Newsletter date: 7 April 2014
Contents:
* NACCHO at the National Press Club [Featuring speech by NACCHO's Chair Justin Mohamed]
* NACCHO Report: Economic value of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations
* Sky News: Indigenous health needs saving from cuts
* Sky News: Calls for indigenous health rethink
* SNAICC News: Aboriginal Children and Family Centres need funding certainty…now!
* SNAICC News: Adoption not an option for Aboriginal children in NSW
* Melissa Stoneham, The Conversation: Bad news: negative Indigenous health coverage reinforces stigma
* Gerry Georgatos, The Stringer: Australia's suicide crises and my meeting with Federal Minister Nigel Scullion
* Articles about homelessness
* NACCHO AT THE NATIONAL PRESS CLUB [FEATURING SPEECH BY NACCHO'S CHAIR JUSTIN MOHAMED]
- Speech
NACCHO at the National Press Club
[NACCHO: National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation]
http://nacchocommunique.com/2014/04/03/maccho-press-club/
3 Apr 14: "Yesterday NACCHO’s Chair Justin Mohamed gave an address to a packed room and national television audience at the National Press Club about the economic value of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations. His speech focused on, among other things, what needs to be done to close the gap, how ACCHOs can help close that gap, and called on the Federal Government to renew funding with appropriate indexation in the May Budget. He also called on the Government to carefully consider the implications of any changes to the Racial Discrimination Act."
If you missed the address you can watch it here: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-04-02/national-press-club-justin-mohamed...
or read a transcript here: http://nacchocommunique.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/naccho_14_national-p...
* NACCHO REPORT: ECONOMIC VALUE OF ABORIGINAL COMMUNITY CONTROLLED HEALTH ORGANISATIONS
- Report
NACCHO: Economic value of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations
[NACCHO: National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation]
http://nacchocommunique.com/2014/04/02/economic-value-of-aboriginal-comm...
2 Apr 14: "Today at the National Press Club, NACCHO Chair Justin Mohamed launched a report on the economic value of Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisations.
The report provides evidence that Aboriginal health services run by Aboriginal people:
* Provide jobs for more than 3,200 Aboriginal people (over 5,000 in total) and are the main source of Aboriginal employment in many communities;
* Boost education levels of Aboriginal people with onsite training and genuine career paths;
* Provide wages and salaries higher than the average Aboriginal Australian income; and
* Provide the preferred method of primary health delivery to the majority of Aboriginal people in the areas they service with demand growing at more than 6% a year."
You can download the full report here: http://www.naccho.org.au/download/naccho_health_futures/Full%20Report%20...
& Executive Summary & Recommendations here: http://nacchocommunique.files.wordpress.com/2014/04/naccho_14_econimic-v...
* SKY NEWS: INDIGENOUS HEALTH NEEDS SAVING FROM CUTS
- News
Sky News: Indigenous health needs saving from cuts
Sky News: http://www.skynews.com.au/politics/article.aspx?id=963575
9 News: http://news.ninemsn.com.au/health/2014/04/02/13/07/save-indigenous-healt...
2 Apr 14: "Aboriginal-controlled health clinics must be quarantined from federal budget cuts otherwise their strong gains in closing the health gap will be put at risk, an indigenous leader warns. National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) chair Justin Mohamed says indigenous-run clinics are easing pressure on the mainstream health system. He pleaded for governments to protect the 150 Aboriginal-controlled health organisations from budget cuts as they are making inroads on preventative health measures such as reducing smoking rates."
* SKY NEWS: CALLS FOR INDIGENOUS HEALTH RETHINK
- News
Sky News: Calls for indigenous health rethink
http://www.skynews.com.au/health/article.aspx?id=963836
2 Apr 14: "Improving the way money is spent on indigenous health could make the federal budget $12 billion a year healthier, a report shows. National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (NACCHO) chair Justin Mohamed on Wednesday called on the Abbott government to boost indigenous health funding in the May budget. A report on the economic value of community health services has found raising the life expectancy of indigenous people could result in $11.9 billion in revenue and welfare savings for the government."
* SNAICC NEWS: ABORIGINAL CHILDREN AND FAMILY CENTRES NEED FUNDING CERTAINTY...NOW!
- Analysis / Opinion
SNAICC News: Aboriginal Children and Family Centres need funding certainty…now!
[SNAICC: Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care]
http://www.snaicc.org.au/news-events/fx-view-article.cfm?loadref=32&id=1405
4 Apr 14: "With the end of financial year in sight, the 38 new Aboriginal Children and Family Centres (ACFCs) across Australia are continuing to operate under an uncertain funding future with no indication yet that the issue will be resolved before 30 June. ... These centres - and other Indigenous community-controlled early childhood services - are playing a vital role in giving Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children the best chance to do well at school and life, as well as providing important practical support (such as health services) to families."
- Related Audio
The Wire: Future uncertain for organisation supporting Aboriginal early education
Produced by Miriam Alveberg
http://www.thewire.org.au/storyDetail.aspx?ID=11365
25 Mar 14: "A new funding model for Aboriginal preschools is leaving one service in the dark. AECSL, Aboriginal Early Childhood Support and Learning had their funding axed in December last year. The Minister for Indigenous Affairs, Nigel Scullion, says the new funding model is better as it is now going directly to the preschools. But AECSL says they do not provide direct funding services, but rather advocacy and support for organisations working with preschool education. The organisation future is hanging in the balance. AECSL explains how they actually operate and how especially remote and regional services are using their support and advice. ...
