Many direct health benefits could be expected to flow from the establishment of a constitutionally enshrined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament, according to members of the National Health Leadership Forum (NHLF).
The NHLF, a peak body representing the views of 12 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander organisations working in health and wellbeing, released a statement on 29 September supporting a Yes vote at the referendum.
The article below is published by Croakey Professional Services as sponsored content.
Croakey Professional Services writes:
An Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament would bring direct health benefits through two important mechanisms, according to Kuku Yalanji man Karl Briscoe, who heads the National Association of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workers and Practitioners (NAATSIHWP).
Firstly, it would offer a mechanism, through a representative national body, for perspectives from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to be placed before Parliament and the Executive of Government.
According to Commonwealth Government resources on the Voice, the body will provide independent advice, be transparent and accountable, work alongside existing structures and organisations, will be chosen by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people based on the wishes of local communities, and will be inclusive, gender-balanced and include youth.
The second important mechanism, according to Briscoe, is that the Voice will enable government policies, priorities and proposals to be examined and critiqued by First Nations people, from early in the stages of policy development.
As constitutional lawyers have argued, this will improve decision-making and policy/law development, as well as improving a sense of fairness in government process and trust in government.
NAATSIHWP is a member of the National Health Leadership Forum, which has long advocated for constitutional recognition, and also supported the three foundational elements of the Uluru Statement: Voice, Treaty, Truth. Briscoe is also chair of the NHLF.
The referendum that will be put to Australian voters on 14 October asks voters to reply ‘yes’ or ‘no’ to this question: “A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice. Do you approve this proposed alteration?”
Tangible benefits
Briscoe points to the Northern Territory Intervention as an example of the need for a First Nations Voice to Parliament.
Necessitating suspension of Racial Discrimination Act, and involving a protectionist era-style deployment of military and police officials into remote communities on a pretext later comprehensively debunked, Briscoe said if an Indigenous oversight body had been in place, such an initiative could never have been conceived.
Wilful ignorance of the past and ongoing impacts of government policies on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and failure to reckon with this history had allowed the cycle of trauma to continue perpetuating, Briscoe added.
“A lot of people don’t understand just how detrimental previous policies were to our mob,” he said.
The policies of the Stolen Generations had occurred in living memory and continued to have a profound effect on the health and wellbeing of communities and families, rather than being a thing of the distant past, as it was too often framed and understood, Briscoe said.
He also highlights the prevalence of rheumatic heart disease in Indigenous communities, “a developing-world condition in a first-world country” as another example of why a Voice is needed, to ensure more effective policies and services.
RHD, an illness with lifelong, life-limiting impacts, is perhaps the leading but by no means only example of poorer health outcomes for First Nations people in Australia. This is at both a population level (rates are 60-fold higher than the Australian average), and also compared with First Nations peoples in countries like Canada and Aotearoa/New Zealand, where the rights of Indigenous peoples are enshrined in treaty or constitution, Briscoe said.
RHD is a reminder that recognition is not merely symbolic, but has tangible flow-on effects for the health of First Nations peoples, he added.
Wellbeing matters
Fiona Cornforth, who recently completed her term as CEO of the Healing Foundation to take up a new role as Head of the National Centre for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Wellbeing Research at the Australian National University, stressed the importance of the Voice for wellbeing.
“We know how powerful it is going to be in terms of healing, in terms of righting wrongs for our mob, and in terms of ending this devastation, for ending these trauma cycles, and for future generations,” said Cornforth, a Wuthathi woman.
She urged Australians to learn about the Uluru Statement of the Heart and what it means and why it came about, and to be open to the potential good that can come out of the Voice to Parliament and Executive Government.
“The Voice won’t change or harm non-Indigenous Australians nor will it change our parliamentary system or our democratic processes. The Voice will just provide an opportunity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to advocate and make direct representation on matters that will directly impact on them,” she said.
More than 125 health and medical organisations, from right across the health sector, have expressed support for the constitutionally enshrined Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice to Parliament (the list can be seen at Croakey’s portal here, including a link to the NHLF statement.)
This follows a long history of support from the sector. It’s been almost ten years since an unprecedented coalition of 134 health organisations signed onto the Recognise Health consensus statement, calling for constitutional recognition of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples as the basis of a “better social contract” for healing and improved health and wellbeing.
This statement, which was endorsed by a majority of medical colleges, the Australian Medical Association, and peak bodies for allied health, nursing and Indigenous health, acknowledged – in no uncertain terms – the lasting health impacts of colonisation for First Nations people.
Poverty, poor housing, lower income and reduced educational opportunities were compounded for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples by “social exclusion, racism, discrimination and the intergenerational effects of land, culture and language loss due to past government policies”, signatories to the statement affirmed.
“Constitutional recognition would provide a strong foundation for working together towards better health and social wellbeing in the hearts, minds and lives of all Australians… providing the basis for an important shift in policy, healthcare practice and community acceptance,” they said.
As the referendum date nears, Briscoe’s message about the imperative for change is clear:
“The work that we all do – especially in health, in large majority – is for our next generation,” he said. “We have this opportunity, let’s not let it pass us by.”
• This article was funded by the National Health Leadership Forum (NHLF) and edited by Forum members. It was written on behalf of Croakey Professional Services by Dr Amy Coopes, and also edited by Dr Summer May Finlay and Dr Melissa Sweet.
Bookmark this link to follow the NHLF series:
- Celebrating the contributions and expertise of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health professionals
- As a new Government sets to work, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health leaders call for transformational change
Support services
- Connection. Strength. Resilience. | Voice Referendum: Social and Emotional Wellbeing Resources
- First Nations mental health and wellbeing services and supports
- Support resources: Voice to Parliament referendum. Compiled by Australian Indigenous Doctors Association
