IntroductionThe Australian Government has announced funding worth $6.5 million over five years for four research projects under the Healthy start to life initiative. The projects have the potential of improving the maternal, infant and childhood health of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. The call for expressions of interest for project funding was made via the National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) (view the NHMRC Call for Expressions of Interest). Applicants were strongly encouraged to develop collaborative research teams to address a Healthy start to life in a cross-sectoral way. It was recommended that collaboration should include non-health sectors, such as education, employment, environment and transport, in partnership with service delivery agencies and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community groups. Applicants were encouraged to consider issues that impact on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in diverse settings, from remote and rural to urban and urban fringe populations. In announcing the funding Mr Abbott said, ‘Indigenous health remains a significant challenge. Research projects such as these provide more information on identified problems and explore ways to address the problems. Providing Indigenous children with a better start in life will help improve their long term health.’ The projects complement the Government’s 2005-06 Budget commitment of an additional $170 million for Indigenous health over four years, including more than $100 million on a new program to improve the health of Indigenous mothers, babies and children and to reduce the impact of chronic diseases. The projectsThe Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet is a partner in a successful application by Edith Cowan University (ECU), Western Australia, for a project that will receive funding of more than $1.4 million over five years. The project, Keeping kids on track: an initiative developing the resilience of Aboriginal students during a critical transition phase, will be directed by Chief Investigator Associate Professor Gary Partington of Kurongkurl Katitjin, ECU’s School of Indigenous Australian Studies. The initiative aims to build Indigenous children’s capacity to cope with life’s challenges and promote resilience through social and emotional skill development, cognitive development, community engagement, and appropriate health provision. This will build children’s capacities and lead to improved educational and employment outcomes in the longer term. Indigenous researchers and community members will participate in the governance and conduct of the study. The other projects to be implemented in Western Australia and New South Wales are: Curtin University of Technology, Western Australia
The University of Sydney, New South Wales
The University of Newcastle, New South Wales For further information view: Department of Health and Ageing, Tony Abbott, Minister for Health and Ageing Edith Cowan University The University of Newcastle |
Category: Vol 5 No 2 April 2005 – June 2005
Joann Schmider: new Director for the Indigenous Support and Development Branch of the Department of Child Safety in Queensland
The following summary has been adapted from the Minister for Child Safety media release, 7 April 2005 and the Child Safety Reform Blueprint
The Department of Child Safety in Queensland recently announced the appointment of Joann Schmider to the position of Director for the Indigenous Support and Development Branch based in Cairns. The Indigenous Support and Development Branch was recently formed to support the delivery of Indigenous child protection services by newly formed or expanded Indigenous agencies located across Queensland.
Joann Schmider is an Indigenous woman with 25 years of experience in government and Indigenous community engagement, and a background in: human services for children; youth and family programs; education and training; human rights; and social justice. She has a diverse range of contacts in the Indigenous and wider community across Queensland and Australia.
Joann’s priority will be to tackle the significant over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children in the Queensland child protection system. Minister for Child Safety Mike Reynolds stated that the appointment of Joann was crucial to the implementation of reforms to the Queensland child protection system outlined in the Child Safety Reform Blueprint (view report – PDF – 2MB – large file warning!; view Indigenous specific section – PDF – 92KB). In the Blueprint a range of initiatives intended to improve the services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children at risk in Queensland are described. These initiatives are designed to ensure that service delivery to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, their families and their carers are culturally appropriate, accessible, and responsive to their individual needs.
Image kindly provided by the Department of Child Safety
Links to Commonwealth Budget 2005-06: information of relevance to Indigenous health
Federal Treasurer Peter Costello delivered his tenth Commonwealth Budget on Tuesday evening, 10 May 2005. The following links provide information on the Budget and its implications for Indigenous health.