Featured in story:
* Minister for Indigenous Affairs Nigel Scullion
* Executive Officer AECSL, Ross Hughes"
* SNAICC NEWS: ADOPTION NOT AN OPTION FOR ABORIGINAL CHILDREN IN NSW
- Analysis / Opinion
SNAICC News: Adoption not an option for Aboriginal children in NSW
[SNAICC: Secretariat of National Aboriginal and Islander Child Care]
http://www.snaicc.org.au/news-events/fx-view-article.cfm?loadref=32&id=1388
2 Apr 14: "The peak body for Aboriginal children and families in NSW, AbSec, has welcomed the NSW Government’s decision to exempt Aboriginal children from proposed new adoption laws that form part of the Government’s sweeping reforms to the state’s child protection system. (See the media release on the Absec website.) AbSec CEO Angela Webb said the her agency was pleased with the announcement by NSW Minister for Families and Community Services, Pru Goward, that Aboriginal children will be placed in "kinship care" rather than up for adoption."
- Related Analysis / Opinion
Indian Country Today Media Network: Australia Perpetuates Cultural Genocide Through Forced Removal of First Nations children
http://indiancountrytodaymedianetwork.com/2014/03/26/australia-perpetuat...
26 Mar 14: "The taking of Aboriginal children from their families and communities is occurring at five times the rate it was in 1997 when the Australian government released the report "Bringing Them Home" about the "Stolen Generation" - the approximately 50,000 mixed-race, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children who were removed from their families in an effort to "assimilate" them into white culture. The report labeled this government-sanctioned effort to encourage 'past-Aborignal' children to take their place in white Australian society as "genocide," reported John Pilger, an Australian-born filmmaker and author, for Truth-Out.org." ICTMN Staff
* MELISSA STONEHAM, THE CONVERSATION: BAD NEWS: NEGATIVE INDIGENOUS HEALTH COVERAGE REINFORCES STIGMA
- Analysis / Opinion
The Conversation: Bad news: negative Indigenous health coverage reinforces stigma
http://theconversation.com/bad-news-negative-indigenous-health-coverage-...
2 Apr 14: "Think of Aboriginal health and you’ll probably recall messages of large gaps in life expectancy, increasing rates of chronic diseases such as diabetes, kidney disease and asthma. Or that the last ten years has been a "wasted decade" for Aboriginal people. It won’t be too much of a surprise, then, to learn that 74% of media articles about Aboriginal health are negative. That’s the finding of a media study by my colleagues and I at the Public Health Advocacy Institute Western Australia (PHAIWA)." Melissa Stoneham, Deputy Director, Public Health Advocacy Institute WA at Curtin University, where she specialises in advocacy related to Aboriginal health, environment and health, local government and obesity issues
* GERRY GEORGATOS, THE STRINGER: AUSTRALIA'S SUICIDE CRISIS AND MY MEETING WITH FEDERAL MINISTER NIGEL SCULLION
- Analysis / Opinion
The Stringer: Australia's suicide crises and my meeting with Federal Minister Nigel Scullion
http://thestringer.com.au/australias-suicide-crises-and-my-meeting-with-...
2 Apr 14: "Australia's suicide crisis is a taboo subject for the majority of Australians and this is clearly identified by the lack of substantive coverage in mainstream media. For both First Peoples and non-Aboriginal Australians the suicide crisis has reached all-time highs. However suicide prevention funding and the roll-out of other strategies are not happening at the Federal level, not at any level for that matter - State and Territory. ... remote Australia is where the suicide crisis has dramatically spiked for both First Peoples and non-Aboriginal Australians. Between 2000 to 2010, there were 996 reported suicides of First Peoples, the majority in remote and regional Australia." By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
* ARTICLES ABOUT HOMELESSNESS
- Analysis / Opinion
In My Community: Rally plan to protest site demolition
http://www.inmycommunity.com.au/news-and-views/local-news/Rally-plan-to-...
26 Mar 14: "NAOMI Bropho is among many Aboriginal people who still want to return to the Swan Valley Nyungah Community in Caversham. She was one of a group of Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people who rallied on the steps of Parliament House to try to convince politicians to re-open the fenced and locked site on March 11. But her hopes were dashed when 23 buildings at the property were bulldozed under a State Government order last Tuesday. ... Bella Bropho said the destruction of the houses was not the end and protesters intended to stage a rally against the demolition at Forrest Place soon." Sophie Gabrielle, Karen Valenti, The Advocate
- Analysis / Opinion
The Stringer: The homeless that Premier Barnett and Government Departments refuse to see
http://thestringer.com.au/the-homeless-that-premier-barnett-and-governme...
29 Mar 14: "Western Australia’s Premier Colin Barnett ordered the deplorable Kafkaesque act to demolish the Swan Valley Nyungah Community’s homes without any notice or courtesy to the former residents, many of whom are homeless. The demolishing occurred at the crack of dawn with a huge contingent of security and with the police at the ready. But to rub salt into deep wounds, the Government outrageously claimed that "there are no homeless people" as a result of the evictions. These statements, persisted with by the Department of Housing, have both shocked and stirred the former residents, their supporters and homelessness advocates." By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
- Analysis / Opinion
The Stringer: Broome to rid shanty town but do nothing about nation’s worst homelessness
http://thestringer.com.au/broome-to-rid-shanty-town-but-do-nothing-about...
23 Mar 14: "Horror figures reveal 1 in 10 people, largely First Peoples, including women and children, are forced to live rough right throughout the Kimberley. The tourist mecca, Broome, is skirted by shanty towns, but they are soon to be got rid of and the homeless forgotten to somewhere else – same old story. Same old racism. Kimberley parliamentarian, Kija woman Josie Farrer said that the State Government has neglected the homelessness crisis, the nation’s worst. Ms Farrer said some of the homelessness has been induced by the State Government, with only a few years ago the people of the community of Oombulgarri moved off their lands." By Gerry Georgatos, a life-long human rights and social justice campaigner, a multi-award winning investigative journalist
- - -
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