Western Australian Framework Agreement on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health

On the 5^th of July, the Commonwealth Government, the West Australian Government, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and the Western Australian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (WAACHO) signed an agreement of cooperation designed to lift the health status of Indigenous people living in Western Australia.

The Agreement recognises the importance of a shared strategic agenda for improving the health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Western Australia:

For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples to achieve equitable health outcomes, a co-operative, co-ordinated and sustained effort is required from the Commonwealth and State Governments, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community, the Aboriginal community controlled primary health care sector represented by the Western Australian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (WAACCHO), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (ATSIC) and the broader Australian community¹.

The Agreement is based on four national key commitments from the 1996 Agreements on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health and six key domains of action articulated in the Western Australian Aboriginal Health Strategy (WAAHS).

The national key commitments call for:

• • increased level of resources allocated to reflect the level of need;
  • joint planning;
  • access to both general and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander specific health and health related services which reflect the higher level of need; and
  • data collection and evaluation.

The WAAHS key domains of action call for:

• increasing access to health services;
• reforming the health system;
• reconciling community control and empowerment;
• improving health information management;
• strengthening intersectoral collaboration on health; and
• improving health financing.

Signatories to the Agreement – Commonwealth Minister for Health and Ageing, Senator Kay Patterson, West Australian Minister for Health, Bob Kucera, Chairperson of ATSIC, Geoff Clark, and Chairperson of WAACCHO, Henry Councillor highlighted the importance of the Agreement as a mechanism for: ensuring that priority health needs are met; facilitating joint responsibility and contributing to Indigenous self-determination.

The Western Australian Joint Planning Forum (JPF) and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Council will be responsible for evaluating the implementation of the Agreement within their respective jurisdictions.

Full copies of the Agreement are available on request. Contact Ms Allison Bellottie, Joint Planning Forum Secretariat, ph: (08) 9222 4481, fax: (08) 9222 4378.

¹Extracts from the Western Australian Framework Agreement on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health reproduced with permission.