Indigenous Budget 2005The Australian Government Indigenous Budget 2005 provides information on Indigenous spending across all Government portfolios. Section F of the Indigenous Budget 2005 provides a statistical summary of Australian Government Indigenous expenditure: by portfolio. It includes expenditure in the Health and Ageing Portfolio, the largest component of which is for health services in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities (including the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Primary Health Care Access Programme). Portfolio Budget Statements 2005-06More detailed information on various components of Indigenous expenditure is available in the respective Portfolio Budget Statements 2005-06, including the: Health and Ageing Portfolio Portfolio Budget Statement 2005-06 Immigration, Multicultural and Indigenous Affairs Portfolio Portfolio Budget Statement 2005-06 Full Budget detailsFull Commonwealth Budget details are available at the official Australian Government Budget website. Media releases and other informationBudget 2005-06 – a continuing commitment to improving the health of Indigenous Australians
Other Health and Ageing Budget media releases and fact sheets
ABC News online |
||
Wes Miller: new Manager of Indigenous Health Program at the Fred Hollows Foundation
The following summary has been adapted from the ABC and Fred Hollows Foundation media releases, 1 March 2005
The Fred Hollows Foundation recently announced the appointment of Wes Miller as Manager of its Indigenous Health Program. The program works with local partners and has a specific focus on nutrition, child and maternal health, literacy, and remote community stores management in the Jawoyn communities east of Katherine in the Northern Territory (NT).
Brian Doolan, the Foundation’s Chief Executive Officer, commented that ‘Mr Miller’s extensive experience and knowledge places him in the perfect position to lead our Indigenous Health Program and continue the excellent work The Foundation and its partners are undertaking to help address the health crisis in remote Indigenous communities.’
Mr Miller‘s mother and grandmother are both from Jawoyn country and he has worked in the Katherine region for many years. He has held leadership positions at the Katherine Region Aboriginal Legal Aid Service (KRALAS), the Aboriginal medical service (Wurli-Wurlinjang Health Service) , the Northern Land Council’s office in Katherine and the NT Health Department. He was also one of the original ATSIC regional councillors for the region.
Most recently Mr Miller has worked as the Top End Primary Health Care Access Program officer for the Aboriginal Medical Services Alliance Northern Territory (AMSANT), building the capacity of community health boards so that they can be managed by Indigenous people.
Mr Miller said he looked forward to the challenge of the role and the opportunity to increase the depth and scope of the programs in both the Katherine region and nationally. He said: ‘I am passionate about this area of work because I firmly believe that improvements in the health and well-being of Aboriginal people are governed by and large by the levels of control we have over our personal lives and over the organisations that we ourselves establish or are established for our benefit.’
Image has been reproduced with the kind permission of the Fred Hollows Foundation
The 8th National Rural Health Conference – Central to health: sustaining well-being in remote and rural Australia
 |
 |
The 8th National Rural Health Conference, 10 -13 March 2005, was the largest ever public meeting on remote and rural health. Held at Alice Springs Convention Centre, Northern Territory, it was attended by 1,100 delegates from around Australia including health service providers, students and consumers.
The conference was organised by the National Rural Health Alliance which is primarily funded by the Department of Health and Ageing and comprises 24 national organisations. The Alliance advises on rural and remote health policies and strategies. The principal conference sponsor was the National Health and Medical Research Council with additional conference support provided by the Northern Territory Government.
 |
 |
 |
The conference involved presentations, papers, workshops, and posters, and also shared yarns in less formal settings. Contributors included health service managers, allied health professionals, Aboriginal health workers, nurses and GPs. Conference themes were:
- the demonstrated means of successfully strengthening the multidisciplinary remote and rural workforce;
- lessons to learn about improving the health of Indigenous people and other populations in remote areas;
- the connections between land and health for Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people in remote and rural Australia;
- the ways in which education, transport, the environment, economic development and communications intersect with each other and the people in remote and rural Australia; and
- the key emerging issues in clinical practice for remote and rural Australia.
Indigenous health and well-being were a major focus of the conference, highlighting the poor state of Indigenous health as a priority social issue. Of the 90 concurrent papers that won a place on the program (from 440 abstracts) 39 were associated with Aboriginal health. Topics discussed in relation to Indigenous health included: health conditions; health services; workforce issues; environment issues; and lessons learned.
Internet access for all conference delegates was provided at the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet exhibition stand, with Telstra Country Wide providing Internet connectivity. Diana Hay from the Aboriginal & Islander Health Worker Journal and Jane Burns from the Australian Indigenous HealthInfoNet also ran a joint display with information about the two organisations. Jane conducted a HealthInternet café on web-based Aboriginal health information, particularly related to rural and remote health, and other HealthInfoNet services such as training and website development. Delegates were encouraged to visit all the exhibition booths.
 |
 |
For further information including the full set of recommendations (PDF – 171KB) and conference media releases:
- Remote area health: not complaining but not complacent
- Global challenges for Australia’s remote health sector
view the 8th National Rural Health Conference website.
We would like to thank the conference participants who provided written permission for us to display their photos here
