are sent to participating services and participation can be anonymous, and you don’t have to be a member to take part.

The HWEI also has optional staff and service user surveys. These allow services to not only measure what they are doing organisationally but see how well supported staff feel within their workplace, as well as their understanding, tools and comfort levels in providing LGBTQ inclusive care. The service user survey can then also be used to match your inclusion work to experience, to see if the inclusion initiatives are improving the quality of care being received.

For more details visit the Pride in Health + Wellbeing website here. You can register your interest to take part in the HWEI 2023 here.

Image source: Edith Cowan University website.

Sector Jobs

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.

Sep 9 2022

NACCHO Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Health News: Impact of alcohol-free pregnancy campaign

The image in the feature tile is from the Menzies School of Health Research webpage PANDORA – pregnancy and neonatal diabetes outcomes in remote Australia.

Impact of alcohol-free pregnancy campaign

To mark International FASD Awareness Day, the Foundation for Alcohol Research and Education (FARE) has released data that demonstrates the impact of the Every Moment Matters campaign – Australia’s first, nation-wide public awareness campaign supporting alcohol-free pregnancies and safe breastfeeding practices.

Developed by FARE and endorsed and funded by the Australian Government, Every Moment Matters aims to increase Australians’ awareness of the risks of alcohol use during pregnancy, and increase the number of Australian women who intend not to drink alcohol during pregnancy.

With the tagline ‘The moment you start trying is the moment to stop drinking’, the campaign features nationally on television, radio, digital and out-of-home channels and runs until July 2024. The results of the ongoing evaluation led by the University of Adelaide demonstrates that Every Moment Matters is overcoming the mixed messages people often receive about alcohol and pregnancy.

As part of the broader program of work, NACCHO has designed a culturally appropriate awareness raising campaign with regional and remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. NACCHO CEO Pat Turner said, “FASD is a whole of community issue. We look forward to launching the Strong Born campaign with ACCHOs across rural and remote Australia next month. The campaign will support mums, their families, their communities, their health practitioners and health services, to bring everyone together to help prevent and better understand the issues that contribute to FASD.”

You can find the joint FARE, NOFASD Australia and NACCHO media release Celebrating 9 months of impact on 9 September: International FASD Awareness Day on the NACCHO website here.

Referendum Working Group announced

Minister for Indigenous Australians Linda Burney has announced members of the Referendum Working Group which will establish the path to a Voice to Parliament. Speaking at the Centre for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) State of the Nation conference at the National Museum of Australia, Ms Burney outlined a “working group of First Nations leaders” with Senator Pat Dodson and herself as co-chairs.

The Referendum Working Group will collaborate with the government to consider and navigate “the big questions” in the next following months. The minister said getting the groups working is the first step, with building a “broad consensus of community support” and “harnessing the goodwill in the Australian community to take Australia forward” being the following.

“[There are] many more steps to be taken on the road to the referendum and let’s be clear government cannot lead this referendum,” she said. “This will come from the grassroots, from communities, because the Voice is a nation-building project.” Included among the  group of 22 are:

  • Co-chairs of Uluru Dialogue Professor Megan Davis and Pat Anderson AO
  • Co-chairs of the Indigenous Voice co-design group Professor Marcia Langton AO and Professor Tom Calma AO
  • Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner June Oscar AO, NACCHO CEO Pat Turner AM and former Minister for Indigenous Australians Ken Wyatt.

To view the SBS article Linda Burney outlines next referendum steps including working group with Ken Wyatt in full click here.

Image source: National Indigenous Times website.

Dedicated to fighting for mental health

Australians of all ages and backgrounds are increasingly at risk of mental health issues like depression and anxiety. Paul Bird and Alex Speedy of the National Wellbeing Alliance, a First Nations-owned and -operated training provider dedicated to fighting for mental health, are right on the forefront of advocating for “acceptance” of the devastating, hidden conditions plaguing many in the region.

The two spoke to students from Murgon, Proston and Goomeri schools at last month’s careers expo at the Murgon Cherbourg Youth Hub, extending helping hands to those wishing to speak out and start the journey of recovery. “Mental health issues are bad – they’re definitely on the increase,” Mr Bird said. “People are getting younger with depression, anxiety, suicidal thoughts, self-harm – and it’s not just for Indigenous people, it’s through all societies and countries!”

The pair are based out of the Murgon area but hold workshops for ‘mental first-aid’ wherever they are needed most -equipping people to have those all important conversations and to be able to respond in a mental health emergency. “Alex is a community member, born and bred here, and my father was born here, but I was born in NSW,” Mr Bird explained. “Through a turn of events I’ve come back to my father’s country to facilitate and engage with community through workshops and mental health first-aid.”

To read The Burnett Today article Locals join in tackling mental health crisis click here.

National Wellbeing Alliance workers Paul Bird and Alex Speedy are passionate about helping others improve their mental wellbeing. Photo: Julian Lehnert. Image source: Burnett Today.

