Alison Barrett writes:
A universal childcare system and culturally safe, place-based health education and training programs are some of the initiatives that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health organisations are urging the next Federal Government to support, together with initiatives that support Priority Reforms under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap.
As the 3 May election draws closer, concerns have been raised that both major parties have been silent on policies for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.
On LinkedIn last month, Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council said that since the rejection of the Voice to Parliament, “governments have failed to offer an alternative to address systemic inequities”.
Dr Bartholomew Stanford, Senior Lecturer of Indigenous Studies, Indigenous Education and Research Centre at James Cook University, echoed these sentiments in The Conversation this week.
“As the election campaign continues, there’s yet to be much substantive discussion about how to improve the lives of First Nations people,” he wrote.
Since the referendum, the Albanese Labor Government has “all but walked away from the Uluru Statement from the Heart”, something the Prime Minister had committed to implementing in full, he said.
Labor has committed to continuing closing the gap efforts and to more Indigenous engagement at the international level, Stanford wrote. The Government has also flagged the potential for more economic-based policies instead of upholding its prior focus on Indigenous rights, recognition and truth-telling.
According to Stanford, the Liberal and National parties are using the referendum outcome “as a barometer to gauge the public’s attitudes towards Indigenous affairs”.
“They are largely opposed to increased Indigenous rights and recognition,” he said.
Stanford said this can be seen by the Queensland Liberal National Party’s repealing legislation for their state treaty, Peter Dutton’s comments about removing the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander flags at government press conferences and an announcement by Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs, that the Coalition will audit government spending on Indigenous programs.
This week, Price told ABC Radio National, “If you want to take Closing the Gap, for example, we can see that there’s nothing. There is no progress in that particular area”.
“For me, it’s about a reset across Indigenous Affairs when it comes to Closing the Gap,” she said.
Election priorities for organisations including SNAICC – National Voice for our Children, the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation, Indigenous Allied Health Australia and the Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC) are reported below.
Make your vote count
The Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO) launched its ‘Speak Out’ election campaign this week, encouraging Australians to share and engage with the campaign, to make their vote count in the upcoming Federal election.
“This election is an opportunity for all Australians to take a stand against division and to work together towards a future where everyone is treated with dignity, equity and respect,” VACCHO CEO Dr Jill Gallagher AO said in a statement.
The campaign will run throughout April on national Foxtel network, major free-to-air networks in Victoria and on a variety of online and social media platforms.
“At its heart, the campaign seeks to celebrate, embrace, and take pride in the rich, living culture of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples,” VACCHO said.
See the Speak Out campaign resources here.
In its federal election platform, VACCHO calls on the next Federal Government to:
- Extend the Indigenous Australians Health Programme (IAHP) Closing the Gap – Major Capital Works program so that more funding rounds can be accessed equally across the sector
financially support the establishment of a new site for Dandenong and District Aborigines Co-operative Limited, including a culturally safe, fit for purpose health and wellbeing service. - Commit to establishing inter and intra Governmental Department Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisation Working Groups for all Victorian ACCOs. This will help to enable groups to work collaboratively and identify solutions with representatives from across the Victorian Government.
- Implement a needs-based funding model for ACCHOs and expand access to key health programs and funding initiatives that are currently limited by the geography to all ACCOs.“Government policies that continue to put in place barriers for Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to access funding opportunities that would significantly help their Communities must come to an end,” VACCHO writes.
- Establish a new classification of Aboriginal Community Controlled Registered Training Organisations to address the required skills and knowledge demanded by the industry.
- Funding of $6 million into a four-year research and resource development project that builds the evidence-base to showcase what health and wellbeing means to Aboriginal families and determining news ways of supporting the family as a whole.
Starting with children
SNAICC – National Voice for our Children calls for a bipartisan approach to early education and child and family safety to ensure children “get the best start in life”.
Catherine Liddle, CEO of SNAICC, said in a statement that “Closing the Gap starts with our children – that comes above politics, as it always should”.
She said that addressing the “national disgrace” of the “appallingly disproportionate rates” of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children removed from their families, communities and cultures “should be top of mind for all Australian political parties and decision makers”.
SNAICC is encouraging all sides of governments to invest in the evidence-based policies that work, “rather than feeding into ill-informed, fear-driven narratives that ultimately don’t serve our children, families or the wider community”.
This includes sufficient investment in culturally safe family supports, a universal childcare system and community-led intervention programs.
Fair and transparent funding
Queensland Aboriginal and Islander Health Council (QAIHC) is calling for recognition of ACCHOs and that they be funded “as integral participants in our complex federated health system”.
Matthew Cooke, QAIHC Chairman, recently told Sector Leader, “we need fair and transparent funding arrangements based on clear evidence of need, and governance structures that grant the ACCHO sector a substantial role in shaping health service planning, funding and delivery”.
“Leading up to the election, political leaders must provide detailed, actionable plans for addressing the systemic challenges faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities,” Cooke said.
“If they reject a Voice to Parliament and treaty pathways, what alternative frameworks will they propose? How will they:
- Close the gap in health and socioeconomic outcomes?
- Empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to lead decision-making processes?
- Ensure sustained investments that deliver measurable, effective outcomes?”
Meaningful investment in health workforce
Ahead of the Federal election, Indigenous Allied Health Australia (IAHA) calls for government commitment to five priorities they say “will play a pivotal role in improving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health outcomes”.
These are:
- Targeted and meaningful investment in the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Workforce Strategic Framework and Implementation Plan, which was launched in 2022 and has seen minimal progress on. Successful implementation requires Commonwealth leadership, coordinated government funding, cross sectoral partnerships and co-designed and place-based implementation of activities with leadership from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities, IAHA write.
- Increased investment in the growth and development of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health workforce organisations, including longer term operational funding agreements and ongoing access to discrete project funds. IAHA say that “a lack of equitable, coordinated, sustainable and long-term investment from successive governments” has constrained growth, impact and success.
- Governmental reform to enact National Agreement on Closing the Gap Priority Reforms and to empower Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and organisations to progress the work.
- Coordinated investment in culturally safe, place-based health education and training pathways for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples and employment and workforce models, to ensure enough Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people study and complete health qualifications to meet future needs. IAHA calls for the next government to increase access to successful workforce programs, such as the IAHA National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Academy, which “has proven to be a successful model”, they write.
- Implementation and monitoring of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous People (UNDRIP). IAHA calls for the UNDRIP to “be respected and used to guide the implementation of the Priority Reforms under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap”. UNDRIP sets out an approach, grounded in Indigenous self-determination and human rights, according to IAHA. “Yet, the implementation in Australia has lacked support and commitment from all levels of government.”
Further reading
Current major party policies fall short for Indigenous communities. Here’s a better path forward
Lack of Coalition policies for Indigenous Australians becomes stark as election nears
“Absolutely essential”: Price on powerful committee if Coalition win government – Dutton
See Croakey’s coverage of 2025 Federal election