Number of WA ACCOs to increase

The WA Government has announced a new strategy to strengthen the delivery of services to Aboriginal children, families and communities by increasing opportunities for Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations (ACCO) to deliver culturally appropriate services. The ACCO strategy is directly aligned to Priority Reform Area Two of the 2020 National Agreement on Closing the Gap, “Building the community-controlled sector.”

The ten-year strategy was developed by representatives from 11 ACCOs across the State, Department of Communities and the Department of Finance. It aligns to several Priority Reform Areas and Socio-Economic targets identified within the National Agreement on Closing the Gap and aims to empower Aboriginal children, families and communities to choose their own futures from the foundations provided by ACCOs.

“Aboriginal people across WA have repeatedly told us that to truly change outcomes, Aboriginal communities must lead the way, and that is achieved through community-based and family-led solutions,” Community Services Minister Simone McGurk said. “ACCOs usually achieve better results, employ a majority of Aboriginal workforce and are the preferred providers by Aboriginal people over mainstream services,” she continued.

To view The Sector’s article WA Gov will boost the number of ACCOs to improve services for First Nations families in full click here.

Image source: The Sector.

Physiotherapist making a difference

As an elite hockey player, Candice Liddy knew her strength was positioning: putting herself in the right place to maximise the team’s opportunity of moving forward and getting a goal. “There were other players who could run all day, but I just knew I had to be in the right spot,” she says.

Candice lives in Darwin, where she was born and raised on Larrakia land. Her grandparents on her dad’s side were part of the Stolen Generations, taken from other parts of the NT as children to live at Garden Point Mission on Melville Island. Her father grew up in Darwin and nearby Howard Springs but was evacuated after cyclone Tracy in 1974 to Brisbane, where he met Candice’s mother, who was born in India, and moved to Australia with her family.

Sporting talent runs in the family and also led Candice to a career in physiotherapy. Playing for many years at State level for the NT, she noticed the team physiotherapists were good at working in the athletes’ best interests while keeping them game-ready, and they also got to travel with the teams. “I wanted those skills and that lifestyle, and I was going to work as hard as I could to get there.”

A later non-clinical role brought her experience in remote communities as a National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) planner, where she quickly realised that all the planning in the world would be useless if services weren’t available where they were needed. “And that’s when I thought, You know what, there’s a gap. A gap I’m trained to fill.”

To view the Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA) article 2022 World Physiotherapy Day in full click here.

Candice Lidday. Image source: IAHA website.

Prostate cancer, know the symptoms

The Cancer Council of WA (CCWA) is urging men to visit their doctor and learn the common symptoms of prostate cancer this month. CCWA Great Southern regional education officer Bruce Beamish said prostate cancer awareness month was the perfect chance for men to learn more about how their bodies might be telling them something is wrong. He said unlike for breast, bowel and cervical cancer which have screening tests to confirm the presence of cancer prior to symptoms presenting, there is no such test for prostate cancer. Therefore, it is “vital” to visit a doctor, Aboriginal health care worker or clinic nurse when unusual symptoms present.

“Common symptoms of prostate cancer include waking a lot at night to pee, a sudden or urgent need to pee, problems starting or stopping peeing, needing to pee more often, a slow or weak flow when peeing, or dribbling at the end of peeing,” he said. “These symptoms can be found in other conditions but if you have had any of these for more than four weeks, or you’ve noticed blood in your pee or semen even just once, tell your doctor, clinic nurse or Aboriginal health worker as soon as possible. “It doesn’t mean you’ve got prostate cancer — often it turns out to be something far less serious and your doctor may be able to help reduce the annoying symptoms.”

To view the Broome Advertiser article Men urged to learn the symptoms during Prostate Cancer Awareness Month in full click here.

Image source: Vitalii Abakumou, Getty Images, iStockphotos.

Emergency relief centre for Gippsland mob

A groundbreaking emergency relief centre to support members of East Gippsland’s Aboriginal communities in times of crisis is getting underway thanks to a $2.4 million investment by the Andrews Labor Government. Minister for Emergency Services Jaclyn Symes joined Member for Eastern Victoria Tom McIntosh and representatives of the Lake Tyers Aboriginal community to announce the funding and hear about their vision for the new centre.

The Lake Tyers Emergency Relief Centre project will bring together Gunaikurnai Land and Waters Aboriginal Corporation (GLaWAC), Lake Tyers Aboriginal Trust and Lake Tyers community to co-design a supportive, safe and secure space for Aboriginal communities within Lake Tyers during and after a bushfire disaster. The centre will also bring community together for activities and meetings outside of emergencies.

The need for the dedicated relief centre was identified following the devastating 2019-20 Eastern Victorian bushfires, during which over 1,000 known registered Aboriginal heritage places were damaged and hundreds of Aboriginal Victorians were affected.

To read The National Tribune article First Relief Centre For Aboriginal Community In Gippsland in full click here.

Terylene Hood says residents need a place where they can be comfortable during an emergency. Photo: Bec Symons, ABC Gippsland.

Sector Jobs

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.